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You're reading from  Designing Purpose-Built Drones for Ardupilot Pixhawk 2.1

Product typeBook
Published inDec 2017
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781786469168
Edition1st Edition
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Author (1)
Ty Audronis
Ty Audronis
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Ty Audronis

Ty Audronis has been called a "technology-age renaissance man." Hes a professional drone pilot, post-production specialist in the entertainment and media industries, a highly experienced interactive game developer, and an accomplished digital artist. Hes worked for companies ranging from frog Design to California Academy of Sciences in roles where hes worn many hats. Tys been programming software and games since 1981 (when he was 8 years old) professionally. He majored in Computer Generated Animation and Visual Effects in college (where he won Best Animation for the entire CSU system a Rosebud Award). His music and sound design have been the soundtrack on several major productions; he has also served as a visual effects supervisor on feature films and was the supervising editor and animator for award-winning science visualizations. He has been building drones since the days when sensors and components had to be torn out of cell phones and game controllers. Ty is also a mentor, having taught many interns his skills, and speaks regularly at venues including Interdrone. He also serves on the advisory board for the Society of Aerial Cinematographers and for Genarts (now Boris) Sapphire.
Read more about Ty Audronis

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Transitioning from VTOL to airplane


Transitioning is simple once everything is tuned. All you have to do is change modes (such as going from QLOITER to FBWA). It will happen automatically. Again, avoid MANUAL. This will instantly cut the multicopter motors and your aircraft will drop like a rock until you manage to regain control and lift up (much like a stall).

This is what will happen when you switch to FBWA or STABILIZE from a Q mode (such as QLOITER):

  1. The aircraft will attempt to maintain altitude using the quad motors and engage the airplane's tractor motor to provide thrust at user-inputted throttle.
  2. Quad motors will continue to provide lift and stability until ARSPD_FBW_MIN airspeed is reached and if there is no pitot tube, this is based on GPS estimate.
  3. Q_TRANSITION_MS will engage and shut down the quad motors over the specified time.

The transition back to multicopter mode works similarly, but has a few differences:

  1. Airplane tractor motor will immediately stop.
  2. Controls switch to multicopter...
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Designing Purpose-Built Drones for Ardupilot Pixhawk 2.1
Published in: Dec 2017Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781786469168

Author (1)

author image
Ty Audronis

Ty Audronis has been called a "technology-age renaissance man." Hes a professional drone pilot, post-production specialist in the entertainment and media industries, a highly experienced interactive game developer, and an accomplished digital artist. Hes worked for companies ranging from frog Design to California Academy of Sciences in roles where hes worn many hats. Tys been programming software and games since 1981 (when he was 8 years old) professionally. He majored in Computer Generated Animation and Visual Effects in college (where he won Best Animation for the entire CSU system a Rosebud Award). His music and sound design have been the soundtrack on several major productions; he has also served as a visual effects supervisor on feature films and was the supervising editor and animator for award-winning science visualizations. He has been building drones since the days when sensors and components had to be torn out of cell phones and game controllers. Ty is also a mentor, having taught many interns his skills, and speaks regularly at venues including Interdrone. He also serves on the advisory board for the Society of Aerial Cinematographers and for Genarts (now Boris) Sapphire.
Read more about Ty Audronis