Tuning in the Simulator
Deneb Aero can tune the autopilot of the flight model by flying it in the simulator, with nobody at the sticks. Start a tuning flight in (Autopilot).
Wing tuning flight
Tune in the simulator flies a scripted flight:
The aircraft takes off (a QuadPlane climbs on its rotors first) and goes to wing-borne flight.
A scripted pilot measures how the aircraft answers.
It rolls the aircraft from bank to bank to set how much rudder goes with the ailerons and how much yaw damping it needs.
It rolls the aircraft from side to side and pulls the nose up again and again while ArduPilot’s own AUTOTUNE sets the roll and pitch controllers.
It climbs and lets go, to check that height and speed settle, and slows that controller if they do not.
The flight takes about eight minutes for an aeroplane and up to fourteen minutes for a QuadPlane. It continues while you look at other steps or other windows; leaving the Aircraft tab ends it.
When it has finished, you see what changed before anything is kept. Select Use these to keep the values, or Discard.
ArduPilot’s AUTOTUNE needs a forward motor; an aircraft without one cannot be tuned in flight.
Hover tuning flight (VTOL)
Fly the hover tune flies a take-off and a few minutes of hover:
A scripted pilot measures how the hover answers a step in bank and in pitch.
With the aircraft holding its place, ArduPilot’s QuickTune raises each axis’s gains until it begins to shake and backs them off: roll, then pitch, then yaw.
The steps are repeated, and the aircraft lands.
The hover is tuned in still air.
Warning
A real aircraft is worth tuning again in its first flights. Its rotors and frame vibrate in ways the simulator’s do not.
The battery in the tuning flight
The current and voltage measured in the tuning flight are compared with the estimate on the Performance tab, under Flown in the simulator (Performance Tab).