ArduCopter 2.9 / 2.9.1 released
ACRO bug (fixed in 2.9.1b): while doing flips in ACRO mode, if you switch to Stabilize while inverted your throttle will go to minimum. To regain throttle control you need to switch back to ACRO then back to Stabilize again (i.e. switch to stabilize twice). You never lose control of roll/pitch/yaw.
Loiter/AltHold/Auto/RTL bug: if you switch into these modes with throttle at zero motors will go to minimum until you raise the throttle.
Auto mode altitude bug (fixed in 2.9.1b): setting a waypoint altitude greater than 320m over home altitude may wrap around and instead be interpreted as a low altitude.
ArduCopter 2.9 is now in the mission planner and the downloads area!
The major improvement is we use inertial navigation to improve altitude hold. This increased reliance on the accelerometers means you must do some additional set-up before flying:
1. Perform the new accelerometer calibration in the mission planner (video). The auto-trim metho has also changed (video).
2. Add vibration dampening foam between your frame and the APM. Some suggested materials: DuBro, gel, hk foam.
3. If upgrading from 2.8.1, modify the throttle and altitude PID values:
- Increase your Throttle Rate P, reduce I to zero, increase D
- Increase Altitude Hold P, reduce I to zero
- Tune Throttle Accel P and I terms but try to keep P about 1/2 the size of I
Here is the list of major changes (a more detailed list can be found in the release notes):
- Alt hold using inertial navigation (Leonard, Randy, Jonathan)
- AUTO_VELZ_MIN, AUTO_VELZ_MAX parameters control the max climb/descent rate for the autopilot (cm/s)
- PILOT_VELZ_MAX controls max climb/descent rate for the pilot (in cm/s)
- Landing improvements (Leonard/Randy). Copter will descend to 10m or until an object is sensed with the sonar. Then slows to 50cm/s descent (speed can be adjusted with LAND_SPEED parameter). (video).
- Surface tracking with sonar (Randy/Leonard). Copter will attempt to maintain current distance from objects in front of sonar regardless of altitude. Only used in alt-hold and loiter, not used for missions. Sonar can be enabled/disabled with CH7 switch. (video)
- Failsafe improvements (Randy/Craig/John Arne Birkeland) including bug fixes, additional check for PPM encoder failure and implementation of battery failsafe. Set-up instructions are here.
- Mediatek gps driver accuracy improvements and use of SBAS [Craig]. Instructions on upgrading your mediatek to firmware 1.9 are here.
- Traditional Heli improvements (Rob) including (a) bringing heli code back into the fold, (b) enabled rate controller (previously only used angle controllers). (c) fix to rotor speed controllers - now operates by switching off channel 8. (d) allow wider collective pitch range in acro and alt hold modes vs stabilize mode (e) bug fix to allow collective pitch to use the entire range of servos
- Acro trainer (Leonard). Copter will return to be generally upright if you release the sticks in acro mode.
- ACRO_TRAINER : set to 1 to enable the auto-bring-upright feature
- ACRO_BAL_ROLL, ACRO_BAL_PITCH : controls rate at which roll returns to level
- Camera control improvements (Randy/Sandro Benigno): (a) AP_Relay enabled for APM2 (b) Trigger camera with CH7 or DO_DIGICAM_CONTROL command (c) Allow pilot override of yaw during missions and fixed CONDITIONAL_YAW command.
- PPM sum support for transmitters with as few as 5 channels (Randy/Tridge/John Arne Birkeland).
- Performance and memory useage improvements (Tridge).
As per usual 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.
Special thanks to our testing team lead Marco and the dedicated bunch on the 2.8.1 release thread who put their copters at risk while testing the pre-release version. Some of their videos are here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Please feel free to report issues you find in the discussion below and/or add them to the issues list.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian MacKay on -
Here is my current set up. It is an APM 2.0. This unit was first put on a F550 hex in a similar way and worked well on 2.8.1. The 550 was upgraded to an APM 2.5 mounted in the same location. I decided against putting anything between the deck plates because of the integrated power board in the bottom plate possibly affecting the compass. The other thing I have definitely noticed is the Castle Creations 10A switching style BEC cannot be close to the APM or it will twitch randomly. This unit is mounted on foam for when I go back to 2.9 which I tried briefly. On 2.8.1, and the GPS upgraded to 1.9, it Loiters reasonably well. I upgraded the hex to the APM 2.5 to improve the Loiter capability for camera work. This quad is aimed at sport flying so Loiter is less important.
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Permalink Reply by Dave C on -
'Russle any jimmies', I like it...
The 450 at the top?
My 450, you mean ;)
Yup I was the only one that wasn't getting rained on when the video needed releasing
This is the 'all-up' test rig, allow me to introduce you....
I've tried in include a few vital tips for an 'all up f450 frame'
Only things different from the in video is I have added snow skids so had to move the gimbal our front instead of underneath, and therefore slide one of the 4s 4000mah battery backwards a bit to sort the centre of gravity.
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Permalink Reply by Dave C on
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I should mention that I deliberately put the apm high up, away from the frame, for vibration isolation and to get it away from the power lines. It also give me a crash box and some waterproofing.
You can stick a naza in the frame (it's effectively just in antivibe box) and stick the mag and gps up on a stick.
You can do the same with APM if you like, just use external mag and gps on a stick.
I've had a f450 quad with the apm and mag stuck to the power distro boards, right inside the frame.
It wasn't very clever in loiter or auto, but it would rtl ok so i used it for fast fpv fun in stab and alt-hold, then I put an external mag on a stick and it did everything else well too.
hope that helps
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Permalink Reply by Jason Anderson on -
Thanks Dave for the video! I pretty much knew that it was made for me ;-)
While I'm not doubting that your quad doesn't fly well in stab mode(mine does as well), it's the outdoors flying and crashing that everyone is experiencing, GPS drift, compass/mag problems, etc that worry us.
But if this is what works then later, I'm going to post (YOU KNOW THE RULES!!) my current setup) then I'm going to tear the thing apart and make it a platformed beast like yours and lift up the APM with a aluminum plate on top and a CD cover for protection.
Cause this compass drift and interference is killing me. Thanks again for the vid.!
Because now, my Jimmies are Russled and I want to get this thing flying!!
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DeveloperPermalink Reply by Randy on -
Balloon,
That was the battery failsafe you were testing? looked pretty good!
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Permalink Reply by Balloon on -
I can't test is it. Because, I not have power module. But, I maybe order it next time.
I'm forgot attach log and tlog file on video.
- Attachments:
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2013-02-04 19-30 4.log, 1000 KB -
2013-02-04 18-45-52.tlog, 916 KB
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DeveloperPermalink Reply by Marco Robustini on -
This is a tx/rx failsafe side, not the battery, right?
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DeveloperPermalink Reply by Randy on -
I'm a little surprised that it took so long to come down. When I do the radio failsafe my copter comes home immediately.
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Permalink Reply by Pablo Zeron on -
Hi,
Today I have made my first flight my homemade octocopter, and I have some issues:
1- Stabilize works great with stock values except in P that I have 0.90 because I use 400kv motors, but the copter starts to yaw slowly.
2- Alt hold not works as I wish, the octa is more like an kangaroo, I'm using an XL-EZ0 but I don't know if is a problem of sonar or the baro.
3- Position mode works great if you don't use the sticks, only the throttle is used. (windy day), but maybe I have saw an issue using this mode, when the copter is in Position mode, the mission planner shows "unknown" and the yaw value is freeze (but the copter is yawing slowly as I said) but while I don't touch the stick the mode works fine. When I try to change the position without leave the "Position mode" the copter flies well but when I release the stick start to fall and I have to change to stabilize mode to be able to get the control and in the mission planner shows the actual yaw value instead of the freeze value.
My config is APM1 + sonar + mediatek 1.9 + compass + 3dr radio link.
I have attached the logs and the video showing the position mode working (not when its falls).
Thanks.
P.D. I'm sorry for my bad English.
- Attachments:
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APM1_pablozg_octo_logs.zip, 1.3 MB
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Permalink Reply by AlexP on
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Hi Pablo,
I have a very similar setup (hardware) and a homebuilt frame as well. Mine yaws too, but was able to resolve that as follows:
- move the APM away from the power distribution board.
- move ESC's away from the APM.
- and most importantly: use compass calibration based on log files. The log file I used was a very short log file in which I made sure that I was taking off, hover, then rotate the copter clockwise in a slow movement and again in fast movement. Then do the same counter clockwise. Then load that log to calibrate the compass.
Hope it helps for you too!
Alexander
PS: this was in 2.8.1 and I suspect I need to do the same in 2.9.x. Just waiting for the weather to warm up.
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