Ultimate jets EXO x6a User manual

Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013
EXO x6a operations manual
Contents
0. Operating Manual introduction .............................................................................................................. 3
1. Software operations ............................................................................................................................... 3
1.0. Mission Planner introduction........................................................................................................... 3
1.0.1. Loading Firmware onto APM..................................................................................................... 4
1.0.2. Connect APM to computer........................................................................................................ 5
1.0.3. Connect APM to Mission Planner.............................................................................................. 5
1.0.4. Select firmware ......................................................................................................................... 5
1. 0.5. Connect to MavLink ..................................................................................................................... 6
1.1. Planning a Mission with Waypoints and Events............................................................................... 6
1.1.1 Basic waypoint commands......................................................................................................... 7
1.1.2. Tips............................................................................................................................................ 7
1.1.3. Setting the Home Position ........................................................................................................ 8
1.1.4. Instructions ............................................................................................................................... 9
1.1.5. Auto grid ................................................................................................................................. 11
1.1.6. Basic waypoint commands scripts .......................................................................................... 11
1.2. Mission planner Ground Control Station ....................................................................................... 17
1.2.1 The GCS Flight Data Screen ...................................................................................................... 17
1.2.2. Guided Mode .......................................................................................................................... 19
1.3. Mission planner telemetry logs...................................................................................................... 20
1.3.1. Log Types (Dataflash vs tlogs) ................................................................................................. 20
1.3.2.When and where tlogs are created.......................................................................................... 20

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1.3.3. Setting the datarate ................................................................................................................ 20
1.3.4. Playing back missions.............................................................................................................. 21
1.3.5. Creating 3d images of the flight path...................................................................................... 23
1.3.6. Extracting parameters and Waypoints.................................................................................... 25
1.3.7. Graphing data from a flight..................................................................................................... 26
1.3.8. Video overview of tlogs........................................................................................................... 27
1.4. Downloading and analysing data logs in Mission Planner.............................................................. 27
1.4.1. Log Types (Dataflash vs tlogs) ................................................................................................. 27
1.4.2. Setting what data you want recorded..................................................................................... 28
1.4.3.Downloading Logs with the Mission Planner ........................................................................... 31
1.4.4.Viewing the contents ............................................................................................................... 32
1.4.5. Message Details (APM:Copter specific)................................................................................... 35
1.4.6. Viewing KMZ FILES .................................................................................................................. 41
1.4.7. Video Tutorials ........................................................................................................................ 41
1.5. Using Ground Station Apps on Phones/Tablets ............................................................................. 41
1.5.1. Andropilot............................................................................................................................... 42
1.5.2. Droidplanner........................................................................................................................... 44
1.5.3. iOS Devices.............................................................................................................................. 44
1.6. Other Mission Planner features ..................................................................................................... 45
1.7. Using the Python Scripting Language with Mission Planner .......................................................... 46
1.8. Using the Mission Planner serial terminal...................................................................................... 48
1.9. Mission Planner Troubleshooting .................................................................................................. 48
1.9.1. Troubleshooting your APM connection from MissionPlanner ................................................ 49
2. Platform operations.............................................................................................................................. 50
2.0 Ground and flight operations introduction..................................................................................... 50
2.1. Platfrom transportation................................................................................................................. 50
2.2. Platform pre-flight procedures ...................................................................................................... 50
2.3. In flight operations......................................................................................................................... 50
2.3.1. Takeoff .................................................................................................................................... 50
2.3.2. Navigation............................................................................................................................... 50
2.3.3. Fligth modes............................................................................................................................ 50
2.3.4. Landing.................................................................................................................................... 50

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2.4. Post flight operations..................................................................................................................... 50
0. Operating Manual introduction
This manual is split in two main parts:
1. The software operations part that explains how to setup and use the 3D Robotics APM
autopilot
2. The platform operations part that explains how to setup and use the hardware
1. Software operations
1.0. Mission Planner introduction

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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
1.0.1. Loading Firmware onto APM
APM firmware is the brains of your autopilot operation, created and maintained by the dedicated
open source community. Downloading the latest firmware onto APM is an important part of first

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time setup and also useful when updating APM‟s existing firmware. These instructions will show
you how to download the latest firmware onto APM.
1.0.2. Connect APM to computer
Once you‟ve downloaded Mission Planner onto your ground station computer, connect APM to
your computer using the micro USB connector and APM‟s micro USB port. Use a direct USB
port on your computer, not a USB hub. Click on images to enlarge.
Windows will automatically detect APM and install the correct driver software. If you get a
message stating “driver not found”, follow these instructions to download the software manually.
1.0.3. Connect APM to Mission Planner
Next we‟ll let Mission Planner know which port we‟re using to connect to APM. In Mission
Planner, use the drop-down menus in the upper-right corner of the screen (near the Connect
button) to connect to APM. Select Arduino Mega 2560 and set the Baud rate to 115200 as
shown. Don‟t hit Connect just yet.
1.0.4. Select firmware
Now we‟ll select which firmware to download to APM; this depends on the configuration of
your craft. Select the Hardware screen from the icons at the top of the display. Choose your
copter‟s frame by clicking the corresponding icon: Quad, Hexa, Y6, plane, rover, or other. (We‟ll
specify + or x configuration later.) The firmware screen will not appear if you have already
selected Connect, so ensure that Mission Planner shows a disconnected icon in the upper-right
corner to access the firmware.

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Once you select your frame, Mission Planner will automatically detect the latest firmware
version for your craft and prompt you to confirm the download. Select Yes to download the
firmware onto APM. When the download status reads Done, your firmware download is
complete.
1. 0.5. Connect to MavLink
Select Connect (upper-right corner of the screen) to load MavLink parameters to APM. Mission
Planner will display a window showing the progress of the MavLink download.
When the window displays Done and Mission Planner shows the Disconnect option in place
of Connect, your APM firmware has been downloaded successfully.
1.1. Planning a Mission with Waypoints and Events
In Mission Planner you can create missions use the easy point-and-click Waypoint Editor created by
Michael Oborne.

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Note: Although this uses APM:Copter as the main example the primary methods apply for
APM:Plane and APM:Rover although altitude control is severely limited in APM:Rover.
It is very important to acquire GPS lock before arming in order for RTL, Loiter, Auto or
any GPS dependent mode to work properly.
1.1.1 Basic waypoint commands
A mission file is a little intimidating to the human eye, but is a powerful scripting language for
the autopilot. (Again, remember that the GCS will soon take care of all of this for you. You
shouldn‟t have to see it yourself for long!).
You can have as many commands as you want, ranging from pre-programmed ones to ones that
you can create. Here are some common ones:
{NAV_WAYPOINT n/a, alt, lat, lon}
{NAV_TAKEOFF pitch, target altitude}
{NAV_LAND n/a, alt, lat, lon}
{DO_JUMP waypoint, n/a, repeat count, n/a} Goes to that waypoint and resumes mission there.
Set repeat count to any number greater than 1 to do it that many times. or to -1 to do it forever.
Good for looping missions.
(Note: DO_xxx commands currently need a dummy waypoint placed after the command
eg:
WAYPOINT_1
DO_SET_HOME
WAYPOINT_2
Home will be set at WAYPOINT_1 but will not work if WAYPOINT_2 is not there.)
You can read more about auto landing and takeoff here.
1.1.2. Tips
Prefetch: You can cache map data so you don’t need Internet access at the field. Click the
Prefetch button, and hold down Alt to draw a box to download the selected imagery of a
location.
Grid: This allows you to draw a polygon (right click) and automatically create waypoints over the
selected area. Note that it does not do “island detection”, which means if you have a big

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polygon and a little one inside of that, the little one will not be excluded from the big one
(see this for more). Also, in the case of any polygon that partialy doubles backs on itself (like the
letter U), the open area in the center will be included as part of the flyover.
Setting your home location to the current location is easy, just click “Home Location” above
where you enter your home location, and it will set your home location to the current
coordinates.
You can measure the distance between waypoints by right-clicking at one end and selecting
Measure Distance. Then right-click on the other end and select Measure Distance again. A dialog
box will open with the distance between the two points.
1.1.3. Setting the Home Position
For APM:Copter the home position is set as the location where the copter was armed. This
means if you execute an RTL in APM:Copter, it will return to the location where it was armed,
so arm your copter in the location you want it to return to.
For APM:Plane the home position is the location of the plane where the GPS was locked. This
means if you execute an RTL in APM:Plane, it will return to the location where it first acquired
the GPS lock, so only power up your plane in the location you intend it to return to when
performing an RTL.
Video: Produce and save a Multi-waypoint Mission
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAjkuJdjZw4&feature=player_embedded
Video: Load an already saved Multi-waypoint Mission
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBq8YHShkVU&feature=player_embedded

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1.1.4. Instructions
Note: When APM:Copter executes the Land command it will land from its current
location. It will not fly to a location, then land like the planes do. If you want to land at a
particular waypoint, you must fly to a normal WP, then the next command will be
Land. The Absolute Altitude checkbox in the Mission Planner is ignored. ArduCopter only
uses the default relative altitude.
In the screenshot above, a mission for arducopter starts with an auto takeoff to 20 meters
attitude; then goes to WP 2 rising to 100 meters altitude on the way, then waits 10 seconds; then
the craft will proceed to WP 3 (descending to 50 meters altitude on the way), then returns to
launch. Since the default altitude is 100 meters, the return to launch will be at 100 meters. After
reaching the launch position, the craft will land. The mission assumes that the launch position is
set at the home position.

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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.
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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1.1.5. 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 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:
1.1.6. Basic waypoint commands scripts
WAYPOINT

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Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
Delay (seconds)
Altitude (meters)
Latitude
Longitude
Mavlink command is NAV_WAYPOINT
Delay option is triggered after the craft reaches the waypoint radius. The Next command is
loaded after the delay.
Delay time is in seconds, the default is 0
Waypoint Option Bitmask –no yet available in the Mission Planner
bit 0
Altitude is stored
0: Absolute
1: Relative
bit 1
Change Alt between WP
0: Gradually
1: ASAP
bit 2
bit 3
Req.to hit WP.alt to continue
0: No
1: Yes
bit 4
Relative to Home
0: No
1: Yes
bit 5
bit 6
bit 7
Move to next Command
0: YES
1: Loiter until commanded
LOITER_UNLIM
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Will cause the craft to begin to Loiter at the current location when the command is invoked.
LOITER_TIME

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Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
Time in seconds
Altitude (in meters)
Latitude
Longitude
Will cause the craft to begin to Loiter at the current location when the command is invoked.
Optionally give a location to loiter at that wp –The clock starts ticking after the WP is reached.
LOITER_TURNS
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
Number of turns (N x 360°)
N/A
N/A
N/A
Will cause the craft to begin to orbit the current location when the command is invoked.
RETURN_TO_LAUNCH
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
N/A
Altitude (meters)
N/A
N/A
Will cause the craft to return to the home position set when the craft is armed (requires GPS
Lock!)
If Altitude is 0, craft will return to home at the altitude specified by the Mission Planner
LAND
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Will cause the craft to land at the current location when the command is invoked.
If you have Sonar, the craft will stop holding position at 3 meters and drop straight down.
The motors will not stop on their own, you must exit the AP mode to cut the engines

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TAKEOFF
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
N/A
Altitude (meters)
N/A
N/A
Will cause the craft to take off and hold position until the altitude is reached.
CONDITION_DELAY
N/A
N/A
Time in Seconds
N/A
Will delay the execution of the next conditional command.
CONDITION_DISTANCE
N/A
N/A
Distance (meters)
N/A
Will override the next waypoint altitude.
Useful when used after a delay or distance conditional command
CONDITION_CHANGE_ALT
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
N/A
Altitude (meters)
N/A
N/A
Will override the next waypoint altitude.
Useful when used after a delay or distance conditional command
CONDITION_YAW

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Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
Direction (1=clockwise,
0=counter)
Relative: amount (degrees), Absolute:
ending angle(degrees)
Speed
(meters/s)
Relative angle change
= 1, Absolute = 0
Fine grain controls of the Yaw
DO_SET_MODE
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
Not Implemented
DO_JUMP
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
The desired command index
# of Jumps
DO_CHANGE_SPEED
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
Speed (in meters/s)
* Speed change will stick until reboot
DO_SET_RELAY
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
1 = on, 0 = off, -1 = toggle
N/A
N/A
N/A
* Toggling the Relay will turn an off relay on and vice versa
DO_REPEAT_RELAY

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Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
N/A
# of repetitions
cycle time (in seconds)
>N/A
* Toggling the Relay will turn an off relay on and vice versa
DO_SET_SERVO
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
Servo channel (1-8)
PWM (1000-2000)
N/A
N/A
DO_REPEAT_SERVO
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
Servo channel (5-8)
PWM (1000-2000)
# of repetitions
cycle time (in seconds)
DO_CONTROL_VIDEO
Option
Alt
Lat
Lon
DO_SET_ROI
Yaw tracking option
ALtitude (in meters)
Latitude
Longitude
Setting will persist until reboot
The location is optional
The option is a number from 0 to 4
MAV_ROI_NONE = 0: Yaw will hold it’s current angle
MAV_ROI_WPNEXT = 1: Yaw will point at next WP
MAV_ROI_WPINDEX = 2: Yaw will point at the desired WP at the index #
MAV_ROI_LOCATION = 3: Yaw will point at the indicated location (The location in the command)
MAV_ROI_TARGET = 4: Not implemented
Note: When you’re using the Jump command, remember that waypoint logic can be a bit
confusing. A waypoint command means “start heading to this WP”, not “wait until you get
to this WP.” So, for example, if you put a “Jump to WP1″ command in-between WP4 and

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WP5, the aircraft will never get to WP5. That’s because once it starts heading in the
direction of WP5, it then executes the next command, which is the jump, and that takes
priority. So in that instance, if you want the aircraft to hit WP5, you’d create a fake WP6
and issue the Jump command after that.
A full guide to MAVLink command and parameter syntax for developers can be found in
the Developer section. (Click on Community, select Developer, then look in the table of
contents.
Video: How to prefetch a stored Mission Map
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s8gsXTdPY8&feature=player_embedded
Video: Occasionally You will see some really big Numbers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ClTnggZKk&feature=player_embedded
1.2. Mission planner Ground Control Station
1.2.1 The GCS Flight Data Screen

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The above is the main Ground Station view of the Mission Planner, showing the Heads-up
Display (HUD). Once you have connected via MAVLink over USB or wireless telemetry the
dials and position on this screen will display the telemetry sent by APM.
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 APM:Plane status, the output meaning is as follows:
o“WPDist” : Distance to next waypoint in meters
o“Bearing ERR”: How far your UAV is from the perfect line to the next waypoint
o“Alt ERR”: How far your UAV is from the target altitude
o“WP”: Next waypoint to hit
o“Mode”: Current autopilot mode.
“APM:Plane 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.

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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.
1.2.2. Guided Mode
One of the most commonly-used features in pro UAVs is point-and-click mission control in real
time. Rather than just pre-planned missions or manually flying the UAV, operators can just click
on a map and say “go here now”.
That‟s now implemented in the Mission Planner. 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”. There are more commands coming in this mode soon,
but the functionality is now built-in.

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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.
1.3. Mission planner telemetry logs.
1.3.1. Log Types (Dataflash vs tlogs)
There are two ways to record your flight data with ArduCopter. With some exceptions, the two
methods record very similar data but in different ways:
dataflash logs use the APM‟s onboard 16Mb dataflash memory, which you can
download after use. See table of contents.
telemetry logs (also known as “tlogs” and the subject of this page) are recorded by the
mission planner when you connect your APM to your computer via your 3DR or Xbee
wireless telemetry link or USB.
1.3.2.When and where tlogs are created
Tlogs are recordings of the MAVLink telemetry messages sent between the APM/PX and the
groundstation and are automatically created the moment you press the connect button on the
mission planner. Files of the format YYYY-MM-DD hh-mm-ss.tlog appear in the “logs”
subfolder in your Mission Planner installation folder or to the location you select in the Planner
options [Config/Tuning] [Planner].
Besides the “.tlog” files, “.rlog” files are also created. These contain all the .tlog data plus
additional debug output from the mission planner. but cannot be parsed or played back so they
should be ignored.
1.3.3. Setting the datarate
The desired rate at which data is sent from the APM/PX to the ground station can be controlled
through the mission planner‟s Software > Planner screen‟s Telemetry drop-downs. Because all