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
Finally had a chance to try out autotune on my quad, the results were spectacular, wonderful job Leonard, can't thank you enough. The whole process completed in about 3-4 min and I had to re-position twice.
The frame is a Tarot 650 and the APM is glued to 4 small pads of moongel and held with 2 rubber bands. I was concerned that this was too soft but she flies like a dream now.
I found it interesting that rate roll P (.0950) and rate pitch P (.1200) ended up quite different from each other. The values were locked together before. It seems to make sense though since I have a camera and gimbal up front and the battery balancing that out in the rear, all of which is hanging under the belly. Thus it should take more uumph to pitch than roll.
I've got one particular APM board which climbs aggressively when I move forwards in alt hold, and drops (quickly) when I move backwards. I suspect it's somehow a faulty board, but can't interpret the logs well enough to be sure.
I have the info/dataflash log here: http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/climb-drop-when-moving-forwards-b...
Leonardo, I just tried to do an auto tune with a overpowered octo and had to abort it after about 45 seconds or so it seemed. It must have done 30-40 iterations on the roll with some more aggressive than others. I had to catch it 2 or 3 times from getting too far away. At one point it jerked so hard to the right that I decided to flip switch 7 and abort. Is there a way to calm down the auto tuning? I can video it tomorrow if anyone wants to see. I can upload the logs too.
After completing an hexacopter and testing , it has a random defect, it twitches always in the same direction very short duration.
I suspects of some kind of power issue, probably power module is not able to keep voltage steady ,
I appreaciate if somebody with more experience could take a look at the readings and help my understand what may be wrong.
Thanks
2013-10-26 11-06 3.log
Hi,
still have Yaw drift problem. Tried many places. Now magneto is mounted 100mm over quad and still same.
Drift dont exist when i'm in ACRO.
Made live calibration, but drift still exists.
and heres my h-quad:
Attached LOG. Maybe some can give me clue what im doing wrong or what is wrong with my H-quad.
2013-10-26 16-14 2.log
I just did my first auto tune with my smaller quad and it went great. Need to do it again in less winds but wanted to check it out. When I landed I don't know if I did something wrong but the values were the same. It did it's dance and then I landed and disarmed. Then came to my MP and clicked Refresh but nothing changed. Is this perhaps because I have ch6 tuning set to Stab Roll/Pitch kP? Also is there any info on what parameters it tunes? Just stabP or Rates also? What about Throttle Accel?
Randy, I was reading this 6 month old post
https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot/issues/249
You said it was fixed, but just wondering doing a mission with waypoints is it safe to go 10m/s, by setting WPNAV_SPEED to 1000, I see it can even go to 2000, Id like to try, but do not want to fly to the ground :)
Upgraded to rc5 today on my octo and was messing with the armed motor speed parameter. I don't remember what it was set to initially but I think it was 100. I slowed it down to 70 and then even tried 50 but I would just get some clicking noise from one of the escs or motors even set to 70. Even when I changed it back to 100 and wrote parameters I had the same behavior. It seems that the new setting doesn't stick right away. I restarted the APM and changed the settings again and eventually got it back to what it was. Are the values listed in the full parameters the only ones you can use or can you input 90 for example? I was hoping for a slower spin but the way it is now set to 100 is fine. Does it require a reboot for the settings to take effect?
Can someone post a link to the changes since 3.0.1. I thought I saw a post a few pages back but not finding it now.
I'm in the middle of upgrading an octo that I prefer to not have a surprise with :) I always do a save parameters before doing an upgrade and then do a compare. I don't do an erase first unless necessary. This time I noticed some differences I'm not use to seeing. Should I carry any of these over besides the battery capacity?
param1.png
param2.png
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