The two state auxiliary EKF has been replaced with a single state filter that only estimates terrain offset. The new filter fuses a optical flow line of sight rate scalar (length of the optical flow LOS rate vector) which provides a terrain offset estimate that is less affected by yaw errors.
Estimation of focal length scale factor error in flight wasn't accurate enough and will be replaced with a pre-flight intrinsic sensor calibration procedure as the scale factor error does not change over time provided the lens assembly is not adjusted.
AP_NavEKF: Remove unwanted printf
The terrain offset solution status is usable for a short period of time without state updates so a timeout has been added which prevents the rapid changes in solution status due to short duration sensor read errors.
This fixes a bug which could have caused the realative position status to be incorrectly reported under some conditions and also caused a compiler warning message. the logic used to report the filter solution status has been broken down into smaller, easier to understand statements.
Non user adjustable parameters are now declared as 'const' in the header.
The _ prefix has been removed from non user adjustable tuning parameters.
We use a function call rather than a constructor to initialise variables because it enables the filter to be re-started in flight if necessary.
For consistency some signed integer type declarations have been changed to unsigned where appropriate.
The decision to switch to constant velocity mode during optical flow operation and te decision to switch back were previously being made in two different places in code. Both decisions are now made in the one place which makes the code easier to follow and maintain.
Move velocity store out of optical flow to velocity and position fusion control as it is a velocity fusion function.
Always clear the previous mode status
This patch makes the reporting of an absolute position solution less abbiguaous and ensures that relative position is always true if absolute position is true
Because synthetic position measurements at 0,0 are fused during position hold mode, a position timeout cannot be used as the only means of detecting position solution status.
Required to prevent acquisition of GPS mid flight causing unwanted change in position and velocity
A distinction has been mad between the arm and disarm transition and the decision to use position hold mode (formerly static mode)
When regaining GPS after a timeout, an offset is applied when fusing GPS velocity so that GPS velocity and position data as fused by the EKF is kinematically consistent.
This velocity offset is also accounted for when fusing air data so that wind estimates are not corrupted when the GPS position offset is being pulle back to zero.
The intended behaviour is that the EKF position will be pulled back to the GPS position at a rate of 5m/s for planes and 1 m/s for copters. This avoids large deviations in trajectory when GPS is regained.
When on the ground it is likely the flow sensor will be returning data that does not meet the minimum quality requirements selected.
The previous check was for the presence of valid data. This has been loosened to look for the presence of data.
When the vehicle becomes airborne, the quality of flow data normally improves as the image comes into focus.
1) Un-used public methods to report height and position drifting have been removed
2) A time-out has been added to the airspeed innovation consistency check so that if we are relying on airspeed to constrain velocity drift, a filter divergence or other fault that causes the airspeed to be continually rejected will trigger a change in health status.
3) A timeout of velocity, position or height measurements does not cause a filter fault to be reported. Timeouts can be due to sensor errors and do not necessarily indicate that the filter has failed.
4) Time-outs of various measurements are used to present a consolidated bitmask which inidicates which parts of the solution can be used, eg attitude, height, velocity, relative position, absolute position, etc.
The time required for GPS to be lost or rejected before vehicles with airspeed sensors either reset to GPS or invoke the zero side-slip assumption to constrain drift has been reduced from 15 to 10 seconds
A duplicate zeroing of the GPS position offset has been removed
If the vehicle is a non hovering vehicle (eg a plane) then the speed at which the GPS offset is pulled back to zero after a reset is increased from 1 to 3 m/s
This also improves recovery from bad inertial data for planes
Doing this can cause large height and height rate errors if large GPS velocity errors cause the GPS tn be rejected for long enough to cause a timeout and reset of states.
priseborough
Andrew Tridgell
Randy Mackay