Vehicle doesn't switch to guided mode for the purpose of mission planning

[EliotBR (Eliot)]

Hi @Bren, welcome to the forum

I’ve merged your two identical comments into this post, since they’re on the same topic - it’s better to have one comprehensive discussion on an issue than several fragmented ones.

@Bren

Is there any update related to guided mode for mission planning in QGC?

I’m not really sure what you mean by this. Perhaps this comment is relevant:

@EliotBR

ArduSub has some positional control modes (see control_*.cpp ) and commands implemented (including things like mission following and the circle control mode), but they haven’t been extensively validated on our end so we present them as developmental rather than stable and fully supported.

…

you should be able to do waypoint following in QGC, but there may be unexpected issues or buggy behaviour that occur when trying to do so (in which case please report them and we can try to work together to fix them - as with any other issues).

As far as I know Guided mode should be possible to switch into, but I believe it’s for enabling direct positional and velocity control commands, whereas mission following requires sending a mission to the autopilot and then switching the vehicle into Auto mode to (autonomously) follow the mission waypoints (@williangalvani please correct me if that’s wrong).

It would be likely useful if you can provide

1. Your ArduSub version
2. The positioning sensor(s) you’re using (and how they’re connected)
3. A telemetry log

It’s worth noting that the position-based control modes require a stable and trusted positioning estimate, and may require some other safety based conditions/parameters.

Ignoring missions, do you get a more descriptive error when you try to just put the vehicle into guided mode (or poshold) yourself, with a joystick button function?