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
Hi there
I have a strange calibration error. If update to 3.0.1 and initialize everything. All works fine. First testflight with some strong gps failures (GPS lost or jitter in the air). So i have change the mounting of the apm. They are now on the top and paste on rubber bands.
Now i clear everything again (reset...) and made everything again.
I dont know why but now it will fail to calibrate the accel. I also use the terminal.
You will see that in the flight data screen the apm is near to level. I dont can fly because i will see a error on screen "initalise accel"
Here you see the screenshot
Did someone have an idea ?
Thx for help
Tino
ArduCopter code on VR-Brain:
Other photos here.
Given the enormous reliability and impressive stability of the APM Copter code I started to use it for professional use, the results are excellent.
After the unremitting work of all members of the dev team now I can safely say that we have reached levels that were unthinkable a few years ago.
Here the little clip at full quality, not compressed with the poor Youtube codec: http://www.marcopter.com/media/hv1_gimbal_eosm_02.m2t
I slightly stabilized with After Effects, but I assure you that even the original clip is almost vibration free.
Many people ask me where I am, I'm diligently testing the reliability of our system, now that debugging is almost non-existent.
Thanks to all the Dev Team, finally our system is a milestone... ;-)
Bests, Marco
Could you please confirm the tuning parameters for the stock 3dr quad running 3.0.1 , mine even with 13 satellites , is not even close to stable on loiter mode , alt.hold works fine .
Is this latest version which parameter should I tune first ?
Thanks
Hi,
On the PX4 with the external compass from 3dr, should the jumper on the compass be set to 5v? It looks like 5v to me but I want to make sure.
the wiki does not have this info and I think should be added.
thanks,
John
Im wondering why if GPS signal is lost during an AUTO / GUIDED state, the 'copter is switched to LAND instead of flying the "home heading" direction dictated by the compass.
In GUIDED you can see the GPS state change in Mission/Droid Planner, and you can take over controls. In AUTO if you've loaded the mission by cable or BT there's a fair chance of having your bird perform a near flyby to alert you of the problem, and with 3DRadios you have both more time to react and maybe to wait for the 'copter to come closer, and in the case of going beyond its maximum range, the chance to reestablish contact and take over to manual control.
Otherwise, 3.0.1-related, I've had only one incident in 40+ flights, when at takeoff I've had to use full back-right deflection on the Pitch/Roll stick to keep it hovering in place then descending straight for a land. Replugging the LiPo got rid of the issue, and my APM 2.0 says "No dataflash inserted" and had no telemetry so no logs for you guys to study.
I'm getting ready to order one of these: http://www.foxtechfpv.com/tarot-gimbal-stabilization-system-p-913.html
but wondering why I'm not able to use the APM2.5 / AC3.0.1 camera stabilization. It's on an Octo and when I use the camera stabilization it has a definite lag. Only the slowest rolls and pitches will be compensated in time. If you move the copter any faster, it just lags behind making it worse. Could I have something wrong with my setup or is the APM2.5 reached it's limits on processing power? I'm using the standard roll and pitch ports even though I have digital servos because on an octo you can only use the analog ports for camera stabilization.
is there a way to have a switch controlling motors rotation direction (ie reverse rotation to ask the copter to fly on it's back?
or even better have a kind of macro that run only left side motors reverse in case of X config.
my idea is for a water copter in case of falling inverted in water.... :-)
Noticed something strange today with my hex copter. When the sun went behind a cloud the Hex climbed about 2m and when the sun came out it decended about 2m. This happened several times but otherwise was stable.
Trying to perform compassmot, per instructions I have connected USB and started MP. I click Terminal and hit return 3 times, type setup compassmot, nothing happens. I would not expect anything to happen as per instructions, I never clicked connect. What is supposed to happen here? I am powering the quads main power first, then connecting USB. I am using the 3DR power cable.
e
Randy,
I think I found the problem with my guided mode. My compass offsets are large. I tried to calibrate in different places and several times I can't make it within the -150 to 150 range. I always get like 201, lowest was 196
-
60
-
61
-
62
-
63
-
64
of 84 Next