Hoverfly HF GPS Questions

[jcmonty]

*Note: Posted this over at RC groups, but I am liking this forum more and hoping to get some responses here!

I have read some older topics on the questions that I am about to ask, but I haven't seen anything recently or anything conclusive. So pardon my repetition.

I am getting excellent performance, smooth flying even with wind, on my HF Pro with the latest firmware. I just took some of the smoothest video I have ever flown last night (still not anywhere near the pro's on this site!). I am looking to at GPS capability to my setup purely for the following reasons:

1) Safety - failsafe and RTH in case of a comms loss or other malfunction.
2) Position hold - just to be able to park it into the sky in case i need to.

These are the two features I know that the HF GPS is advertised to do. But does it perform reliably and accurately with the latest firmware? I have seen one video with good results. Anyone out there have any videos to share?

I don't need waypoints right now, since I have another controller that can theoretically do that. My HF Pro is my video rig and doesn't need autonomous capabilities outside of what I listed above.

I also would like to know if there will be future capabilities added and approximately when. Are we going to see compatibility with the new ublox GPS unit that is performing very well on other platforms? I read that the HF was going to look into it.

Thanks!
Jonathan

 

[JZSlenker]

Yes, PH and RTH work very well now provided your craft is setup correctly and doesn't have a lot of ferrous material in it. Keep in mind that failsafe is a function of your TX/RX, not HFP. I have my failsafe set to middle throttle, RTH and AH on.

 

[PaNt]

Yes, PH and RTH work very well now provided your craft is setup correctly and doesn't have a lot of ferrous material in it. Keep in mind that failsafe is a function of your TX/RX, not HFP. I have my failsafe set to middle throttle, RTH and AH on.

Can you tell me the real pros and cons of HFGps??

 

[jcmonty]

Thanks, JZ. Do you have any videos of PH and RTH performing with the latest firmware? When you say setup correctly, I am assuming that you mean flies well in manual and AL and the GPS is in the least EMI susceptible location. Do you have any pictures of your setup?

Also, does the HF team expect Ublox support anytime in the near future? This GPS blows the mediatek out of the water for accuracy from all of the reviews I have read. I am thinking of picking one up for my APM once I have the Y6 setup how I like it. Based on how easy it was for the arducopter team to start using that, I gotta believe it's a simple firmware change. I could be wrong though.

 

[JZSlenker]

JC, I don't have video of the gps in operation, primarily because I don't use it for shooting. PH and RTH are solely a failsafe or "oh sh$t" moment type use for me. In my book the absolute best pro footage is shot in manual by flying smoothly. When I say setup correctly, yes, I mean flying well in manual and in AL. More importantly I mean you have little or no ferrous material on your bird (nothing magnetic). I and others got huge improvement from removing steel bolts and nuts and changing over to aluminum fasteners. You have your GPS mounted away from and video TX. Your have balanced your props and calibrated the compass correctly. If you do these things you will have success with the gps setup.

As for our bird, it's an x-8 built from aluminum tube and machined aluminum plates. Motors are RCtimer, 12" and 13" props. RCtimer 50a escs. Fixed mounted T2i dslr. I'll find some pictures when I get back to a laptop.

 

[jcmonty]

Completely agree on flying in AL and manual for any sort of shooting. Really, I just want it for safety reasons. I have the APM for messing around with autonomous functions, which can be fun but not entirely useful at this stage. Interesting points about the hardware. I haven't considered the non-electronic components as part of the equation. Do you run with a ground plane like this: http://autoquad.org/wiki/wiki/autoquad-hardware-connections/gps-groundplane/ ?

Sounds like an awesome build. Looking forward to pics!

 

[gweleps]

Have you found the .pdf file under that link?
Alain

 

[gweleps]

Find it! sorry..
Alain

 

[JZSlenker]

I haven't forgotten about the pictures, I just had zero time today at the shop to take some. Hopefully tomorrow.