Fixedwing PID Tuning Guide

This guide is for advanced users / experts only. If you don't understand what a PID tuning is you might crash your aircraft.

  • An incorrectly set gain during tuning can make attitude control unstable. A pilot tuning gains should therefore be able to fly and land the plane in manual (override) control.
  • Excessive gains (and rapid servo motion) can violate the maximum forces of your airframe. Increase gains carefully.
  • Roll and pitch tuning follow the same sequence. The only difference is that pitch is more sensitive to trim offsets, so integrator gains need more attention to compensate this.

All parameters are documented in the Parameter Reference. The most important parameters are covered in this guide.

Establishing the Airframe Baseline

If a pilot capable of manual flight is available, its best to establish a few core system properties on a manual trial. To do this, fly these maneuvers. Even if you can't note all the quantities immediately on paper, the log file will be very useful for later tuning.

All these quantities will be automatically logged. You only need to take notes if you want to directly move on to tuning without looking at the log files

  • Fly level with a convenient airspeed. Note throttle stick position and airspeed. (example: 70% → 0.7 throttle, 15 m/s airspeed)
  • Climb with maximum throttle and sufficient airspeed for 10-30 seconds. (example: 12 m/s airspeed, climbed 100 m in 30 seconds)
  • Descend with zero throttle and reasonable airspeed for 10-30 seconds. (example: 18 m/s airspeed, descended 80 m in 30 seconds)
  • Bank hard right with full roll stick until 60 degrees roll, then bank hard left with full roll stick until 60 degrees in the opposite side.
  • Pitch up hard 45 degrees, pitch down hard 45 degrees

This guide will use these quantities to set some of the controller gains later on.

Tune Roll

Tune first the roll axis, then pitch. The roll axis is safer as an incorrect tuning leads only to motion, but not a loss of altitude.

Tuning the Feedforward Gain

To tune this gain, set the other gains to zero.

Gains to set to zero

  • FW_RR_I = 0
  • FW_RR_P = 0
  • FW_RSP_OFF = 0

Gains to tune

  • FW_RR_FF - start with a value of 0.4. Increase (doubling each time) this value until the plane rolls satisfactory and reaches the setpoint. Back down the gain 20% at the end of the process.

Tuning the Rate Gain

  • FW_RR_P - start with a value of 0.06. Increase (doubling each time) this value until the system starts to wobble / twitch. Reduce by 50% then.

Tuning the Trim Offsets with the Integrator Gain

  • FW_RR_I - start with a value of 0.01. Increase (doubling each time) this value until there is no offset between commanded and actual roll value (this will most likely require looking at a log file)

Tune Pitch

The pitch axis might need more integrator gain and a correctly set pitch offset.

Tuning the Feedforward Gain

To tune this gain, set the other gains to zero.

Gains to set to zero

  • FW_PR_I = 0
  • FW_PR_P = 0
  • FW_PSP_OFF = 0

Gains to tune

  • FW_PR_FF - start with a value of 0.4. Increase (doubling each time) this value until the plane pitches satisfactory and reaches the setpoint. Back down the gain 20% at the end of the process.

Tuning the Rate Gain

  • FW_PR_P - start with a value of 0.04. Increase (doubling each time) this value until the system starts to wobble / twitch. Reduce by 50% then.

Tuning the Trim Offsets with the Integrator Gain

  • FW_PR_I - start with a value of 0.01. Increase (doubling each time) this value until there is no offset between commanded and actual roll value (this will most likely require looking at a log file)

Adjusting the Time Constant of the Outer Loop

The overall softness / hardness of the control loop can be adjusted by the time constant. The default of 0.5 seconds should be fine for normal fixed wing setups and usually does not require adjustment.

  • FW_P_TC - set to a default of 0.5 seconds, increase to make the Pitch response softer, decrease to make the response harder.
  • FW_R_TC - set to a default of 0.5 seconds, increase to make the Roll response softer, decrease to make the response harder.

L1 Controller Tuning (Position)

All L1 parameters are described here.

  • FW_L1_PERIOD - This is the L1 distance and defines the tracking point ahead of the aircraft it's following. A value of 25 meters works for most aircraft. A value of 16-18 will still work, and provide a sharper response. Shorten slowly during tuning until response is sharp without oscillation.

TECS Tuning (Altitude)

The total energy control system almost always can use the default gains, but needs some information about the main airframe properties to perform correctly.

Once these parameters are set, make the system follow a figure 8 pattern with waypoints and observe the altitude hold and airspeed hold performance. The default gains are “soft” and gentle. To improve altitude hold (but also make the throttle response more twitchy), decrease the time constant:

  • FW_T_TIME_CONST - decrease to improve altitude hold performance, but reduces efficiency and increases wear.
© PX4 Dev Team. License: CC BY 4.0            Updated: 2018-06-16 09:20:31

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