Simplify Autorotation Mode Switching and Consolidate Autorotation State in RSC #27786

MattKear · 2024-08-07T15:48:49Z

This PR does the following:

Removes the linking of autorotation flight mode and the interlock.
Consolidates the autorotation state into its own class within the RSC.
Moves the bailout logic out of the autorotation mode and into RSC making it common to both the mode and manual autorotations.

Reasons for this:

The linking of the flight mode switching and interlock was creating lots of edge cases that were proving to difficult to prevent. This is simpler and just like any other flight mode (this is still SITL only).
Removing this link between interlock and flight mode means, in the future, we can add partial power reduction in assisted autorotations via the flight mode which will make initial setup and testing more gradual and less intimidating.
All bailout out handling for the manual autorotation has been tidied up and consolidated into the RSC. The autorotation flight mode will be changed to use this bailout logic in the RSC to remove duplication.

This PR is WIP. I still have the following to address:

Get bailouts working in autorotation flight mode.
Fixup the autotests to accept this new way of entering the autorotation flight mode.
Add autorotation flight mode exit handling e.g. don't allow exiting the flight mode to non-manual throttle modes unless the interlock is engaged and the RSC has flagged the bailout as complete.

IamPete1

just a quick look.

libraries/AC_Autorotation/AC_Autorotation.cpp

libraries/AP_Motors/AP_MotorsHeli_RSC.cpp

MattKear · 2024-09-03T21:11:37Z

Added to DevCallEU for a quick look over/general feedback. Not looking to get this merged today.

ArduCopter/heli.cpp

… within RSC

…otation state

…ethods

MattKear · 2024-09-24T00:56:09Z

I am pretty happy with this PR now.

It has been tested IRL now. For complete transparency, this code was actually tested with the code in #28209 on top.

I do like this change to de-couple the flight mode from the interlock. It is far less daunting to test the flight mode for the first time without removing the power with the interlock. This makes for a much nicer user setup and test work flow.

The key bit that we need to ensure is working well, is the autorotation state inside the RSC as that code will be available to users to download on 4.6-dev once this is merged. This plot illustrates the RSC autorotation state transitioning from "active" to "bailing out" to "stopped" During test the vehicle bailed out from the glide smoothly.

The setup that I tested in real life is using a governor in the ESC, and the autorotation signal window was used to invoke a rapid spool up.

I have tested this code with Heli's head speed governor, a lot in Real Flight. It does work, however, I will say that Heli's governor does not play that nice with autorotations. However, this is an issue with way that the governor is currently written. The over-speed/under-speed faults are significantly more likely to be tripped when recovering from an autorotation and the governor just gives up at that point. This is an existing issue, that is not a problem with this code being added. I am simply raising this for awareness now, and I will address the issue with the governor in a future PR.

Also for complete transparency, since testing this IRL I have done some restructuring to move the H_RSC_AROT params to the RSC_Autorotation object. I did not change the logic of the mode, and have re-tested in the sim. It was just something I noticed in testing, that we should have the RSC_AROT params hidden if not enabled.

Param conversions have been added for moving the parameters. This has also been tested.

bnsgeyer · 2024-09-30T02:39:38Z

@MattKear I agree with the premise of this PR. It seems a little odd having to switch over to autorotate mode and then disable interlock to initiate the autorotation. I have tested this in Real Flight sim. I plan to look at the follow on PR this week.

bnsgeyer

@MattKear I looked through this a little more thoroughly. It is a pretty extensive change, for sure. A little surprised to see the new RSC_autorotation library but it looks like it simplified a bunch in RSC and the motors library.

Did you check the cooldown feature to ensure it still works as designed. I know there is a test for the turbine start but I'm not sure if there is one for the cooldown timer.

I am happy with this and approved but want to ensure the cooldown timer still works.

MattKear · 2024-10-01T05:54:03Z

Thanks for taking a look at this.

Yeah, the rework was for a few reasons:

To simplify the autorotation state within the RSC
To handle the bailout for more RSC configs (we previously didn't handle external governors with bailout throttle very well) which is why.
To rename the params so that they appear to users to be more broadly applicable to the autorotation in general not just manual autorotation. This has meant that the duplication of bailout handling in the flight mode and the RSC has been now been removed.

MattKear · 2024-10-01T05:54:50Z

No, I have not tested the turbine cool down functionality. What should I look for to see that it still works?

bnsgeyer · 2024-10-01T13:35:13Z

@MattKear checking it is pretty easy. It is used for ICE or turbine engines. You will need to set a non zero H_RSC_IDLE. It will raise that by 50% for the cooldown time specified in H_RSC_CLDWN in seconds after motor interlock is disabled (RSC State is Idle). You should also verify that it doesn’t use the cooldown timer feature if the aircraft is in autorotation.

MattKear · 2024-10-01T13:51:18Z

@bnsgeyer ok, thanks Bill. I will test and report back.

bnsgeyer · 2024-10-01T14:08:26Z

libraries/AP_Motors/AP_MotorsHeli_RSC.cpp

+
+        // check if we need to use autorotation idle throttle
+        if (autorotation.get_idle_throttle(_idle_throttle)) {
+            // if we are here then we are autorotating


@MattKear this guarantees the aircraft is in autorotation even if the throttle idle value is zero. I guess if you’re in our autorotation, it returns a true value for this call?

If you are in the autorotation mode the function autorotation.get_idle_throttle() populates the _idle_throttle variable with the value set by H_RSC_AROT_IDLE and returns true. This is then assigned to the control output and returns early. if we are not in the autorotation then _idle_throttle is not modified and the autorotation.get_idle_throttle() returns false giving access to the subsequent cases.
In the case of both turbine and piston, they would have to set H_RSC_AROT_IDLE to match H_RSC_IDLE to maintain the engine at idle during the autorotation.

@MattKear I fixed the cooldown feature in this PR. it required that I change the functionality of get_idle_throttle(). One because when AROT_IDLE was zero then it would use the cooldown idle. and two, for some reason it would always use the cooldown throttle even when I used the autorotation state. Look at what I did and let me know what you think.
@Ferruccio1984 checkout and test the changes. I think that works as it was meant to work.

bnsgeyer · 2024-10-03T16:03:57Z

libraries/AP_Motors/AP_MotorsHeli.cpp

@@ -147,6 +148,10 @@ const AP_Param::GroupInfo AP_MotorsHeli::var_info[] = {
    // @User: Standard
    AP_GROUPINFO("COL_LAND_MIN", 32, AP_MotorsHeli, _collective_land_min_deg, AP_MOTORS_HELI_COLLECTIVE_LAND_MIN),

+    // @Group: RSC_AROT_
+    // @Path: ../AP_Motors/AP_MotorsHeli_RSC.cpp


Suggested change

// @Path: ../AP_Motors/AP_MotorsHeli_RSC.cpp

// @Path: ../AC_Autorotation/RSC_Autorotation.cpp

This should fix the test that isn't passing CI

MattKear requested review from bnsgeyer and IamPete1 August 7, 2024 15:48

MattKear added TradHeli WIP labels Aug 7, 2024

IamPete1 reviewed Aug 7, 2024

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MattKear force-pushed the pr_heli_autorotation_mode_switching branch from 2f74720 to fd536e5 Compare August 10, 2024 18:39

MattKear force-pushed the pr_heli_autorotation_mode_switching branch 3 times, most recently from 4201b9a to 395f524 Compare September 3, 2024 21:05

MattKear added DevCallEU NeedsTesting and removed WIP labels Sep 3, 2024

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MattKear force-pushed the pr_heli_autorotation_mode_switching branch 5 times, most recently from cf7e8c5 to dda9046 Compare September 9, 2024 16:19

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MattKear mentioned this pull request Sep 19, 2024

Blimp: Remove previous flight mode #28078

Merged

MattKear force-pushed the pr_heli_autorotation_mode_switching branch from dd680e5 to 3cb4d51 Compare September 21, 2024 17:21

MattKear added 6 commits September 23, 2024 23:21

AP_Motors_Heli: Consolidate all autorotation state into its own class…

9e3e22c

… within RSC

Copter: Heli: simplify autorotation mode change and support RSC autor…

3ac450a

…otation state

AC_Autorotation: Remove bailout case

f6a6f6c

Sub: correct comment on prev control mode

6863b04

Autotest: Update Autorotation tests for new mode change and bailout m…

b3dc3da

…ethods

AC_Autorotation: Add RSC_Autorotation class

e5a8278

MattKear force-pushed the pr_heli_autorotation_mode_switching branch from 6e22ddc to e5a8278 Compare September 23, 2024 22:21

MattKear mentioned this pull request Sep 24, 2024

Heli autorotation restructure mode and use position controller #28209

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MattKear removed the NeedsTesting label Sep 24, 2024

bnsgeyer approved these changes Sep 30, 2024

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bnsgeyer added 2 commits October 2, 2024 23:29

AC_Autorotation: have get_idle return throttle

6cfe1dd

AP_MotorsHeli: fix cooldown feature with new autorotation RSC library

a3bd214

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Simplify Autorotation Mode Switching and Consolidate Autorotation State in RSC #27786

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	// @Path: ../AP_Motors/AP_MotorsHeli_RSC.cpp
	// @Path: ../AC_Autorotation/RSC_Autorotation.cpp

Simplify Autorotation Mode Switching and Consolidate Autorotation State in RSC #27786

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