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ArduCopter-3.2 beta testing

Posted by Randy on May 11, 2014 at 7:45pm

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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Tags: 32, arducopter, beta, testing
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Replies

      • Developer
        Randy > Frank Al July 21, 2014 at 3:56am

        Frank,

        hmm.. it shouldn't have been necessary to set the device ids manually.  It should have done that for you when you did the compass calibration so that's a bit odd.

        The compass-mot thing is a remaining to-do item.  It'll be there for -rc4.

        Thanks for the report and your testing!

  • Rikard Andersson July 17, 2014 at 8:33am

    Hi.

    Im trying to compile RC3 in ArduPilot-Arduino-1.0.3-windows for my tricopter but having trouble.

    I have a SSG gimbal so i need to change the servo out for the camera mount, so i need to compile it myself.

    Arduino says that the "Sketch is too big".

    I have a APM 2.5 and i loaded "Arducopter-beta / Copter: update AC3.2-rc3" from github.

    Any one have some ideas?

                                               

    • Julien Dubois > Rikard Andersson July 17, 2014 at 8:50am

      You have to disable some features in APM_Config.h

      https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot/blob/master/ArduCopter/APM_C...

      Mind to keep a sketch size < 242kB, otherwise you risk to burn your APM.

      • Rikard Andersson > Julien Dubois July 17, 2014 at 9:10am

        I have try to disable everything except gimal and poshold flight mode.

        And the sketch is still too big!

        Binary sketch size: 259 044 bytes (of a 258 048 byte maximum)

        Is this normal?

        Do i have the correct file? I saw that there where a file named APM2, is that for APM 2.5 or only APM 2?

        • Julien Dubois > Rikard Andersson July 17, 2014 at 12:01pm

          Have you tryed with this new version of compiler, it makes smaller sketch sizes?

          http://dev.ardupilot.com/wiki/building-ardupilot-with-arduino-windo...

          • Rikard Andersson > Julien Dubois July 17, 2014 at 2:09pm

            I using this one.

            http://ardupilot.com/downloads/?did=45

            Is it the same?

            The link to the arduino.zip that you sended doesn´t work at the moment......

            • Rikard Andersson > Rikard Andersson July 18, 2014 at 4:37am

              I found and installed Arduino 1.0.3-gcc-4.7.2 and arducopter 3.2-RC3 is compiling perfectly now.

              Thanks for your help.

            • Willy Fernandez > Rikard Andersson July 17, 2014 at 8:09pm

              Hi,

              I noticed that the default values for ATC_RATE_RP_MAX and ATC_RATE_Y_MAX are both 18000.  However, the range of values for these parameters are 90000 to 250000. I know that these values are variable rates for flight smoothness. Is it safe to bring up values to 90000 or more? Thanks.

              • Developer
                Randy > Willy Fernandez July 17, 2014 at 9:40pm

                Willy,

                     Leonard and I just reviewed the range for the ATC parameters yesterday and we've fixed them now.  I think it will take a mission planner release before they appear on your computer or maybe the mission planner will update it's defaults without that, I'm not totally sure.  In any case, the new range is below:

                ATC_RATE_RP_MAX: 9000 ~ 36000   (i.e. 90deg/sec ~ 360deg/sec)

                ATC_RATE_Y_MAX: 4500 ~ 18000 (i.e. 45deg/sec ~ 180deg/sec)

                     It's safe to make the values much higher.  They will simply not have any effect if you make them too high because the vehicle speed will just not be limited any more.

                • Willy Fernandez > Randy July 18, 2014 at 1:48am

                  Thank you so much, Randy. Anyway, i have kept my values both at 18000 and tried again AC3.2-rc3 today.  I did several auto flights with spline waypoints. So far, flights were smooth and no issues...ascending and descending between waypoints were great. I also tried Loiter circle -  it's simply amazing! Again, i have so much respect and appreciation for all your efforts and hard works.

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