The Ardupilot is a very impressive project. Initial test flights consisted of flying the X8 manually and putting it into "stabilise" mode to allow configuration of the PID parameters for the low level flight controller. Subsequent test flights allowed the "fly by wire" (ie decoupled up/down left/right proportional to stick) flight modes to be tested and finally a pre programmed flight path tested with adjustments to the higher level PID parameters for the navigation level controller.

An early autonomous test flight

The image below was created from the log of an autonomous test flight at Aberystwyth Model Flying Club (Bontgoch) on 21/04/2013. It was quite a breezy day as can be seen by the changes ground speed plot (blue). Altitude is shown in red.

test flight 1
(click on image to view full size in new window)

Flight details and video

The following details were logged:

  • Battery recharge = 1079 mAh (total for both battery packs)
  • Total flight time = 10 min 45 sec (01.30->12.14 on video)
  • Total flight distance = 8.41 Km
  • Ave speed for flight = 46.9 Kph
  • Planned (direct between waypoints) mission distance 3.36 Km.
  • Mission time 5 min 12 sec (1.48 -> 7.00 on video) (Auto mode on to start of descent)
  • Ave speed for mission = 38.8 Kph (includes 500m climb) but distance doesn't take account of 'rounding the waypoints', so actually a bit faster.

The battery pack has a rated total capacity 10Ah giving a theoretical 100min or 75min with reserve which should get a very comfortable 50Km round trip. Later flight tests confirmed this was the case, when we flew 50 1.2Km circuits which took just over an hour. The mission was flown twice, in different conditions shown in red and yellow at the end of the video.

Below is a reduced size version of the original HD flight video. If you dont see it because your browser doesn't have a plugin to display .mp4 videos, right click on this link and download it to play using your favourate player.

Google Earth view

The Google earth view of the flight is shown below, if you have JavaScript enabled and a supported browser. If you dont see it because your browser doesn't have the GE plugin, right click on this link and download the .kml file to view in the GE application (this will also allow elevation profiles etc to be viewed).