ArduCopter 2.6 released!
Version 2.6 of the ArduCopter code is now available in the AP Mission Planner and in the downloads area!
Updates to MavLink 1.0 means you will need to use "ArdupilotMegaPlanner10.exe" to connect. If you've updated your mission planner recently you should find this executable in the directory where the mission planner is installed.
The above video is done using a prototype 3dr ublox GPS which seems to have better accuracy than the standard mediatek.
Improvements over 2.5.5 include:
- MavLink 1.0 support (use with ArdupilotMegaPlanner10.exe) [Tridge, Craig]
- Stability improvements especially during level hover [Jason]
- throttle range improvement (higher min and max) [Jason]
- improved standard Loiter PIDs [Alan, Heino, Jason, Angel]
- dataflash erase speed up ('+' messages removed but it only takes 6 seconds now) [Tridge]
- Copter LEDs [Robert Lefebvre]
- RTL loiter stage target set to home to improve final landing position [Jason]
- flip & acro improvements [Jason]
- circle mode target improvement for ground station [Jason]
- Auto Approach [Adam Rivera / Marco]
Bug fixes include:
- UBLOX driver fixes (lock should now be more reliable) [Tridge]
- enable mavlink messages during dataflash erase which resolves issue in which new APMs fresh from the factory appeared unresponsive [Tridge]
- proper printing of lat/lon values in dataflash logs [Randy]
- removed duplicate GPS reads [Jason]
- resolve flooding of telemetry link with low-battery warnings [Tridge]
- RTL bug would land if rtl_approach_alt was more than 1 [Jason]
- WP Radius could not be set larger than 1.3m [Jason/Randy]
Tuning:
PIDs are optimised for the 3DR/Jdrones quad with 850 motors and 10" props. If you're using more powerful motors/props and are seeing bad flight behaviour in stabilize, start by turning down Rate Roll P in 25% steps.
This time we spent some time optimising the loiter PIDs. Tuning loiter can be tricky so please refer to the discussions which will appear below for more community feedback on what parameters work best.
All feedback welcome below. Enhancement requests and bug reports can be put into the arducopter issues list. When possible please include logs (tlog and/or dataflash) and tell us whether you're using APM1 or APM2 and what version of the software you're using (presumably 2.6 but tell us anyway!).
Happy flying!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Jo Peer on -
Finally found the solution myself this afternoon, thx anyway.
I've also test-flow my hexa with 2.6 today.
Can't say I'm impressed...
Stabilize is perfect, reacts good and is really stable.
Alt hold was crap. I still have an APM1 with barometer only.
Sometimes the barometer seems to work, sometimes the hexa just keeps on descending till it lands. Really weird...
Position hold is the same for me as in 2.5.5: big circles that become bigger and faster.
Every time I have to correct myself to get it stable again.
I didn't even get to testing loiter because position hold was not even working for me...
I did try RTL with auto-approach a couple of times.
The first time it came back in a very agressive way and started loitering in a big circle.
The 2nd time it was behaving like in a bad alt hold, it just kept on descending until it finally landed in a hard way (semi-crash). Actually, it wasn't even attempting to return home.
Also the hexa was not first rising to the set hight like programmed.
I really don't have a clue why other people get nice results with stock PID settings and I'm not.
Can't really say the autofunctions have ever worked well for me...
I will have investigate further.
-
Permalink Reply by John Campen on -
Jo so far the best setting for my hex is to set Stab Roll/Pitch P 3.800 and I 0.002 and the rest default. Ive used this this since 2.4 and now on 2.6 and its still the best setting Ive used so far for the hex. Yesterday I flew with 2.6 and its the best firmware version Ive used to date. Very responsive in Stabilise mode and loiter was pretty rock solid in a 2mx2m box. RTL wasn't to bad but still bounces a lot on landing if I don't switch it back to Stab soon as it touches down. It also has about 5 to 10 meter error from home position when it lands. This might just be a bit of mag tweaking needed. Throttle control is a huge improvement as well. Ive uploaded yesterdays flights into my Youtube channel at jrcampen if you want to take a look.
-
Permalink Reply by Jo Peer on
-
I'm not sure why my position hold is so bad.
Even after helping the quad a little bit with stick input, the position hold was getting worse and worse again by making big circles CCW.
What the problems with altitude hold is concerned, it looks to me like it all depends on how much throttle you give when switching on altitude hold.
Is the barometer always active no matter how low the copter is? Or is it disabled when it is too low?
That might explain the descending of the copter in alt mode.
When I had the little crash, it seemed like there were problem with the gps as the led was blinking again.
What actually happens when gps looses signal?
-
Permalink Reply by Lloyd DeForrest on -
Tried out 2.6 yesterday in Stab, Alt-hold and Loiter. In general, pretty good results but I will need to tune all three to achieve results observed with others. Here are my notes from yesterday.
APM1, Sonar, 880kv 3DR motors, 2Kg (with camera, mount and Tx).
1) Cannot get logs to work. 2.5.4 worked fine, but 2.6 will not write to the logs. Have Erased, reloaded 2.6, erased, reset and cleared logs 3 times. After each flight, when downloading the log, I get a message that says there are 19 logs but only two available for download. After downloading those two logs, each has two entries- the version string and amount of free ram. Has anyone seen this? Do you know what I am doing wrong?
2) Stab mode is OK - some tuning needed for the 880kv motors and weight. Under 2.5.4, I had to raise RateP to .213 and StabP to 4.7. I guess I need to start with the defaults and increase the values like I did with 2.5.4. Does it make sense that I need to RAISE the values and not lower them?
3) Alt-Hold OK - some tuning needed for the 880kv motors and weight. Tends to move up and down a bit (+/- 1M) using sonar and more using baro. With 2.5.4, I had throttle rate at .45. The 2.6 default is .25
4) Loiter mode is VERY good at first but after a minute or two, it starts to circle with increasing diameter circles until I have to reel it in. There was a light winid at the time. Can someone give me a hint at where to start to tune out the increasing diameter circles behavior? Start with Nav WP or Loiter P and I? Maybe give it a little Loiter I?
Overall pretty good, but still needs some tuning. And what’s up with the logs?
As always – many thanks to the dev team – you guys are the best!
-
Permalink Reply by dudz on -
After uploading 2.6 on my Y6, I have made this video in stab mode. It does'nt like hovering low. It goes up no problems, but reduce the throttle a little and it just wants to land. Overall its very good, maybe a little too glitchy for my 880kv motors and 12x3.8 props.
-
Permalink Reply by Mike Mac on
-
Circling loiter indicates that the compass calibration is not good enough. I found that flying a two loop rectangular Auto mission and using that log to set the compass calibration really works will. Also check that you declination is set correctly for your location before you do the compass cal flight (I don’t use auto declination).
-
Permalink Reply by Robert LaRue on -
Thanks! I had the circling loiter problem today with moderate to high wind. (video: http://youtu.be/3VQVe0CwQiY) But I will definitely try to verify the compass calibration. I am currently using auto declination, and I did notice it used a different value than the one I had calculated manually.
-
Permalink Reply by Mike Mac on
-
For Declination the number you enter is in degrees but the number that it stores and shown up on the parameter list is in Radians.
-
Permalink Reply by Vincent Mees on -
Wind dropped finally and could take the 2.6 out for a flight.
Did only stable, AH and a little bit of loiter.
Stable is very good. It seems to react to drift and corrects itself.
AH is not so good. I'm using the XL-EZ0 sonar and in the beginning it reacted very slow when I put my hand under it.
At the end it could quite hold altitude when below 3 meters.
Attached are the logs and you can see that the sonar works correct.
- Attachments:
-
-
2012-06-17 22-31 1.log, 600 KB
-
-
Permalink Reply by Aerhead on
-
I have two AMP2 boards. I have both uninstalled currently and my first board is all in one unit, the second one has a separate GPS. Both boards have nothing connect to them. The first connects and shows GPS info in the terminal test window. The second one which is new and never installed, gives a time out message in the terminal test window for GPS. Is there a need to enable GPS when you get a board with no headers and a remote GPS?
The GPS has the blue on solid.
-
Permalink Reply by John Lever on -
Is it normal for the new 2.6 code to be beeping constantly? I have a speaker attached to A5 on my APM2 and when the motors are disarmed, the system is just beeping constantly. When I arm the motors, the beeping changes to a solid tone. On 2.5 and earlier code, it worked just as it should, providing audible indicators when the system ARMs and disARMs.
-
DeveloperPermalink Reply by R_Lefebvre on -
John, the CopterLEDs system seems to be interfering with your Piezo beeper... I tried to make this backwards compatible.
Can you go into your Params and look at the one called LEDMode. It should be set to 9. Is it?
Social Networking
Top Content
Contests
Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.A list of all T3 contests is here.
Groups
-
Documentation Editors
51 members
-
ArduCopter User Group
1298 members
-
ArduCopter Italian Group
87 members
-
ArduPlane User Group
693 members
-
Turkish Ardu Group
7 members
Advertisement
© 2013 Created by Chris Anderson.
Powered by
