Planning a Mission for your Arducopter

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

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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

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

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.
  

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Planning A Mission

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.

• 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:
  

• 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.

• 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!

• 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"

• 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:
  

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Auto Grid

• 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:
  

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