Phase 1 · Project 04

UAV Ground School (Simulation)

Learning drone logic in sim first: ArduPilot SITL, mission planning, GPS-loss drills, failsafes, and MAVLink basics. I want to break things safely before I touch hardware.

← Phase 1 Research Log

Plan

Scope

What I'm focusing on

ArduPilot SITL
Mission planning
GPS loss simulation
Failsafe behavior
Telemetry protocol basics (MAVLink)

Cost

$0 (simulation) or $60–80 for Pixhawk offline tests

Why it matters

UAVs are where I’ll stress-test autonomy and safety. If I can simulate and recover from failures here, the hardware work will be safer.

Logs

Planned

Log 1: SITL setup + first autonomous mission

Document sim setup, mission scripting, and first flights. Keep telemetry captures and timelines for later comparisons.

Log 2: GPS-loss failsafe experiment

Simulate GPS loss, watch the failsafe, and note recovery states. Capture any tuning I need for safer defaults.