Full autonomous slope soaring with the ThermoPilot v5.2

Here a video a the latest firmware of the ThermoPilot v5.2 (2012 version) which uses a new algorithm (MLA) tested in HIL mode on Xplane v9.70 during a full autonomous slope soaring flight in high mountains. The ThermoPilot is a full enhancement of the ArduPlane v2.28 which adds the Thermal Hunting capabilitie and some others features for the gliders pilots. The ThermoPilot v5.0 has been tested successfully in july-august 2011 on a Cularis electro-glider and on oct 2011 on a ASW-24 3m50 electro-glider with an ArduPilot Mega 2560 v1.4 IMU (phase 3). The phase 4, now uses an APM v2 with the v2.28ThP5 firmware. I am using Xplane v9.70 as a test plateform in HIL mode because, it is able to reproduce with accuracy various weather conditions (thermal upwards, dynamic soaring, slope and/or ridge soaring) in a real 3D mapped world...

The ThermoPilot is able to do a cross country soaring mission and it is also able to do a slope soaring pattern pointed by two GPS points. These two points are pointed in flight by the pilot along the slope and then the glider is able to flight itself as long as the dynamics upwards are still actives.

More infos at:
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/arduplane-v2-full-autonomous-flight-hil-simulation-of-a-nimbus-4m

and at: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/thermopilot-project-a-thermal-hunter-glider-drone

Regards, Jean-Louis

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Comments

John Campen April 9, 2014 at 4:42pm

Any updates on this project JLN?
MV Reddy March 6, 2013 at 8:50am

cool. I'm eagerly awaiting your beta release too. Any idea when?
George April 11, 2012 at 11:53pm

This is fantastic Jean-Louis, much congratulations.

I will wait eagerly for a beta release.
robert bouwens April 11, 2012 at 5:33am

again very nice!

best robert
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin April 11, 2012 at 3:18am

Hello Joel,

I am using the Cularis with the ThermoPilot in real flights since october 2010... And today the Cularis have done a lot of hours of full autonomous flight in slope soaring, thermal soaring above the fields and also in cross country soaring missions. Below, you will find a video of real flights done with the Cularis driven by an earlier version the ThermoPilot in high mountain (French Alps) and above the field (Auvergne) during the spring 2011.

Regards, Jean-Louis
Joel Venable April 11, 2012 at 12:30am

Glad I stumbled on this thread. I have plenty of experience with the Cularis, though I have none with Arduplane. I'm on the list for the APM2 and have my MKIII chassis waiting to accept it.

Have you tried the thermal hunting capabilities with the Cularis yet?
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin March 26, 2012 at 11:32pm

Here some photos of the ArduPilot Mega 2560 installed on a Cularis e-Glider (Multiplex). This is my dev platform for the ThermoPilot project. The firmware ThermoPilot v6 is now currently under tests flights. The Cularis is a really good (and cheap) thermal hunter...

Regards,

Jean-Louis
robert bouwens March 25, 2012 at 10:38am

yes, the weather is nice as well as your pictures.

but my sw is not ready.

have to move everything towards a cortex m3 device.

takes a while...
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin March 25, 2012 at 9:57am

Some news about the ThermoPilot project currently in full development and testing... On march 24, 2012, I have done successfully the first flight of my Fashionista, a 5 meters wingspan e-Glider (weight: 7.5 kg).

You may watch the Slide Show of the first flight HERE

Regards,

Jean-Louis
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin February 17, 2012 at 12:29pm

Hello Veikko,

This is fully exact !!! This is the main purpose of the ThermoPilot v5.2...

Jean-Louis

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