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
Hello,
Can somebody explain why quadro fell down when "Failsafe" was generated ( RTL). in parameters i had 10m RTL and it was on ~30m level when it was accured. In log i could not find logical reason.
Thank you for help
Audrius
2013-08-31 17-40 16.log
Now that it is setup, it flys beautiful! Still need to work on alt hold, it's not perfect yet.
What I noticed is that on the first update, my quad flew great, then I did the compassmot, & it would lean hard to the right. I erased EEPROM, installed 3.0.1 again, this time it would always lean to the right. Did the update 7 more times all with the same results. On the 8th try, it flew perfect, I haven't done the compassmot, as it flys to good. My loiter is perfect, RTH is perfect. So I'm not changing it again. So to Ryan that is having troubles, maybe you can try to update the SW again, I find it very sensitive to the steps you do, to update it. But it does fly much better.
I'm using apm 2.5 with ublox, quad is a tbs disco, dji flashed esc's, dji motors,rctimers 9x5 props,5.8 video, 2.4gig Rc.
I'd like to see a better alt hold, I mean a more responsive control, it has to much of a died band & to slow to react, so if I'm flying in alt hold mode & cruising around at a good clip & need to climb to avoid something infront of me, I can't get it to climb fast enough, I normall just go to full power & switch to stab mode, then back to alt hold after I've cleared the object.
Thanks for all the great improvements to this controller, I'll never buy another naza again.
Marc
Randy, Marco,
Hopefully your expertise will help me. I have had numerous successful enjoyable flights with 3.0.1. However, as indicated before I also had some propellers break in flight. The last time it happened, the Quad ended up flying diagonally in to a tree with minimal damage. I repaired the damage, but replaced the plastic props with carbon ones. I balanced each blade and checked the motor shafts for 'true ness' (so that the prop blades would track properly).
Then I started flying.....I noticed the quad to be sluggish. Like it was tired. Full power did not yield as much of a climb rate as before, but it was still fine.
Then I did some fast wobble in STAB: worked fine.
ALT hold: fine.
Loiter: fine.
Then...... RTL:
all fine until the descend (51% in log file): the quad started to wobble until out of control and not recoverable. This happened twice (first time I thought it might be a battery problem, so I used a different fully charged one the second time). It landed in shrubs and no serious damage was done. However, it just puzzles me what it would start to wobble out of control. Logs are attached, but unfortunately I did not have RAW enabled.
Any insight would be appreciated: I just suspect very inefficient props (HK carbon props some of which needed serious balancing (you get what you pay for) and I'm now a believer that even for simply things like props, I should stick with what the trusted suppliers are selling).
Not asking for your opinion about the suppliers, but I do like to know your insights what could be wrong.
My next steps are to try with different props (grey plastic) and RAW enabled to monitor vibration levels.
Thanks!
AlexP
2013-08-30 22-48-48.tlog
2013-08-30 22-48-48.rlog
2013-08-30 23-06 23.log
I am currently using the MP 1.2.53 and the APM fw v3.0.0
- Everytime I start the MP, it says "New update found" but never tells me what it is. I think it is 1.2.73.
Should I go for the update? Is there any issues with it?
- Should I update the APM firmware as well?
Look what's inside the Walkera X350 over the Baro! Over that is a black foam. The opne area is pointing forward
Did the upgrade and now can not arm! I can do a ESC cal and control thrust. Red led starts with heart beat flash then constant flash. Reset button did nothing. Reinstalled firm ware too. any way to go back to 2.9.
I do not see the same tabs as you see and trying to update from the help tab where I think I need to go now it fails :(
I upgraded to 3.0.1 and haven't had any problems.
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