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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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      • Developer
        Randy > luis gonzalez September 2, 2014 at 5:46am

        Luis,

             You'll see some new features at least (like spline).  If you're in no rush, I'd recommend waiting for -rc7 this weekend which will resolve the "false-positive landing check" issue.

  • Pedals2Paddles September 1, 2014 at 8:42am

    My yaw behavior in missions is totally inconsistent. I have the WP_YAW_BEHAVIOR parameter set for follow GPS course. So it should be pointing ahead all the time. I make a mission with spline waypoints, say 10 of them. It flies the plan nicely, but the yaw is never doing the same thing. Sometimes it follows the GPS course. Sometimes it just points "over there". Sometimes it points at the next waypoint. The same happens when I use ROI. It will start off looking at the ROI. THen end up off in la-la-land. Why would this happen? I'm using the RC5 beta.

  • Terry September 1, 2014 at 8:28am

    Has "led-mode" been removed? I'm trying to set up a new APM 2.6 with rc6 and this parameter seems to be gone. Is there a workaround?

    • Developer
      Randy > Terry September 1, 2014 at 8:27pm

      Terry,

      Yes, it's gone I'm afraid but instead you should find that some of the pins can be used for buzzer and light without having to set the LED_MODE.  Less pins can be used than before but still the buzzer works, GPS and Arming LEDs and at least one "motor led".  I guess this means i need to update this wiki page!

      • Terry > Randy September 2, 2014 at 9:46pm

        Thanks for the reply. I can't imagine why you don't have time to keep up with all these details and get 3.2 out...LOL Keep up the great work!

    • Terry > Terry September 1, 2014 at 12:57pm

      found the answer... sorry to bother you. It would be great to update this in the manual.

  • Rana September 1, 2014 at 8:08am

    Excellent work by all the developers, associated with Arducopter development. My flight tested  parameters are attached mauy be very much helpful to the community. Working very well on DJIF450, 3DR Aluminium Quad frame.

    Motors:

    LD-POWER MT2212 920KV Brushless Motor CCW w/Black Bullet Cap for DJI Phantom Quadcopter Multicopter
    http://www.goodluckbuy.com/ld-power-mt2212-920kv-brushless-motor-cc...

    LD-POWER MT2212 920KV Brushless Motor CW w/White Bullet Cap for DJI Phantom Quadcopter Multicopter
    http://www.goodluckbuy.com/ld-power-mt2212-920kv-brushless-motor-cw...

    Arducopter 3.2-RC5, Aluminium X-Quad Frame, APM2.6, External Compas...

  • Chris Lewicki August 31, 2014 at 9:41pm

    Flight Report ArduCopter-3.2-rc6

    • Hardware: 3DR 2013 Y6B with Pixhawk, Tarot-T2D Gimbal, 3DR uBlox GPS / Compass
    • 3S and 4S batteries
    • EKF disabled 

    Takeoffs and landings in stabilize, alt hold, loiter and pos hold.  Everything looks great!  Position hold is especially fun.

    Didn't notice any twitches in/out of position hold, and twitches into loiter seem reduced over 3.1.5.

    I did the compass calibration per the Arducopter calibration dance, and both times it complained of not having enough points.  The second time through I told it to calibrate anyway, and the values seemed fine, and it seemed to fly fine as well.

    Being a Mac user, I used VMware to run Mission Planner beta instead of APM 2.x so I could access the extra parameters in the beta.  One thing about the name "PosHold" is that when you're using the audio prompts, its hard to tell "PosHold" from "AltHold" when the computer is annunciating it.  "Stabilize", "Alt Hold" and "Loiter" are fairly distinguished from each other.  Just an observation.

    Great build!

    Will try EKF next flight.

    • Chris Lewicki > Chris Lewicki September 4, 2014 at 9:46pm

      Flight Report ArduCopter-3.2-rc6

      • Hardware: 3DR 2013 Y6B with Pixhawk, Tarot-T2D Gimbal, 3DR uBlox GPS / Compass
      • 3S and 4S batteries

      This is a delayed report of more testing against ArduCopter-3.2-rc6 from over the weekend.

      I ran AUTO, DRIFT, PosHold and STAB with takeoffs and landings in each with no issues.

      Two things I noticed:

      1. PosHold doesn't appear to hold altitude, and if you're moving aggressively, it will drop altitude. I tried at both default angles, and more aggressive angles.  Perhaps its not intended to maintain altitude like LOITER, but perhaps behave more like DRIFT.
      2. Didn't notice any difference between flight with or without EKF.  With EKF enabled, sometimes I couldn't arm for takeoff, but upon trying a second time, it worked.   When switching from EKF = 1 to EKF=0, the next takeoff was "dramatic" in that the whole flight appeared to have some strange vertical offset.  Upon a power cycle, all was well behaved.  When switching EKF modes, I suggest a reboot!  
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