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
Dear Devs,
I am not sure if this is related to rc5 or Mission Planner. Have a look at the values for D and IMAX.
TIA,
Thorsten
PS: I had some problems like this before - using a "," as decimal separator (some values which should have been in range were marked in orange and showed very high or low values). I changed this but this is the result.
Regarding the LED mode of v3.1, I recall it was said that the low battery warning buzzer (if retro-fitted) would now oscillate rather than sound continuously, I'm using the number 11 (8+2+1) which gives - low battery flash fast, beeper on, GPS on, Motor LEDs on.
V3.1's LED bitmask however, seems different to the original thread (http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844), how does one make the buzzer oscillate rather than sound continuously? '29' or '30' (17+9+3) doesn't do it.
First of all I am amazed with all of this and thankful to boot! The Developers are fantastic.
Randy, et al,
I have a slight issue with RC5 that wasn’t present in prior versions. I have an APM 2.5 with External Compass(raised 10cm) mounted on a X560 quad, 3DR 850kv, simoneK ESCS. It flies well on current release except for TB in loiter and occasional left roll “twitching”. With RC5 I get roll and pitch spikes when the APM is stationary and disarmed. What is really strange is the craziness that happens when I plug in the fight battery to the power module. The HUD starts spinning around and the pitch and roll data points(mainly roll) are all over the place. As soon as I remove the battery, she levels out and the occasional pitch/roll spikes return.
I attempted to do accel calibration with and without the battery installed. With battery the cal fails, without, it’s successful. However, the craziness returns every time I plug in the battery. I’m afraid to go any further with RC5 at the moment. I’ll revert back to the release version. Oh, this craziness occurs when MP is connected by 3DR radio or USB.
I have included an tlog if anyone would be so kind to take a look.
Battery plugged in at 13%
Calibration attempt w/batt 19.7% (Failed)
Removed battery at 20.4%
Calibration attempt WO /batt at 22.5% (Successful)
Battery plugged in at 24.9%
Thanks all!
Bruce
2013-10-23 22-53-34.tlog
Randy, would it be possible to get this issue included in rc5 and/or the final release?
Hi Randy,
Can you please help me understand what is happening with INS_GYROFFS_X, INS_GYROFFS_Y and INS_GYROFFS_Z on each boot and duringa accel. calibration?
Seems like these values change randomly each time i fly and they are affecting my artificial horizon as well as flight. I don't usually boot the copter on level ground (grassy area, never level) and these values seem to change every time and (I believe) affect my "level flight".
If so, what is the purpose od accel. calibration and how to make them stop from changing, or at least have them be accuratly calculated every time.
Thank you,
Misa
Here is 3.1 rc4 autotuned in all its glory :)
Only thing new I am going to do from this is add the external compass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAF8CsQZYtQ&feature=youtu.be
Dear Devs!
I downloaded the 3.1rc5 hex file and made an autotune test with my long endurance hexa (link 1, link 2). Stab P is now at 9.0 and it is pretty responsive. Before It was at 4.5. Wind was quite heavy so I will try again the next days. WIll this have an effect on endurance? I'll make some tests.
This is an important feature! Thanks for all your efforts!
There are two minor things I have to double check. First, the hexa is relatively "twitchy" in loiter. This was "introduced" when switching from rc2 to rc3. Not problematic but a little strange. Second, battery voltage fail save is not working (no RTL at 14V). Any ideas?
Thanks,
Thorsten
I've been doing a lot of with 3.0.1 without any problems except one annoying thing that has started to come up more and more recently. I'm including a log of my last flight with the problem. The problem starts when I take off which is always in stablize mode. It does these quick random burst which take it up a meter or more. Just half a second and it never looses control. At first I thought it was a main power connection problem to the ESCs but I don't find any problem there. I'm using the APM PM. I'm using APM2.5 and 3.0.1 on a medium sized quad. If I switch to altitude hold the problem seems to go away or maybe it's masking it. I've looked at the log in regards to current and see some jumps but am not sure what I'm looking for. I doubt this can be a problem in the code but can someone give me a clue as to what to look for to see where the problem is coming from.
I think the problem shows up around 18% and 22% in the tlog.
And one other thing that I would like to fix is when I get an auto switch to RTL because of fail-safe, it points to home before ascending. This usually results in a dramatic jerk and then usually the signal comes back and it goes back into prior mode which is usually alt-hold. I know there is a setting to not have it turn home but I do need it to turn home since I'm using for FPV but can it turn AFTER it ascends? An ascend would be a much calmer way to indicate an RTL.
Can the yaw to home at least be slowed down or would that effect other auto modes?
Thanks everyone and especially the developers. I almost never to post here because of your excellent work because it mostly just works without any problems! 3.0.1 is very stable for me.
2013-10-23 07-34 68.kmz
2013-10-23 06-44-10.tlog
We've made ArduCopter 3.1-rc5 available through the mission planner's Beta Firmwares link (or it should appear there in 30min or so after this post). The source code can be found here. Improvements over 3.1-rc4 include:
1) Pixhawk USB reliability improvements
2) AutoTune changes:
a) enabled by default (sorry, it was meant to be enabled in -rc4)
b) status output to GCS (messages will appear on the HUD)
c) use 2 pos switch only
3) ch7/ch8 LAND
4) Tricopter stability patch improvements [thanks to texlan]
5) safety improvements:
a) slower speed up of motors after arming
b) pre-arm check that copter is moving less than 50cm/s if arming in Loiter or fence enabled
6) bug fix to loading missions while copter is armed.
All feedback welcome. I think this version is quite close to what will become the official AC3.1 release.
next issue... we are missing the camera trigger over specified distance...like in the arduplane..
or am I missing something?
this is a must have feature for any sort of mapping.
steve
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