Autonomous success, almost....

sledge57

Member
Tried videoing the bridge again. My flight made it all the way across the bridge then a RTL occurred. Have to check the logs to see why but my money is on the Geo-fence, I upped the limit I had my fence set to but when I calculated the distance needed I measured to the center of the bridge, forgetting that I had planned to fly all the way across it.

If that wasn't it then it was radio range which would be a disappointment. The actual distance to the center of the span is just under 1/4 mile. I do plan on UHF for the Disco Pro but I figured I had good LOS to the copter the whole time (the radio did any way, I'm freaking blind :cool:, need cornea transplants in a few years...) and 1/4 mile should be doable

It was another butt puckering moment (in fact I've decided that's what I'm naming my MRs, the Iris+ is now Butt Pucker 1). It was far enough that I had just lost sight of it and my fpv feed to my monitor had dropped out 20 seconds before. If it wasn't for the telemetry radio connected to my tablet I would have had no idea what was going on. But with Tower (3Dr's app) running on the tablet I could follow the track of the Iris and it alerted me to the RTL event.

Too bad as it was supposed to hover for 5 seconds at that point then continue coming back to me recording the other side of the bridge.

I keep learning things so that's good.

First thing I've learned is it takes a bit of skill to get those awesome video's we see people posting.

Another thing is never fly Auto Mode without the tablet, it was reassuring to see it returning on the screen (even better when the video feed resumed)

Need to learn a lot more about how to get a good video from a MR (can't wait until I come back next year, I'm here 2x a year, I bought a Disco Pro from a guy on the board here and next year I have a number of spots picked out to fly where a good FPV ship could get some amazing shots)

I watched the video and it's disappointing, I plotted a course too close to the bridge and the ROI WP didn't seem to be where I placed it, I put it smack in the middle of the span but the camera was looking a bit past it when flying by on the east side.

The video would also be better if the Iris was lower, IE, closer to the height of the bridge but since I have no way of know what altitude that is I played it safe. Looked good right up the point it got to the bridge though.

Looking at the bridge it also struck me how hair raising it must have been to be on a train crossing it. :eek:

I'll post the video later if anyone want to see it. Not exciting for you I'm sure but it had my heart pumping for a couple minutes
willy_nilly.gif


TLDR: Flew Iris+ thought I was in trouble, I wasn't.... :D
 

cootertwo

Member
That's great, and I want to see the video. Were you using the Iris+ transmitter, or your Taranis? That's one of the many good things of this site, we learn from one another. I have a small problem. I set my Iris up with FPV, through the GoPro, and have a Black Pearl monitor mounted to my transmitter. Works great for framing shots, etc. So I guess when I try an auto mission, I'll have to replace the Black Pearl with my Nexus7. Guess I could put the Pearl on a tripod, or visa-versa. Also, I'm still dreaming of being able to sit in my house, and fly my quads around the yard, while controlling and watching on my computer screen! Ha!
 

sledge57

Member
Ok you asked for it, the entire flight was in auto, from takeoff to landing. Hopefully some day I'll get good at this video stuff, it's the reason I've spent all this money on these things.

Still haven't figured out how to make the flights not be so "jerky" It's hard so far to make the transition from WP to WP smooth.

Using the Taranis, I have no use for the Iris+ radio anymore except as a back up.

I have my Black Pearl on a Tripod and my tablet (Asus 10") is sitting in the back of my van. I set the tripod up there also so I can sit and see tripod, tablet and copter while flying., at least I can do it here at this location.

Going to look for a way to mount tablet or maybe look for Nexus 7 myself, my old eyes like the bigger screen on the Asus though.

If I get a chance tonight I'll pull a backup of my Iris config from the Taranis for you.

 

dazzab

Member
Still haven't figured out how to make the flights not be so "jerky" It's hard so far to make the transition from WP to WP smooth.
Are you using 'spline' way points? Apparently that's exactly what they are for but I'm not sure and haven't used them myself. Have a look and let the rest of us know.
 

sledge57

Member
That entire flight except take off and landing was done with spline WP's as you can see they're still not very smooth...

In MP you can insert additional wps but in Tower you can only tack wp on to the end and then move them around.. Much easier to make a smooth arc if you can insert wp's.

Tempted to try using MP but it's no where near as easy to use as Tower.
 

cootertwo

Member
Well, I'm impressed! I can see where the pucker factor came in. That would have been just about out of sight for me. I haven't flown that far away in controlled mode! I'm pretty sure there are ways to smooth things out in Tower, or Mission Planner. If I can find the link, I bought some really nice monitor/tablet mounts that fit onto the Iris transmitter. Haven't tried them on the Taranis yet, but I'm sure they will fit.
 



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