Developer

ArduCopter-3.0.1 released!

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.

3691038784?profile=original

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 MarcoDaveC 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 hereherehereherehere 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.

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Replies

  • Hi, i have been playing with pids values and can get it to flying nice without shaking but just can not find out how to make it to not have such a big angle tilt when i roll or pitch the quad. 
    In loiter the quad has a small angle tilt +- 10º but in stabilize and alt hold it has a big angle tilt in roll and pitch +- 45º. 

    I would like it to have the same tilt angle as in loiter so i can control it better in stabilize and alt hold

    I have tried dropping the rate roll and pitch pids 
    dropped p
    and made i double the p
    got d as high as possible before shaking. 

    stabilize roll 4.5 to 4


    quad:
    f450
    t-motor 900kv
    turnigy 2650 4s lipo
    apm 2.6+external gps compass
    turnigy 9x + frysky d8r ii plus

    graupner 9x5 props

    thank you for any help

  • Hi all, just upgraded from 3.0.1 to 3.1-rc4 but now my quad won't arm. Has anything changed with respect to this?

    I am also wondering if it is possible to easily perform a "factory reset" of all parameters? Thanks a lot!
  • Hi Randy,

    some time ago, you abandoned MOT TB RATIO from arducopter. Today i did some benchtesting again on my coax octocopter. My tests show that i can gain round about 5% efficiency by changing the speed of the upper vs. lower motor.

    That is not much, but a nice to have for zero cost. It is also my impression that a lot of people fly coax setups. So i´d like to ask again, if it will be back in future releases?

  • HELLO APM 2.5 arducopter 3.0.1rc2

    Somebody here have same experience with me???

    My APM now Doesn't Work,,, The three LED (ABC) Is just Goes out and in,,(is like I unplug and replug the power)

    But the green light is constantly on...

    cannot connect to MP,both with USB and telemetry,,

    connect to Terminal but can't,,, always restart follow by three LED ABC that goes in and out

    Thanks

  • Repost
  • 3692860278?profile=originalHi guys. I´m ready to update my 3.0.1 to the new RC5 as soon as it´s released. I wanted to make sure my tricopter is 100% correct before making any changes to rule out any hardware problem. Flying is really good in every mode. Today I activated the IMU logs just to make sure the apm is not receiving too much vibration. The graph is actually very good but one thing came to my attention. Why are the red (x axis) and green (y axis) apart from each other? Shouldn´t they be overlapping? The Z axis shows +-0.3g at 9.8 so I didn´t put it on the graph. Does this affect the performance of the apm or the only important thing are the vibration levels? Thanks!

  • hI,

    I was just wondering, when using a new TX radio should the ESCs be recalibrated?

    I am also wondering if they should be recalibrated for use with a new RX also?  I have a couple copters, the ones with dragon link RX's will not do the automatic all at once calibration, I have to do them one at a time manually. I was wondering if it would be ok to swap the rx with one that will do the auto calibration, then switch back?

    thanks for any help

    John

  • Yesterday i made a update from 3.0.1 to 3.1rc4 because i want to test the Auto Tune.

    It's an Quadcopter, X525 Frame. I compiled the Version from yesterday from GitHub

    I started in Stabilize, everything OK.

    I switched for a short time to Loiter, everything OK.

    Then i switched to AutoTune and the copter immediately tilt over to the front-left side and crashed upside-down on the ground.

    Two Props and two Motor Mounts are broken.

    In the moment i don't know what happend.

    2013-10-19 17-12 1.log

  • Hi all,

    I have been playing around the last 2 days with the auto tune feature of 3.1 RC-4.

    I enabled autotune and compiled and downloaded the code. Autotune is working (see attached log).

     

    Somehow the values that result after the autotune are far from ideal. In the rol axis it becomes really soft with a lot of overshoot. In the pitch axis it is reasonable. One of the things I notice is that the integral term is way too low.

     

    @Randy, please have a look at the log if you have the time, maybe you can use it to improve the feature.

     

    If I tune it myself I come to the following settings (standard 3DR hexacopter):

    3692859258?profile=original

  • Hi Randy, guys...

    I am still having my wobble/oscillation problem...

    Wonder if someone can help looking over these logs...
    I am currently on RC-4.. all calibs done etc vibrations are within range - better than when the quad was flying fine. Auto tune done and current PIDs are the auto tune ones..
    with stab roll and stab p turned down a bit from the max values that auto tune gave them.

    the problem is that i still get this random oscilation.. one of the arms will suddenly dip and come back again.. i suspected it was something like a loose arm or motor/prop vibrating too much but i have checked and rechecked everything.. reseated the APM etc.. i still get this..
    i also recalibed the ESCs but the problem is still evident... im thinking it maybe a bad solder , a PID thats slightly too high (but the oscillation/wobble is random)?

    i have logged IMU, ATT, Motors...mot 3 and mot 4 dont look quiet right? but i dont know how to read MOT that well...
    would appreciate the help

    (ps note the log number in the file name lol)

This reply was deleted.

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