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
So no redundancy on a quad?
Check this out.
http://www.ted.com/talks/raffaello_d_andrea_the_astounding_athletic...
Hi,
Yesterday while I was filming some aerial footage for a commercial I crashed the octo, I was returning to land after a take when suddenly I lost control, at the same time I saw one motor stopping, and as I can't retake the control, I pull down the throttle and I wait for the crash. This flight was the 9th of the day without problems in the same location. Only in one flight I saw a problem like the fence limit but I don't use it, I was flying forward and suddenly in one point it pitch back like if it was crashed with a wall, but after this the flight was normal.
The main battery (6S) ends with 20 volts during crash and up to 23 volts after shut down the motors.
The APM2.5 battery (2S) ends with 8 volts and I am using the align regulator to power it via output rail.
As consecuence the gimbal is broken, my 7D is scraped, the lens is broken, one brushless motor of the gimbal broken, but the octocopter is right only has two arms a little bent, but all propellers are ok.
If you want I can put some pictures.
Anyone can help to discover the cause of the accident. Thank you very much.
P.D. the tlog file was made with Droidplanner in a SGS2.
2013-07-20 17-32-58.tlog
2013-07-21 11-56 13.log
This is a minute version of a recorded flight with 3.0.1. Reported by MinimOSD there was a lost in altitude, from 78 to 0 feet in mid-air after switching to Loiter. The MSL altitude, showed no drastic change. I assume Home Altitude is using the pressure sensor, the MSL uses GPS. I am not sure if there is anything to be concerned about, but I just land, re-armed and continued testing. I wonder what would happen if I was in Altitude Hold Flight Mode? APM is in a 3DR case and black sponge in it. Unfortunately, I was doing a lot of tuning, completed another CompassMot and wiped out the log files. I also noticed the loiter was leaning. Anyone with a suggestion, let me know. Thanks.
Randy, got a question. I have tried ArduCopter 2.6, 2.9.1 and 3.0.1 and Im having the same issue over and over. I got the previous yaw situation worked out, but now Im having another yaw issue. When I start the flight, the Copter goes up, I put it to a hover and let it stay there. After a few seconds, it will rotate left approximately 90 degrees, hover for a few seconds, rotate 90 degrees, hover and repeat this process until I land it. Is there a calibration that I missed somewhere along the way?
Great Job, thanks :) my first cuad with 2.91b had problems to mantain alttitude hold and loiter,and unstable in windy days; updated to 3 and solve the problems, now perfect loiters and I can fly in windy days too; I closed with tape lateral pins near the baro because if I blow there, the altitude go down, i supose that help too
I tried to get some advice on another section of the forum about frame options to scale up my copter but no replies. I am tempted to just build a bigger version of my quad but depending on how well hexa’s can survive a motor/ESC failure that may be a better option. If they don’t usually survive a failure then the extra motors are just increasing the chance of a total failure.
I would prefer not to go all the way up to octo.
I guess the software doesn’t actually ‘decide’ it has a motor failure but just tries to compensate?
So any advice on hexa behavior with an engine out is welcome.
Thanks.
My large hexi is slightly bouncy in alt hold. Alt hold is already around 0.2. It hovers around 33% throttle and in stabilize if i rock it back and forward it climbs a bit. Stop the rocking and it then drops again. All help / comments appreciated!
Keep up the brilliant work dev team!
+1 for the fence on a switch too...
Steve
I am really impressed how well the 3.0.1 flys. Well for the moment in doors anyway
These are my logs using the sonar and it seems quite good. I tried ALT Hold with it and it seems quite smooth and not much noise at all and maintained a good alt lock. This is the MaxBotik 1240 and I have it mounted underneath fitted onto my battery bay well away from prop wash.
Though I am not sure why, but the sonar log output doesn't show up in the "Graph This" Tuning chart in the tlog play back, yet it shows up in the data flash logs.
The vibration levels also seem to be ok. The only thing is I would like is a bit more stability in Throttle Acc so it hold altitude position more tightly in stabilize mode.
Where can I see the compassmot reading in these logs? Or can it only be seen on the clie check?
Next is now take it out and try some auto flight modes.
2013-07-19 15-54-49.tlog
2013-07-19 16-12 2.log
Randy, will there be a possibility to incorperate the ability to reverse the servo commands for "Corrections in Stabilize mode" in the coming releases? Currently I am experiencing a problem where the copter yaws indefinitely because the correction applied by the apm is reversed. Me reversing the servos in MP only reverses my RC inputs and not the corrections made by APM. I have read multiple forums on this and they all say changing the code is the only fix that they have found. It was also mentioned that in previous versions of the Ardu Copter, when you reversed the servos pid, it would also reverse the APM's correction, however it is my understanding that this is no longer the case. Im not code writing savy and would appreciate any help I could get to correct this problem.
Thanks,
Jamie
Well I found out that the battery fail safe works really well but without realizing it. Test flying in my lounge room and it keep landing. I didn't have it connected to the GCS so did know why. After checking I could see the battery dropped to about 9.9v and then switched into auto land mode.
However this was nearly a full battery and when I measured the battery after it stopped it read 11.58v So no doubt I have my low battery fail safe setting to high. I have it set at 10v . What is the recommended level to set this at so it doesn't switch to land prematurely? I'm using 3S 600mAh batteries.
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