Soaring/Gliding for Planes

Hi @ARborn ,

The logic to actually switch modes in contained in https://github.com/samuelctabor/ardupilot/blob/SoaringUpgrades/ArduPlane/soaring.cpp . This is supported by the files in https://github.com/samuelctabor/ardupilot/tree/SoaringUpgrades/libraries/AP_Soaring, in particular check_thermal_criteria() in AP_Soaring.cpp.

This is in my SoaringUpgrades branch, which contains the most recent work on the soaring feature and is the basis for this PR https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/12210

@Quaxwilly, I’m a user of the yaapu script so would love to see some more soaring related telemetry. All ideas welcome!

@Samuel_Tabor Hi Sam, I didn’t mean the yaapu-script - yaapu improved the serial protocol 4 and included the sending of vspd in a good frequency and reached a good frequency for GPS value, too.

Hi @Quaxwilly

Oh I see. When both are merged they should work together well. However the waiting time for a lot of PRs to get merged seems to be very long right now. In the meantime I will add the yaapu changes to my repo so that both can be used.

That would be great Sam :+1::smiley:

Hello everybody, thanks for your massive effort and this super interesting feature.
I would like to buy a glider and use this function.
Which hardware should I use? Is the Pixracer R15 the right one?
Thanks for the info.

Many greetings

I got some good advice on the various smaller ArduPilot compatible FCs in my thread here:

Welcome @patrick

Soaring is supported on all boards except sparky2, KakuteF7, Pixhawk 1 (1M flash version), OMNIBUSF7V2, and fmuv2. These all have too little flash to support the full feature set.

Pixracer R15 should work fine, I use an older Pixracer.

Sam

1 Like

Thank you for the answers.
@Samuel_Tabor
Do you have an idea which board is also recommended, which costs around 50 dollars.
The pixracer costs about 100 dollars.

@Saijin_Naib
I will read your thread; Thanks for the input.

1 Like

A Matek F765-Wing would work. 2Mb flash. It’s ~$65. One thing you can do is to review the Flight Controllers that support Ardupilot in the followig and if there is one of interest to you review the hwdef.dat file and look for “FLASH_SIZE_KB 2048”. It will support Soar and other features cut from the 1Mb boards.

Note: When available the Frsky R9 Pilot looks very interesting and there is a target for it already.

2 Likes

Thank you for the info.

I’ve some Matek F405-wing running. It’s a good compromise between number of interfaces and size. You can connect easily all wanted external devices and add a cheap WiFi too. So it’s easy to change some parameters on the airfield.
But only an external GPS is necessary - no compass or speed-sensor is needed for soaring.

Btw. Tridge is currently working on the PR - so there is a chance to have the changes in the near future in the “latest” version. :smiley:

1 Like

Hey Willy, thanks for your answer.
For me these autopilots are new and I’m a little unsure which one to take.
That means, to use the sail function, is the F405-wing enough?
And why is no-airspeed sensor needed for the funktion?

Which WLAN module do I have to buy additionally?
Would that be ok?

Thank you for your answer.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NodeMCU-V3-2-Arduino-ESP8266-ESP-12-E-Lua-CH340-WiFI-WLan-IoT-Lolin-Mini-Micro/252718027546?hash=item3ad72b131a:g:5GwAAOSwI7Fb3x~a

F405-Wing doesn’t have enough flash for the soaring features. Unless the PR mentioned is addressing that. Most ESP8266 radios will work. I use these on several craft, Multrotors, a plane and a rover.

OK,l thank you for the message.

The Matek F405-wing is my first choice for ArduSoar. I tested the new code of Sam Tabor last year in a Sailplane without speed-sensor - I used TECS_SYNAIRSPEED instead. So just the FC and a GPS is necessary hardware. And it worked great :+1: Logfile: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2mjss4mj55tmux3/AAAJidJyqd-Y9Pj3V8vNeQPZa?dl=0 (after that long time not the accu but I have been exhausted and stopped soaring :grinning:)

1 Like

Which program do I need to open the log file?

Is Sam Tabor the developer of the function?

I found it.
Mission planer open the bin file.

Yes, Sam Tabor is the developer of the soaring-functions.
See that threat above: Soaring/Gliding for Planes

Thanks, Willy.
I’m looking forward to trying it out.
I’m going to equip the ASW 28 with the Pixracer.
The shipment should arrive this week :slight_smile:

Which software should I better take.
The Mission planner or QGroundcontrol?

Thanks for your recommendations.

1 Like

Hi all,

Hopefully the new changes since last year should be merged into master and appear in a new release soon.

For anyone interested in testing, I’ve built binaries for a few flight controllers here. Let me know if you’re flight controller is missing. Updated documentation should appear on the wiki soon.

All the best
Sam

2 Likes