Arducopter 2.7.2 is now in the mission planner and in the downloads area. Some positive reports on testing can be found in this discusssion by John Hanson.
Note: just as the release was going out an issue was found re support for the all Camera Gimbals on the APM1s (it doesn't work) and with 3 axis gimbals on the APM2 (2-axis works ok but not 3). If you're one of these people, please wait for 2.7.3 which will be out shortly.
UPDATE: 2.7.3 is now in the Mission Planner
Functional Improvements over 2.7.1:
- Fast waypoints (Jason) - if the turn angle between two waypoint the copter is less than 60 degrees it does not slow down
- Navigation improvements and logging including switching to filtered location for distance calculations (jason)
- Flip improvements - more aggressive and flexible flip code based on attitude instead of timing (Jason)
- Improved camera control - you can now control any axis (roll, tilt, pan) with any rc channel. it probably makes most sense that you will use 6 but others are possible too. Unfortunately these changes required we change the set-up procedure so the mission planner gimbal set-up screen needs to be modified again. Please refer to the AC_Camera wiki page for how to manually set-up the gimbal (Amilcar)
- Flybar acro mode for TradHeli (Robert)
- "Fast gains" - allows strong correction of attitude using accelerometers while the quad is stationary on the ground but relies more on gyros while flying (Tridge, Jason)
- Baro filtering improvements (Tridge)
Bug Fixes:
- DMP timing fix (Randy) - the MPU6000's dmp unit was inadvertantly turned on and caused timing delays in the main loop- xbee bricking issue (Craig / Tridge)
- Dataflash fixes (Jason)
- Engine ticking - was a combination of roll/pitch rate D term being too high and the dmp timing fix above (Randy, Emile)
- Faster heading correction on start-up - resolves issue with simple mode getting incorrect heading if you took off very soon after start-up (Tridge)
Code Cleanup:
- Increased maximum number parameters (Tridge)
- Formatting changes to code (Pat)
- Replaced "int" with "int16_t" everywhere (Randy)
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.
There is still some question on whether the default Roll/Pitch Rate P (0.175) is high enough (it was 0.185 in 2.7.1) and also some people feel the Throttle Rate should be higher (currently 0.300 but some say 0.330 or even much higher would be better).
Please feel free to report issues you find in the discussion below and/or add them to the issues list.
Thanks and enjoy!
Replies
I did a fair amount of flying with the 2.7.3 over the weekend. I seem to have a problem with APM1 not booting correctly, the DCM seems to run very slowly. You can see it in the HUD if you move the copter around, the response is very delayed. It results in a lazy tip-over when you try to take off. Be on the lookout for this. It seems to be fairly random. Just reboot, and test until it boots correctly. Strange.
I did some work on the loiter params, and ended up with: Loiter Rate P to 5.0, I to 0.2, and D to 0.5. It holds well in a good breeze now. Now sure about calm air, it might be too aggressive, needs more testing.
I just wanted to drop a note saying that the new 2.7.3 firmware flys wonderfully!
I'm flying a DJI 450 stock (frame, motors, esc, props) and was using the default PIDs but I changed Stabalise P to 1.45. Stabalise mode is super duper steady, in fact it was so rock steady that I got over confident and crashed my quad twice.
Alt hold and loiter with the stock PIDs didn't cut it for me and I'm still in the process of adjusting them back to what I used to have them set at back with 2.7.1.
Great work guys!
Excellent flight a pleasure to fly in my octaquad. apm 1.4
Turnigy Plush 10amp esc, XAircraft engines, propellers 10x4.5, 1,650 kilograms, lipo 5000, xbee900, v8 xaircaft frame,sonar lv ez4, gps mediatek, floating to less than 1/4 of throttle. I keep waiting for my motherboard 2.5, almost a month.
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 22:03:36 -0400 From: gateway@linkpt.net
To: robertoborobia@xxx, my Brother
Subject: Receipt from 3D ROBOTICS INC
Company: 3D ROBOTICS INC
Reference Number: 28952-4ZT
thanks guys
flight parameters
v2.7.3final.param
Just updated MP to 1.2.11, and it works sloooooow. Uninstalled it, loaded manually and installed again. Looked fine. Connected APM via usb. Installed the arduino driver (i guess, it was uninstalled with MP), and again - Planner freezed. Other applications work fine. Rebooting didn't help. Mavlink does connect, but there is the same 10-20 sec lag.
Win XP 32bit SP3.
Will try previous version now...
2.7.3 testing
Alt hold worked very well it maintained a reasonable hover for over 20 min with out having to touch the throttle over a full battery range
Best loiter so far.........held a 20' radius in a light breeze with only one control touch in 20min flight
the improved alt hold makes it much nicer to exit alt hold or loiter.....because you dont have to move the throttle it does not want to fall from the sky when you take it out of alt hold.
Again nice work guys
First flight on 2.7.3. Throttle felt sluggish.
On 2.6's first flight, I literally yelled out loud "Oh SH**" as it Rocketed skyward when I gave it throttle. Dialed the end point back to 65% and it flew great. Gonna have to revisit that with the new firmware. LOL
Back to this flight, never really got it auto-trimmed. Tried probably 6 or 7 times, and it would hold for a minute, then drift off again. I realized afterwards, that I did not wait for GPS lock. That probably matters. Time for a do-over.
Looked smooth though, nothing unexpected as yet.
Here is my rather poor quality attempt at filming v2.73 at work!
No assistance, no cameraman, and while lifting off in the carpark, dust coated the gopro lense, which didn't help! Also inset video is lagging main video by about one waypoint. But it illustrates how this version is behaving on my quad...
Peter
I would like to ask the following : So far I have only worked with image stabilizers (gimbals) that used regular servos. Is there anyone using those continuous moving servos (360º capable) ? Does the software work with this kind of servos ? I'm asking this because I'm thinking of buying a gimbal of those that use belt driven stabilization mechanisms, I think those use continuous motion servos.
I upgraded to 2.7.3 last night and had a few good flights! I noticed altitude hold is a lot more accurate. It was a windy day today and I hovered over my house then landed in the backyard. I was extremely surprised that my sk450 based quad
with NTM 1200kv motors flew ok with user control in the wind without any tweeks. I'll work on my pids this weekend to eliminate the front back oscillation I get. It appears this happenes when I'm in a strong wind. I was able to compensate with my pid adjustments for 2.6. I'll take similar steps to fine tune for my quad an 2.7.x
Great job.
Just finished my 2.7.3 maiden test flight. Seems to be the best one yet! I was able do use loiter in my backyard. Previously there was always too much drift to really be used in that confined space. But today it seem pretty contained in a +/- 2m area (3-4m square). The altitude was held much more accurately.
So far I used default parameters, but probably will need to reduce P a little. Configuration of the quad:
APM2
TBS Discovery Frame, won in a bet with Trappy ;)
NTM 3630
Plush 30 ESCs
10x3.8 Props
3S 3300 mAh
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