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ArduCopter 2.7.2/2.7.3 released

Posted by Randy on September 1, 2012 at 7:54am

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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Tags: acm, apm1, apm2, arducopter, heli, quad
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Replies

  • Crashpilot1000 October 11, 2012 at 6:37pm

    Sorry one silly question.

    I have APM 2.0 and after reading this http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot/wiki/MediaTek i wonder if there is a new FW for my Mediatek GPS. What FW is preinstalled anyway? Is it possible to update without desoldering the breakoutboard? How can i attach a battery to this GPS? It is boring and a waste of my mainbattery to wait for the fix between flights. (I could keep the board powered by an external 5V during Lipo - swap, but a minibattery would be easier)

    Sorry for my stupid questions, if they were asked a 1000 times before.

    So long

    Kraut Rob

    P.s.: I have a FTDI for my minimosd and my multiwii copter.

  • Scott Berfield October 10, 2012 at 6:47pm

    Thought I would report somethign positive - finally got a chance to try a mission and it went nearly perfect. For the first try I did a pretty simple 4 point pattern with an RTL and Land at the end. It was a little nerve wracking to not touch the sticks, but it did great. It turned quite early for Waypoint 2, but when I flew it a second time it was exactly on. RTL landed it about 3' from the takeoff point. Loiter worked perfectly - the thing looked like it was glued in place (no wind, which helps).

    This is on an APM 2 with external MediaTek GPS and the 3.73 code.

     

    All in all, I am thrilled.

  • Scott Berfield October 9, 2012 at 6:28pm

    On 2.73 with an APM2, I am seeing strange behavior if I switch from Alt Hold to Loiter and back.

    If I go directly to Loiter from a manual hover, it is fine.

    But if I hover and turn on Alt Hold, it will hold altitude until I switch to Loiter at which point it will drop in altitude rapidly. I can get it to stay up if I put the throttle up, but it acts like it is losing the hover throttle position on the mode change.

  • Alexey Kozin October 9, 2012 at 6:52am

    in http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/source/detail?r=a1a6be6aaab...

    changed + to -

     roll_rate_target_bf = roll_rate_target_ef - sin_pitch * yaw_rate_target_ef;

    is this critical error?
    or requeries fix it before fly @ 2.7.4beta firmware?

  • Anderl October 9, 2012 at 2:04am

    Hi all,

    I´m with the new APM2.5, firmware V-2.7.3. That's my problem:

    3692521549?profile=original

    I have already read this,

    http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/apm-2-0-dataflash-issue-help-need...

    and this,

    http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/quad-drops-alt-at-random-on-auto?...

    and this,

    http://diydrones.com/group/arducopterusergroup/forum/topics/accessi...

    But all these threads refers to APM1 and APM2. I can't solder the daughterboard closer to the APM 2.0 baseboard as possible solution...

    I also added an extra line to "APM_config.h", "# define logging_enabled ENABLED". This should not be necessary because this option is predefined in "config. h"...

    I also reloaded the firmware and run the command "reset" in setup mode. Nothing helps. 

    Any ideas?

    Thanks

  • omgmayday October 8, 2012 at 7:42am

    Im using 2.7.4beta and sometimes the quad loss thrust and  lands ignoring throttle input.

    throttle out is limited at 800, how can I change that?

    2012-10-04 22-22 1.log

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3692520981?profile=original
  • Mike R. October 7, 2012 at 4:26pm

    Does anyone know what the deadband area is for the throttle input when in alt_hold? I've been having some strange issues where the copter doesn't register a reduction in throttle when trying to decend while in alt_hold. I've had the throttle down to 0, but the mavlink shows steady 47-51% throttle. When increasing throttle past the original hover point (and where the stick was when I went from stable to alt hold, it climbs like it's going out of style..

    If possible, could someone shed some light on:

    When  in alt hold, is the deadband area on throttle the same values no matter where the mode was engaged?

    Is the deadband area a percentage of the possible stick movement, or specific pwm values?

    How does the code deal with coming out of the deadband area up or down? (what is the throttle curve with input?)

    Thanks!

    Mike

  • AlexP October 7, 2012 at 4:14pm

    Today I noticed that Alt hold works fine, but that as soon as changing to Loiter, the X8 drops in altitude. Also, when doing a 'LAND' (configured via Mission planner), the Auto Land works fine and is 'gentle'. However when doing RTL with Autoland, the X8 drops like a brick. 

    Any ideas?

  • Peter Chaffe October 6, 2012 at 2:18pm

    V2.74 beta bug!


    1st WP always loiters 30 secs appx. No delay is commanded.

    This just might be a side effect of using -1 to enable last wp operation, just not sure!

    This is only just appeared in this beta!

    Addition general malfunction(not 2.74beta), Yaw heading ignored on normal wp command...

    Will upload video sometime soon!

    More to follow on malfunctioning commands!

    peter

  • Vincent Mees October 6, 2012 at 12:40pm

    This week I finally received my 3DR Ublox GPS and installed it tonight and took my quad out for a night time flight.

    I can confirm. The new Ublox makes a BIG difference!!!!

    Hopefully tomorrow some mission flights ;-) 

     

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