Added the ability to disable hover mode and constantly send commands

As per parcon's suggestion, I'm adding the ability to disable the hover
mode to allow for more predictable and thus modellable drone dynamics.
This should also be useful for my purposes.

.gitignore

@@ -27,4 +27,5 @@ Makefile
 /build/
 /msg_gen
 /srv_gen
-/src/ardrone_autonomy
+/src/ardrone_autonomy
+scripts/cache/DEBS_avail

src/ardrone_sdk.cpp

@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ navdata_pressure_raw_t shared_navdata_pressure;
 navdata_magneto_t shared_navdata_magneto;
 navdata_wind_speed_t shared_navdata_wind;
 navdata_time_t shared_arnavtime;
+navdata_unpacked_t shared_raw_navdata;
+
+bool command_disable_hover;
+bool command_always_send;
 
 vp_os_mutex_t navdata_lock;
 vp_os_mutex_t video_lock;
@@ -62,6 +66,12 @@ extern "C" {
         }
 
 
+        command_disable_hover = false; //disables the drone from entering the hover state - constant dynamics rather than onboard state changes
+        command_always_send = false;   //constantly sends navdata messages to the drone, even if the messages haven't changed
+        ros::param::param("~command_disable_hover", command_disable_hover, false);
+        ros::param::param("~command_always_send"  , command_always_send,   false);
+
+
         // SET SOME NON-STANDARD DEFAULT VALUES FOR THE DRIVER
         // THESE CAN BE OVERWRITTEN BY ROS PARAMETERS (below)
         ardrone_application_default_config.bitrate_ctrl_mode = VBC_MODE_DISABLED;
@@ -92,7 +102,7 @@ extern "C" {
         #define LOAD_PARAM_NUM(NAME,C_TYPE,DEFAULT)                                                                             \
             {                                                                                                                   \
               double param;                                                                                                     \
-              ROS_DEBUG("CHECK: "#NAME);                                                                                        \
+              ROS_DEBUG("CHECK: "#NAME" (Default = "#DEFAULT" = %f)",(float)DEFAULT);                                           \
               if(ros::param::get("~"#NAME,param))                                                                               \
               {                                                                                                                 \
                 ardrone_application_default_config.NAME = (C_TYPE)param;                                                        \
@@ -103,7 +113,7 @@ extern "C" {
         #define LOAD_PARAM_STR(NAME,DEFAULT)                                                                                    \
             {                                                                                                                   \
               std::string param;                                                                                                \
-              ROS_DEBUG("CHECK: "#NAME);                                                                                        \
+              ROS_DEBUG("CHECK: "#NAME" (Default = "#DEFAULT" = %s)",DEFAULT);                                                  \
               if(ros::param::get("~"#NAME,param))                                                                               \
               {                                                                                                                 \
                 param = param.substr(0,STRING_T_SIZE-1);                                                                        \
@@ -225,6 +235,7 @@ extern "C" {
 
     C_RESULT navdata_custom_process(const navdata_unpacked_t * const pnd) {
         vp_os_mutex_lock(&navdata_lock);
+        shared_raw_navdata = *pnd;
         shared_navdata_detect = pnd->navdata_vision_detect;
         shared_navdata_phys = pnd->navdata_phys_measures;
         shared_navdata = pnd->navdata_demo;

src/ardrone_sdk.h

@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ extern navdata_time_t shared_arnavtime;
 extern navdata_pressure_raw_t shared_navdata_pressure;
 extern navdata_magneto_t shared_navdata_magneto;
 extern navdata_wind_speed_t shared_navdata_wind;
+extern navdata_unpacked_t shared_raw_navdata;
+
+extern bool command_disable_hover;
+extern bool command_always_send;
 
 extern vp_os_mutex_t navdata_lock;
 extern vp_os_mutex_t video_lock;

src/teleop_twist.cpp

@@ -154,6 +154,10 @@ C_RESULT update_teleop(void)
                 (fabs(up_down) < _EPS) && 
                 (fabs(turn) < _EPS)
                 );
+
+        if(command_disable_hover) hover = 1; //force the hover flag to 1 (0 == enter hover) if we want to disable the hover state
+        if(command_always_send)   is_changed = true; //force the packet to send if so desired
+
         control_flag |= (hover << 0);
         control_flag |= (combined_yaw << 1);
         //ROS_INFO (">>> Control Flag: %d", control_flag);