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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      • Christian,

        I will check the THR_MID setting and thank you for the reply.  However, I may not have articulated the issue correctly.  I seem to have sufficient throttle available to me in stabilize.  My issue is when switch from AltHold or Loiter (didn't try other modes yet) to Stabilize; the RPM of the motors drop, quad starts a moderate descent, and I have to adjust the throttle to prevent a hard landing.  After I've recovered, all seems well.  Regards

  • I'm a 3D IRIS user since March.  A few days ago i downloaded 3.2-rc2 and the IRIS flew great in all modes (including Follow Me).

    Yesterday i downloaded 3.2-rc3, but the LED light would NOT change from the initializing phase to blinking blue; therefore no ability to arm the motors and no takeoff.  

    After numerous attempts, i switched back to 3.1.5 (didn't know how to get back to 3.2-rc2), and everything worked normal again.

    Any ideas...?

    In the meantime, mega-thanks to the development team - i'm astounded and elated with your creative skills!

    • Try arming while connected to mission planner will say what is failing.

      I assume its failing the pre arm check, probably because something is not calibrated. In rc3 they added another check to make sure the backup accels are calibrated for pixhawk.

      Try going back to rc3 and re cal the accels.  GL (see red writing on Randy's first post) This is my best guess.

      • Thanks for your help Brandon.  I did an accel cal after loading rc3, but somehow overlooked the dreaded compass cal in the red Warning #1.  So as you suggested, i armed connected to mp and sure enough i needed both cals.  All is now well in IRISville.  Appreciate your directions! 

  • thanx randy, i think that would be great if the mission planner can show which GPS is being used at a specific time. that way we can compare the performance of different GPSs.  is there any similar parameter for second compass? i understand secondary compass has been enabled in rc3.

  • I had test 3.2-rc3 is Position Hold mode when have strong wind with Pixhawk. It have very stable. 

  • Hi fellow flyers, is there any parameter to be enabled when using dual GPS in UART port 4/5 of pixhawk. also is there any parameter for dual compass to be enabled. which port needed to be used for second compass. i intend to try dual GPS and compass on pixhawk on coming sunday. i understand that AC3.2-rc3 supports dual compass and dual GPS.

    • Developer

      Ravi,

           If you go into the full parameters list in the mission planne you should see a GPS_TYPE2 parameter.  Set that to "2" to enable a second Ublox attached to Serial 4/5.  There's also a GPS_AUTO_SWITCH parameter which will control whether it sticks with the main GPS or tries to use the backup (it switches depending upon the num satellites and hdop I think).  The integration of the two GPSs is not super smooth yet, really both should be merged into the EKF and the one that best matches the current estimate should be used but that'll come in a future release.

          Anyway, interested to see how it goes.

      • Randy,

        I tested RC3 today. Stab, Althold, Loiter, Hybrid(poshold), Spline waypoints. Works great! Thx!

        I noticed when turning on or off EKF with CH7 option, there's a little offset in heading.Should we do compass calibration with EKF enabled and don't turn off afterwards?

        The dual GPS function is doing nice with M8N as primary and LEA6 as secondary, it would be fine if Missionplaner could show us which GPS is being used. At the moment it shows only parameters of the primary.

        • Developer

          Christian,

          Thanks for testing.  The compass calibration works off the raw compass values so the results shouldn't change depending on whether EKF Is enabled or not at the time.  The heading being different is a bit of a mystery to me but it must be how DCM vs the EKF are processing the data internally.

          Yes, good point about the GPS.  I was also thinking it would be nice if we could see the locations reported by both GPS in the mission planner somehow.  Eventually I suspect there's won't be a primary GPS but rather the EKF will consume both and use a weighting to control how much of each it uses.  Anyway, feel free to put your requests into the ardupilot or mission planner to-do list.  With your request it will require changes in both places, but the ardupilot would be the first place to change.

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