[Project Tracker] Control Allocation User experience improvement

[junwoo091400]

Description

This is an issue to track tasks & have discussions on improving the Control Allocation user experience. I previously had a google doc to keep these tracked, but now making it public on Github repo to make it more transparent!

Why

The Control Allocation is already implemented : #18776 and after the upcoming release of PX4 v1.13.0, it will be the main controller. So making the user experience as smooth as possible is important, so that every user can set it up without confusion.

PRs from this Project

• User Doc : Actuators Document Improvement PX4-user_guide#1858
• Autopilot : Control Allocation User Experience Improvement #19606

TODOs

• Autopilot : Add 'hz' indicator to PWM 50, PWM 100, etc selections in Actuators tab to avoid confusion on what those numbers mean
• Doc : Add Description on Control Surface
• Doc : Add 'Center of Gravity' diagram to show where the distance measurement reference point is (It's not the Pixhawk's center!!!)
• Doc : Add Description on setting 1500 as Servo's disarmed PWM output value to avoid weird motions
• Doc : For VTOL / Fixed Wing : Add description for enabling 'lock control surface to hover' and 'commander prearm' settings, to properly check trimmed servo outputs.
• Doc : Add description on the 'Json' file being transferred from PX4 to QGC, describing actuators setup, to explain what 'dynamic loading' of Actuators configuration actually means
• Doc : Provide the list of control surface types (e.g. Aileron, Elevon, Elevator, etc.) and explain them
• Doc : Provide more thorough control surface geometry setup doc (Right now only the 'Motor' setup part has Multicopter / VTOL configuration examples)
• Doc : Create individual docs for each vehicle types to explain specific configurations to supplement a generic Geometry explanation.
  • Multicopter
  • VTOL
  • Fixed Wing
• QGC : Put warning 'pop up' when user inputs a value (e.g. Roll torque input for Left Elevon ...) that doesn't make sense according to control surface convention, to avoid user confusions
• QGC : Add support for basic fixed wing / rover graphics for Actuators tab (currently only multi-copters are visualized)
• QGC : Fix bug on initial graphics of multicopter not showing anything when motor positions are (0,0)
• QGC : Make trim part click-adjustable, e.g. by a unit of 0.05 or so.
• QGC : Add Visual Support for multiple vehicle types (for easier configuration)
  • VTOL : Urgent!
  • Fixed Wing

Relevant Links

• Initial Control Allocation tryout notes from Junwoo - Google Docs (Now not updated!)
• Control Allocation proposal google doc - provided by Hamish (PX4 Mixing Rework)
• User Guide
  • https://docs.px4.io/master/en/config/actuators.html
  • https://docs.px4.io/master/en/dev_airframes/adding_a_new_frame.html
  • https://docs.px4.io/master/en/concept/mixing.html
  • https://docs.px4.io/master/en/concept/geometry_files.html
    • https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/tree/master/src/lib/mixer/MultirotorMixer/geometries
  • basic config: add actuators page (replacing motors) PX4-user_guide#1704
• PX4-Autopilot
  • WIP: Control Allocation #13351
  • Initial Configurable Actuator output control PR : Configurable Actuator Output Control #16808
  • Introduce actuator output function parameters #18265
  • Dynamic control allocation for VTOL & others #18776
  • Generic motor configuration for standard vtols (with dynamic control allocation) #19193
  • initial control allocation support (safe to merge) #16528
  • [WIP] purge legacy mixers (switch to control allocation) #19596

[Jaeyoung-Lim]

@junwoo091400 There is actually a fixedwing model in Gazebo SITL missing for control allocation. Would be great if we can have this as an example while addressing this 😄

[junwoo091400]

If you could point me to where I could check, that would be great! @Jaeyoung-Lim

[Jaeyoung-Lim]

@junwoo091400 We can currently test control allocation models in SITL with the following two models: https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/tree/master/ROMFS/px4fmu_common/init.d-posix/airframes

e.g.

make px4_sitl gazebo_iris_ctrlalloc

• 10017_iris_ctrlalloc
• 6012_typhoon_h480_ctrlalloc

However, we are missing a fixedwing model as an example

[bkueng]

@Jaeyoung-Lim you can enable it here: https://github.com/PX4/PX4-Autopilot/blob/master/ROMFS/px4fmu_common/init.d-posix/airframes/1030_plane#L46=

[junwoo091400]

Control Surfaces & Servo Documentation done in PX4/PX4-user_guide@a81088a

[junwoo091400]

Added TODOs on Control Surface explanation, as the user was having trouble setting it up

[Tiktiki]

Having the ability to select which servo/gear output gets enable in pre-arm would be great. I have issues with landing gears moving when already set in pre-arm. For example I have a plane with gear that can be catapult-launched or take-off from a runway. Depending on the situation the gear need to be up or down at pre-arm/arming.

[junwoo091400]

A lot of the QGC improvements would be possible after my Frames metadata QGC PR goes in, as I would have way more Qt knowledge & good idea on how to implement the changes in the TODO list 😉

mavlink/qgroundcontrol#10472