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Planning a Mission for your Arducopter

2/26/2013

29 Comments

 
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The Mission Planner, created by Michael Oborne, does a lot more than its name. Here are some of the features:
  • Point-and-click waypoint entry, using Google Maps.
  • Select mission commands from drop-down menus
  • Download mission log files and analyze them
  • Configure APM settings for your airframe
  • Interface with a PC flight simulator to create a full hardware-in-the-loop UAV simulator.
  • See the output from APM's serial terminal


If you haven't done so already, download the Mission Planner here (it will be called APM !Mission Planner x.x.xx.msi).

Mission Planner Overview

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Mission Planner Overview - click for large image
A few tips:
  • The map will only show current position when you have GPS lock or are using a flight simulator
  • Remember how artificial horizons work: when the aircraft tilts to the right, the horizon tilts to the left. (Just tilt your head and you'll see what I mean). This is normal! Please don't tell us it's reversed ;-)
  • For AutoPlane status, the output meaning is as follows:
    • "WPDist" : Distance to next waypoint in meters
    • "Bearing ERR": How far your UAV is from the perfect line to the next waypoint
    • "Alt ERR": How far your UAV is from the target altitude
    • "WP": Next waypoint to hit
    • "Mode": Current autopilot mode.
  • "ArduPlane output" means the autopilot's outputs on the first four channels
  • You can issues mode changes and other action commands in the air with the Mission Planner and other GCSs, but note that you must be under autopilot control for them to take effect. When your RC toggle switch is in the Manual position, you are no longer under autopilot control and no commands will take effect. You must be in one of the other positions (Stabilize, Fly-by-Wire, Auto or any other autopilot-controlled mode) for MAVlink commands to take effect.
  • You can change the voice used in the speech synthesis in the Ease of Access center in Windows Control Panel. Go to the "Text to Speech" options.
  • If you double-click the HUD it will popout, allowing you to run the hud full screen on a second screen.
  • If you double-click on the Speed Guage you can modify the max scale you want to display.
  • If you enable the Tuning checkbox and double-click tuning you can graph any data that is available in the status tab. This means you can have alt, attitude, or many other options in real time.
  • You can use custom imagery instead of Google Maps. Press control-F. This allows you to upload your own orthophotos. Use will require Globalmapper, as this is currently one of the key steps in exporting in the required format for use in the planner.

Guided Mode

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Arducopter Guided Mode
  • On the GCS map, you can right-click on the map and just select "Fly To Here". The UAV will fly there and loiter until you give it another command. We call this "Guided Mode".
  • Note: Guided is a separate flight mode. If you enter it you will remain in it until you do something to change modes. So if you tell it to "go here now", once it arrives there it will loiter at the Guided waypoint till you tell it to do something else. Something else could either be going to another Guided waypoint (staying in Guided mode) or changing to some other flight mode. If you change to Auto your mission will resume where it left off.

Planning A Mission

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You can plan missions on the Flight Planner Tab
  • You can plan missions on the Flight Planner Tab
  • Add waypoints by simple double clicking on the map where you want to add a waypoint, the table on the bottom of the screen can be used to change the waypoint or command  type
  • You can enter waypoints and other commands (see below for the full list). In the dropdown menus on each row, select the command you want. The column heading will change to show you what data that command requires. Lat and Lon can be entered by clicking on the map. Altitude is relative to your launch altitude, so if you set 100m, for example, it will fly 100m above you.

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  • You can set a home position by clicking on the Home lat or lon and then clicking on the map. Or, if the map is not already centered on the field you're going to be flying at, you can search for it by clicking on the "Zoom To" button and entering your location in the search box, as shown:
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  • Default Alt is the default altitude when entering new waypoints. It's also the altitude RTL (return to launch) mode will fly at if you have "Hold Default ALT" checked; if you don't have that checked, your aircraft will try to maintain the altitude it was at when you switched on RTL.


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  • Verify height means that the Mission Planner will use Google Earth topology data to adjust your desired altitude at each waypoint to reflect the height of the ground beneath. So if your waypoint is on a hill, if this option is selected the Mission Planner will increase your ALT setting by the height of the hill. This is a good way to make sure you don't crash into mountains!

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  • Once you are done with your mission, select "Write" and it will be sent to APM and saved in EEPROM. You can confirm that it's as you wanted by selecting "Read"
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  • You can save multiple mission files to your local hard drive by selecting "Save WP File" or read in files with "Load WP File" in the right-click menu:

Auto Grid

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  • You can also have the Mission Planner create a mission for you, which is useful for function like mapping missions, where the aircraft should just go back and forth in a "lawnmower" pattern over an area to collect photographs.

  • To do this, in the right-click menu select Polygon and draw a box/shape around the area you want to map. Then select Auto WP, Grid. Follow the dialog box process to select altitude and spacing. The Mission Planner will then generate a mission that looks something like this:


29 Comments
Muzo
11/6/2013 05:39:11 pm

thank you for this tutorials. but I wonder if we have large area, and we had created mission planner. While the mission is going on battery will be low or finish. how can we control it again?or mission planner will show the flight time? or how?
thanks

Reply
Admin
11/6/2013 06:42:23 pm

Currently there is no way to find the time of a mission as there are many different vehicles that the planner can control, and also wind can change mission time. You can see the total mission distance in the planner and get an estimate based on your vehicles average speed. But in regards to battery, you can set up a failsafe with your ardupilot board so that if battery gets below a certain level you can land or return home.

Reply
Muzo
11/6/2013 08:00:46 pm

hmm.. it is ok. Thank you very much for your fast reply.
this issue is important I think. because maybe we need to create an area in planner according as our vehicle flight time.

Muzo
11/6/2013 08:01:03 pm

hmm.. it is ok. Thank you very much for your fast reply.
this issue is important I think. because maybe we need to create an area in planner according as our vehicle flight time.

Muzo
11/6/2013 08:01:37 pm

hmm.. it is ok. Thank you very much for your fast reply. this issue is important I think. because maybe we need to create an area in planner according as our vehicle flight time.

ABDULLAH AL MAMUN
11/11/2013 01:09:08 pm

Here can you elaborate this line? "Configure APM settings for your airframe" . Does that mean that beside the mandatory hardware setting I also have to fix the P,I,D values for my airframe. Does setting the correct PID values are important for a good GPS based navigation. please reply thank in advance.

Reply
Admin
11/11/2013 09:11:38 pm

Most important thing is to set the frame orientation, and type. The PID's are important but the default ones should work fine to start with. Once you are confident with you everything works you can fine tune the PID's for the best performance, but as I said the defaults work just fine for 90% of the frames out there.

Reply
ABDULLAH AL MAMUN
11/16/2013 04:58:31 am

which mode should I select for GPS based waypoint navigation? Beside if I Have a stabilize mode in the three position switch of the RC transmitter ... can I switch to stabilize mode from auto ? I want to know if something went wrong during the waypoint navigation or in auto mode can I switch back to stabilize mode and take the control of my copter? and thank you for your early reply last time.

Reply
Admin
11/16/2013 07:31:43 pm

Yes you can switch between auto mode and stabilize mode if something goes wrong (like you set a waypoint directly in the line of a tree!) to take manual control again. On your 3 position switch its a good idea to set the modes as stabilize, loiter, and auto.

Reply
ABDULLAH AL MAMUN
11/16/2013 09:03:50 pm

thank you .... :) I have a lots of confusion about the loiter mode. can you tell me what exactly this mode does? and is there any other mode beside auto to perform a fully autonomous GPS based waypoint navigation? my copter seems to drift a direction always.. that means it doesn't stay in position.... Can I perform a GPS based navigation in this condition? or do I have to make it hover in one point using auto or save trim before going to auto mode?

Reply
Chuck Stein
3/8/2014 02:23:20 pm

You say ctr F to load custom Globalmapper images. After ctl F, which button is used to load custom images?? NOt clear to me.

Reply
Michael
3/28/2014 12:36:09 pm

After loading a wp file onto my pixhawk. what do I do next? just turn it on? I just got it today and I am confused on what to do to get it to actually run the file that has been uploaded to it.

Reply
Admin
3/30/2014 04:14:54 am

You need to set your flight modes on your radio and pixhawk. But to start the missing you simply need to change to auto mode one the pixhawk has been armed and it will start the autonomous mission!

Reply
floyd
8/1/2014 02:23:01 am

hi i planned a mission and it worked flawlessly apart from the takeoff , when i selected auto it done nothing but if i took off then selected auto it done the mission, do i need the altitiude for takeoff set to zero cheers

Reply
Gerry link
8/20/2014 06:57:06 pm

To take off in auto.
Arm the Multicopter then switch to auto mode.
move the throttle off the bottom and the copter will take off and run it's mission.

Reply
chris
10/19/2014 07:17:23 pm

Hi, one point to be sure before first planning flight. I know that Mission Planner operate with Relative altitude. BUT for Home location, now I set it on the map and it shows 0 in the Alt (ABS) Tab. My question is very simple, As I'm at around 750 meters high, do I have to set this value in the Home Location as this is written ABS ? Thanks.

Reply
pablo
1/12/2015 06:35:49 pm

Hi,you don't have to put your abs altitude in home location,it's enough to put it to 0 and all the altitudes during the mission relative to that:p.e:you put 10 mts in wps so you will fly 10m above your armed position

Reply
chris
1/12/2015 07:11:04 pm

Thanks Pablo

phd project proposal link
2/6/2015 09:19:47 pm

Useful article on Arducopter, I am pleased with your work. I look forward to following your work, I'm sure they will be as interesting. Thank you for everything.

Reply
willie baptiste jr
2/27/2015 11:50:59 pm

Thanks for all the information. Just started in mission planner with apm. Confusing. But starting to come together!

THANK WILLIE

Reply
Ralph
3/10/2015 11:03:05 pm

Hi, if I connect an APM to my Mission Planner on my laptop with a USB cable, must the flight battery also be connected. If the flight battery is not connected, the APM keeps on making a beeping sound until I connect the flight battery.

Reply
Michael Finn-Henry
7/28/2015 06:38:07 am

if you want to fly using just the remote control and no autopilot how do you arm your drone and what are the steps you take to configure it.

Reply
Angeline
2/1/2016 07:54:34 am

Hi, was wondering if i was to do an autonomous flight (totally without using any transmitter), how do i start to takeoff and carry out my mission after setting my way point ?

Reply
Victor
5/11/2016 03:12:14 pm

My Quad copter is not arming due (I believe) that on the summary almost at the end of the wizard there is an unchecked box "Does the autopilot have GPS lock" How can I correct this?
Thanks a million for your help.

Reply
Victor
5/11/2016 03:12:38 pm

My Quad copter is not arming due(I believe that on the summary almost at the end of the wizard there is an unchecked box "Does the autopilot have GPS lock" How can I correct this?
Thanks a million for your help.

Reply
glini
6/29/2016 11:10:10 am

As you begged for this ;) The artificial horizon is reversed... no, really! Nose down, horizont line down, too. Hexa tilted left, horizont tilts left, too. Only yaw showing correctly. Tried accel calibration, without succes. Any help appreciated :)

Reply
david phillips
7/10/2016 09:21:19 pm

The artificial horizon in reversed in Russion mode. Right click it and click Russian Mode

Reply
ahmed
3/6/2017 03:16:39 am

i am building my DIY autonoumous quadcopter and i am using arduino uno for the flight controller and and for the other modules i am going to use like the gps,gsm and other sensors,
i am using gps module SKM58 with arduino uno and ardino code for sending the cureent location of the drone
and i have a couple of questions.
1) can this mission planner work with arduino uno?and do i need any modifications for the code?

2)if my drone is somewhere far from me,can i send to it a command as my location to come to me?and how?taking in considerations that at this moment i am not connect to it through the usb port or Bluetooth to make mission plan for it.

Thanks in advance

Reply
riswan
5/4/2019 12:16:51 am

can we fly the fixed wing drone which doesnot have any obstacle avoidance sensor over the mountain with mission planner?

Reply



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