[1.3] Pilot Assistant: Atmospheric piloting aids - 1.13.2 (May 28)

[Crzyrndm]

Version 1.5.3

• Improvement: SSAS heading control locks to a direction (the same system as Assistant Heading control)
  
• Improvement: Pilot Assistant lets raw heading and roll inputs through while landed with no alterations. Massive improvement in handling of takeoff/landing procedures
  
• Improvement: Pilot Assistant dual heading displays now show the current target heading and the heading difference to make it easier to turn through a certain angle in polar regions
  
• Improvement: Update buttons for SSAS now activate the associated axis
  
• Change: Yaw input delay now defaults to zero. Can be changed in the options if needed.
  
• Fix: Input regions for Pilot Assistant no longer retain focus after commiting changes
  

Lots of little polishing features for SSAS this update as well, first time in a while I've had an update focusing entirely on it and it was noticeable...

Edited April 4, 2015 by Crzyrndm

[Crzyrndm]

Version 1.5.4

• Improvement: SSAS pitch and yaw unlock is only synchronised if the bank angle is greater than 5 degrees. Single axis inputs below that threshold only unlock the axis the input is directed at
  
• Change: Reduced Pilot Assistant velocity setpoint sensitivity to throttle input by 60% to improve ease of control.
  

Relatively minor update, mostly just a whole lot of cleaning up code. I have no active development targets at this time so I'm not expecting to have another update to this mod before KSP 1.0.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Crzyrndm

[Dr. Jet]

I have no active development targets at this time.

No targets? What about autolanding?

Your current mod functionality is much better then MJ Spaceplane Guidance, so just add the final blow and it will be miraculous. ==

[Van Disaster]

Deliberate design decision to not do automatic things ( I mentioned waypoint following ages ago & that was shot down also ) other than perhaps terrain following. Where did that go anyway

[Crzyrndm]

No targets? What about autolanding?

Deliberate design decision to not do automatic things

^^

Pilot Assistant is not an autopilot the same way Mechjeb is, and never will be.

The provided control systems remove the repetitive and boring tasks of constantly trimming a vessel which makes long distance flight much more enjoyable. It doesn't remove the player from the pilots seat, you still have to make decisions about when to change direction/altitude/etc., you just don't need to make those decisions at 5 second intervals.

tl;dr

Tools provided by Pilot Assistant abstract control in order to make flying more enjoyable. That is all

Where did that go anyway

Er, I may have gotten side-tracked and completely forgotten about that... (life got busy for a bit). It may or may not happen and it will probably be post 1.0 if it does

RE: Waypoint following

Target waypoint, set heading target to waypoint heading, make minor course correction every now and again. The only difference is that I leave you to make those course corrections (very minor correction with control being based on direction)

[Dr. Jet]

Well crashing your big fat shuttle wast number of times when trying to land at runway is definitely "repetitive and boring task".

[Van Disaster]

I'm not sure this was even intended for landing craft originally ( I seem to remember some surprise when I mentioned using it to land ), although it definitely can be given I do just that every flight. Mebbe you could get the kOS people to integrate it ( which would need a little API for this, I guess - set heading/vs would be enough ).

[Crzyrndm]

Yea, but that's all down to pilot error

Match the runway heading, get the speed down to something manageable, and then just manage the sink rate (you want to be using VSpeed for landings (not altitude) possibly with fine control active). There's a couple of mods that can help managing VS/direction, NavUtilities ILS, and another one that adds 4 lights that change colour depending on your glideslope (I can't remember which mod it's from >.<)

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not sure this was even intended for landing craft originally ( I seem to remember some surprise when I mentioned using it to land ), although it definitely can be given I do just that every flight. Mebbe you could get the kOS people to integrate it ( which would need a little API for this, I guess - set heading/vs would be enough ).

Surprised at first, but it does make sense. The only real issue was the complete lack of ground control until a version or two ago...

[Van Disaster]

PAPI mod, it's pretty old. I keep meaning to make actual PAPI boxes for that but somehow never get round to it... NavUtilities is the thing you really want. That and setting up landmarks, and landing E->W on the KSC runway rather than trying to dodge the mountains...

I just used to use SAS until airborne for ground control.

[Van Disaster]

Think you need to recheck the code for going past 360 degrees -> 0, was flying around aiming due north & wondering why I had some rather harsh bank oscillation, it went away when I changed heading a degree or two either side of 0.

[Crzyrndm]

Ugh, the derivative action is tripping out on the 0/360 boundary. Temporary solution, zero Kd of the offending controller.

I'll try work something out, but this could take a while...

[gilflo]

Does Mechjeb take in account the setting of the pilot assistant SAS, if I switch on Mechjeb?

[Crzyrndm]

If Mechjeb is using the Stock SAS for it's maneuvering and you are tuning the stock SAS parameters then yes it will. Other than that, no.

[gilflo]

I have a question about the SAS module and the pilot assistant module.

In the SAS module you can change the values for Kp, Ki, Kd and scalar for yaw, pitch and roll and you can define a preset for each aircraft.

What about the values in the Pilot assistant for Roll and You control and for Vertical control?

When I define a preset in the SAS module I do not see these preset values in the Pilot assistant module

[Crzyrndm]

Are you saying you can't find the PA presets (they're under the options because I haven't gotten around to doing something smarter with them yet)? Or that you can't load SAS presets into Pilot Assistant?

If the former, it's there, exact same interface and everything. If the latter, it's because presets for each of the three systems can only be used on the system they were created for. They all operate completely differently so what works for one is entirely useless in another (SSAS operates on a different scale to stock SAS, and Pilot Assistant has 8 controllers).

Edited April 9, 2015 by Crzyrndm

[gilflo]

Ok thanks

you mean that when not using SAS, it works with pilot assistant preset and if using SAS it works with SAS preset?

Could you be kind to send your spreadsheet at [email protected].

I made one to figure out how SAS is working with different values but i am not sure it's ok.

Thank's a lot.

[gilflo]

I could access your spreadsheet and i corrected mine.

It helps a lot to understand how to use the different settings.

[Crzyrndm]

you mean that when not using SAS, it works with pilot assistant preset and if using SAS it works with SAS preset?

You can load SSAS presets only into the SSAS parameters, you can load stock SAS presets only into the stock SAS parameters, and you can load the Pilot Assistant parameters only into Pilot Assistant parameters. It should be fairly easy to see why from the presets themselves

8 controllers, clamps are configurable, Easing is configurable

{
name = default
HdgBankController
{
PGain = 2
IGain = 0.1
DGain = 0
MinOut = -30
MaxOut = 30
ClampLower = -0.5
ClampUpper = 0.5
Scalar = 1
Ease = 1
}
HdgYawController
{
PGain = 0.05
IGain = 0
DGain = 0.01
MinOut = -2
MaxOut = 2
ClampLower = -0.5
ClampUpper = 0.5
Scalar = 1
Ease = 1
}
AileronController
{
PGain = 0.02
IGain = 0.005
DGain = 0.01
MinOut = -1
MaxOut = 1
ClampLower = -0.4
ClampUpper = 0.4
Scalar = 1
Ease = 1
}
RudderController
{
PGain = 0.1
IGain = 0.08
DGain = 0.05
MinOut = -1
MaxOut = 1
ClampLower = -0.4
ClampUpper = 0.4
Scalar = 1
Ease = 1
}
AltitudeController
{
PGain = 0.15
IGain = 0.01
DGain = 0
MinOut = -50
MaxOut = 50
ClampLower = -0.01
ClampUpper = 0.01
Scalar = 1
Ease = 100
}
AoAController
{
PGain = 4
IGain = 0.4
DGain = 1
MinOut = -10
MaxOut = 10
ClampLower = -5
ClampUpper = 5
Scalar = 1
Ease = 10
}
ElevatorController
{
PGain = 0.05
IGain = 0.01
DGain = 0.1
MinOut = -1
MaxOut = 1
ClampLower = -0.4
ClampUpper = 0.4
Scalar = 3
Ease = 1
}
ThrottleController
{
PGain = 0.2
IGain = 0.06
DGain = 0.3
MinOut = -1
MaxOut = 0
ClampLower = -1
ClampUpper = 0.4
Scalar = 1
Ease = 1
}
}

PIDPreset

Only information for 3 controllers, and the limits and easing parameters are hard-coded and the delay is not functional (SSAS only)

{
name = stock
stock = True
AileronController
{
PGain = 9000
IGain = 0
DGain = 600
Scalar = 1000
Delay = 0
}
RudderController
{
PGain = 15000
IGain = 0
DGain = 2000
Scalar = 1000
Delay = 0
}
ElevatorController
{
PGain = 15000
IGain = 0
DGain = 2000
Scalar = 1000
Delay = 0
}
}

SASPreset

Almost the same as the stock preset, but look at the different magnitude of the values. This prevents one set being used by the other

{
name = SSAS
stock = False
AileronController
{
PGain = 0.1
IGain = 0
DGain = 0.06
Scalar = 3
Delay = 1
}
RudderController
{
PGain = 0.15
IGain = 0
DGain = 0.06
Scalar = 3
Delay = 1
}
ElevatorController
{
PGain = 0.15
IGain = 0
DGain = 0.06
Scalar = 3
Delay = 1
}
}

SASPreset

Whenever you load a preset that isn't the default one, one of these gets added. The next time you load a vehicle with the same name, the same preset will be automatically loaded (note: this is the default one that gets used for craft that don't have their own individual one)

{
name = default
pilot = default
ssas = SSAS
stock = stock
SASmode = False
}

CraftPreset

I could access your spreadsheet and i corrected mine.

It helps a lot to understand how to use the different settings.

That's what it's there to do

[gilflo]

OK thanks Crzyrndm

As i am not english native nor programmer, to be sure to understand how all this works together:

8 presets in pilot assistant and it's possible to change values for 4 of them through GUI: Heading Bank,Heading yaw, AOA and Throttle . So if i want to modify pitch controller or aileron controller on PA, i must go through the code, is that right?

Aileron controller and bank controller for wing leveler mode and Hdg bank controller with heading yaw controller for Target hdg mode?

On vertical mode, altitude controller for altitude mode, but it's modifiable only through code and for vertical speed controller AOA is modifiable through GUI.

3 presets for SAS (pitch, roll, yaw) that are modifiable through the GUI.

What are clamps and max/min out for those?

I can also see that if i launch my plane with the stock value pitch, the SAS will keep it strongly, but with oscillations at the pitch angle i fly, because the pitch value is never met. On the graph, there oscillation around the value and as the value is never met, I can release pitch control, the plane keeps the pitch angle.

As soon as I enter value to damp oscillations and eliminate them, my plane will dive.

Edited April 10, 2015 by gilflo

[Crzyrndm]

8 presets in pilot assistant and it's possible to change values for 4 of them through GUI: Heading Bank,Heading yaw, AOA and Throttle . So if i want to modify pitch controller or aileron controller on PA, i must go through the code, is that right?

Those 4 are exposed by default, the altitude controller appears if you change from vertical speed control to altitude control, and the remaining three appear if you toggle on "Show Control Surfaces" under the options (they're hidden by default to make things a bit more manageable).

3 presets for SAS (pitch, roll, yaw) that are modifiable through the GUI.

What are clamps and max/min out for those?

+/- 100% control output in all cases. Limits are needed in Pilot Assistant to prevent it trying to do something silly like fly at 40 degrees AoA if you tell it to climb at 400m/s suddenly, but since the control outputs are already fixed, the limits are fixed (plus I can't actually affect limits on the stock SAS...)

I can also see that if i launch my plane with the stock value pitch, the SAS will keep it strongly, but with oscillations at the pitch angle i fly, because the pitch value is never met. On the graph, there oscillation around the value and as the value is never met, I can release pitch control, the plane keeps the pitch angle.

As soon as I enter value to damp oscillations and eliminate them, my plane will dive.

Small note here, the spreadsheet/graph is what you might call a perfect simulation. Flying a plane you have things that prevent that perfect result from happening like the mass/inertia of the vessel, aerodynamic forces, etc. I made it more for learning what each of the inputs was and a bit on the effects it has.

So, coming back to your problem, with SAS on you get pitch oscillations about your target? Generally that is a response to high dynamic pressure increasing control authority and causing it to over-react. The simple solution is to slowly increase "scalar" until the oscillations dampen out. Scalar is your "I want everything to happen faster/slower" tool (increasing it slows things down)

Edited April 10, 2015 by Crzyrndm

[gilflo]

Thanks for all explanations

I think there is a small bug when i select "show control surface" i see: YAW, Bank and Yaw again.

I think the last one should be pitch ??

[gilflo]

What about this: Selecting a vertical speed 60m/s, the PA can't track this VS above 15000m, unless I enter a bigger value, like 100m/s. The plane is perfectly flyable, no great AOA, not near stall...

Then I had to enter more than 100 aver the value to fly the VS and it was fine. I am wondering if it is not a lack of pitch authority?

[Van Disaster]

Two possibles - pitch authority, or you need to raise the integral bounds for either VS or AoA.

[gilflo]

Thank's for all your advices.

I was Able to send on orbit my first FAR SSTO with 40% fuel and oxy remaining.

Take off 50 tons

I need some advices for re-entry.

Here is the first time, I loose a fin but was able to recover from stall on entry. Don't know how!

Second time I did not succeed

[futrtrubl]

Thank's for all your advices.

I was Able to send on orbit my first FAR SSTO with 40% fuel and oxy remaining.

Take off 50 tons

http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/185308screenshot96.png

http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/659205screenshot102.png

http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/321184screenshot103.png

I need some advices for re-entry.

Here is the first time, I loose a fin but was able to recover from stall on entry. Don't know how!

Second time I did not succeed

http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/883842screenshot89.png

I don't think I would use PA:APA for re-entry. I see you have MJ installed so I would recommend using "surface velocity +", pitching up almost 90 degrees at the start gradually lowering to ~20 degrees once heating really gets going. If it some point you find yourself gaining altitude rotate 180 (ie invert) but still use positive pitch so lift is pushing you towards the planet until you are descending again. Unless you are already near max heat or max dynamic pressure. Roll can be used to steer as well, again while using +ve pitch.

If you find things still break at around +20 pitch near max dynamic pressure reduce the pitch.

Edited April 10, 2015 by futrtrubl