ArduCopter 3.0.1 has been released and is now available in the Mission Planner, firmware.diydrones.com, GitHub and the new Downloads Area.
Warning #1: Compass calibration and reducing interference is far more important than with 2.9.1b
Warning #2: GPS glitches can cause sudden and aggressive position changes while in loiter mode. You may wish to reduce the Loiter PID P to 0.5 (from 1.0) to reduce aggressiveness (see image below of where this gain can be found in mission planner).
Warning #3: optical flow is not supported but will be back in the next release (AC-3.0.2 or AC-3.1.0).
Warning #4: loiter turns does not maintain altitude. This bug will be fixed in AC-3.0.2.
Warning #5: This release has only been lightly tested on Traditional Helicopters.
Improvements over 2.9.1b include:
- Inertial Navigation for Loiter and Auto meaning much more accurate control (Randy,Leonard,JonathanC)
- 3D navigation controller follows straight lines in all dimensions between waypoints (Leonard,Randy)
WPNAV_SPEED, WPNAV_SPEED_UP, WPNAV_SPEED_DN, WPNAV_ACCEL allows configuring speeds and acceleration during missions
- "compassmot" to compensate for interference on compass from the pdb, motors, ESCs and battery. (Randy,JonathanC) (Set-up video here)
- Safety improvements:
- simple Tin Can shaped Geo Fence
- pre-arm checks to ensure all calibration has been performed before arming (can be disabled by setting ARMING_CHECK to zero). (video description here)
- GPS failsafe - switches to LAND if GPS is lost for 5 seconds
- stability patch improvements to stop rapid climbs in very overpowered or overtuned copters
- Circle mode improvements including "panorama" when CIRCLE_RADIUS set to zero (Randy,Leonard)
- SONAR_GAIN parameter added to allow better tuning of sonar surface tracking
- CH8 auxiliary switch (same features as CH7)
- works on PX4 (some minor features still not available) (Tridge,PatH)
How to upgrade:
1. Make sure you are using Mission Planner 1.2.59 or newer (get it here)
2. Click on the MissionPlanner's Hardware, Install Firmware screen. The version numbers should appear as "ArduCopter-3.0.1", then click the appropriate frame icon and it should upgrade as per usual.
3. Reduce the Loiter and Alt Hold PIDs if you have modified them from the defaults. The modified PID values for the 3DR frame can be seen in the image below.
Note: Nav parameters have been combined with Loiter so do not be concerned if you can't find them.
4. Although not directly related to this release, if you purchased an APM prior to March of 2013, update your PPM encoder to the latest firmware (instructions here).
5. Try out the new version in stabilize mode first, then alt-hold, then loiter and finally RTL and Auto.
Numerous How-To videos are available:
Special Thanks to Marco, DaveC and the large number of testers on the pre-release thread who put their copters at risk during the extended testing period. Some of their videos can be found here, here, here, here, here and here. Thanks also to MichaelO for the MP changes required for this release.
All feedback welcome. Please put your questions, comments (good and bad!) below.
Replies
"ArduCopter (VR Brain)" VS "DJI (Wookong-M)" - Position Hold comparation:
Bests, Marco
Having to change the battery settings in both power module and Battery FS in MP each time you want to switch from a 4S to 3S or if you change aircraft is a bit troublesome and particularity if your out in the field.
What I notice also if you switch to a different copter, the Bat FS in Software Settings changes to the different APM boards settings, but the 3DRPower Module low battery alert settings in Hardware stays the same from the last aircraft setting. I suspect this needs to be fixed?
Also to make it easier, wouldn't it be better to have low battery warnings and alerts set to the cell reading rather than the over all cell voltage as in set them to 3.5v ? Then it wouldn't matter if you swapped from 4S to 3S and so on.
Quite often when I descend while in loiter, the copter will shoot off to the side. Everything is working otherwise very well. I'm not using compassmot compensation with this copter as it is light/low current and I am getting adequate performance without it.
I have attached a log, where towards the end of the flight I descended from 400ft while in loiter. I was giving slight forward pitch input as it was descending and about halfway down the copter started to move backwards and to the right, so I flipped out of loiter, and continued my descent in alt hold mode.
2013-07-20 10-42-10.tlog
Hi Randy and crew-
Testing 3.0.1 now has been really great - random yaw gone, loiter spot on, sonar is perfect (mounted hanging off arm, away from prop, battery, and esc), RTL a thing of beauty.
Last night I fired up the LED strips and ran some midnight missions (full moon, clear skies - it is an absolute awe inspiring thing to watch this fly thru the stars - almost a religious experience for me!). The first mission was a simple back and forth thing-
It was perfect except for one thing - it flew the leg from 6 to 7 backwards, all others it yawed to face next wp. I got this result It was the same with WP_YAW_BEHAVIOR set to 1 or 2, it only picked on this leg to fly backwards.
I then ran a longer mission and it flew backwards on 6 to 7 and on 9 to 10. The missions all were flawless except for this repeatable goofiness. Wassup??
Thanks again!
2013-07-21 14-00 1.log
2013-07-21 14-04 2.log
Hi, First and most importantly. THANK YOU DEVS for all the great work. I've seen a huge improvement in my Hexa-C's flight and stability since upgrading to 3.0.1.
I do however have an issue I would like someone to review and help me with.
1. I do not think my sonar is working when I switch to ALT HOLD. I've attached logs for your review. Am I right that it's not working?
2. Where exactly do I go to see vibration issues with my motors? How do I call up all 6 motors to monitor for vibrations.
3. Still trying to determine PID settings for LOITER.
Logs attached. I'm open to suggestions.
2013-07-21 14-21 4.log.gpx
2013-07-21 14-21 4.log
2013-07-21 13-39-24.tlog
Has anybody got a link to the the version 2.9.1b hex file?
I've been clicking through almost every directory here but can't find it:
http://firmware.diydrones.com/Copter/
The stable directory contains only the latest stable.
If I downgrade to the 2.9.1b firmware, will the APM retain all my last calibrations (ACC, compass, compassmot, radio), or do I need to perform them all again?
Reason: I tried 3.0.1 today on my quadcopter that flew fine with 2.9.1b, reperformed all calibrations outdoors, but in loiter mode it starts toilet bowling badly. compassmot said my magnetic interference was 63%. There's no room for any more separation and my ESC is already a 4-in-1. My props are balanced and the RAW log indicates values of less than 1 for the X and Y axis, and 10 for the Z axis, i.e. all within limits.
Hey Randy, here is the log file from a test I just did. On this particular flight, you can see on the Gyro Z graph that there are two downward spikes soon after takeoff. These are where it yawed. After these two, which were about 90 degree yaws, It didn't do them as frequent, but still randomly did it, only about 5-10 degree rotations, sometimes left, sometimes right. If you happen to find anything on the tlog, if there is a way possible to do a google plus hangout or a skype call so I could see what you did, I would greatly appreciate it. I hate bugging other people and Im trying to learn this stuff so I know next time what to look for and how to interpret the log files. I really appreciate all you help.
2013-07-21 13-03-02.tlog
Hi - I have a APM 2.5 on a DJI 450. It was flying great on firmware 2.5. I just upgraded to 3.0.1, re-calibrated the radio, accelerometers, changed the PIDs as instructed -
I can't even take off anymore. It flips over as soon as it gets any throttle. Both in regular armed mode and autotune mode. The motors also seem to be more aggressive at low throttle.
Any ideas?
Look here:
http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/rtl-mode/
Joe
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