JOHAR NEW MANUAL

Vortex Edge Sdn. Bhd.

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

VORTEX JOHAR 1.0
AUTOPILOT

Unit K-2-2, Jalan GC 14, Glomac, Cyber 4, 63000, Cyberjaya,
Selangor, Malaysia

Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SAFETY AND HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS………………..…...................2
1. INTRODUCTION……………………………....…...………….....3
2. PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS………….............…....……..........4
3. AVIONICS…………………………………….………….……….5
3.1. POWER OPTIONS……...…….…...………………...6
3.2. SERVO OPTIONS……...…….…...…………………6
3.3. INSTALLATION LOCATION……..…..…………...6
4. CONNECTIVITY……………………………………..…….……..7
5. GROUND CONTROL STATION ……………………..…………8
5.1. AUTOPILOT COMMANDS…….……...……….…10
5.2. AUTOPILOT MODES…………................………...12
5.3. INSTALLATION AND RUNNING………...……...13
5.4. SETTINGS
5.4.1. SNOOPER FLIGHT CONFIGURATION……….....13
5.4.2. VIDEO SOURCE…………..............……………….14
5.5. SETUP
5.5.1. RADIO CALIBRATION……………………….…..15
5.5.2. FLIGHT MODES….………………………….….....17
5.6. JOYSTICK...…………………...…………………...18
5.7. SIMULATION……...…………...………………....19
5.8. CREATING A MISSION WITH WAYPOINTS…..21
5.9. COMPLETED MISSION PLAN……..............……23

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

SAFETY AND HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS

• Never operate the vehicle or software in a way that could be dangerous to you,
other people, or property.
• Always keep propeller arcs free of objects and body parts while the vehicle is
live.
• Keep in mind that software and hardware failures happen. Although we design
our products to minimize such issues, you should always operate with the
understanding that a failure could occur at any time and without warning.
Accordingly, you should take the appropriate precautions to minimize danger in
case of product failure.
• Never use the software or hardware for manned vehicles.
• Always operate within local laws and regulations.

Additional safety information:

• Be sure to maintain safe distances between people and your aircraft.
• Environment conditions can change rapidly and can make operation difficult. If
this occurs, land your aircraft and discontinue use immediately. Do not operate
your aircraft if operating conditions are not ideal. This includes, but is not limited
to, rain, snow or excessive wind.
• Always ensure the battery cable is disconnected from the aircraft until you are
ready to fly, and ensure that your batteries are fully charged prior to use.
• Always turn on the transmitter and ensure the throttle stick is all the way down
before connecting the battery.
• After landing, disarm your vehicle immediately and disconnect the battery cable.
• Do not turn off the transmitter until after you have disconnected the battery.
• Always remove the propellers while testing the motors.
• When the battery is connected, always assume the vehicle is live and the motors
are armed. Do not attempt to fly longer than the battery’s safe capacity.
• Do not operate the vehicle with excess weight attached.
• Ensure that all vehicle components are well maintained before each flight.
Ensure that components are firmly attached and operating properly.
• Replace any worn or damaged components before each flight. Never operate
with any damaged or worn components.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

1. INTRODUCTION

Vortex Johar 1.0 is a complete integrated avionics system solution for small
unmanned aircraft including the core autopilot, flight sensors, navigation,
wireless communication, and payload interfaces, all in a small and highly
integrated package. Moreover, it is backed by full hardware in the loop
simulation system for modelling, simulation and autopilot tuning for any
airframe. This document is the end-user’s manual for the Vortex Johar 1.0
system and provides a basic description, interface guidelines and system
setup.

Figure 1. Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot

Figure 2. Autopilot software/hardware block diagram

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

2. PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

Specification of the autopilot is listed in the table below:

Table 1. Vortex Johar 1.0 Specifications

Mechanical

Dimensions 104 x 50 x 14 mm

Weight 90g

Enclosure/Mounting Unenclosed to provide installation flexibility and
minimum weight

Environmental and Power

Operating Temperature 55°

Power requirements 6V ~ 12V

Flight Controller

Flight Modes • Fully Autonomous
• Stability Augmented Steering
• Direct Manual Control
Full 3D Waypoint Navigation
Autonomy

Flight Controller Fully Autonomous;

Take Off and Landing• Supports hand launch, catapult and runway.
•
3 axis Gyros, 500° per sec, 3 Axis Accelerometer
Inertial Sensors 3.6g

Air Data Sensors 70 kts max indicated airspeed and Barometer
Pressure Sensor

110-30 kPa (30,000 ft.)

Navigational Sensor 5 Hz uBlox Module GPS Receiver

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Programmable 500 waypoints saved in Vortex Johar 1.0 as Default
Waypoints
08/08
Digital/Analog I/O Transponders;
EO/IR gimbals and servo PTZ gimbals;
Supported Peripherals• LASER and ultrasonic altimeters;
• Payload pass-through commands.
•
•

Optional Add-Ons 900 MHz unlicensed ISM;
Telemetry Options 900 MHz Australian band;
2.4 GHz unlicensed ISM;
Laser Altimeter and 310-390 MHz discrete;
Auto Landing 1350-1390 MHz discrete;
1670-1700 MHz discrete.

Provides accurate altitude information allowing the
vehicle to perform a soft flared landing.

DGPS Auto Landing Extends the auto landing performance by using 2
cm accuracy DGPS. Supports autonomous taxi,
rolling take off and net recovery.

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3. AVIONICS

Avionics refers to the airborne component of the Vortex Johar 1.0 system. It
is the most complicated part of the system and requires the most care in setup.
Shown in the figure below is the onboard avionics block diagram of the
autopilot. The onboard avionics consist of autopilot, flight control surfaces,
battery, radio communication devices, payload, pitot tube, interface module
and motor.

Figure 3. Onboard Avionics block diagram
3.1. POWER OPTIONS
Vortex Johar 1.0 accepts 6V to 12V DC input power. This power is
regulated down to internal voltages required for the main board.
3.2. SERVO OPTIONS
Vortex Johar 1.0 has eight PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) outputs
available for servos.

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3.3. INSTALLATION LOCATION
There is no limitation on the installation location of Vortex Johar 1.0.
However, in general you should choose a location that will minimize
vibration. For large aircraft it is preferred to mount the avionics close
to the centre of gravity in order to reduce the acceleration that results
from centripetal motion and changes in angular rate.
The autopilot board should be mounted in such way that at the stable
level flight of the model, the autopilot board is horizontal and is
facing the direction of flight.

Figure 4. Correct location of installation of autopilot inside the
model

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4. CONNECTIVITY

The diagram below summarise the pin-out connection of the autopilot.

PWR INPUT
+6V–12V

Static USB Port
Pressure Port

Dynamic
Pressure Port

Figure 5. Autopilot interface connector pin-out

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5. GROUND CONTROL STATION

A ground control station is typically a software application, running on a ground-
based computer, that communicates with your UAV via wireless telemetry. It
displays real-time data on the UAVs performance and position and can serve as a
“virtual cockpit”, showing many of the same instruments that you would have if
you were flying a real plane.
A ground control station software can also be used to control a UAV in flight,
uploading new mission commands and setting parameters. It is often also use to
monitor the live video stream from a UAV’s cameras.

Figure 6. Ground Control Station block diagram

What is Snooper?

The Snooper is a software application, running on a ground–based computer, that
communicates with the autopilot via wireless telemetry and provides a command
and control interface for Vortex Johar 1.0 operators. It is intended for enthusiasts
as well as professional users. It is very easy to use, simple and have delicate
interface.
Learning the Snooper software is crucial to connecting the autopilot and making
servo adjustments.
It is also through this software that you will be able to monitor in flight plane
orientation, elevation, and speed, as well as making inflight adjustments.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

When you start Snooper it opens the Live Flight window. In this window, you are
able to control and monitor your aircraft during flight.

Video Area

Heads-up
Display (HUD)

Gauges

Figure 7. Live Flight window
A more detailed view of the HUD is shown below. Gauges displays a set of three
flight instruments: Air Speed, Altitude and Compass.

1 1: Crosstrack error and Turn Rate
2: Bank Angle
3 3: Air Speed
4: Artificial Horizon
5 6 5: Air Speed
7 6: Ground Speed
7: Battery Status
8: Heading Direction
9: Wireless Telemetry
10: GPS Time
11: Altitude (blue bar is rate of
climbing)
12: Current Autopilot Mode
13: Distance to Current Waypoint
> Current Waypoint Number
14: GPS Status

Figure 8. Heads-up display (HUD)

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Control and Action Area shown below is used to control the aircraft during
flight.

12 3 4

8 2 2 2
2 76 5 4
22 2

4 Fig4ure 9. Co4ntrol and Action4Area

No Description

1 Set the Mode
2 Change the current target waypoint
3 Perform the action
4 Known as Base Point Relative Altitude. It sets the barometric altitude

to the altitude of the surface point of home location
5 Restart the mission from the beginning
6 Change mode to Manual/Stabilize
7 Change mode to RTL
8 Change mode to Auto

5.1. AUTOPILOT COMMANDS

The autopilot commands display the current autopilot command
status and allows you to change the commands.

There are three main types of commands that you can use, each of
them are briefly explained below.

a) Waypoint Commands - these are traditional waypoints, and
include points that you can fly to, points you must loiter
around, take-off and landing waypoints.

b) Conditional Commands - these are based on some
condition, for example you can have a conditional delay
command that will only execute the next command once the
delay condition is met.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

c) Do commands - these are commands that result in some sort
of action, they can be actions like triggering a camera,
moving a servo to deploy landing gear etc.

Table 3. Autopilot Commands

No Commands Description

1 WAYPOINT Navigate to specified point/position.

2 LOITER_UNLIM Loiter at the specified location for an
3 LOITER_TURNS unlimited amount of time. To break out of
this command, you need to change the mode
(i.e. to MANUAL).

Loiter (circle) the specified location for a
specified number of turns.

4 LOITER_TIME Loiter at the specified location for a set time
(in seconds).
5 RETURN_TO_
LAUNCH Return to the home location.

6 LAND Land the plane at the current or a specified
location.

7 TAKEOFF Start autonomous takeoff from ground.
8 ROI
Sets the region of interest (ROI) for a sensor
set or the plane itself.

9 CONDITION_ After reaching a waypoint, delay the
DELAY execution of the next conditional “_DO_”
command for the specified number of
10 CONDITION_ seconds.
CHANGE_ ALT
Ascend/descend at a specified rate to a given
altitude. Any “_DO_” commands associated
with the waypoint will be delayed until the
desired altitude is reached.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

11 CONDITION_ Delays the start of the next “_DO_”
DISTANCE command until the plane is within the
specified number of meters of the next
waypoint.

12 CONDITION_YAW Point (yaw) the nose of the plane towards a
specified heading.

13 DO_SET_MODE Set system mode (preflight, armed, disarmed
etc.

14 DO_JUMP Jump to the specified command in the
mission list.

15 DO_CHANGE_ Change the plane horizontal speed and/or
SPEED throttle of the plane. The changes will be
used until they are explicitly changed again
or the device is rebooted.

16 DO_SET_HOME Sets the home location either as the current
location or at the location specified in the
17 DO_SET_ command.
PARAMETER
Set a system parameter.

18 DO_SET_RELAY Set a Relay pin’s voltage high (on) or low
(off).

19 DO_SET_SERVO Set a given servo pin output to a specific
PWM value.

20 DO_REPEAT_ Cycle a servo PWM output pin between its
SERVO mid-position value and a specified PWM
value, for a given number of cycles and with
a set period.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

5.2. AUTOPILOT MODES

The Autopilot Mode panel displays the current operating mode the
autopilot is set to, and allows the user to command manually
operating modes available. Here is a listing of all of the operating
modes.

Table 4. Autopilot Modes

No Mode Description

1 MANUAL Regular RC control, no stabilization.

2 CIRCLE Circle mode is similar to Loiter mode, but
doesn’t attempt to hold position.

3 STABILIZ RC control with simple stabilization.
E

4 FLY_BY_ Assisted manual flight mode. Plane will hold
WIRE_A the roll and pitch specified by the control
sticks.

5 FLY_BY_ Similar to Fly_by_wire_A but Plane will try to
WIRE_B hold altitude as well.

6 AUTO Plane will follow a mission (a set of GPS
waypoints and other commands) set by your
ground station.

7 RETURN Plane will return to its home location.
TO
LAUNCH
(RTL)

8 LOITER Circle around the point where you started the
loiter.

9 GUIDED Used when you want the aircraft to fly to a
specific point on the map without setting up a
mission.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual
Example of guided mode is shown in the picture below.

Figure 10. Guided Mode

Note: Guided is a separate flight mode. If you enter it, you will
remain in that mode until you do something to change modes.
So if you tell it to “Fly to Here”, once it arrives there it will loiter
at the Guided waypoint till you tell it to do something else. If
you change to Auto, your mission will resume where it left off.

5.3. INSTALLATION AND RUNNING

Insert the Installation CD into your CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive.
Your CD should start automatically. Copy the Snooper software into
your computer hard drive.
Connect snooper to autopilot:

1. After installing the Snooper application, you may open it and
connect to autopilot via USB cables, telemetry radios etc.

2. In the top, select PortSettings.

Figure 11. Snooper Main Menu

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3. Choose the COM port of your controller and then select

the baud rate (default baud rate is 115200). Press
Connect. If you can see the orange LED is blinking,
then the connection is established successfully.

Figure 12. PortSettings window

5.4. SETTINGS

5.4.1. SNOOPER FLIGHT
CONFIGURATION

1. From the menu, select Settings. Choose Snooper
Flight Configuration.

2. This page allows the user to alter and view the
autopilot gain. Vortex Johar 1.0 is based on PID
control algorithm. It means that the stabilization
(the ability to stay in the air) and navigation (the
ability to follow desired trajectory) control
algorithms include two loops: angle and rates
control and position and velocity control
.

3. By defaults the gains (PIDs) are set to be the
average for the majority of airframes,
configurations and etc. Of course the parameters
can be tuned precisely for the better flight
performance.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Figure 13. Snooper Flight Configuration screen
4. After filling all the gain values, select Write

button. The write button writes the values to the
Autopilot EEPROM while the Save button saves it
to your computer for later use.

5.4.2. VIDEO SOURCE

In Video Source page, you can choose the video
format and settings.
Select Video in the top menu bar. In drop down menu,
to record video choose Record Video and to stop select
Stop Recording. In case of no requirement of using on
board camera, you can turn it off by selecting On Board
Camera Off.

Figure 14. Video drop down menu

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Figure 15. Video Source screen

5.5. SETUP
5.5.1. RADIO CALIBRATION

Caution: This section assumes you have set up and
programmed your RC transmitter and receiver
correctly. This might be a good time to review the
manual that came with your RC controller system.
RC transmitter are used to control plane movement and
orientation such as throttle, pitch, yaw and roll. Each of
these control signals are mapped to the transmitter
stick/switch(s) and in turn to autopilot channels from the
connected receiver.
Before you start calibrating your RC transmitter, you
will need to change some settings on the RC transmitter
itself. Please refer your RC transmitter manual for the
instruction for setting. In this manual we will use
Futaba T8J RC transmitter.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Please make sure that your receiver has power and your
transmitter is on. Make sure your radio is turned on and
the receiver is connected to the Vortex Johar 1.0
autopilot.

In general, make sure your transmitter is set to
Airplane/fixed wing mode.

Futaba T8J transmitter have 8 channel and may be
operated in 4 different stick modes (1,2,3 and 4). These
are basically the different control configuration. We will
use Mode 2. In this mode, the right control stick operates
the aileron and elevator and the left stick operates the
rudder and throttle.

The transmitter should cause the following control
changes:

• Channel 1 (AIL): low=roll left, high=roll right.
• Channel 2 (ELE): low=pitch forward,

high=pitch back.
• Channel 3 (THR): low=throttle down,

high=throttle up.
• Channel 4 (RUD): low=yaw left, high=yaw

right.
• Channel 5: Flight Mode.

Figure 16. Different modes of Futaba T8J RC
transmitter

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

1. To start, select Setup and choose Radio
Calibration. In Radio Calibration page, you can
calibrate the autopilot with the RC transmitter
and receiver.

2. Calibrating each of the transmitter
controls/channels is a straightforward process –
simply moves each of the enabled transmitter’s
stick/switches through their full range positions
until the red bars are set at the extremes for each
control.

3. If your RC Receiver (Rx) and transmitter (Tx)
are bound, you should see the green bars move
when you move the transmitter sticks. The green
bars should move in the same direction as the
transmitter sticks.

4. If you notice that any channels are reversed, you
can either tick the Reverse button on the
planner, or change the settings on your radio.

5. In this case for Futaba radios, the bars went in
the opposite direction except throttle. We should
channel reverse set on the RC transmitter for
those (as shown in picture below).

Figure 17. Radio calibration screen

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5.5.2. FLIGHT MODES

You can choose different flight modes that you can
change while you are flying with your RC transmitter
(channel 5).

Flight modes are controlled through a radio transmitter
switch, via mission commands, or using commands
from a ground station (GCS) or companion computer.

You can enable up to 6 autopilot control/flight modes to

be set from your RC transmitter.

1. Choose Setup and then select Flight
Modes.

2. Allocate the flight modes you prefer for
each switch combination in Snooper and
click Save Modes.

Figure 18. Flight Mode screen

3. Use the drop-down on each line to
select the flight mode for that switch
position. PWM values are shown on

the right.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Figure 19. Flight Mode dropdown menu

5.6. JOYSTICK
Activates Joystick configuration window where you want to enable
joystick for manual flight.

1) First, connect your USB joystick/gamepad to the laptop
computer.

2) Open Snooper. On the main menu tab select
the Joy_Stick_Setup button.

3) Ensure the joystick appears in the Joystick drop-down.
4) The Enable button, once pushed, will tell the mission

planner to start sending commands to the vehicle so for the
initial setup do not push it.
5) On the “Roll” row, click the Auto Detect button and then
waggle the control you wish to use for roll, left and right.
The channel can be reversed with the Reverse checkbox.
6) The Expo number should be in the range of -100 to 100.

0 = no expo
100 = low response around the middle, very fast response at the edges
-100 = very fast response around the middle, less response at the edges

(very few people use negative expo)

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7) When done, push the Save button.

Figure 20. Joystick setup screen

5.7. SIMULATION
Simulation panel allows users for safe testing of a flight mission and
help to practice using the Ground Station without having to leave
their desk. Two classes of simulation are:

• Hardware in The Loop (HIL) and
• Software in The Loop (SIL) simulation.
Hardware in The Loop (HIL) simulation replaces the aircraft and the
environment with a simulator. The Simulator has a high-fidelity
aircraft dynamics model and environment model for wind,
turbulence, etc.
The physical Autopilot hardware is configured exactly as for flight,
and connects to your computer running the simulator (rather than the
aircraft).

1) To setting up the simulation, in the menu bar select
Simulation.

2) Check the “X-plane” checkbox at the top. If you are
using X-Plane 10, you must check the “Xplane 10”
checkbox shown below:

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Figure 21. Xplane 10 checkbox

Figure 22. Simulation screen
3) If you are running Snooper software on the same

computer as X-Plane, then the default IP settings should
be fine. But if you’re in doubt, you can check the
“Advanced IP Settings”. The IP address should be
127.0.0.1 and the Sim pc port should be 49000.
If you are running X-plane on a different computer,
though, enter the IP address of the other computer here
(for example 192.168.1.2). The port should be 49000 in
either case. While Planner pc Port is set to 49005 in both
cases.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Figure 23. IP setting screen
4) To start, click on Sim Link Start/Stop. You should see

values appear in the output fields.
5.8. CREATING A MISSION WITH WAYPOINTS
Flight plans are made of linked lists of waypoints. Each waypoint
encodes latitude, longitude, altitude, and the index of the next
waypoint to be used.

1) To create a new mission, select Planning from the menu
bar in the top left corner.

2) The map page will display the current location of the
vehicle and provides an interface for creating flight plans.
This current/home location is used as the reference point,
and all the waypoint altitudes are relative to the home
altitude.

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Map Area

Waypoint
Table Area

Figure 24. Planning window

3) To add your first waypoint, simply click on the map
where you want it to be. You will notice that on the
bottom section of the screen, the waypoint table will
show your recently added waypoint. To move the
waypoints, click on the waypoint, hold and then drag the
waypoint to desired new location. To delete waypoints,
right click and select delete WP from drop down menu.

4) To change waypoint parameters, simply click on the
waypoint you want to change on the waypoint table,
then you can change things such as the Alt. The table
column headings dynamically change depending on
what type of waypoint you are using. You can change
the type of waypoint command by selecting the
dropdown box on the corresponding waypoint.

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

Figure 25. Waypoint dropdown menu
5) Once you are done with your mission, select Write

Mission. To confirm, select Read Mission.
6) You can save multiple mission files to your local hard

drive by selecting Save Mission or choose Load
Mission to read the saved mission files.

Figure 26. Example of mission in Planning window

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Vortex Johar 1.0 Autopilot Instruction Manual

WP Radius - this is the distance around a waypoint that the
plane needs to be within, before it assumes the waypoint has
been reached.

Loiter Radius - this is the radius of a circle that the plane will
loiter around if a loiter waypoint has been selected.

Default Alt - the altitude when entering new waypoint. It is also
the altitude RTL mode will fly at if you have Hold Default ALT
checked. If you don’t have that checked, your aircraft will try to
maintain the altitude it was at when you switched on RTL.

Verify height - means that the Snooper will use Goggle Earth
topology data to adjust your desired altitude at each waypoint to
reflect the height of the ground.

5.9. COMPLETED MISSION PLAN

1) Continue to add as many waypoints and commands that
you want.

2) Remember that the first command should be a Takeoff

command. A takeoff command will

simply launch your plane, and keep the

position until the takeoff altitude has been met, then

continue onto the next waypoint.

3) Finally, your mission should end with a Landing
command. This is similar to the takeoff command
where your plane will descend slowly while holding its
position. The motors will not turn off until you turn off
auto flight mode.

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