Increase hovering stability - What can I do?

#1

Hello,

I just built my first DIY quadcopter using the drone kit. Maybe I had false assumptions on self build drones, but I’m surprised at the high instability when hovering at a stationary point. It sways around like it’s drunk, sometimes more than 2 metres in every direction. When looking at videos of other drone builders, this seems to be a common problem with self built drones.
So far I heard of 2 ways to remedy that:

  • Using an RTK system, e.g. Here3 + a ground station
  • Using an optical flow module, e.g. a PX4Flow

Does anybody have any experience with one of these? Is it worth investing in either one or should I just live with it? Or is there another option?

Best regards

#2

Your issue might be due to the controllers pid settings. A google search on “drone pid tuning explained” may help - or not. Good Luck.

#3

@dsetin19 Is correct. My builds are rock solid, especially in Loiter mode. Caleb describes using the Autotune feature, but start here for a more comprehensive review…

https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/tuning-process-instructions.html