Verticle Square

[ross56]

Hi first post


Is it possible, using something like the APM Mission Planner, to plan a mission so a quadcopter makes a verticle square?

    First hover at 1m (Using alt-hold)
    Rise to 2m (Using an infrared ultrasonicdistance sensor)
    Roll 10cm right
    Lower to 1m and hover
    Roll 10cm to the left

Thanks in advanced.

[guest325]

Using mission planner no, the measurements you are asking for are beyond the APM/GPS accuracy - mission planner is for gps coordinates not other sensors. To do this you would most likely either have to develop firmware yourself  incorporating the suitable sensors or get someone to develop it for you. Arduino or Raspberry Pi  may be able to do it with correct programming.

[ross56]

Thanks for your reply Darrell, I am not to intrested in using GPS and I like your Raspberry Pi sugestion. What instrument would allow a quadcopter to roll by ~10cm?

[guest325]

I think that you would possibly need to use a combination of sonar and infra red, I';m not sure how accurate sonar or infra red would be but at a guess it would depend on the quality of the sensors and the algorithms to interpret and initiate the movements.
Just a thought, optical sensors might work if there were no obstructions in the line of sight between the points.
Just for your interest my background is in Mechatronics, it does help with this sort of puzzle!

[shawdreamer]

Wouldn';t his best bet for movements that precise be a mix of ultrasonic for height and optical for lateral, it';d need to be over a good surface for the Sonics to get good returns and have clean defined lines for the optics (something like fake tile lion would work).

The AR Drones could pull off manoeuvres that precise with their on board stock Sonics and optical flow camera... of course they were 5hit for anything else

[Cheredanine]

Woukd suggest combo of Barry and sonar for altitude

Optic as above if you have  some clever coding and math skills for horizontal but actually you should be able, with clever math, to use gyro and acc to give a rough approximation of lateral movement

[ross56]

Thanks for all the suggestions,

For the altitude sensor I think a LeddarTech LeddarOne Optical Rangefinder should do the job perfectly, just the roll sensor to find. Or could you program the  quadcoper to roll for say 0.5 sec? See what distance it moves and using trial and error work it?

I presume at present their is no off the shelf alternative

[Cheredanine]

The latter is what I was suggesting, using the gyro and acc the flight controller knows the aspect of the quad, therefore by controlling this for a set time whilst in altitude hold it should be acievable if slightly less than accurate

[ross56]

Ok great, I had thought this ould be the way to go, thanks a lot.

[Two-Six]

Hi Ross56,

I am intrigued, what do you have in mind?   Why do you want to do this exactly?