Successfully Perform Ground Station Beyond Visual Range Flight Test

Once a common RC unmanned helicopter installed with our product--XP3.1, equipped with gimbal function and camera, users can enjoy 40 minutes beyond visual range flight and fly 15 km distance . Helicopter, installed with ground station, can finish fully automatic flight after we set several way points through the ground station. When the helicopter is flying, it can receive way points automatically through the data reception station, and the deflection can be calculated automatically and constantly modify the flight directions, flight speed and the offset between the helicopter and way point. When the helicopter reaches area of the way point, it can realize automatic turning and fly to next way point. Above is the wholly automatic flight process of ground station.

At 5pm on May the 14th, all our technicians gather beside the Xili Lake and try to make the first beyond visual range flight. For security considerations, the quiet and sparsely populated Xili Lake is chosen, and then the entire flight is carried out over 260m above the Xili Lake, so once the flight fail, our heli would fall into the lake. Though we have finished a number of rigorous tests, we still feel very nervous.

This time, we plan to finish a triangle route, flying at an altitude of about 260m and maxi speed of 15m\s. After taking off from the bank, our heli flies 1.6km to the first way point, holds and turns direction at the first point then flies to the second way point, this distance is about 3.5km. The distance between take-off point and the second point is 2.3 km. Heli holds for 5 minutes at the second point and then turns direction and flies to the take-off point.

The helicopter we used is unmanned Maxi-joker 2, equipped with gimbal function and camera, the total weight is 3.5kg. When our heli succeeds in reaching the first point, makes a perfect hold and turn direction and then flies to the second way point. There is a little accident during the distance from first point to the second one, our heli drift a little bit from the route. If it can reach the set area, our heli would keep changing the route and speed at the same place; if the adjustment takes too much time, there will be a lack of fuel, and our heli will fail to make the return route. What surprise us is after 2 minutes automatic adjustment, our heli successfully reaches the second point and finishes holding for five minutes. Finally our heli returns to the take-off point. The whole flight took about 20 minutes and successfully finished our mission.

Though we successfully finished the beyond visual range flight, we found there were some disadvantages in the attitude algorithm. Next, we will make more effort on improving our algorithm, enhance flight precision. Before long, we will challenge Mount Everest.