Developer

ArduCopter-3.2 beta testing

Warning #1: PX4/Pixhawk users upgrading from AC3.1.5 (or earlier) may need to re-do their compass and accelerometer calibration because AC3.2 also uses the backup compass and accels.  Pre-arm checks have been added to ensure this has been done.

Warning #2: on the APM2.x the logs must be downloaded using MAVlink instead of the terminal.

AC3.2-rc14 is now available for BetaTesters through the mission planner’s Beta Firmwares link.  The full release notes can be found in ReleaseNotes.txt and changes from -rc13 can be seen below.

     Feel free to raise issues found during testing on this discussion or in the new support section in the APM Forum.

     It’s a big release with “the onion” restructure and a bunch of new features (including these 57 closed items) so we need to re-test almost everything including all flight modes, all mission commands and all the new features.  Marco and I will be maintaining (and adding to) this testing list.  Issues reported will first be checked by Jonathan, Marco and I and then confirmed bugs/issues will be put on the github issues list (and then hopefully fixed).

     Thanks especially to the beta testers who put their copters at risk testing each release.  Enjoy!

Changes from 3.2-rc13
1) Safety Features:
     a) fail to arm if second gyro calibration fails (can be disabled with ARMING_CHECK)
2) Bug fixes:
    a) DCM-check to require one continuous second of bad heading before triggering LAND
    b) I2C bug that could lead to Pixhawk freezing up if I2C bus is noisy
    c) reset DCM and EKF gyro bias estimates after gyro calibration (DCM heading could drift after takeoff due to sudden change in gyro values)
    d) use primary GPS for LED status (instead of always using first GPS)

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  • flew yesterday with APM2.6 loaded with AC3.1.2-rc2 and EKF enabled. frame old 3DR quad. needless to say

    1. Loiter Excellent winds were about 7Km/Hr

    2. Way point navigation excellent (accuracy of 1m in winds of 7Km/Hr)

    3. Landing excellent with auto disarm within 2 secs of touch down

    4. Hybrid, looks fine. after releasing sticks the quad keeps drifting for 4m before loitering. i think this has been done to avoid jerks to camera gimbals.

    4. DO_SET_ROI command not working. (someone needs to look into it).

    5. Waypoint Yaw behaviour perfect.

    hats off the team AC! cheers

  • Roger, you can attain face forward while in RTL by changing the value of WP_YAW_BEHAVIORr form 0 to 1. there are other options u may find useful.

    • Thanks Ravi, it was actually as at 2 by default (turn towards waypoint *except for RTL*). I changed it to 1.

  •  

    Does APM 2.5 support rally points? I try to upload but get an error message.

    I have an aircraft with APM 2.5 and it works with rally points. Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug in the firmware?

    .

     

     

  • Randy,

          I saw bug in Guided mode when click is "Fly to here Alt" on the map. After, I had change Altitude in command. It turn heading to 90 degree or Eastern every time. please you can check from my log. 

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9RZbAMTlAOdVldMZmRyYzlqZHM/edit?u...

    74.BIN
  • I have made adjustments and recalibrations to my tricopter platform and done more testing with 3.2rc2. Hybrid is working very fine now, I really like it! One thing I've seen mentioned here somewhere, is that the tricopter does not spin down to armed throttle speed when landed in Hybrid or AltHold modes. Instead it seems to keep the min throttle inflight setting, which is a much higher RPM. Once I switch to Stablize, already on the ground, it goes down to armed state, and automatically dearms after 10 or so seconds. In the other states, it never dearms automatically, as it seems it thinks it is still in the air. This includes having landed in an Auto mission.

    Today I flew this auto mission here:

    3701753717?profile=original

    It went overall just fine. I am not an expert in programming missions, so maybe TAKEOFF is not meant for a Tricopter mission. It did not take off when switched to Auto on the ground, but it went just fine after having lifted in Stabilize and flipping to Auto after that. A few things I noted:

    1. As it headed back home, it kept facing away from home. Isn't the default behavior, if nothing else commanded, to face towards the next waypoint? I seem to remember reading in the 3.2 release notes there was a fix where 3.1.x could be up to 10 degrees off. Please check this.

    2. Once it headed back home, there was a number of quick roll adjustments that were very "digital" (twitchy!), not smooth at all. Not really oscillations either... But it make the footage jumpy a number of times. It was a very calm day. Please check into that as well. It only happened when flying backwards home, it didn't seem to occur when flying forward as in the beginning of the mission.

    3. It did not follow the path the Mission Planner displayed back home. Although I used SPLINE_WAYPOINTs all the way, except for the first TAKEOFF and the last RTL one, Mission Planner displayed a sharp 90 degree turn at waypoint 10 above, but in reality, it flew straight towards home from waypoint 8, or maybe even from waypoint 7.

    [EDIT: I see looking at the log that the radio fail-safe was activated, and since I have it set to RTL even during a Mission execution, it did exactly that. This explains 1 and 3 above - so I guess that leaves nr 2 above to be looked at!]

    I will post a YouTube video of this to make it even easier to follow. But I am on the countryside with a slow connection. I will post a reply later tonight when it is uploaded for you to check out! For the meanwhile, I am attaching the logs here.

    P.S. Can someone suggest how to tweak settings for Drift mode to make tighter turns? Or we wait for a future rc-release?

    2014-06-07 10-56-48.bin

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3701753633?profile=original
    • Here's the onboard recorded video of the flight. I love the smoothness of yaw movement with the spline waypoints.


      That being said, in the initial part where the automated mission was executing, there are "jumps" in the motor RPM, that maybe are co-inciding with the waypoints as being passed? It also causes unneccessary disturbances in the video. It was a very calm day!

      And finally, as the tricopter headed back home when RTL was activated, why does it not yaw to change direction towards home? Instead it flies backward home. Just asking, I thought it would be more natural to turn around. To rise first (I saw the discussion before) is okay, but then it should turn towards the desitnation, I think. Any reason why it doesn't?

      • Developer

        Roger,

             Nice video and thanks very much for testing.

             The jumps as the vehicle passes the waypoints will be fixed in -rc3 I think.  It's fairly tricky to resolve but we're getting there.  There's another batch of little twitches I see in your video when it's doing the RTL.  I think we've also got that fixed as well for -rc3.  That was caused by the vehicle trying to slow down too quickly as it hit the maximum waypoint speed.

             The yaw described is the default actually.  If you change WP_YAW_BEHAVIOUR to 1 it will return towards home as part of RTL.  Although this was already documented on the RTL Flight mode page, I've updated it a bit to make the wording clearer.

        • oops sorry.. Just did read your explanation regarding home and launch difference.

  • ok may I post it as a new reply

    Hi Randy,

    thanks for the advise. here some info from me after loading 3.2rc2

    1st flight, tested Althold = good, not much difference to 3.1

    switched to drift = not working, only pitch is workingn o yaw no roll

    switched to Hybrid = yes working but loosing altitude on break , about 1-2 meters

    switched to loiter = ok

    switched back to Althold and activated auto tune= nothing happen

    landed tried to get a log without success, mavlink timed out 

    loaded 3.15 and went for a flight

    althold = ok

    Drift = ok

    went back and reloaded 3.2

    althold = ok

    tried auto tune again = this time yes but very very slow, took about 6 minutes,

    switch to Hybrid = same not working

    back try to get log, no success, time out, reloaded 3.15 and got the log, which says 3.15 but it is the log from 3.2 as I deleted all logs before. see attached. 

    my test rig is equipped with a RC-timer Apm 2.5

    don't now what I'm doing wrong, any help appreciated. again the logs says 3.15 but it must be the 3.2

    cheers

    Dieter 

    2014-06-06 14-34-00.log

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