Applying motor commends directly

Hi all!

Is there a simple way to send raw motor commands to a drone? I want to replay motor commands from a log on a drone that’s strapped down, for ESC/motor load testing. I’ve tried to create a command module (similar to motor_test) that sends actuator_controls messages (with the drone armed and rate controlled disabled), but I can’t get it to actually move the motors. Any ideas? I’m probably lacking something.

Currently I’m just sending actuator_controls messages, with throttle = 0.5, at roughly 100 Hz, for a few seconds.

The motor_test command itself isn’t sufficient, as I want to run variable loads, and specific logged sequences.

The motor_ramp command isn’t either, as it seems to be PWM only. I’d like to create something that works for PWM and DShot.

I imagine the reading from file part should be fairly easy to implement. I just need to figure out what to publish to actually make the motors move.

Thank you!

Update: I’m now trying

  1. Send one actuator_armed with armed = true
  2. Send a sequence of actuator_controls with the throttle index nonzero
  3. Send one actuator_armed with armed = false

Still no dice.