Transmitter Based Tuning

You can perform extensive parameter tuning in flight using your R/C transmitter. This is meant for advanced users who are unable to use the Autotune features or wish to do fine tuning with full manual tuning control of each parameter

Overview

Transmitter based tuning allows you to tune a single parameter or a set of parameters while flying. The basic idea is to link the tuning value of a parameter to a knob or slider on your transmitter then to adjust the parameter in flight by moving the knob.

First you should set RCx_OPTION = 219, where x is a free RC channel that will be used for transmitter tuning.

The TUNE parameter determines which parameter is being tuned.

The TUNE_MAX parameter determines the maximum value of the parameter when the channel is at RCx_MAX, while the TUNE_MIN parameter determines the value when tuning RC channel is at RCx_MIN.

TUNE Values

Value	Meaning	Parameter
0	None
1	Stab Roll/Pitch kP	ATC_ANG_RLL_P, ATC_ANG_PIT_P
4	Rate Roll/Pitch kP	ATC_RAT_RLL_P, ATC_RAT_PIT_P
5	Rate Roll/Pitch kI	ATC_RAT_RLL_I, ATC_RAT_PIT_I
21	Rate Roll/Pitch kD	ATC_RAT_RLL_D, ATC_RAT_PIT_D
3	Stab Yaw kP	ATC_ANG_YAW_P
6	Rate Yaw kP	ATC_RAT_YAW_P
26	Rate Yaw kD	ATC_RAT_YAW_D
56	Rate Yaw Filter	ATC_RAT_YAW_FLTE
55	Motor Yaw Headroom	MOT_YAW_HEADROOM
14	AltHold kP	PSC_POSZ_P
7	Throttle Rate kP	PSC_VELZ_P
34	Throttle Accel kP	PSC_ACCZ_P
35	Throttle Accel kI	PSC_ACCZ_I
36	Throttle Accel kD	PSC_ACCZ_D
12	Loiter Pos kP	PSC_POSXY_P
22	Velocity XY kP	PSC_VELXY_P
28	Velocity XY kI	PSC_VELXY_I
10	WP Speed	WPNAV_SPEED
25	Acro RollPitch kP	ACRO_RP_RATE
40	Acro Yaw kP	ACRO_Y_RATE
45	RC Feel	ATC_INPUT_TC
13	Heli Ext Gyro	H_GYR_GAIN
38	Declination	COMPASS_DEC
39	Circle Rate	CIRCLE_RATE
46	Rate Pitch kP	ATC_RAT_PIT_P
47	Rate Pitch kI	ATC_RAT_PIT_I
48	Rate Pitch kD	ATC_RAT_PIT_D
49	Rate Roll kP	ATC_RAT_RLL_P
50	Rate Roll kI	ATC_RAT_RLL_I
51	Rate Roll kD	ATC_RAT_RLL_D
52	Rate Pitch FF	ATC_RAT_PIT_FF **
53	Rate Roll FF	ATC_RAT_RLL_FF **
54	Rate Yaw FF	ATC_RAT_YAW_FF **
57	Winch	WINCH_RATE_MAX
58	SysID Magnitude	SIDS_MAGNITUDE
59	Position Control Max Lean Angle	PSC_ANGLE_MAX

** Traditional Heli Only

These values can be either set manually or using Mission Planner

Setting with Mission Planner

Rate Roll P and Rate Pitch P will be used in the following example procedure

1. Connect your autopilot to Mission Planner

2. From parameter list, assign channel x to transmitter tuning with RCx_OPTION = 219.

3. On Mission Planner, select CONFIG>>Extended Tuning

4. Set the TUNE drop down box option to “Rate Roll/Pitch kP”

5. Set Min to 0.08, Max to 0.20 (most copters ideal gain is within this range although from a small number of copter the Max can be as high as 0.25)

6. Push the “Write Params” button

7. Turn your transmitter’s CHx tuning knob to the minimum position, press the “Refresh Params” button and ensure that the Rate Roll P and Rate Pitch P values become 0.08 (or something very close)

8. Turn the CHx knob to its maximum position, press “Refresh Params” and ensure the Rate Roll P moves to 0.20

9. Move the CHx knob back to the middle

10. Arm and fly your copter in Stabilize mode adjusting the CHx knob until you get a copter that is responsive but not wobbly

11. After the flight, disconnect your LiPo battery and reconnect the autopilot to the mission planner

12. With the CHx knob in the position that gave the best performance, return to the Copter Pids screen and push the “Refresh Params” button

13. In the Rate Roll P and Rate Pitch P fields re-type the value that you see but just slightly modified so that the mission planner recognizes that it’s changed and resends to the autopilot (Note: if you re-type exactly the same number as what appears in Rate Roll P it won’t be updated). So for example, if the Rate Roll P appears as “0.1213” make it “0.1200”

14. Set CHx Opt back to “None” and push “Write Params”

15. Push the Disconnect button on the top right, and the Connect

16. Ensure that the Rate Roll P value is the value that you retyped in step #13

Note

While you are moving the tuning knob the values update at 3 times per second. The need to press the Refresh button in the mission planner in steps #7 and #8 above is just because the Copter is not sending the updates to the mission planner in real-time.