How to Control AR.Drone Movements During Flight
By Anna Sandler
AT*PCMD command
This command is used to control the flight motion of the drone while in the air
such as rotation or speed.
Make sure the command AT*FTRIM has been called before taking-off for horizontal
calibration; otherwise Ar.Drone won’t be able to stabilize itself when flying.
Syntax
AT*REF=[Sequence number ],[Flag bit-field],[Roll],[Pitch],[Gaz],[Yaw]<LF>
Explanation:
- Sequence number- 1 if it is a first command, or sequence number value of
previous command + 1.
- Flag bit field- a 32 bit-wide bit-field integer. See explanation below.
- Roll- drone left-right tilt. Floating point value in range of -1 to1; See
explanation below.
- Pitch- drone front-back tilt. Floating point value in range of -1 to1; See
explanation below.
- Gaz- drone vertical speed. Floating point value in range of -1 till 1; See
explanation below.
- Yaw- drone angular speed. Floating point value in range of -1 to1; See explanation
below.
Example:
The following UDP packet will make the drone to spin clockwise with 0.75 of its
configured power.
The UDP packet that is sent to AR.Drone is:
AT* PCMD =1,1,0,0,0, 1061158912<LF>
Arguments explanation
Flag bit-field argument values
This flag bit-field configures how the drone will interpret the progressive commands
from the user.
Bits order is from right to left MSB first.
The flag field contains the following bits:
- Bit 0: Enable progressive commands.
If this bit is set to 0- progressive commands values (Roll, Pitch’ Gaz and Yaw)
will be ignored and the drone will enter a hovering mode.
Setting this bit to 1- will make AR.Drone to consider the values of the progressive
commands that are passed in this command;
- Bit 1: Enable combined yaw.
If this bit is set to 0- Yaw argument value will be considered.
Setting this bit to 1- will result the Yaw argument value to be ignored and to be
calculated automatically according to the Roll argument value for base turns;
- Bit 2-31: are not used. Set to 0;
The following flag field's values are valid:
- 0- Hovering mode- the drone will stay on top of the same point above the
ground;
- 1- Progressive mode- the values of all the progressive command argument will
be considered;
- 2- Combined yaw mode only- do not use this mode;
- 3- Progressive with combined yaw mode- the values of the progressive command
arguments will be considered except the yaw argument that will be calculated automatically
according to the roll argument;
Roll argument values
Roll argument value sets the percentage of the maximum inclination as configured
in the drone parameters for drone’s left-right tilt.
The direction is determined by the sign of the number:
- Negative percentage value will make the drone tilt to its left, thus flying
leftward;
- Positive percentage value will make the drone tilt to its right, thus flying
rightward;
How to represent the value:
- Convert the float number [-1, 1] to hexadecimal signed value. The explanation for
the conversion will be given in future posts;
- Convert back from hex to signed 32-bit decimal number;
The following values are mostly used:
- -1082130432: The minimum converted value -1 will make the drone fly leftward
with full power;
- -1086324736: The converted value -0.75 will make the drone fly leftwards
with 3/4 power;
- -1090519040: The converted value -0.5 will make the drone fly leftwards with
half power;
- -1098907648: The converted value -0.25 will make the drone fly leftwards
with 1/4 power;
- 0: This value will make the drone fly horizontally;
- 1048576000: The converted value 0.25 will make the drone fly rightwards with
1/4 power;
- 1056964608: The converted value 0.5 will make the drone fly rightwards with
half power;
- 1061158912: The converted value 0.75 will make the drone fly rightwards with
3/4 power;
- 1065353216: The maximum converted value 1 will make the drone fly rightward
with full power;
Pitch argument values
Pitch argument value sets the percentage of the maximum inclination as configured
in the drone parameters for drone’s front-back tilt.
The direction is determined by the sign of the number:
- Negative percentage value will make the drone lower its nose, thus flying
frontwards;
- Positive percentage value will make the drone raise its nose, thus flying
backwards;
How to represent the value:
- Convert the float number [-1, 1] to hexadecimal signed value.
The explanation for the conversion will be given in future posts;
- Convert back from hex to signed 32-bit decimal number;
The following values are mostly used:
- -1082130432: The minimum converted value -1 will make the drone fly frontwards
with full power;
- -1086324736: The converted value -0.75 will make the drone fly frontwards
with 3/4 power;
- -1090519040: The converted value -0.5 will make the drone fly frontwards
with half power;
- -1098907648: The converted value -0.25 will make the drone fly frontwards
with 1/4 power;
- 0: This value will make the drone fly horizontally;
- 1048576000: The converted value 0.25 will make the drone fly backwards with
1/4 power;
- 1056964608: The converted value 0.5 will make the drone fly backwards with
half power;
- 1061158912: The converted value 0.75 will make the drone fly backwards with
3/4 power;
- 1065353216: The maximum converted value 1 will make the drone fly backwards
with full power;
Gaz argument values
Gaz argument value sets the percentage of the maximum vertical speed as configured
in the drone parameters for drone’s vertical movement up or down.
The direction is determined by the sign of the number:
- Negative percentage value will make the drone go down, thus go downwards;
- Positive percentage value will make the drone rise up in the air, thus go
upwards;
How to represent the value:
- Convert the float number [-1, 1] to hexadecimal signed value. The explanation for
the conversion will be given in future posts;
- Convert back from hex to signed 32-bit decimal number;
The following values are mostly used:
- -1082130432: The minimum converted value -1 will make the drone fly downwards
with full power;
- -1086324736: The converted value -0.75 will make the drone fly downwards
with 3/4 power;
- -1090519040: The converted value -0.5 will make the drone fly downwards with
half power;
- -1098907648: The converted value -0.25 will make the drone fly downwards
with 1/4 power;
- 0: This value will make the drone stay at the same position vertically;
- 1048576000: The converted value 0.25 will make the drone fly upwards with
1/4 power;
- 1056964608: The converted value 0.5 will make the drone fly upwards with
half power;
- 1061158912: The converted value 0.75 will make the drone fly upwards with
3/4 power;
- 1065353216: The maximum converted value 1 will make the drone fly upwards
with full power;
Yaw argument values
Yaw argument value sets the percentage of the maximum angular speed as configured
in the drone parameters for drone’s right-left spin.
The direction is determined by the sign of the number:
- Negative percentage value will make the drone spin left;
- Positive percentage value will make the drone spin right;
How to represent the value:
- Convert the float number [-1, 1] to hexadecimal signed value. The explanation for
the conversion will be given in future posts;
- Convert back from hex to signed 32-bit decimal number;
The following values are mostly used:
- -1082130432: The minimum converted value -1 will make the drone spin left
with full power;
- -1086324736: The converted value -0.75 will make the drone spin left with
3/4 power;
- -1090519040: The converted value -0.5 will make the drone spin left with
half power;
- -1098907648: The converted value -0.25 will make the drone spin left with
1/4 power;
- 0: This value will make the drone stay at the same position horizontally;
- 1048576000: The converted value 0.25 will make the drone spin right with
1/4 power;
- 1056964608: The converted value 0.5 will make the drone spin right with half
power;
- 1061158912: The converted value 0.75 will make the drone spin right with
3/4 power;
- 1065353216: The maximum converted value 1 will make the drone spin right
with full power;
wifes who cheat
cheat women women who cheat on their husband