Precision landing IR-lock timeout

PX4 Autopilot Multicopter 🛸
1

Hi,

I am working on integrating Precision landing on a multicopter by using IR-lock, I am having a problem with the detection of the IR-beacon in-flight. The material I’m using is:

  • Holybro X500 (drone)
  • Pixhawk 4
  • PX4 stable flight stack
  • IR-lock pixycam (pixycam with an IR filter)
  • Mark 1 beacon (IR beacon)

I have mounted the pixycam under the drone and performed a test flight. The test was to start both the IR-lock driver and landing_target_estimator module in the MAVlink console in Qgroundcontrol. Then put the powered Mark 1 beacon on the ground, then do a manual takeoff in stabelized flight mode, and hover over the beacon so the pixycam finds and loses the beacon multiple times. The desired observation would have been to see the landing_target_estimator initialize in the console in Qgroundcontrol and after 5 seconds of the pixycam not detecting the beacon to see the landing_target_estimator timeout. However, the actual observation was that the first time the drone hovered over the beacon, the landing_target_estimator initialized but directely after this, a warning was given that said “landing target measurement rejected:y” and 3 seconds after this, the landing_target_estimater timed out (I attached a figure of the logged messages). When hovering over the beacon again in the same flight, the landing_target_estimator did not initialize again (I have attached a link to the flight review of this test). I did not initiate the precision landing flight mode in this test flight. the result of this problem is that when i do start the precision landing flight mode, it does not detect the beacon and cannot perform a precision landing.

Is someone able to recognize what it is that i am doing wrong and help me?

image
image856×238 46 KB

https://review.px4.io/plot_app?log=8dfaca4a-77b4-4e96-8f1e-984cc323f03b

2

UPDATE: I traced the problem back to the IR-pixycam. Since I am trying to fly outdoors, I wanted to recalibrate the pixycam such that it would only detect the IR-beacon (MarkOne beacon v1.1). I could not get this done, the pixycam would always show other IR sources like reflective surfaces (can be seen in the matching figures below) or it would detect nothing. I suspect the firmware on the IR-pixycam might be responsible for this.

Does anyone have more knowlegde about this?

Pixycam cal1
Pixycam cal11196×891 34.2 KB

Pixycam cal2
Pixycam cal21192×892 113 KB

3

hi im very new to drones, may i ask how do u apply the pixycam into the drone to use IR-lock function. Currently im using Qgroundcontrol, as of now i do not know how to add the drivers in or to get it working and how to go about testing it. My main plan is to use it to loiter and precision land. I’ve already got the firmware in the pixycam using pixymon and the wires to connect to a pixhawk 1 and/or 2/4. Could i ask how did u mange to get it working in Qgroundcontrol.

4

hi, did you figure it out? I’m also trying to get pixy ir-lock working with Q ground control