Airspeed invalidated shortly after VTOL forward transition when entering orbit

PX4 Autopilot
1

Hi,

I’m experiencing airspeed invalidation on a VTOL quadplane shortly after forward transition when the mission immediately enters an orbit.

Setup:

  • PX4 VTOL quadplane

  • ASPD_DO_CHECKS = 7 (data missing + stuck + innovation)

  • ASPD_FS_INNOV = 7.0, ASPD_FS_INTEG = 15.0, ASPD_FS_T_STOP = 1.0

  • ASPD_FS_T_START = -1

What happens: After forward transition (vtol_state = 4), the mission immediately enters an orbit. Wind estimate (airspeed_wind/windspeed_north/east) oscillates heavily, causing tas_innov to spike up to ~15 m/s. The innovation integrator accumulates and eventually triggers invalidation (~20s after transition).

Analysis from logs (PlotJuggler):

  • Load factor check: passing (~0.8 ratio)

  • Innovation integrator: reaches threshold due to wind estimate oscillation

  • Wind estimate variance remains high (~5.0) throughout, ground_minus_wind never becomes valid

  • tas_innov calculated as |TAS - (groundvel - wind).norm()| spikes due to unstable wind estimate post-transition

Question: Is it expected that the wind estimator needs time to stabilize after forward transition before entering orbit? Is there a recommended straight flight duration post-transition before maneuvers? Or is tuning ASPD_FS_INNOV higher the correct approach here?

Currently testing ASPD_FS_INNOV = 10 which appears to prevent false invalidation in log replay.

Thanks