Developer

ArduCopter 2.7.2/2.7.3 released

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!

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Replies

  • hello Randy,

    Is alternate data radio supported in this release Eg APC220 Radio Data Module?

  • My APM 1.4 standard quad was grounded for two weeks after a hard crash with version 2.71 (2 engines, 2 motor mounts, 2 arms, landing gear, dome, 2 props broken). Today i finished repair and did the next flight with version 2.73 with standard pids.
    Well, it was flying, but not so smart like version 2.60. Version 2.73 feels like a formula 1, "hard" in the air, nervous to throttle and gets instable when descending a little bit too fast. Back to version 2.60 i could really comfortable cruise over the field.

    Will i get the same behaviour when i save the parameters from version 2.60 and upload them on V 2.73?

  • 2.7.3 firmwaer,while  enabled DMP in CONFIG.pde ,will cause  APM2 start crash ,the  problem solved?

  • Was testing the new firmware today... first time I've flown my heli since it crashed weeks ago... servo (tgy-90s) burns up after three minutes of flying and heli crashes again... can't wait to get my new Y6 put together.

    :-/

  • Finally got the time to load the new code.

    I had a lot of trouble getting the code loaded. Each time it disconnected in MP and Arduino said there were problems.

    After a couple of attempts I finally got it right. Strange.

    Took the quad for a spin in the garden and as ussual stanb was great. Alt hold was quite good but sometimes it wonderes up and down slowly for a about 2 m.

    Loiter also good but the small correction twitches are still there but smaller.

    Ublox is underway, I hope this resolves it.

    Good work dev's !!!!

  • I noticed that Robert's governor code is no longer activated by changing line 42 in "AP_MotorsHeli.h" as it was in v2.7.1.

    Is there a parameter now that enables the governor?

  • Hi guys, can anyone point me, how to connect the 6 motors on my hexacopter, the board is an APM2, also can´t find any info about the correct position for the propellers !   thanks

     Gil

  • Uploaded 2.7.3 when I got home from work tonight.  Two flights and all I can say is so far, this is the best yet!

  • First FPV flight today.

    Tested ALT_Hold for the first time and it was working so good, I actually managed to set down my transmitter and strap on my homemade FPV setup (Welders mask using Tupperware square containers with a 5" car back-up monitor in the bottom of the Tupperware, all duct taped together).

    Flew for quite awhile. I could get used to this! I need more range for the video TX though. 200mw only seems to be good for 100 meters or so. I'll have to check the logs when I get home.

    The only problem I had was with RTL. It came back fine, then for some reason just dropped to the ground really hard. As it started falling the last 3 or 4 meters I tried to switch back to stabilized, but only got the switch to alt_hold before it hit, I put the throttle into disarm as it hit and bounced upside down. Only chewed grass for a 1/2 second. My first "un-perfect" RTL. I need a Sonar.

  • Yesterday I was flying for the first time the AC2.7.3 during long time. It was so a pleasure to flight the copter, with a solid stabilice flight, a very good loiter and a mission capability really at top level with a mention to the incredible APM Planner tool.

    Thank you so much to all the dev team and my sincere recognition to the main actors.

    Angel

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