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,
I have converted my HEXA-B to an X8 configuration. It looks very similar to the 3DR RTF X8 except it has a much higher landing gear. AUW is almost 5Kg ( I have an NEX5T with gimbal attached and I use 2X 5800 mah) . It flies perfectly well in Stabilize and Alt Hold. Loiter works ok in calm winds. However, the response is a bit sluggish when I navigate in loiter mode. Also, when little winds pick up (5 - 10 mph), loiter is not accurate at all. Compassmot is at 6%, declination is per your instructions.
Attached is my current configuration. What would suggest I modify next? I have Loiter PID at 0.5 because of the 3.0.1 bug. Where should I go from here?
Thanks, you guys do a great job.
Screen Shot 2013-11-04 at 5.36.22 PM.png
I hate to say it but here is a Arducopter 3.1 RC4 bug (serious one) on APM2.6:
-During AUTO mode, gps lock was lost for 5 seconds due to some external factors. Copter never recovered AUTO after gps lock become solid (10 sats) It was drifting away and no RTL or LOIT worked. I suspect the new anti-glitch GPS filtering routine has a bug .
- Secondly, after a few seconds from getting gps lock again, quad entered in GPS FAILSAFE, LAND mode kicked in and i LOST CONTROL of roll/pitch, even i had GPS lock and RC control (LAND mode should give roll/pitch authority, but the way)
-After crashing and loosing the copter, with only video telemetry available until hit the earth (mavlink PC telemetry was lost first) i managed to get the gps coordinates of the crash location. I added them into google earth but somehow it didn't point exactly the spot. MissionPlanner should have a box where to manually put crash GPS coordonates from video link in the same format mavlink offers from video telemetry. Is more fast and reliable to use MP to find your crashed copter, and prefetched maps are a real help also (no need to connect to internet)
The cross marks the ground impact. I had 10 sats GPS 3D lock and i was in LAND gps failsafe mode :(
GPS failure and crash.jpg
2013-11-04 16-52 28.log
Thanks Marc
3.0.1 is flying great on a TBS Disco.
I hate to say it bur here is a Arducopter 3.1 RC5 bug (serious one) on APM2.6:
After an auto mission with a well-tuned quad, here is what i found:
-During AUTO mode, gps lock was lost for 5 seconds due to some external factors. Copter never recovered AUTO after gps lock become solid (10 sats) It was drifting away and no RTL or LOIT worked. I suspect the new anti-glitch GPS filtering routine has a bug .
- Secondly, after a few seconds from getting gps lock again, quad entered in GPS FAILSAFE, LAND mode kicked in and i LOST CONTROL of roll/pitch, even i had GPS lock and RC control (LAND mode should give roll/pitch authority, but the way)
-After crashing and loosing the copter, with only video telemetry available until hit the earth (mavlink PC telemetry was lost first) i managed to get the gps coordinates of the crash location. I added them into google earth but somehow it didn't point exactly the spot. MissionPlanner should have a box where to manually put crash GPS coordonates from video link in the same format mavlink offers from video telemetry. Is more fast and reliable to use MP to find your crashed copter, and prefetched maps are a real help also (no need to connect to internet)
I will attach log in a few hours.
/Mihai
Randy does this comment you advised earlier still apply in rc4 to get better throttle height control stability?
"Re Throttle Accel vs Throttle Rate, generally you should only need to tune the throttle accel P and I terms. Remember to keep the ratio of P to I the same as the default. I.e. raise or lower both by 20% (or whatever)."
In the Wiki it seems to recommends tuning THROTTLE_P which I am assuming is THR_RATE_P as its listed under the full parameter list and not THR_ACCEL_P?
"The same is true for Altitude hold. Throttle Rate P needs to be adjusted to get optimum altitude performance."
"My copter increasingly swings up and down in alt hold. It eventually get’s down to the ground: Your THROTTLE_P is too high or low. You don’t need a lot of P to do alt hold. Think of how much you move the throttle to hold alt perfectly. Not much! That’s what you need P to do. I will ramp up as your battery goes lower to make up the difference."
I also assume its best to fine tune Roll/Pitch RATE P first before doing the throttle tuning?
Any suggestions?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWhIgwH7w7Y
I wanted to try autotune today but didnt get that far as my alt_hold would work. As soon as switched into alt_hold my copter would rise about 1.5m and then float down again, then go up again and come down again. I tried to lower throttle accel P but it made no difference. I even went down as low as 0.2500 on the P. I tried to lower Altitude Hold P as well but couldnt get it to work before my laptop died on me.
My question now is what would be the best way to tune alt_hold with ch6? Should I start with "Altitude Hold kP", "Throttle Accel kP" or "Throttle Accel kI" first? Is it safe to tune anyone of the accel values in flight and then landing to update the other value to reflect the I=2P formula?
Log files are attached...
Thanks,
2013-11-03 17-06 1.log
2013-11-03 08-53-04.tlog
Hi all, I have updated the firmware to 3.1-rc5. But I am having issues with activating autotune in althold. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
http://www.diydrones.com/forum/topics/unable-to-activate-autotune
I just got the Google Satellite image issue again:(
Imagery does NOT update; I cannot zoom in when I use Satellite view.
I was having this issue back when I was using MP 1.2.53 then I switched to 1.2.74 few weeks ago and everything was working fine till tonight.
I updated the PPM encoder and then loaded the latest beta 3.1rc-5. I connected the APM 2.5 to mission planner to see if everything is working. Everything seemed okay except the map issue. Why did I get this issue again? I didn't change anything on Mission Planner?
Why is this happening? So annoying!..
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