Tuning Process Instructions¶
This page describes the overall process to tune a Rover. Before attempting these instructions please complete the First Time Setup including:
Setup the Transmitter flight mode switch so the vehicle can be driven in Manual and Acro modes.
Check that the vehicle can be driven in Manual mode.
Tune the Speed and Throttle Controller¶
Follow the instructions on the Tuning Speed and Throttle page. The high level steps are:
Drive the vehicle in Manual mode in a straight line at between 50% and 80% throttle and use the “Learn Cruise Speed” auxiliary switch to capture the CRUISE_THROTTLE and CRUISE_SPEED parameter values
Test and adjust the speed controller gains in real-time while driving in Acro mode
Set GCS_PID_MASK to 2 (Throttle) to send PID information to the ground station
On the ground station graph the “piddesired” and “pidachieved” values
Drive the vehicle at various speeds in Acro mode and compare how well pidachieved follows piddesired
Adjust ATC_SPEED_P, ATC_SPEED_I up or down so that piddesired follows pidachieved
If the vehicle accelerates too quickly or too slowly adjust the ATC_ACCEL_MAX
Tune the Turn Rate Controller¶
Follow the instructions on the Tuning Steering Rate page. The high level steps are:
Set the ACRO_TURN_RATE parameter to be roughly what the vehicle’s maximum turn rate is in deg/sec
Test and adjust the turn rate controller gains in real-time while driving in Acro mode
Set GCS_PID_MASK to 1 (Steering) to send PID information to the ground station
On the ground station graph the “piddesired” and “pidachieved” values
Drive the vehicle in Acro mode at a medium speed making various wide and tight turns and compare how well pidachieved follows piddesired. The most important parameter to get right is ATC_STR_RAT_FF
Set ATC_STR_RAT_MAX to the ACRO_TURN_RATE value and optionally reduce ACRO_TURN_RATE
Rover QuickTune LUA Script¶
If the autopilot is capable of running Lua Scripts, instead of manually tuning steering and speed/throttle controllers, it can be done automatically using the rover-quicktune.lua applet. Read its instruction file for setup and use information.
Configure Pivot Turns (Skid Steering vehicles only)¶
If the vehicle uses Skid Steering follow the instructions on the Tuning Pivot Turns page