Volantex Ranger 2400 - Ardupilot Autoland with LiDAR Sensor

[@upperechelon3456]

I have been flying model and rc aircraft since 1970 and have over a dozen volantex glider models. The are a great platform for the price point giving me many hours of enjoyment. With the advent of lipo battery technology combined with brushless motors and flight controllers, I consider myself bless to be around long enough to see the changes that have come to the hobby. Great demonstration by the way.

[@letsMakeItFly]

thank you!

[@tritile]

What a time to be alive

[@letsMakeItFly]

Indeed

[@richard_fish]

Like the format and dialog! Good job!

[@leapnlarry]

That pretty cool self landing with a plane, shocked how good it worked. Larry

[@sakarrc5001]

The ranger is such a sweetie. She can do it all. Thank you for the effort and the cool video.

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thanks!

[@jerryboics9550]

I have a deep disgust for the ranger. I bought one, paid way too much for it and its a pig. That plastic fuselage is like a plastic bath toy, its ridiculous... That black beast looks sweet though.

[@letsMakeItFly]

Haha I understand! It’s the guinea pig for my projects. Thank you! It would be sweeter if it did t crash every other time I fly it, although thats probably more my fault 😜

[@igorsuzdalev]

Tuning an autolanding sometimes is tricky. The more "glidy" the airframe is, the harder it is to tune the landing. 13deg glideslope is so unusual for me, but i'm glad it works for you.(My slope is 4.0-4.5deg with no headwind, 5.0-5.5deg with 5+m\s headwind, and 3.5deg for extended wing configuration). If the plane is gliding well, has low drag, it tends to speed up during landing slope even with no motor. The wing makes more lift, your plane climbs up, AP trying to oitch down making even more speed. So if there are no airbrakes, flaps are fully engaged, whe only way is to play with glideslope angle. Also consider using pre-flare stage parameters, so you could lower your speed after ~30-40ft.alt, thus shortening flare to touchdown distance. Even if the plane will not decelerate with lower speed setpoint, this will make sure that prop will not spin before flare(in sope particular cases it is needed). While doing a mission, use DO_LAND_START waypoint somewhere(it is a marker, not actual mission item. indicates the begining of landing procedure) before your landing waypoints. While doing normal scenatio, it will not affect anything, but in case of something goes wrong, or RTL mode, AP will consider all waypoints of a mission(even not in AUTO mode) after DO_LAND_START as landing procedure, so it can land the plane automatically. Sometimes i manually write a note to myself of WP number where landing procedure starts, so i can change WP to it. Using DO_LAND_START can help to make it automatic.

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thanks for the message! I appreciate the insight. This is my first attempt at an autoland and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. I will continue to experiment with glide slope angles and DO_LAND_START procedures. This will certainly be very helpful in my upcoming videos!

[@johnhersom6002]

Great accomplishment! I've been wanting to do the very same thing except I just entered into the autonomous flight world a year or two ago. I am starting with iNav and have dabbled in ardupilot a few times but I need to spend a lot more time learning it before I would feel comfortable sending a model in the air with it. Great work...I've been wanting to see something like this for a long time but never find much content on it.

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thank you! Best of luck getting your bird in the air, one great thing about ardupilot, it is extremely well documented

[@johnhersom6002]

@@letsMakeItFly I have primarily been using the SpeedyBee F405 wing and the F405 wing mini...have you had an experience with those over the Maitek boards?

[@letsMakeItFly]

No i have not. Only autopilots ive used are the old APM clone boards, cube orange and the F405 Wing V2. Im sure its a similar process though!

[@NETBotic]

Nice! That worked well. I've had a pitot static system and variety of lidar sensors but not many good places to do test flights...

[@letsMakeItFly]

That was actually one of my biggest hurdles as well. Had to bite the bullet and join an rc club.

[@smk4224]

This is impressing, I will follow you. You are pushing the envelope of autonomus RC flights. I spent a lot of time diving into Adrupilot and Mission planner... but only with flight simulation so far. I need to move forward with real flights 🙂

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thank you! One thing I’ve learned is that duct tape and hot glue can fix a lot of what breaks after an unfortunate event. Hope you get in the air soon!

[@sakarrc5001]

Build a simple plank, smack that FC and start experimenting.

[@NETBotic]

@@sakarrc5001 Yup, the cheap foam trainers work amazingly well with all of the default Ardupilot settings.

[@RandbrandFPV]

This is awesome. I have flown autolands in the Airbus family and they are fun, would love to do this as a project with some of my builds!!

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thank you! Its definitely a thrill. Much better when it flares too 😂

[@badrinair]

Nicely done .

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@Jay-zc7iq]

My 2400 flies great awesome plane , my first build lands on its own flies on its own my first build & was a great experience and will continue to be , will add a sub 👍

[@humbertomontalban3932]

Great do a video of ardupilot set up and parameters, that’s fantastic, I know the parameter will be different but will be a nice start point.

[@letsMakeItFly]

Way ahead of ya!

[@Nordic_Goon]

@@letsMakeItFly I'm confused, did you flash ardupilot or inav? you showed inav

[@letsMakeItFly]

I flashed ardupilot using inav. Followed the steps of @painless360

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

So cool and you got your own airport

[@letsMakeItFly]

I know right! 😜

[@bencromwell4453]

ardupilot is amazing

[@musafirzihad6914]

the "It's gonna crash" part! 😄haha, Great video though!

[@Ard1400]

Very nice!

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thank you!

[@everttondecastro]

Impressionante, eu já estaria feliz se eu conseguisse fazer uma asa voar em zigue zague para uma missao fotográfica mantendo altura em relação ao solo.

[@호홋호-q6q]

정말 대단합니다 👍👍

[@nicocesar]

Amazing! Now you have to make it land in a battery charging station like a Roomba

[@letsMakeItFly]

Haha thats a great idea! Ill make a pit robot that can swap the batteries 😂

[@nicocesar]

@@letsMakeItFly or some induction coil / wireless charging station

[@FlyingFun.]

very cool, my landing sites are usually just a field and often with kids and dogs running around needing to be avoided if possible lol, making a n auto landing that can compensate for that would be challenging haha. Obviously for military use this would be useful, for a hobby flyer it is fun to tinker with though. Well done.

[@letsMakeItFly]

It definitely wouldn’t be able to avoid children! Haha

[@DJI_Silesia]

Can you share your settings for this autoland? I'm learning about it too. Would be nice to have some basic starting data.

[@letsMakeItFly]

Yes the settings were revealed on my latest video!

[@honzaspulka8532]

Was that the actual first try you show in the video? The last landing was buttery smooth, I was expecting like 10 tries where you would take over control but damn it landed perfectly almost immediately. Subscribing and watching the rest of your videos!

[@letsMakeItFly]

The very first landing was manual but the last three were the first auto-land I’ve ever done!

[@richardhallyburton]

Nicely done, but your video link was terrible! Lucky you weren't needing it to land manually. Sounds like your telemetry link was a bit sketchy too.

[@letsMakeItFly]

It sure was. Unfortunately i had to put the receiver down at some points during the flight and it would lose signal as the antennas weren’t properly positioned. And for the telemetry or radio control i didnt bother placing the antenna in an optimal spot. I also may have squashed the antenna cable when i was putting the wings together 😝

[@TheOoze777]

Amazing!

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thanks!

[@bobflyman]

Great job. Loved hearing your 3 year old getting in on the job too! 😂

[@okadharmawan1984]

No doubt, its cool!

[@skyforce1983]

Nice job

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thanks!

[@babawandea6214]

Well done!!!🎉

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thank you!

[@aqua_sakura5021]

What’s ur analog video receiver? That video was sketchy 😅

[@letsMakeItFly]

Sure was. It was a cheap sologood 4.3” monitor from amazon 😜

[@shakaibsafvi97]

Hi, Excellent work. Just wondering.... can you try landing without the LIDAR sensor please.

[@letsMakeItFly]

Perhaps some time in the future!

[@keybrent64]

Great success

[@letsMakeItFly]

Many thanks!

[@wesleycantarino4464]

In the first autoland (7 min and 49 s), why did the video received are so bad with the aircraft so near ?

[@letsMakeItFly]

It may have been due to antenna position and or transmitter output power. Next videos should have a much better picture

[@joemcgee120]

Nice work! Did you find out why it tried to take-off again after the auto land?

[@letsMakeItFly]

I think it was because i moved a switch or joystick and it started an aborted takeoff

[@marks7502]

cool

[@surjitsinghdeo6533]

Hi, can you please share the electronics specs used in the project? Specifically the lidar and airspeed sensors, plan to build something similar

[@letsMakeItFly]

Sure thing the lidar sensor is the Benewake TFmini Plus and the airspeed sensor is a digital airspeed sensor kit for pixhawk. You could find both on amazon. Ill update the description soon to include links!

[@surjitsinghdeo6533]

Hey thanks mate❤. Looked at the description, thank you for updating it.

[@X862go]

Nice

[@letsMakeItFly]

Thanks

[@kermets]

whats wrong with the fpv link and loosing the rc link ?

[@letsMakeItFly]

I had to keep putting the receiver down so im guessing the signal would get lost during those times

[@JonnyWaldes]

i would love a fixed wing I could fly like a DJI

[@pilotmiami1]

Bravo

[@drwheycooler8423]

Now let's have one where the extra camera, or one on a tripod, catches you and the auto land in the SAME shot. Without that, this is you landing hands on. Really strange.

[@letsMakeItFly]

I understand your skepticism!

[@chiefzagwe1984]

wow

[@sullytrny]

[@pdel303]

"I definitely wasn't dancing with the plane in the moonlight" .. wait, people don't do that?

[@letsMakeItFly]

Glad im not the only one 😂