The Missouri S&T AESS UAV Team is working hard designing their autonomous RC Plane and by the looks of the latest test flight things are progressing nicely!

"Using HIL simulation allowed us to all to get a better of idea of what we had to do once we got out to the airfield. In the end performing the HIL simulation in the lab saved us a lot of time and allowed me to get more familiar with tuning the PID control loops for the autopilot. Previously we had not used the PID window in Virtual Cockpit, but after using it in the HIL simulation it proved to be invaluable for properly tuning the autopilot, it allows you to see the actual, desired, and effort of a certain control parameter (i.e. pitch, roll, yaw, altitude, etc.). Previously we had had issues seeing a change in the behavior from the ground after changing a certain PID gain. On the first flight soon after takeoff the aircraft became unstable and began to become uncontrollable and began oscillating wildly, fortunately our pilot Kyle was able to get it back on the ground without any damage. It turns out that our CG was too far aft, but after adjusting the CG we were able to continue with testing. Using the PID window and the having performed the same process of tuning the autopilot in HIL mode, the first few flights went quickly and we were able to quickly tune the level 1 control loops within two 15-minute flights."

Via: DIY Drones