Herelink ground side multiple inflight crash and reboots, A/C Failsafes

Just been test flying basic quad on 0.22.

Gopro 3+ black plugged into Herelink Airside. 1080p 60fps video.

After a few minutes of flight, ground side crashes, aircraft failsafes and RTLs, ground side reboots, take off again and the crash/failsafe/rtl/reboot cycle starts again.

Limited testing with no Gopro plugged has been unable to reproduce.

@sidbh

Same setup, 720p 60fps 60minutes flight time without failure.

Enabling video stream as per https://github.com/CubePilot/cubepilot-docs/blob/master/herelink/share-video-stream.md results in the same behaviour, ground side crashes and gets into boot loop (in 720p 60fps)

That’s strange, and we are not able to reproduce this.
Can you please RMA your unit? Please link this thread in your RMA request.

Will do.

Ive just been setting a machine up on the bench with it powered on for two hours, and it just did it with no video on (although it seems to take much longer).

Maybe it has something to do with processor load…

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Unit is on the way back to CubePilot,

For troubleshooting, and documenting the failure modes, prior to shipping it also locked up on boot, hanging at the Pinecone loading screen. Sat there for 10min until held power and home and it hard rebooted and behaved normally again.

I have had a similar - related issue.

While flying a Quadcopter - PixHawk AP, the Herlink GCS rebooted while the vehicle was in the process of returning to launch (in RTL).

The vehicle had been put in Loiter earlier in the flight (Chan 5 ~1500) before the RTL triggered from the HereLink screen.

With the vehicle a few feet from landing the HereLink finished rebooting (pinecone logo then QGroundControl)

The vehicle started flying towards the pilot and support and ended up upside-down in long grass - no damage.

Looking at the telemetry log the the AP i found the issue - as the HereLink powered up RC 5 went to 1100 - which changed the vehicle to Stabilise unexpectedly.

My suggestion would be that the RC controller part of the HerLink track it current RC output in non-volatile memory so that after a Reboot (not a controlled power cycle) it can power back up with the RC outputs tracking what they were just before the reboot.

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@sidbh

any information about this issue very concerning, hope now I am in the correct thread?

Always test your failsafe setting and actions, this has been the advice since the beginning of ardupilot.
If your transmitter, no matter the type sets a specific value that will change mode, make sure that the mode is a smart one.

It is your responsibility to test all failsafe features.

Again, we have been VERY clear, this is a BETA program, there is risk.

Hey @philip, I understand we have to setup our FS, but what can you do if the HL reboot in flight, the FS kicks in and do RTL, but when the HL starts again, get the connection, and send the flight mode (Stabilize) and the TH at minimum? There is a FS to avoid that?

Thanks!

It maybe possible to bandaid fix it by setting the initial mode to RTL? (I havent looked to see if its an option yet)

Every time my initial Herelink locked up, was lucky and the aircraft had completed the RTL failsafe before it got the chance to reboot.

This behaviour should probably be documented and stickied somewhere with the beta units, as it could get a little dangerous and isnt something that a “conventional” radio tx does so not something most users would expect.

This is interesting. I have turned off my ground unit on purpose to test my failsafe. Upon turning off the ground unit the boat went into Smart RTL like it is supposed to. After turning on the ground unit again and it booting up and all that it stayed in Smart RTL just like it should. I then changed modes to take it out of Smart RTL. It works just fine.

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Yes, ensure that the mode selected would be RTL

If your unit is rebooting, please contact your reseller and report it… obviously this is not desired behaviour.

@philip
so thats your response this is beta??? So you can confirm that this is user error or is this a bug within the software? Fully testing failsafe is all and well but if this is a bug please let us know. Before I asked the last reply was you asking one of your folks for feedback then crickets, did your team find anything? Please let us know if this is user error or a bug within the second release of the herelink?

Appreciate your help good sir.

@philip
So you can confirm that this is user error or is this a bug within the software? Fully testing failsafe is all and well but if this is a bug please let us know. Before I asked the last reply was you asking one of your folks for feedback then crickets Herelink ground side multiple inflight crash and reboots, A/C Failsafes. Please let us know if this is user error or a bug within the second release of the herelink?

The power up behaviour is not a “bug”, it’s a default value from a channel.

Regardless of the hardware, testing how your setup behaves in a failed situation is a critical step in setting up any aircraft. The whole team, ardupilot, Mission Planner, has put in a significant effort to make checking this easy for you.

We cannot control how you set up your aircraft.

That being said, obviously we don’t want HereLink to ever restart in flight. That’s the part we are investigating.

Has there been any resolution on this (i.e. in flight reboot)? Is this a hardware issue or software? Should I RMA my controller?