New Waypoint type: "Circle/Loiter up/down"

[tedk84]

Current Behavior

At the moment, INAV fixed-wing will ascent/descent in a linear matter.

Desired Behavior

A new type would fit in like: the fixed-wing ascents/descents around the coordinates until it has reached the desired height.

Suggested Solution

A solution might have one or two inputs: desired altitude and angle/feet per minute. A first approach would be to use the limits configured for the plane.

Who does this impact? Who is this for?

Waypoint users with airspace boundaries.

Additional context

Context here: I have a area where I can legally climb up to XX meters. That area is around 200x200 meters. My airplane could circle up without having to create a lot of waypoints or to manually circle the plane.

[stronnag]

As far as waypoint definition is concerned, you don't even need a new WP type. Just use the unused parameter 3 as a flag for this behaviour on relevant WP types (WAYPOINT, POSHOLD_TIME).

[breadoven]

Circular loiter climb/descend is already used to adjust the altitude to the RTH Home Altitude so the same method could be used for this. It uses an altitude climb/descent rate in m/s.

[MrD-RC]

Wouldn't it be more efficient to use the method that GA autopilot uses? Have a target altitude at the waypoint, with target and maximum climb/descent rates. The goal being to be at the altitude when the waypoint is reached, but not start the climb/descent until necessary. If you're still too high/low perhaps employ the loiter climb/descent. In general, a spiral climb is going to be much less energy efficient that a climb en-route.

[kasatka60]

Is it possible to implement waypoints landing on fixed wing? How on ardupilot?

[stale[bot]]

This issue / pull request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had any activity in 60 days. The resources of the INAV team are limited, and so we are asking for your help. This issue / pull request will be closed if no further activity occurs within two weeks.