Safest way to fly a fully autonomous mission?

nuggetz · Sep 3, 2015

My number one biggest driver for purchasing a quad of this caliber was to have the ability to fly a predetermined course built by placing waypoints on a map and return to home. My thinking was with this capability the controllers range or lack of range for that matter would be somewhat irrelevant.

I know it's possible to do the above but not outside of the solo's controller range. So in other words I read that the solo controller must always maintain radio communications with the solo. I've also read that there is a parameter you can change that would have the solo bypass or ignore the "if controller comms=lost then RTL".

I'm not trying to do anything too crazy here. All I want to do is take off from a field 5 blocks away from my house and then have solo fly a mission from that field to my house and do a survey of my property and then head back. What would be the best way to accomplish this? How good is reception when the solo is behind some rooftops? I suppose I could just test this out of the box using tower and see how far it gets before it returns home but I was hoping some of you guys could chime in here. I would always want the ability to interrupt the landing as i would rather bring her down when shes back in sight.

I'm surely not the first person to have the need to survey something outside of their line of sight. Seems to me that programs like tower and mission planner were made for scenarios such as this. Well at least thats what I always associated those ground station apps with. I think this is a valuable ability to have and to me is worth 3 times the price I paid for my solo. When the Amazon and government drones stage an attack I'd like to have the ability to perform counter surveillance

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Raybro · Sep 3, 2015

Connect Solo to Tower. Go into parameters and change the FS_GCS_ENABLE to 2. The default is 1. If you are flying in a crowded wifi area at lower altitude and you know you will have obstructions. Otherwise it will RTL if it loses connection.

Ground Station Failsafe Enable (ArduCopter:FS_GCS_ENABLE)
Controls whether failsafe will be invoked (and what action to take) when connection with Ground station is lost for at least 5 seconds. NB. The GCS Failsafe is only active when RC_OVERRIDE is being used to control the vehicle.

Value Meaning 0 Disabled
1 Enabled always RTL
2 Enabled Continue with Mission in Auto Mode

Jubalr · Sep 3, 2015

nuggetz said:
My number one biggest driver for purchasing a quad of this caliber was to have the ability to fly a predetermined course built by placing waypoints on a map and return to home. My thinking was with this capability the controllers range or lack of range for that matter would be somewhat irrelevant.

I know it's possible to do the above but not outside of the solo's controller range. So in other words I read that the solo controller must always maintain radio communications with the solo. I've also read that there is a parameter you can change that would have the solo bypass or ignore the "if controller comms=lost then RTL".

I'm not trying to do anything too crazy here. All I want to do is take off from a field 5 blocks away from my house and then have solo fly a mission from that field to my house and do a survey of my property and then head back. What would be the best way to accomplish this? How good is reception when the solo is behind some rooftops? I suppose I could just test this out of the box using tower and see how far it gets before it returns home but I was hoping some of you guys could chime in here. I would always want the ability to interrupt the landing as i would rather bring her down when shes back in sight.

I'm surely not the first person to have the need to survey something outside of their line of sight. Seems to me that programs like tower and mission planner were made for scenarios such as this. Well at least thats what I always associated those ground station apps with. I think this is a valuable ability to have and to me is worth 3 times the price I paid for my solo. When the Amazon and government drones stage an attack I'd like to have the ability to perform counter surveillance

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

Ray sent you the parameter to change if needed, but I would try it without first. Surveys are typically flown at 250-300' so at just 5 blocks away, it may be able to maintain connection, depending on your area. If you have aftermarket antennas, you increase your chances even more.

z3r01 · Sep 3, 2015

Worked like a charm with one exception lol it was autolanding and I was looking for it. It was about to land on a tree , hit the pause button and it stopped...tried to make my way out of it but wind pushed the branch which hit my solo lol down she came. All props gone of course but she took the licking....waiting for new props on Monday

Greg Parker · Sep 3, 2015

What caused the autoland that close to a tree?

z3r01 · Sep 3, 2015

it was set on autoland one the last waypoint and decided it wanted the tree. lol

Jubalr · Sep 3, 2015

z3r01 said:
it was set on autoland one the last waypoint and decided it wanted the tree. lol

If possible, it's best to allow it to append the mission with landing at the point of takeoff. Pointing to a satellite image is not going to be real accurate for landing, especially if there are any obstacles nearby. After a mission, I will generally switch to manual when close and land it myself.

z3r01 · Sep 3, 2015

here is my tower app Guess-thru lol
learning what i can

nuggetz · Sep 17, 2015

I haven't had the balls to do this yet but I want to soooo bad. How many of you guys do this on a regular basis - setting FS_GCS_ENABLE to 2? I just want to run my logic by you Tower users first before I do this. Right now in tower I have my first waypoint set as a normal waypoint situated a half a block away from where I plan to launch. I dont have any launch commands or RTL spots defined on the map. I want to power up near the end waypoint (again, another normal waypoint) and once its locked onto satellites trigger the mission which should take her up 110feet (height I set for all my WPs to ensure I dont hit any trees). Then once Solo gets to the last waypoint and in sight I would hit pause on the controller and then bring her down myself.

Would it be preferable and safer to define a land point? I dont want to risk it being way off on the GPS map and have it start descending behind a house where I cant see it.

One more thing, what does this mean "The GCS Failsafe is only active when RC_OVERRIDE is being used to control the vehicle." Also, is it preferable to have a delay at each waypoint? I currently dont have any sort of delay. I just want to fly a quick circuit to test out tower and record it all.

z3r01 · Sep 17, 2015

i would definitely set a land point!!!! i usually set it to go far and return but if i see trouble, i hit pause and then hit home. but on a successful mission, i first take off once gps is acquired, the first way point i set is the takeoff waypoint so i know im clear of things. if your waypoint is 110 ft and your takeoff is lets say the regular take off , if there is something along the way, it will hit. i would set first waypoint as take off and climb to 110 ft then go to that halfblock point

Jubalr · Sep 17, 2015

I generally set my waypoints on the map and when I have the mission ready to upload to Solo I select upload. Then Tower will ask if want to append the mission to include a takeoff and landing waypoint. I select yes and tower automatically add the first and last waypoint as Solo's current position. Now that the WPs are in there, that's great in case they are needed. But I always take off and land manually. I get the Solo about 50' up after takeoff and the select 'Auto' in tower. After it flys the mission it will return to the takeoff point, but when it get's close enough for visually orientation I slect Manual mode and bring it in myself or fly around some then land.

nuggetz · Sep 17, 2015

Jubalr said:
I generally set my waypoints on the map and when I have the mission ready to upload to Solo I select upload. Then Tower will ask if want to append the mission to include a takeoff and landing waypoint. I select yes and tower automatically add the first and last waypoint as Solo's current position. Now that the WPs are in there, that's great in case they are needed. But I always take off and land manually. I get the Solo about 50' up after takeoff and the select 'Auto' in tower. After it flys the mission it will return to the takeoff point, but when it get's close enough for visually orientation I slect Manual mode and bring it in myself or fly around some then land.

That's perfect dude. That's exactly what I want to do. And you do this with disabling the return to land parameter as well? The reason I ask is because you said you allow the software to add a land waypoint so I wasn't sure if you disable the parameter or not

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Greg Parker · Sep 17, 2015

With my Pixhawk FC quad I never use auto take off or landing. I take of manually and confirm the craft is responding correctly and that the sat count is holding. I get above treeline before initiating auto missions fly the waypoints with the last one above where I want to land. I then land it manually.

This IMO is the safest method.

nuggetz · Sep 17, 2015

z3r01 said:
i would definitely set a land point!!!! i usually set it to go far and return but if i see trouble, i hit pause and then hit home. but on a successful mission, i first take off once gps is acquired, the first way point i set is the takeoff waypoint so i know im clear of things. if your waypoint is 110 ft and your takeoff is lets say the regular take off , if there is something along the way, it will hit. i would set first waypoint as take off and climb to 110 ft then go to that halfblock point

I hear ya regarding the takeoff but I wouldn't do any automated takeoff to a WP. What I planned on doing is let solo takeoff and then once it get it up near cruising altitude I check GPS to make sure its still all good then execute the tower mission.

Now let's say for some unlucky reason solo loses gps mid mission. What happens? Does it go into alt hold? Could it drift and regain lock and continue?

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z3r01 · Sep 17, 2015

that im unsure about

Jubalr · Sep 17, 2015

nuggetz said:
I hear ya regarding the takeoff but I wouldn't do any automated takeoff to a WP. What I planned on doing is let solo takeoff and then once it get it up near cruising altitude I check GPS to make sure its still all good then execute the tower mission.

Now let's say for some unlucky reason solo loses gps mid mission. What happens? Does it go into alt hold? Could it drift and regain lock and continue?

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Yes, loss of GPS will put Solo in manual mode. Keep in mind though, that would be very unlikely. Loss of GPS will most always be a few feet off the ground near object or under cover, not at altitude. Loss of controller, yes (goes into RTL), but not loss of GPS. And in case you were going to ask, loss of both and Solo will land where it is.

nuggetz · Sep 17, 2015

Actually I'm wondering if anyone's ever lost GPS in a situation where they were flying a mission via Tower with the RTL parameter disabled. Like you said, chances are low that you'd lose GPS at 100FT but if it did happen I'm thinking that as long as Solo stayed in the air that it would have good chances to re-establish GPS and continue? I'm going to be testing a simple mission soon. I know I will be shitting my pants once the solo leaves my line of sight

nuggetz · Sep 17, 2015

Does anyone know if its possible to create a mission in Mission Planner and import it into Tower to upload to Solo? Is that supported?

erikgraham · Sep 18, 2015

On my Iris I set it to 0 (completely disabled). It's not ideal, but it's usually better if you are doing a long run (say down a river) and you are driving to the end point to take over and land. If you leave it at 2, if I recall correctly, it will try to return home after it completes the auto mission... and I don't want that because it might not make it.

simplyliving4skyshots · Apr 25, 2017

Raybro said:
Connect Solo to Tower. Go into parameters and change the FS_GCS_ENABLE to 2. The default is 1. If you are flying in a crowded wifi area at lower altitude and you know you will have obstructions. Otherwise it will RTL if it loses connection.

Ground Station Failsafe Enable (ArduCopter:FS_GCS_ENABLE)
Controls whether failsafe will be invoked (and what action to take) when connection with Ground station is lost for at least 5 seconds. NB. The GCS Failsafe is only active when RC_OVERRIDE is being used to control the vehicle.

Value Meaning 0 Disabled
1 Enabled always RTL
2 Enabled Continue with Mission in Auto Mode

I set this feature after connecting to the 3DR Solo. You cannot change until you connect to the drone. Once it connects, then you can see all of the parameters. I set up the mission, and auto took off. It goes to my high limit of 125, and stops and waits. Then it has a button called auto. I press that and it takes off for the mission. However, it gets out of range with the 2 setting, and the 0 setting. Both lets it return to home when the link is broken for more than 5 seconds. I don't have it figured out yet, I need it to go over a mile. Maybe the geo-fence needs turned off? Any suggestions.

Also I used a mission within sight. It worked very well, and auto landed. So if I can overcome the RTL, and stop it. I am in good shape. Please any comments to improve this mission. Or tell me why it keeps returning after it loses controller.