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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Dr Mike Black on July 8, 2010 at 10:18am

That is weird,

Daft question....you are not trying to upload WP`s to the IMU are you?!?

config tool..

I have a crude work around...

connect to internet, create mission...DONT close config tool save mission....if the tool is open and i go to the filed to test...it thinks it still connected,as its all cached... so can write, re-write WP`s as needed...move then around etc..

Another thought occurs to me...

i have to unplug the IMU to upload WP`s...

this is really important as its using the same port..

what i do is pull the power from teh IMU (its using the AP header to power it)...upload....and its fine.....if i dont pull the power (or connecter) i can not ever upload...(makes perfect sence when uyou think about it....)

I suspect, you have not disconnected/powered down the IMU before uploading Wp`s...

give that a shot...that got me the first few times....until i stared at it long enough to realise my muppetry!

also when you -reboot the AP you should see your WP`s in the first few lines if connected to A18 serial window (i bodged a lead to check that it was doing what i had intended)

hope this helps.

Mike.

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Permalink Reply by space_nut on July 8, 2010 at 10:36am

Thanks Mike,

You are correct. I normally disconnect the serial connection to the IMU but I leave it powered and I leave the Ground Start connection, too.

Also, that's a great workaround for field use of the Config Tool.

For serial output, I tend to use a plain old "Terminal" session and capture to text. It was teling me I only had one waypoint, even after I confirmed using the config tool. So I will try your technique.

Hopefully, I too will be rescued from being a muppet ;)

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Permalink Reply by space_nut on July 8, 2010 at 10:39am

Hey, whadya mean by the A18 serial window? Is this just the Arduino 0018 serial?

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Dr Mike Black on July 8, 2010 at 10:44am

LOL..yes Arduino 18.....

its on the same port so it will never upload...excellent...looks like a possible sollution.

Good luck with this....hopefully this is the last step!

looking forward to your thoughts.

Mike.

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Permalink Reply by Christof Schmid on July 9, 2010 at 11:53am

Hi Space Nut

I guess you where following the 2.6.2 Beta blog. I mentioned the wrong H position several times.

When the serial is blocked, config tool gives out a message. When all the WP's are loaded there will be a confirmation.

Make sure that you do not use the manual switch in CT. This way the H position will never be updated at boot.

Sometimes it happens at boot before flying that the current H position is not stored correct. Usually at second boot its fine. This morning my plane tried to escape to an infinite H position after mission. In GCS the H position is disolayed correct, although the "real" H position is somwhere else.

Jason knows about the problem and I am sure he will track it down shortly.

Best Christof

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Permalink Reply by space_nut on July 10, 2010 at 3:21pm

Hey Christof,

Thanks for the pointer. It helped alot!

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Permalink Reply by space_nut on July 12, 2010 at 11:29am

So I tried the field use of Config Tool yesterday. Waypoints were OK but my ALH still went bonkers. For autoland, I want an ALH of zero (pls confirm?), yet it insisted on setting it to 40.

Mind you, my Easystar wants to descend and I need to nudge it upwards to keep it in the air. I'm tempted to write some confirmation code for HOME and ALH values. Note 2.6.2 sets the home value after GPS_flag changes to -1 so I keep an eye on this in my GCS

Here's a video log of my test flight.

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Permalink Reply by Christof Schmid on July 12, 2010 at 4:03pm

Hi space nut

I read your comment in the 2.6.3 blog. Altitude is set to altitude of your H or boot up location. From there your altitude set for the WP's with config tool is added to the H alt and the result is the Abs alt of WP above sealevel.

eg Homeloc altitude is 460m above sealevel (stored at startup from GPS Data). You shoud read/hear that in the GCS. Your WP1 shows 50m. That means WP 1 has 510m above sealevel.

There used to be a problem with the H altitude at the first boot. Due to my littele accident on sunday I could not test the patches yet. But tomorrow....

Best
Christof

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Permalink Reply by space_nut on July 12, 2010 at 11:38pm

Hi Christof,

Let me try to understand this. The when the GCS displays a value, it means that the target height is "home.alt" + waypoint height? The reason I ask is that my GCS sometimes displays the actual altitude and other times just the waypoint height above the home.alt

Right now, my easystar needs alot of "nudging" up on the elevator to stay in the air. XY navigation seems OK (although I've chewed up a few servos and ripped the tail from the strain during turning). It seems to want to descend which is consistent with a home.alt value of zero - I'm going to test the code tomorrow and print out the home values once the GPS_flag indicator has reached a healthy value

Sorry to hear about your crash - it is a nice mod. I have a similar collection of easystars without noses. planning to use them for FPV and stick a camera where the nose was..

Look forward to hearing about your tests!

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Permalink Reply by Christof Schmid on July 13, 2010 at 1:48am

Hi space nut

I publish my test of today here

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Permalink Reply by Christof Schmid on July 13, 2010 at 8:27am

Hi space nut

When you GCS displays just the WP height, the H position altitude is 0 and not valid. Make sure before takoff, that the coordinates and alt of H are correct. There was an issue about that in 2.6.1 but should be resolved by now. If your alt is not displayed correct, the coordinates might be wrong too. Boot again and you should be fine. Make sure that the "set manual" flag in configtool is "off" .

Use the ArdupilotGCS for good and reliable results. Make sure the GCS is running before booting AP. Your H and WP's will be diplayed nicly on Google Earth and are easy to check.

Best

Christof

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