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

  • Randy and team

    Arducopter 2.7.4 Beta have issue in board APM 1. 

    it can't cennect telemetry Xbee on APM 1. But, APM 2.5 it can normally connect.

    pls, check and Edit a problem about telemetry Xbee on APM 1 when our used Arducopter 2.7.4 Beta.

    Best Regard 

    Balloon

  • There is a problem with  the updated Mission Planner. The flight data page doesn't load properly on both my computers.

  • Moderator

    Can anyone help getting the trigger function to work: I've posted an issue here:  http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/issues/detail?id=492

    but maybe I'm just making a mistake somewhere?

  • Hello,

    I went to the flight field this weekend to do some tests. I have the APM 2.5 with a ublocks GPS. I had this discussion before about simple mode not getting initialized, it took me about 12 times of turning the copter on and of before alt hold not stabalize's simple mode started working and then I loaded a flight plan and it did this very successfully until the battery died.

     

    So I changed to a newly charged battery, and again simple mode does not want to initialize so I said screw that I am doing the flight plan again, it crashed moments after, it kept stable and was moving to the on point and then it started turning around and it head straight for the ground breaking my frames legs and some blades.

     

    I have 2 * APM 2.5's and 1 APM 2 and both APM 2.5's does this where simple mode does not want to get initiualized.

     

    Please find attached my log files

    Regards

    Christiaan

      

    2012-09-30 11-25-55.rlog

    2012-09-30 11-25-55.tlog

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3692516864?profile=original
  • I thought I had ROI all figured out today, and gleefully ran to the park to test, and for some reason ROI seems 100% inop.

    I don't understand what I did wrong. Attached are screen shots of the mission plan with 4 ROI targets.

    The mission was flown like a dream despite gale force winds. Sorry for the jello, I smashed all my props off Friday trying to get to get sonar to work, and now I have jello. One of them must be waaaaay out of balance.

    Anyways, here's the video as well and you can see the copter never turns towards the ROI's at all.

    3692516511?profile=original

    3692516440?profile=original

    What did I do wrong?

     

    2012-09-30 14-00-47.tlog

    2012-09-30 17-27 3.log

  • Hi!

    Based on the progress of multiwii there is a perfect integration of the baro with the accelerometer possible with just a few lines of code. Because i really don't like the implementation of the actual mwii dev versions for several reasons (timing etc) i programmed my own version with better sensor readout etc. Currenty i pushed it further and got naza-like results. I mainly use the acc for z velocity and altitude. The baro compensates the acc drift/error in my version currently at 33Hz. I am not incorporated in the arducopter code but i would like to see this progress in my apm as well. I would love to share the details here for a better apm althold. Please tell me if there is demand.

    So long

    Kraut Rob

  • Developer

    WARNING: for those who may be testing 2.7.4-Beta from the downloads area do not enable the optical flow sensor.  It's likely ok on the APM2.5 but it's freezing up on the APM1 due to a conflict with the dataflash with whom it shares the SPI bus.  Knowing this is should also have problems on the APM2 although I haven't noticed this yet.

     

    Basically to be safe, don't use the optical flow sensor on 2.7.4-Beta.  I'm working on a fix.

  • Ok, very confused now. Running 2.73. Was flying pretty well and I loved Simple mode as my brain works better that way. Started tuning PIDS last night and got it dialed in so it felt great. But suddenly, simple mode no longer activates no matter what I do. The mag sensor is calibrated, the dec is set, and it reports accurately in the planner display. I have flight modes set up to activate simple on a switch. When I look at it in the flight modes display in the Planner, it shows the correct modes based on switch settings. Alt hold works when switched on, land works when triggered, but no Simple mode. Tried setting it to just be always on in all modes. Still no go. I am totally stymied. Any ideas?
  • Hi all

    Using APM1 and 2.7.3 MTek GPS on custom Quad frame - Tested Stabile, Alt Hold and Loiter only

    Default PID values for stabilization.

    All I can say is wow, after shelving my equipment for 8 months getting back to the ArduCopter project is amazing. Thanks to everyone that contribute(s)d. I look forward to converting to my quad to a Hexacopter and getting a camera platform running. You guys ROCK!

    Way back when, on 2.2.x firmware I spent days trying to get Alt Hold PI values set correctly, with the new code the craft kept it's Alt Hold much, much better - Mr. Short, did you improve those loops that much in the last few months? Excellent.

    Now I'm curious to see how much better APM2.5 is... There goes the secret slush fund...

    Best regards


  • ArduCopter-2.7.4-Beta.zip

    Beta release for testers only! Improvements (over 2.7.3): - bug fix to resolve last waypoint being skipped. - bug fix to resolve loss of altitude if alt hold is engaged before first GPS lock. - thrust curve added to linearize pwm->thrust. Removes deadzone found above 90% throttle in most ESC/motors. - low end throttle stability patch added for quad, hexa, octa - Optical flow sensor enabled for APM2.5. Now automatically detects which SPI bus the sensor is on. - more timing improvements (main loop is now tied to MPU6000s interrupt). - expected GPS lag reduced from 1sec to 0.5sec for UBLOX. - increased default Loiter Rate P to 5 (was 2.4), reduced Loiter Rate I to 0.04 (was 0.08). - logging improvements (log I terms, dump all settings at head of dataflash log) - GPS NMEA bug fix from Alexey Kozin - code cleanup - removed INSTANT_PWM
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