Missions with relative coordinates

[roque-canales]

I explain,

Idea is that for repetitive process of aerial imagery like for example have ability to program this:

From home point and drone orientation Take Off 30 meters POI at 50 meter forward Move 50 meter forward Loiter Turn Move 50 meters left Move 50 meters backwards Move 50 meter right RTL

[Naterater]

I have a feeling that this has and should be implemented by GCS (solex maybe?). I don't think the autopilot should be handling this, although it may be available one day from scripting. Do you still need this @roque-canales?

[rmackay9]

the nice thing about having it implemented in the autopilot is that you could always fly a "relative" mission without a GCS.

[Naterater]

I don't mind the idea, and I think it should be accessible by most vehicles then.

[WillyZehnder]

Feature request

In some cases it could be useful to have a mission that is defined relative to the position where you switched to AUTO-Mode. I can imagine some meaningful cases:

• Flying a grid when you search for a lost plane or copter
• Flying a vertical 8 on a slope (e.g. with ArduSoar)
• Flying a meander against the wind with constant climb rate while pulling a sailplane

Describe the solution you'd like Currently all waypoints for a AUTO-Mission are absolute coordinates. But it seems, that all relative info like direction an distance are still included in the waypoint-record. So maybe it would help to define a new MODE, e.g. AUTO_RELATIVE. An additional feature would be to use the moving-direction when you switch to AUTO_RELATIVE as the base for the waypoint-directions. So you would be able to turn your waypoint-pattern e.g. according to the wind.

(Nearly completed my new issue while I almost overlooked that little hint to that still existing issue :o)

Platform [ ] All [ ] AntennaTracker [ x ] Copter [ x ] Plane [ x ] Rover [ x ] Submarine

[khancyr]

It has been done with https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/8748

[WillyZehnder]

Is #8748 usable for planes? How can I use that "local or relative WPs" with MissionPlanner? (The mission should be defined and loaded before takeoff - no Mavlink connection to GCS available in flight)

[chobitsfan]

8748 provide a way to assign mission waypoints in local coordinate system (i.e offset from 1st place your vehicle got good GPS position)

Is #8748 usable for planes?

No, I am sorry that it only works for copter now.

How can I use that "local or relative WPs" with MissionPlanner?

I am afraid that you need to edit a mission file (txt file) and upload it to flight controller using mavproxy (wp load)