Developer

ArduCopter-3.2.1 Beta Testing

ArduCopter 3.2.1-rc2 (release candidate #2) has completed beta testing and has been released as the official version available through the mission planner and other ground stations.

Changes from AC3.2 are listed below and in the ReleaseNotes:
1) Enhancements:
    a) reduced twitch when passing Spline waypoints
    b) Faster disarm after landing in Auto, Land, RTL
    c) Pixhawk LED turns green before arming only after GPS HDOP falls below 2.3 (only in flight modes requiring GPS)
2) Safety Features:
    a) Add desired descent rate check to reduce chance of false-positive on landing check
    b) improved MPU6k health monitoring and re-configuration in case of in-flight failure
    c) Rally point distance check reduced to 300m (reduces chance of RTL to far away forgotten Rally point)
    d) auto-disarm if vehicle is landed for 15seconds even in Auto, Guided, RTL, Circle
    e) fence breach while vehicle is landed causes vehicle to disarm (previously did RTL)
3) Bug Fixes:
    a) Check flight mode even when arming from GCS (previously it was possible to arm in RTL mode if arming was initiated from GCS)
    b) Send vehicle target destination in RTL, Guided (allows GCS to show where vehicle is flying to in these modes)
    c) PosHold wind compensation fix
    d) prevent infinite loop with do-jump commands pointing at each other
    e) pixhawk memory corruption fix when connecting via USB
    f) vehicle stops at fence's alt limit in Loiter, AltHold, PosHold (as it did in AC3.1.5)
    g) protect against multiple arming messages from GCS causing gyro calibratoin failure

Thanks to Raph for the video.  This is actually a video from AC3.2 until we have one specific to AC3.2.1.

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  • Randy

    I've had a strange thing happen a few times now. First couple times thought it was just me holding the yaw longer than I thought but I'm pretty sure at around the 5-6 minute mark of this flight the controller kind of 'wigs' and does an abrupt fast yaw 360 for no reason. It does it when gliding to a stop in pos hold after a fast run. I initiated the yaw to have it aim at me but it does way more yaw than I did with my stick. I'm pretty sure it did a compete 360. PLEASE don't tell me it's a compass issue or I'm going back to planes!! LOL I'm sure Tridge would be crossing his finger too. ha 

    326.BIN

    • I have been watching this for some time now.  I have found that if I go straight ahead for a long distance and then straight back and allow it to break that during the breaking it will yaw to the right and then back a little.

      After a couple of runs like this the copter will have yawed to the right about 20 to 30 degrees.

      This could be caused by a number of things of witch is the compass and accelerometer calibration.

      I figure if I tipped you forwards and backwards enough times your yaw would be off a little too.  Nothing is perfect here.  It's amazing enough that the bird can even stop itself.

       

      • Developer

        @Michael,

        That sounds to me like some motors are hitting their limits and it's sacrificing yaw control.  It's possible we could cover-up this effect by increasing the maximum bounce back the attitude controller attempts if it temporarily loses yaw control.  At the moment that's limited to 10degrees.  So for example (and I'm not recommending you try this), if you put a copter in loiter and then manually pull an arm so the vehicle is rotated (i.e. overpower it's yaw control) you'll find that it only bounces back about 10 deg.  It won't bounce back to it's original heading.  This is a safety feature but in cases where the vehicle loses yaw control it limits how much it recovers.A better solution of course would be to ensure the motors are balances and the vehicle has enough power to hover at 50% throttle.

        • If I'm in stabilize and punch the throttle it will shoot up crazy fast. It hovers at under %50. Yet in POSHLD if I punch the throttle is climbs at a MUCH slower rate. Is there a param needs changed to allow more throttle in guided mode? I did do auto tune I'm pretty sure but maybe not since a 'reset' in full params. Or perhaps I just need to simply increase the yaw PID? 

          I don't recall it even doing this [ large unexplained yaw ] before 3.2 but maybe I'm wrong about that. 

          It never looked unstable so if it's nothing to worry about great. Just thought I'd post about it because it seemed weird. THX

          • Developer

            Actually it's PILOT_VELZ_MAX that controls the maximum climb and descent rate.  250 = 2.5m/s so 500 (5m/s) would probably be better.

            FYI, the THR_DZ is the throttle deadzone.  So making that very big will just mean you'd need to move the throttle very high or low to see any effect.

            • Thank you Sir for the info. It's very helpful.

          • Sir, the default param that controls alt hold, loiter, and pos hold throttle response is THR_DZ=100. Try setting your THR_DZ to 5 or 10 for faster climb and descend rate.

        • I've looked at the logs each time and at the RCOUT and don't see them hitting max.

          The only thing consistent here is that it always yaws to the right.  I assume that the calculations at an angle along with slight compass offset causes the calculation to drift in that direction.  It seems to only happen when braking in Position Hold at full reverse speed.

          • Yes only in POSHLD. Only while braking. That's what I've noticed too. Thx for looking at then log. Your right it is amazing it works at all it's incredible! 

    • This is it... see pic

      weirdyaw.jpg

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