Arducopter 2.8.1 is now in the mission planner and in the downloads area! Remember to do your MP configuration again after loading this code, since it erases your EEPROM and sets it to the new defaults.
Note: Issues with APM1 user's level feature not working are now resolved. If you installed 2.8 we highly recommend you upgrade to 2.8.1 as 430 extra bytes of RAM have been freed up which reduces the chance of memory corruption (although we haven't seen any cases of this on the APM2 at least) .
Note #2: this release has not gone out for Traditional Helicopters until they can be tested fully. Flip and Toy mode have also not been fully tested.
Improvements over 2.7.3:
- Improved ACRO mode (Leonard Hall)
- Improved stability patch to reduce "climb-on-yaw" problem (Leonard, Rob Lefebvre, Randy)
- Rate controller targets moved to body frames (yaw control now works properly when copter is inverted) (Leonard/Randy)
- Less bouncy Stabilize yaw control (Leonard)
- OpticalFlow sensor support for APM2.5 (Randy)
- DMP works again by adding "#define DMP_ENABLED ENABLED" to APM_Config.h You can also log DMP vs DCM to the dataflash by adding "#define SECONDARY_DMP_ENABLED ENABLED" (Randy)
- Watch dog added to shutdown motors if main loop feezes for 2 seconds (Randy)
- Thrust curve added to linearize pwm->thrust. Removes deadzone found above 90% throttle in most ESC/motors (Randy)
- More timing improvements (main loop is now tied to MPU6000s interrupt) (Randy)
- GPS NMEA bug fix (Alexey Kozin)
- Logging improvements (log I terms, dump all settings at head of dataflash log) (Jason)
Bug Fixes / Parameter changes:
- fixed skipping of last waypoint (Jason)
- resolved twitching when no GPS attached (Tridge)
- fixed loss of altitude if alt hold is engaged before first GPS lock (Randy/Jason)
- moved Roll-Pitch I terms from Stabilize controllers to Rate controllers
- TILT_COMPENSATION param tuned for TradHeli (Rob)
Code Cleanup:
- HAL changes for platform portability (Pat Hickey)
- Removed INSTANT_PWM (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.
Please note that on this release we've moved the Roll and Pitch I terms from the Stabilize controller to the Rate controller. There's some evidence that says this can lead to flips on take-off if you move the roll or pitch sticks around as you take-off so we recommend you leave these sticks in the middle until you're in the air.
Please feel free to report issues you find in the discussion below and/or add them to the issues list.
Thanks and enjoy!
Replies
Took the quad for a flight this evening. Very nice indeed in stab. AH sometimes isen't very accurate on sonar but it could be due to the grass.
Guided mode works great. One thing that I don't understand is "point camera here" action. I thought that the front direction of the quad would face the point but nothings happens. Is this for a gimble? Otherwise it would be a great addition that you could point the quad in a certain direction under guided mode.
Also flew some missions. Started with auto takeoff and thta went ok but the firts WPwas in the wrong direction and the quad was gaining speed. I took over and reloaded the mission and restarted . Same behaviour.
I "read" the mission and the WP were all wrong. A completly different mission with the firts WP half way Africa ....... Don't know how it got there??????
Deleted everything. Did a "write" command and made a new mission. Everything worked.
Is there another way to make sure there are no missions in the APM's memory and how to erase them?
For the rest, very nice indeed!!
2.8.1 is a fantastic release - congrats to the dev team for a fantastic release and for all the hard work they do. I had a chance to fly it on both my tricopters and my 2 quads yesterday. Alt_Hold is improved greatly, as is loiter. Stabilize seems better and I had no issues what so ever through multiple flights. I am going to try some mission flights today and look forward to seeing how they go with the new code!
I am using APM1.0 +2560board.
I uploaded 2.8.1.
It's weired that Tx did not calibrated.
I tried it second times.
so, I uploaded 2.7.2 and It's ok calibrating Tx.
Just out of curiosity: In MP 1.2.14 if I click on "Pick previous firmware" it turns into a dropdown box but with funny numbers and letters, no words or version numbers. If you select any of them the version numbers do change on the main screen, but what's up with the weird list?
Outstanding jop of dev team. Even for a beginner like me it is possible to fly my quad in my backyard ( 4m x 3m ).
I need a bit help in the fine tuning of the system. It fly’s very stable in stabilize, althold, and loiter with no wind. But this morning with about 9 km/h wind from the north, loiter does not really work well (see picture)
My hardware:
- self-made 3DR ArduCopter Frame
- Turnigy D2836/11 750KV
- APM 2.0 built in GPS
- Software 2.8.0 / MP 1.2.14
- 12x4,5 Prop
- 868 Mhz Telemetrie
- 5.8 Ghz Video Transmitter
- GoPro Camera
- 3300 mAh Battery
- 25A Turnigy ESC
- Total weight 1400 g
- Turnegy 9x RC Control
Will change the props to carbon and the ESC to SimonK flashed as soon as they arrive
Parameters I changed from default:
- RATE_PIT_P,0.06
- RATE_RLL_P,0.06
- STAB_D,0.004
- THR_ALT_P,0.35
- THR_RATE_P,0.35
- LOITER_LAT_P,2.4
- LOITER_LON_P,2.4
Maybe someone can give me a hint what went wrong.
thanks
best_2_8_0.param
2012-10-24 06-55-00.tlog.kmz
2012-10-24 06-55-00.tlog
IF you use jDrones 880Kv black motors, you might need to lower down your Rate/Roll P value a bit from default 4.5. Around 4 - 4.2 is good values for those depending on your overall frame setup.
Here's a video of 2.8 flying on a HexaCopter in Oshima over the weekend. It was a simple circular mission but the APM worked flawlessly.
Here's the mission I put in:
And here's what it actually did and you can see it's pretty darn close!
Toy mode moves Yaw control to the Aileron(roll). It also mixes in a synthesized roll based on Pitch. The idea is you can drive it around more intuitively, like a car. I haven't flown it in quite a while but it should still work. It is pretty simple and fun.
I think if you had a very simple 3 channel radio, it would make much more sense.
Jason
simple question: What is toy mode
I just test loiter mode on the morning by 2.8.1 with APM 2.5 is very stable .
Jdrones Quad frame
Motor 880 KV and ESC 30 Amp
Batt Lipo 6000 mAh
-
18
-
19
-
20
-
21
-
22
of 24 Next