- I overheard last night that the RHS UAV operator in the "Second Breakfast" mission had no UAV terminal and no UAV in his backpack.
I'v looked into it and found that the RHS drone is a little counter-intuitive to use, so I decided to post a short guide (I hope there isn't already one, otherwise sorry, I didn't find it)
- Eagle A-III Backpack (Raven)
- that's it, no UAV terminal needed
[size=1em]Deploy[/size]
- Drop Backpack
- [size=1em]Backpack action menu [/size][color=rgb(37, 37, 37)]"[/color][color=rgb(37, 37, 37)]Assemble[/color][color=rgb(37, 37, 37)] RQ11 B Raven"[/color]
- [color=rgb(37, 37, 37)]Raven action menu "Pick up Raven[/color][color=rgb(37, 37, 37)]"[/color]
- [color=rgb(37, 37, 37)]Action menu "Launch Raven"[/color]
[size=1em]Next to the assembled UAV a terminal will appear call [/size][color=rgb(37, 37, 37)]GCS. To use it you must NOT pick it up. You can do so to carry it around, but to use it you need to drop it again. It will not appear in the inventory, drop it via action menu[/color]
[color=rgb(37, 37, 37)]The GCS has some action menu entries, structured as follows:[/color]
- [color=rgb(37, 37, 37)][RQ-11 Menu][/color]
-
[li][size=1em]Camera Feed [digits][/size]
- [size=1em]New Target [digits][/size]
- [size=1em]Reset Markers[/size]
- [size=1em]Autoland[/size]
-
[li][size=1em]Minicam: Mode[/size]
[size=1em][digits] is a three digit number, probably the RC frequency of the drone, might be changable when the drone is on the ground, didn't try that though. There also some other things that can be checked/set while the drone is on the ground, but besided battery status the other things just seemed to be for "realism" (system checks and stuff).[/size]
[size=1em]Camera feed opens a full screen camera few of the drone. From this view the drone can be controlled. It will always just circle around a target point on the map, but you can control it's flying altitude [keys: W, S] and the radius of the circle [keys: A, D]. You can switch camera mode [key: N], place a map marker [key: M] and move the target point [keys: numpad 4, 6, 8 and 2].[/size]
[size=1em]To exit this view press [key: G], Esc wont help, action menu is also not available...[/size]
[size=1em]New target opens the map screen and lets you place a new target point for the drone to circle around by clicking on the map. This seems to work only once per selecting this action menu option. You can leave this screen as you would leave the normal map screen (in fact it is the normal map screen)[/size]
[size=1em]Reset markers removes the map markers you placed in the camera feed view.[/size]
[size=1em]Autoland lets the drone fly back to the position of the GCS and land. Since you can't control the UAV directly this is probably the only way to get it back to the ground (well, other than letting it run dry or shooting it down that is...)[/size]
[size=1em]Minicam: Mode [/size]The UAV operator can display a small screen with the UAV camera feed (similar to displaying the GPS screen). This options lets you select the camera mode (TV, NV, IR).
[size=1em]It seems that you do not have to stay near the GCS to keep that screen open, I only tried running a few meters though.[/size]
[size=1em]Minicam: On/Off t[/size]oggles the small camera feed screen described above.
[size=1em]Retrieve[/size]
[size=1em]Just use the Autoland action menu options from the GCS. The UAV will return and land on it's own. Disassemble it via action menu, pick up the backpack, turn 275° (celcius) to the left and click your heels together three times.[/size]
Refuel
Refueling is just another action menu option on the drone. To refuel let it land and then select the according option. You will not be able to disassamble it while refueling (or better to say recharging) and it's not terribly fast. On the plus side you can do it in the field without any extra equipment or utilities.
Running out of Fuel
In today's mission (31.5.) I noticed that when the drone runs out of fuel (or better to say power) it seems to return automatically. So it should be ok to just fly without thinking about power (which is hard anyways since there is no indication...)
Here's the link to the RHS wiki with more detailed key bindings: http://doc.rhsmods.org/index.php/RQ-11_Raven