GUIDED Mode

The GUIDED mode is used when you want the aircraft to fly to a specific point on the map without setting up a mission. Most ground control stations support a “click to fly to” feature where you can click a point on the map and the aircraft will fly to that location then loiter.

The other major use for GUIDED mode is in geo-fencing. When the geo-fence is breached the aircraft will enter GUIDED mode, and head to the predefined geo-fence return point, where it will loiter until the operator takes over.

Normal “fly to” navigation in GUIDED mode is flown by the same L1 navigation controller (NAVL1_PERIOD, etc) used in AUTO mode.

A separate GUIDED_* PID set is only used if a ground station or companion computer sends the MAV_CMD_GUIDED_CHANGE_HEADING MAVLink command to slew to a new heading.

Tuning GUIDED_CHANGE_HEADING

The GUIDED_* PID parameters are a guidance-layer gain, not an attitude/rate-controller gain, and they apply only while MAV_CMD_GUIDED_CHANGE_HEADING has an active target: they convert the heading/course error into a demanded bank angle, which the normal roll controller then flies. They play no part in normal Guided “fly to this location” navigation, AUTO waypoint navigation (which uses NAVL1_*/TECS_* instead), or the other GUIDED_CHANGE_* commands.

Tune the aircraft’s normal roll controller first. If roll already tracks its demand well but heading changes feel too weak or too aggressive, adjust GUIDED_P — higher commands more bank for a given heading error, lower softens it. GUIDED_I and GUIDED_D default to zero and rarely need changing.