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)

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • Moderator

    Throttle spike after vibration.

    Just had an unnerving uncommanded full power climb which seems vibration related:

    3701856187?profile=original

    Would EKF catch this king of thing or is there another safeguard?

    Not sure why I suddenly got vibration, resonance between motors/props perhaps, nothing is loose, props fairly well balanced but they are 15" on lower Kv motors. The vibration seems to absent earlier and later in the log?

    2014-10-21 08-08-23.bin

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3701856060?profile=original
    • Developer

      Graham,

      Comparing the Alt from AHRS2 (EKF) and CTUN (DCM) it looks like even the EKF would have had a hard time (both show a massive drop in altitude).  Still, I suspect the EKF would have handled it a little better and also the EKF is able to tell us when it thinks things have gone wrong.  We don't take advantage of that yet for the Z-axis but we do for the horizontal.  I imagine in AC3.3 (?) we may add some additional safeguards to catch these situations and maybe revert to a baro-only alt hold just to get the vehicle down.  I can't promise anything but we can try.

      3702527491?profile=original

      • Moderator

        Thanks Randy, is there anything else I can do to mitigate this type of occurrence? Have had a few flights now with different damping mounts for the Pixhawk with no problem so far but would really like to avoid a re-occurrence, not good for my heart rate or the spectators' :)

    • If I am right you have 3g in Z and up to 2g in X axis. Have you check you don't have sync issue on your motors?

      • Moderator

        Motors seem OK so far, how would I check for sync issues?

        The vibrations before and after are well within limits, just that weird section. I'm also trying different Pixhawk mounting insulation to see if there's a difference.

    • Now that is scary!

  • Does anybody know the current status of RSSI support on Pixhawk?

    I'm been searching and reading (even in Github), but haven't found any definitive answer(s) yet.

    Is this something that is already supported, or in the making in 3.2, or is it in a TODO queue somewhere (that I can't find)?

    The manual refers to PWM RSSI. Unfortunately, there are 2 flavours of PWM (servo PWM as EzUHF uses for RSSI I believe, and 'normal' PWM as FrSky outputs for RSSI). The manual isn't clear on which it's referring to, or if it's both:

    http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-pixhawk-overview/#Pixhawk_P...

    If it's referring to servo-PWM, then I must make a RC filter for my FrSky RSSI output, else just connect it directly.

    • For frSky X8R, plug in the RSSI cable to SB on Pixhawk directly.

      Set following parameters: RSSI_Pin:103 and RSSI_RANGE:3.3

      • Does one need a RSSI filter for that? 

        • MR60

          Yes a R,C filter to convert the PWM pulses into an analog voltage signal that can be read by pixhawk, but I do not know what are the advised R,C values.

This reply was deleted.

Activity