Regulatory and Gluonpilot

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Regulatory and Gluonpilot

Postby fba » Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:27 pm

Hello, this summer the spanish agency for flight security has started to issue the regulation for the UAV/RPAS. They are at the first steps but I would like to open here a new thread, because it will be common laws on European Union countries, I suppose.

As I know there are a lack of regulations in other EU countries and hobby and semi pro UAV will be under the similar regulation and laws. So we can share the common security restriction to get at the future a Gluonpilot taht we could use for a long time. FPV is not much different from pro UAV

Nothing to say here about weight , distance and height (<125m) for the plane due the autopilot is the most important here I think. At the moment there is not much detail about security levels but there are four main goals. And of course the 100% security is not possible

#1 Failed on auto mode flight...

"need a more explained detail, but I think at the worst case and on the line of sight, we can only return from auto to manual mode becasue a second autopilot is a impossible solution¿?, only an indepent second telemetry link on RC transmitter to show bear to Home and a variometer to return safe on manual mode or fast reset the board, ??"

#2 Lost of RC and data link....
I have tested gluon on both case and it works perfect :-), due to the #2 and the #1 case wont be together (not 100% security)

|#3 Emergency procedure on lost position of the plane....

the GPS signal can be lossed on turn but only for a short time, I never lost the GPS signal, only a few moments the data link. But if the GPS failed for a long time, only a redudant second GPS or the solution on case #1 to return. A beep tone on RC or laptop could be helpfull. I´m not secure if only using IMU data the plane can return to home about 70 m around.

#4 End the flight at one decision. Due to fire, collision, case # 1 & 2 & 3 :-), etc

the solution could be mandatory, the complete destroy of the plane?, elevator down, aileron & ruddder to right, motor down or?.


There are only initial steps and need more detailed but it is a good way to flight safe with our planes. I think we can put together this regulations for a perfect Gluonpilot. Gluon never failed to me. RTOS? the red color? :-) no Tom is the cause :-) with no poorly components on the plane. In my opinion is a perfect AP, the best AP
I would appreciate some new ideas and countries regulations because I think that is a very very important step on hobby-pro autopilots future.

Thanks and I hope I can return soon to flight :-(
Francisco
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Re: Regulatory and Gluonpilot

Postby Tom » Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:58 pm

Hello Francisco,

Thanks for the interesting topic!

It is indeed an important topic and I should give more attention to it. When I fly, I try to stay below 125m and within line of sight with the remote to take over.

The only things that are implemented are: (1) loss of RC link, (2) loss of GCS data link and (3) emergency procedure when flying beyond the maximum radius.

I think these are the minimum requirements.

Other things should be implemented as well:
* emergency procedure in case of no GPS signal
* emergency procedure in case of IMU fail (what?)
* emergency procedure in case of servo fail (how to detect? measure current?)
* ...
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Re: Regulatory and Gluonpilot

Postby fba » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:20 pm

Hello Tom,
for the moment the law is on pre-approval steps.

The case for lost GPS is mandatory, but no specification for the suppose: time, low satellite horizon on turns, etc.

For the servo failure i read time ago on a hobby guide for newbies that the fails succeed at the first moments to fly, so i always fly the plane two turns on stand by block but this no enough.

I don't know about IMU failure, if the distant is below 80 m you can fly safe on manual mode but far away ?? The plane cannot fly itself,doesn't it? Only stop the propeller , aileron and rudder to fixed positions to do turns while decrease de height to land, or parachute,??

I think security is a very important aspect for the future of autopilots
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Re: Regulatory and Gluonpilot

Postby daedalus » Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:08 am

About my experience with gluonpilot: I have more than 100 flying hours in the last 9 months (40min. average flight time) using the GP2 with firmware 0.10BETA4 without any autopilot problems (0.9 firmware series had some issues) and I am using gluonpilot since March 2011.

Speaking about regulations, the French regulations impose a 69J impact energy. For example a child having 35kg riding his bike with 7km/h will have an energy of ~66J (1/2mv^2), an airplane with a mass of 3kg diving with 72km/h (20m/s) will have an energy of 600J but the same airplane descending on parachute with 5m/s will have an energy of only 37.5J. When critical systems fail (motor, propeller, servo, gps, autopilot, rc) there must be something else to save the day and as much as I hate it, one of the solutions is Stop the Motor and Deploy the Parachute (SM&DP) or, where the configuration permits, engage the deep stall. Coming down gracefully while not in the desired area but with low speed and low energy will save the plane and do no harm to whatever is below it. It also may comply with present France regulations, maybe with future EASA recommendations and surely hard to ignore by any national authority.

Using Francisco’s cases we can have the following:

1. Failed on auto mode flight...
    a. Failed motor (ask me how I know) - the autopilot will try to maintain altitude and without motor the aircraft will stall repeatedly and the autopilot imposed limit angles (pitch and roll) cannot be maintained. Secondary to this, the vertical speed will increase to abnormal values but because of awkward angles the GPS will not be able to update it correctly, the baro instead is fast enough (I have evidence for this in logs);
      a.1. SET_ATTITUDE_LIMIT - if for more than x (configurable) seconds the limit angles are exceeded display warning on control station and if for more than y seconds the operator has not triggered the stabilized or manual mode SM&DP;
      a.2. SET_VSPEED_LIMIT - if for more than x (configurable) seconds the vertical speed limit (negative values) is exceeded display warning on control station and if for more than y seconds the operator has not triggered the stabilized or manual mode SM&DP;
    b. Failed propeler (ask me how I know) - use case 1.a;
    c. Failed servo (ask me how I know) - use same case 1.a. If it is a critical servo (elevator for example) both attitude and vertical speed will be affected immediately;
    d. Failed GPS - SET_GPS_ALARM - if the signal from GPS is lost for more than x (configurable) seconds display warning on control station and if for more than y seconds the operator has not triggered the stabilized or manual mode then trigger the SM&DP;
    e. Failed autopilot
      e1. Failed IMU (short circuit when metal bolt touch it, ask me how I know) - the autopilot measured angles will go insane so apply 1.a.1., and most probably the vertical speed will also increase too much, so 1.a.2 could trigger;
      e2. Frozen autopilot, high angles - here comes the necessity to have an additional device to monitor baro altitude, compute vertical speed and trigger the SM&DP procedure independently and/or a dedicated channel on RC to trigger the SM&DP procedure;
      e3. Frozen autopilot, small angles - the autopilot is no longer responding, not even switching to manual does not produce any effects but the aircraft is flying stable, with constant motor. The vertical speed external monitor will not trigger in this case, so remains only to use a dedicated channel on RC to trigger the SM&DP procedure;
2. Lost of RC and data link....
Intentionally left blank. Please fill your options here.

3. Emergency procedure on lost position of the plane....
See case 1.d.

4. End the flight at one decision.
    a. Manually trigger the SM&DP using an extra channel on your RC system via autopilot (or RC receiver?);
    b. Manually trigger the SM&DP using gluonpilot navigation defined block;

Maybe not all the above options are easy to accomplish but having three more settings options as navigation commands coupled with a parachute could make a big difference as only the cases when the autopilot is frozen are not covered (1.e.2. and 1.e.3.).
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