ArduPilot / ArduPilot/MAVProxy

MAVProxy sending invalid terrain data above 60N

Open
#709 3 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
bug
Dominant language
Python
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Avg merge
2d 6h
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

I think that MAVProxy is sending invalid terrain data to the vehicle for latitudes above 60N for which the ardupilot SRTM database has no data. This means that a user in finland (and many other places probably) could attempt to fly a terrain altitude mission and all would appear fine until the vehicle crashed into the ground.

This can be reproduced in SITL by doing the following:

- edit the Tools/autotest/Locations.txt file and add finland as "62.23075, 25.6993,0,0"
- ../Tools/autotest/sim_vehicle.py -L finland --map --console
- create a short mission with a takeoff, waypoint (with an altitude of 10m AGL), RTL
- fly the mission

The vehicle will fly the mission just as if it's a relative altitude. I.e. it will not climb over mountains.

Here is the issue on the vehicle side: https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/issues/12923

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Add Finland to Tools/autotest/Locations.txt, run ../Tools/autotest/sim_vehicle.py -L finland --map --console, and reproduce the short terrain-altitude mission described in the issue. Trace how MAVProxy sends terrain data when the SRTM database has no coverage above 60N; done means the mission no longer behaves like relative altitude and terrain following is safe in the reproduction.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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