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Flight Procedure

  1. Review Flight Safety instructions
  2. Review Flight Safety instructions again
  3. Set your QGroundControl parameter selections
    1. Especially EKF2_HGT_MODE (see PX4 Parameter Reference)
      1. Set value to 2 for using TeraRanger distance sensor readings directly for z-axis position measurements
      2. Set value to 3 for using MoCAp or TeraRanger readings mapped through the MoCap topic (see distance_sensor_override.py) for z-axis position measurements
  4. Configure relevant files such as uav.launch, px4_config.yaml, & px4_pluginlists.yaml
    1. Select which RealSense cameras to use, z-axis estimate mode, etc.
  5. Safely place drone in the flying cage and reboot/prearm the Pixhawk 4
    1. You must be wearing PPE (gloves, safety glasses, ear muffs).
    2. Prearming is done with the pre-arming button.
  6. Launch necessary ROS nodes
    1. roslaunch rpl uav.launch
  7. Verify the TeraRanger distance sensor is actively reporting distance values either through MAVROS or in QGroundControl (unless using alternative z-axis position source)
    1. If not, repeat the reboot/prearm procedure until it is.
  8. Begin recording video of flight with an external camera (w/ a view of the flight area)
  9. Begin recording a rosbag of point cloud data (by default, there is a rosbag being recorded with all relevant topics -mavros and tf- when launching the uav.launch file )
    1. rosbag record --lz4 -O cameras_outside_net.b_2ag /tf /tf_static /l515/depth/color/points /d435_r/depth/color/points /d435_l/depth/color/points
  10. Arm the drone with the Arming Gesture
    1. Requires that the mode switch is set to Manual Mode (should be [SA] if you followed our Flight Modes setup instructions)
    2. The Taranis X9D Plus is a Mode 2 transmitter (should be default)
  11. Visually verify all propellers are spinning
  12. Takeoff in Manual Mode by pushing the left throttle stick up towards a max of ~ 50% until you are ~ 1 m above ground
    1. This requires getting a feel for how fast to accelerate based on the drone's specific configuration during this flight
  13. Switch to Position Mode (Multicopter) by flipping the [SA] switch to centered position
  14. Center the throttle switch at 50% and fly based on Position Mode (Mode 2 remote) instructions
  15. When you are ready to land, or hear the low voltage alarm, fly above a flat landing spot and throttle stick down in Position Mode until the drone lands
  16. Switch to Manual Mode ([SA] up) and disarm with the disarming gesture
  17. Stop ROS nodes, ROSBAG recording, and external video recording
  18. Enter the flying cage (with full PPE) and fully disarm the pre-arming button
  19. Proceed to Flight Reporting instructions