Initializing FCU and external INS in freefall

PX4 Autopilot
1

I am working on a project involving deploying a vehicle from a rocket at high altitude and arming it in freefall. It will use a px4 flight controller and external INS (vectornav vn300). The main constraint is that the system cannot boot pre-launch. It will have plenty of time to boot up while in the air.

Is this configuration possible? I have read this post: https://discuss.px4.io/t/booting-quadcopter-controller-mid-flight/10278/22 and it seems like the main problem is imu bias tuning - are there any other pre-flight checks that will interfere with FCU startup? Also, for any sensor tuning that happens, is it possible to calibrate on the ground and preload values to be used on midair initialization?

2

I don’t believe actual calibration before arming is required, however, many preflight checks will likely trigger, so you will have to work around these, e.g. disable them all once you know what they mean and entail.

In terms of estimator, I’m not too sure how it will initialize or cope when being moved. It’s not something that’s generally done, so you’d have to test it, by using experimentation and/or simulation.