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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    • Developer

      Rainer,

      Thanks alot for the testing and feedback!

  • I thought I'd try out spline waypoints with rc7 but I'm not finding them in the APM Planner 2.0.14.

    I see NAV:Waypoint but nothing relating to spline.

    Are they in some other place?

    • I noticed that too I had to use droid planner to try them out.

      • I added an issue.

  • After MP update to 1.3.10, finally began to act Auto Log Analysis. I check many logs, and sometimes see like this:

    Test: Brownout = FAIL - Truncated Log? Ends while armed at altitude 22.34m

    Test: PM = FAIL - 3 slow loop lines found, max 12.30% on line 12552

    First line is error in log?

    3.2 RC7, arducopter 2.6.

  • Pixhawk rc9

    Here's a log with a auto mission flown both without and then with EKF several times. With EKF it was noticeably smoother! The transitions through wpts was smoother with EKF on. As a matter of fact it felt smoother in stabilize and poshold as well. I did not notice twitching while hovering with EKF on that I did a week or so ago with rc6 I think it was. I did have a really high sat count today. Breezy but nothing major... 10 kmh or so. 

    14-09-14_11-44-34.bin

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3701829349?profile=original
    • @Richard Kennedy: Could you indicate aircraft size, motors used, batteries, prop size etc?

      This will let people see with similar (or not) aircraft if they obtain similar behavior.

      I mean if you're flying a 450mm (18 inches) micro aircraft it can not be compared to a small 800mm (31.4 inches) or to a larger 1600mm (62.9 inches) or bigger..

      Thanks.

      • Good point. 450 aquacopter frame [ aka heavy ] 1100 KV T motors 35 amp esv's  5200 mah 3s batt 10x4.5"  [ 25.4 cm x  11.43 cm ] ha  props. 

  • I know it doesn't help if we don't provide feedback and I wanted to do some more testing. I still have rc9 loaded and so far plan on keeping it on there but leaving ekf turned off for now.

    I did a test flight in stabilize and poshol with ekf off. Flies very smooth although altitude seems to be sensitive to changes when flying in stabilize. Poshold stays within a 2' square box. I brought it back in and hooked to mission planner. Set AHRS_EKF_USE to 1 and wrote params. The flight screen showed BAD AHRS right away but this is more than likely from not having enough satelites. I checked to make sure it would arm and it did so I took it out to try a test flight. 

    Flying in stabilize with ekf turned on is a noticeable improvement, altitude seems so easy to keep and flies very smooth in general. When I tried poshold though it still stayed within the 2' box and maybe a little more accurate but it seemed very twitchy and you could hear the motors pulsing more.

    I did this routine with changing to Use Ekf on and off twice and seen the same results both times. I don't know that ekf should make a big improvement in stabilize or not but I definitely like it or it could be a placebo effect. Not crazy about the twitchy behavior I see in poshold.

    I have two logs attached. One is from one of the flights with ekf off and one is with ekf on. Both flights are similar in that I took off and landed in stabilize, flew around a little bit and then tried poshold and let it sit in one place climbing up and down a little bit. Trying to provide as much feedback and info as possible. The work you devs do is awesome. I wish I was better at reading the log files and being able to provide better feedback.

     

    EKF Off 2014-09-14 09-35-33.log

    EKF On 2014-09-14 09-43-15.log

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3701829067?profile=original
  • I have not noticed any glitches or issues whatsoever with 3.2 at least in poshold, loiter, stabilize, alt hold, and auto. A couple days ago it seemed to drift around more than I would have expected with the sat count I had but I think that could very well have been the suns activity. I have not flown much with EKF on yet. Gonna hopefully try that more if I can get away to a safer place to fly. But the overall stability and smoothness of 3.2 is fantastic! 

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