ArduCopter 2.8 / 2.8.1 released

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!

Today I came up with a little problem, after doing some paramater changing.

The motors of my Y6 did not spin up. When I push throttle up, they did not spin. At full throttle and then puch throttle down, some of the motors did spin up slowly. First I thought, ther must be something wrong with ESC calibration, because I did a new bind to my receiver to programm RTL to failsafe.

But ESC Calibration changed nothing.

Then I thought on a strange thing I saw in the Missionplanner. The Params thr_min and thr_max have default values of 130 for min and 1000 for max. As this values are described as percentage values and the entryfields in the mission planner are orange, I changed them to 50 and 100, so that the fields got green. After saving and refresh, the sliders could not be set to above 100 any more, what is o.k. for percentage sliders.

After that, the motors did not spin up any more.

Then I changed them back to 130 and 1000 and all workes well now again.

So what I am wondering ist, why this values are that high in the 2.9 (could not remember where theay were in 2.9.1) and why there is a hint in the mission planner that it is percentage and hast to be between 0 and 100.

This is a little bit confusing.

Replies

Alexey Kozin January 8, 2013 at 1:15am

i test 2.9rc1

both xbee and minimosd connected to apm2.5

xbee connected rx tx lines

minim osd apm-tx to osd-rx only

when xbee link is not connected osd dont move horison line

how to make sure that the horizon worked regardless of the link state?
Francis Ignacio January 7, 2013 at 6:10pm

Has anyone tried using the Channel 7 (opt) for the RTL mode?

I'm experiencing issues on my tricopter when using the channel 7 (opt) for RTL mode. When the RTL mode is activated via the channel 7, the tricopter bounces up and down and does not return to launch.
Ardobeginner January 7, 2013 at 6:35am

Today I came up with a little problem, after doing some paramater changing.

The motors of my Y6 did not spin up. When I push throttle up, they did not spin. At full throttle and then puch throttle down, some of the motors did spin up slowly. First I thought, ther must be something wrong with ESC calibration, because I did a new bind to my receiver to programm RTL to failsafe.

But ESC Calibration changed nothing.

Then I thought on a strange thing I saw in the Missionplanner. The Params thr_min and thr_max have default values of 130 for min and 1000 for max. As this values are described as percentage values and the entryfields in the mission planner are orange, I changed them to 50 and 100, so that the fields got green. After saving and refresh, the sliders could not be set to above 100 any more, what is o.k. for percentage sliders.

After that, the motors did not spin up any more.

Then I changed them back to 130 and 1000 and all workes well now again.

So what I am wondering ist, why this values are that high in the 2.9 (could not remember where theay were in 2.9.1) and why there is a hint in the mission planner that it is percentage and hast to be between 0 and 100.

This is a little bit confusing.
Balloon January 7, 2013 at 2:49am

My last test 2.9 rc2, I take out battery for back up from MTK3329. It no have problem about out of position and drift. But I see new problem sometime i used RTL when go to home and wait for auto landing. It not land and hold altitude. And HUD, it show land mode but not climb down.

2013-01-07 11-15 8.log

https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3692585616?profile=original
baris alp January 7, 2013 at 1:38am

Very nice work Marco.

Did you use inertial nav xy?
Gregmaan January 7, 2013 at 1:06am

I found an issue with optical flow on the actual master branch:

If I enable optical flow, the APM 2.5 hangs in a reboot loop. Tests with the Test Sketch for optical flow work fine. Also using the 2.90_RC2 zip from download section. Can anyone confirm that there is an issue?

I tested with rev. b042da47b512, from today.
Francis Ignacio January 6, 2013 at 7:17pm

Need help from the experts...

When I activate the RTL mode via channel 7 switch on the transmitter, the motors on my tricopter seem to rev up and down while maintaining its current position and it does not execute the RTL mode. The tricopter bounces up and down as if it is confuse of what it is supposed to do.

For further testing, I reconfigured the RTL mode into one of the 6-flight modes switch. When I flew the tricopter a good distance away then activated the RTL mode via 6-flight modes switch, the tricopter actually performed what it is supposed to do and returned to the launch area.

Why does the RTL mode works on the 6-flights mode switch and not on the assignable 7 channel (opt)?
Developer

Marco Robustini January 6, 2013 at 10:50am

I conclude my series of videos related to the upcoming version 2.9 with a very fast flight (for this hexa) in Stabilize.
The control is fantastic and precise or not be able to make this fast "schneider" at very low altitude.
To fly the quad with an angle greater than 45° (the default in ArduCopter for safety reason) put these two lines in APM_Config.h (thanks Jason):

//#define MAX_INPUT_ROLL_ANGLE 6000
//#define MAX_INPUT_PITCH_ANGLE 6000

In this example "6000" is 60°, like in my video.
Of course, this mod is only for expert pilot.
APM is my favourite stab and auto controller, is the most comprehensive product on the market with a very low cost.
Enjoy!

Marco
Developer

Randy January 6, 2013 at 7:59am

So we're working towards a release-candidate #3 (aka -rc3). There are some issues in the chat above that the dev team needs to investigate but in any case...here is where we are:

    These issues are complete:

          1. Mike Borland couldn't get his alt hold working - determined to be very bad Z-axis vibration

          2. mission planner updates to HUD are too slow - You can increase the datarate from the mission planner's Configuration/Planner screen (see below):

          3.  alttude error was being displayed as zero -- fixed in rc3.

          4. trad heli bug fix related to alt hold not getting full use of the collective

    These issues remain:
         5. alt hold jump when switching from manual->auto modes

         6. take-offs and alt hold during missions are too agressive -- we can add a slew.

         7. APM1 alt hold is jumpy most likely because of slow baro updates. -- we can likely make it better by decreasing the number of temperature reads (it's currently 50/50 pressure/temperature but we should be able to make it 80/20).
Nick January 5, 2013 at 8:10pm

Seeing as we're moving into the realms of intertial holding, and Alt Hold is doing so well....

Does this mean it leaves the door open for complete Position Hold, even without GPS?

Or will this still require the use of the Optiflow sensor

eg. like the AR.DRONE

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ArduCopter 2.8 / 2.8.1 released

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