For this fly day, the goal was to simply spend more time learning the Paparazzi system. First we established the neutral values for the IR sensors by covering them and verifying that the outputs were around 512 (we got lucky and didn’t have to make adjustments). After we verified correct operation of all control surfaces, an initial flight was done in manual mode and AUTO1. While in AUTO1 we tuned the neutral values for the roll and pitch to ensure that the plane flew level and straight. With this done the autopilot was instructed to circle the standby waypoint and was switched into AUTO2. In this mode we began to tune the horizontal and vertical control loops. After a few rounds of AUTO2 tuning an autonomous hand launch was attempted. While the first attempt nearly rammed the aircraft into a cactus, the second launch was very successful.
Page Ranch, the autopilot and RC testbed
The ground station setup
The ground station from the outside. More importantly though, check out that awesome lunchbox