Course 09: Two-hand control | Introduction of the 2023 agricultural unmanned aircraft with dual hand control

For agricultural unmanned aircraft operation scenarios that are limited by space, terrain and network conditions and cannot give full play to the full autonomous operation efficiency, XAG launched the ARC3 Pro two-hand remote control (hereinafter referred to as "two-hand control") specially designed for agricultural operations, which is functionally compatible with XAG agricultural drones and unmanned vehicles, and can be used with the latest version of XAG Agricultural Service App 4.0 for agricultural operations and improve the efficiency of unmanned aircraft operations.

Next, we will start with the introduction of the four features of ARC3 Pro (safe, flexible, easy to use, introduction) to understand the changes brought about by dual-handed control and unmanned aircraft operation.


01 Introduction to the characteristics of XAG ARC3 Pro two-hand  remote control

Feature 1: Security

First of all, it is reflected in the encounter of sudden abnormal conditions whether you are fully autonomous flight or manual flight operation, ARC3 Pro two-hand remote control can flexibly take over the equipment in the two control modes of "automatic flight and manual control", which can quickly and sensitively issue control instructions to the unmanned aircraft to avoid safety accidents.

Secondly, it brings double security in operation.

ARC3 Pro adopts a design with separate screen and remote control, which has two benefits:

1. Make the remote control more lightweight and compact, easy for users to carry and control, while reducing the screen as a "big power consumer", so that the remote control has a longer battery life outdoors.

2. More importantly, the split design allows the operator to have two completely independent and freely switchable unmanned aircraft control modes, manual flight and fully autonomous flight, and when there is a problem with either mode, the operator can smoothly take over the unmanned aircraft, bringing double safety to the operation.

In addition, the ARC3 Pro two-hand remote control supports the activation of the obstacle avoidance radar during manual control, which can identify forward obstacles in the drone and take safety a step further.

Feature 2: Flexible

ARC3 Pro is configured with several function buttons and knobs. In agricultural operations, the operator needs to adjust the flight attitude and task parameters of the unmanned aircraft at any time, and after being familiar with the corresponding operation, the operator can easily and flexibly direct the unmanned aircraft to complete the enclosure work. The operator only needs to connect the mobile phone to the two-hand remote control, open the XAG Agricultural Service App, and build a new plot, and he can carry out flight enclosure points, automatically plan routes, and easily complete pre-flight surveying and mapping of large plots.

In addition, small plot surveying and mapping can also be directly equipped with the standard RTK module, and the hand-held dual-control remote control can be used for manual enclosure.

Feature 3: Easy to use

ARC3 Pro supports manual assist mode. Its benefits are:

1. After turning on this mode, the unmanned aircraft will automatically operate along the auxiliary route, unbiased, and fly the unmanned aircraft straight, which greatly reduces the difficulty of manual remote control for novices. The operator can see the automatic generation of multiple operation assistance routes on the interface of the XAG

Agricultural Service App (dotted part of the figure below).

2. In this mode, the spraying flow/spreading pushing speed will be dynamically adjusted with the flight speed change of the unmanned aircraft, so as to realize variable spraying/spreading, keep the mu dosage always constant, and avoid more unit spraying/spreading when the flight speed is lower than the normal speed, and less spraying/spreading per unit area when the flight speed is higher than the normal speed, which affects the operation effect.

3. In this mode, when the unmanned aircraft approaches the ground, it can make a one-button U-turn and automatically switch to the next operation route, easily solving the operation problem of manual remote control.

Feature 4: worry-free

In a network-free environment, you can work directly with a two-handed remote control.Solve the problem that unmanned aircraft may encounter situations where there is no network that makes it impossible to operate.
Fully autonomous operation without network can be divided into three situations: RTK without network, RTK without network, and RTK without network.

The first type: In the case of RTK without a network, we can form a temporary local area network with XAG's 2023 agricultural unmanned aircraft through the remote control, do not transmit data through the mobile network, and realize the communication connection between the mobile phone and the aircraft, so as to carry out RTK fully autonomous operation.
The second: In the environment of no network and no RTK, the operator can first use the two-hand remote control to intelligently enclosure the dot, plan the operation route, and achieve fully autonomous operation.
Knowledge expansion: Due to the lack of RTK high-precision positioning assistance, agricultural drones can only provide operation positioning through GPS, and the accuracy is low, resulting in deviations in the positioning information of the planned operation plot. In response to this situation, the "virtual high-precision positioning" function has been launched simultaneously, at this time, only the operator needs to transmit the plot information to the XAG Agricultural Service App for one-click position correction, and your agricultural unmanned aircraft can achieve high-precision fully autonomous operation.
The third: In an environment with network and no RTK, we can also turn on the virtual base station function through the XAG Agricultural Service App, so as to achieve more accurate and fully autonomous operations.

In addition, in the network-free environment, in addition to the above fully autonomous operation form, the operator can also directly use the two-hand remote control for manual work.

02 XAG ARC3 Pro two-hand remote control structure description

1. Keys (including joystick/knob/function key)

• Front view

• Bottom view

2. Key operation logic diagram

3. Indicator light 

4. Buzzer

Summary

This course teaches the 4 characteristics of the two-hand remote control, which are "safe, flexible, easy to use, worry-free", and introduces the structure of the two-hand remote control buttons, indicator lights, buzzers, etc. Judgment question: During manual work, press and hold the F4 button to turn off spraying.

Q&A Question 1: How do I enter and exit the auxiliary work mode?

Q&A 2: How to calibrate remote sensing with two-handed remote control?