Hi everyone,
What difficulty rating would using a GPS to fix the position of a drone? I'm working on control software for the drone, which will be also controlled by RC, but what steps would need to be taken in order to determine GPS fix then alter the flight of the drone to maintain position?
Thanks!
Given the wanderings and meanderings of GPS locations, define "fix".
So imagine a drone flying at 10m altitude, could you use a GPS module for the drone to maintain its position in the sky within ±5-10m, doesn't have to be super accurate, just enough that you could leave it there and it'll stay roughly in the right place.
Get a GPS module, and read off the altitude every few seconds.
Compare your altitude with an accurate map of your location. (If you have no accurate map, stand on a seaside beach).
Does that help?
Not really..
Im talking about using the GPS data on a quadcopter like machine, to maintain its position laterally within a radius of 5m roughly.
Is that feasible on an arduino that already has flight control software?
Have you thought of differential GPS?
No can't say I have, how hard is it to implement like it is done on a standard off-the-shelf quadcopter that uses GPS position hold?
jaddion82052:
Not really..Im talking about using the GPS data on a quadcopter like machine, to maintain its position laterally within a radius of 5m roughly.
Is that feasible on an arduino that already has flight control software?
I'm currently developing an Arduino research RC plane and am incorporating GPS by taking an old Android and making a Java app that runs on the Android to access GPS data and sends it via Bluetooth to the Arduino. I don't know if that is something you want to look into, but the idea is there if you want.
Off the shelf GPS units are too unreliable for flight applications unless you want to pay an arm and a leg.
Good luck!
The GPS reading will vary a little for a completely stationary object, usually within say about a 3 m. circle. But the hard part here is wind. You will be constantly pushed around by winds, which in most cases will create a larger error by far than GPS in any short period. If you were dealing with a steady wind, you could iterate to determine its value. But of course that depends on the GPS being dead on with every reading. So I'd say this is actually a quite difficult task to accomplish.