This is a discussion re the ArduCopter-3.1 AutoTune feature. A place for people to report successes and failures, ask questions and get answers.
The AutoTune wiki page is here.
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Hi to all,
When doing an autotune which one do you recommend?
Hi Randy,
I've got a pretty darn powerful quad build here that was flipping out all the time because of inappropriate PIDs for the amount of power this thing has. When I would move the pitch/roll control stick to extremes, the quad would become uncontrollable and overshoot it's mark, going beyond 45 degrees and sometimes flipping.
I upgraded to firmware 3.1 and attempted the Autotune which was really cool to watch. After having saved the PIDs and flying again, I gave the extreme pitch and roll commands to test it out. I do this by moving the roll stick to the left and right really quickly... well, the same thing happened as before the Autotune. After looking at the parameters pre and post Autotune, I found that Autotune had actually increased the Rate P of roll and pitch from where it was initially...
This brings about the question of how does the Autotune calibrate the system? My build is unique in the sense that it is quite over powered:
Motors: T-Motor MT3520-11 kV400
ESC: Phoenix Edge Lite 50Amp
Battery: 2x 6 cell or 2x 5 Cell
Props: 14x4.7 APC Slow Fly
I've now going down with my Rate P for pitch and roll from the Autotuned amount of 1.7 to 0.7 and the platform is beautiful to fly in Stabilize.... It seems Autotune may have issues with power quads? Any comments or ideas as to what is going on?
Also, is there a way to AutoTune Altitude hold? :)
A few days a go, I was like crazy trying to found a solution for a alt hold issue in my new hex and asking help to every body. After some tweaking with accel pid's I felt comfortable to go with Auto Tune.
I just can say... WOW! Impressive! My hex just became rock solid, maybe too much to my feel. My Stab P now is 9.000, I'll try to reduce to 7.000 and fly again. One thing that I noticed is when flying in loiter the hex behavior is very "gentile" (less agressive) than in stabilize mode. The loiter now is very comparable with a Naza (maybe better!!).
Great job guys, thank you!
Daniel
Successful auto tune today in a light breeze. Very impressive! Thanks for this feature!
Hi everyone,
I perform this auto tune but after 3 mins it goes down (land on its own). Good thing is that it's already tuned up. My battery fully charge and fresh. Is it normal that after the tune it will land, if not what cause this problem?
I attached herewith my flight log so someone can take look.
2014-01-25 22-24-30 50.log
AT Claims another...
Ok, so the story is that I was trying AT on my HEX tonight (first attempt). I just upgraded to 3.1.1 and made sure that everything was what it needed to be in MP just before flight.
Winds were light (between 5-10) so the copter drifted just a bit when a gust would come... I re-positioned the HEX when I needed to and the HEX would resume it's tuning. However, I never got the process to complete during the flight (got out of the roll, and started pitch) so I landed and swapped batteries.
Now this is where I may have gone wrong... I reset all switches to stabilize (no AT) and noticed a very high wobble just prior to take off. Once airborne the HEX stabilized so I thought nothing of it. I got up to altitude with no incident and started Alt hold, and then AT (waiting for about 2-5 sec between). It started it's roll process and I started noticing something strange at this point. The radio that I have has an external voltage meter and as the HEX would roll to one side (in a heavy roll) the voltage alarm would bleep but as soon as the HEX leveled it would stop. It did this only during very heavy rolls, but I know that the battery could handle the current draw so again I let it go on (I know I should have stopped...). Anyway, it made it to the pitch portion of the process and made about 4 (or so) pitch tunes (heavy pitches) and the radio would beep like on the roll. Before I could say enough was enough and land the HEX tried to pitch one more time to the aft, only this time it stood almost vertical loosing all lifting force and crashed to the ground before I could switch back to stabilize. I have looked at the logs (luckily I had all turned on... or maybe unlucky, not sure) and I see no obvious power issues during the flight. I also see no vibe issues except just prior to crash. Could someone smarter than me take a look at the logs to see if they see anything?
If no one sees anything I may attempt another flight as soon as I get the props replaced...
Also, can anyone quickly tell me how to go back to "factory" setting on the PID's so that I can start from scratch as I think the PID's that I have stored now are WAY out?
Thanks for everyone's time!
2014-01-26 17-15.log
2014-01-26 17-24.log
2014-01-26 16-32-40.tlog
So with all the concern about ESC sync issues I’ve added a motorsync test to the cli. I’ve also made a short video which says how to use it.
The code is only in master but if you’re feeling brave (i.e. use at your own risk) you can pick it up from firmware.diydrones.com:
Apm2 quad: http://firmware.diydrones.com/Copter/latest/apm2-quad/
Pixhawk quad: http://firmware.diydrones.com/Copter/latest/PX4-quad/
To run the test:
1. Flip your propellers over and rotate one position (similar to compassmot)
2. Turn on your transmitter with throttle at minimum
3. Plug in the USB cable and battery
4. Connect with the mission planner’s terminal screen
5. Type “test”, “motorsync”
6. Raise the throttle to the level you want to test at and press “a” + <enter>. The motor should spin up to the level of your throttle for 2 seconds, then stop
7. Repeat #6 at higher and higher throttles to see if any sync issues appear
8. Press any other key to exit the test
Marco and some others have made suggestions that we should allow testing of a single motor and also that we should allow testing the ESC/motors while they're already spinning. I haven't incorporated those suggestions in yet though.
@Cody O
Sorry for that. Which motor / esc combination did You use?
@all
Couldn't we collect a data base of all combinations (motor/esc) that are known to NOT work properly?
CU
John
Just a quick note to the devs to express my appreciation for the work you have done.
Yesterday, I disabled the GPS and fence failsafes on my Stock Arucopter Y6, and at our indoor arena did 3 autotunes in a row (just for kicks. LOL)
The autotune completed without a problem , and the copter flew ever so smooth afterwards. Unfortunately I could not remember how to save the new values, so I was not sure if it had or not, so this morning I re-did the AT outside in the parking lot, this time saving the values as per the Wiki.
Flew around a bit, and even now that the wind has come up, I cannot tell you how much confidence the handling instill now.
Gret Job!
Arducopter Y-6 post-AutoTune Standard Pids :
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