In this research activity, the Walkera Runner 250 Advance ground control
station (GCS) will be examined in depth.
The Walkera Runner 250 Advance is a 250mm quadcopter and is what is
known as a First Person View (FPV) Racer.
It is manufactured by Chinese manufacture Wakera and is 250mm diagonally
from motor to motor. It transmits video
via 5.8 GHz, is equipped with dual GPS module, and is capable of acrobatic
flight, (Walkera Runner 250(R) Quick Start Guide, 2015).
The Runner 250
Advance comes with an optional on screen display (OSD) for users that want to
fly in a mode called FPV, where a spotter is used to keep the aircraft in line
of sight (LOS) and the operator fly’s by looking at the screen. The video is transmitted via 5.8 GHz and is
only a 2 dimensional image, because of this the OSD is key when learning to fly
FPV.
Companies that
manufacture these FPV Racer quadcopters are typically not aviation
companies. Thus, when someone that comes
from the aviation community and tries to fly one, they can find the information
provided by the OSD confusing. Figure
[1], comes from Walkera Runner 250(R) Quick Start Guide. Instantly one can notice there is a plethora
of information displayed. Arguably there
is too much information, and some information is not well placed. For example, an aviator will notice the
horizontal distance is in the top right corner under the time, however, on modern
manned aircraft, distance measuring equipment (DME) is usually situated above
and to the left of a compass card. While
DME and horizontal distance to the operator are different, they provide a
similar function, because as a FPV flight is coming to an end, the user will
want to fly back to their position, thus giving a similar use to DME
readout. Additionally, the Walkera OSD
places the vertical speed indicator (VSI) above the horizontal speed indicator,
rather than above the altitude read out.
Because of this, the user must shift their eyes from the right side of
the screen to read the altitude, then to the opposite side to read the VSI. If the two above mentioned items Distance and
VSI were shifted this would give a similar readout that is found in most modern
manned aircraft. Additionally, latitude
and longitude are listed on the bottom of the screen, this is a function of the
GPS on the Runner 250 Advance. The
Runner 250 Advance is a “racer” and this is superfluous information that does
not provide the operator with any additional situational awareness.
Lastly, a sometimes controversial subject of units comes
to light. All units are in metric units
of measure, this may not be an issue for most and can be adapted easily. However, FPV racers typically fly close to
the ground, and if the altitude readout were in feet, then the use of the OSD
could facilitate a closer flight to the ground. These numbers could also read
out in fractions of a meter but will ultimately add more digits to read an
altitude, for this reason feet should be the accepted measure of altitude.
FIGURE
[1]. Courtesy of Wakera Runner 250(R) Quick Start Guide.
Overall, the Walkera
Runner 250 Advance offers an entry level FPV Racer with many features, however,
like most other sUAS they are not made by aviation companies and place
information in places that are not intuitive the aviator. Similarly to manned aviation, there are not standards
in where information is placed but lots of research has been conducted in the
realm of human factors and making sure information is easily accessible to the
aviator. The UAS community should learn
from the manned community where there is not standard in information placement
and units of measurements, and standardization should be adopted to make
transitions from manned aircraft and between unmanned aircraft easier,
additionally, this will make transitions from one manufacture to the other
easier as well.
Reference
Walkera Runner 250(R) Quick Start Guide. (2015 Oct 20). Walkera.
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