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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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          • Mike Dixon > Randy August 18, 2014 at 10:52am

            Ah that makes sense, cheers Randy. Lol I only realised a few days ago and bolted it on - oh well.

            Thank you to you and team for all the great work on this project!

        • Phill Simpson > Mike Dixon August 17, 2014 at 2:13pm

          Still works on Pixhawk, must just impact APM.

    • Jure Jerman > Randy August 16, 2014 at 7:49am

      I did some tests with 3.2 rc5 today and I had few crashes )-:

      Copter is SKy hero x8 with pixhawk. It was flying perfectly, no problems with 3.1.5.

      Installed 3.2 rc5, calibrated compass and accelerometer and went out do do some tests. 

      The first tests were take off in stabilize,  then flying in alt-hold, loiter, (with and without EKF) and RTL. No problems so far.

      Then I decided to try short auto mission with automatic take-off and few spline way points. At the take off copter immediately  flipped on its nose, one prop and gps mast got broken. 

      After repair I tried another take off in stabilize, everything OK so far, switched to alt-hold and after few seconds copter started do drift and crashed. There was nothing I could do with RC.

      I had a quick look on log files, there were errors like:

      Test: PM = WARN - 1 slow loop lines found, max 7.53% on line 9650

       in both logs.

      I have no idea what went wrong. Any clue about the possible reason for crashes (hardware, setup, ...) would be highly appreciated.

      Regards, Jure

      59.log

      60.log

      • Jure Jerman > Jure Jerman August 16, 2014 at 9:13pm

        Well, the first crash at the take off can be probably related to the warning #1. It seems that the problem with full throttle is there also with the take off in auto.

        What is still a mystery is a crash in alt-hold, perhaps some bad vibrations?

    • Henri > Randy August 15, 2014 at 10:21pm

      3.2-rc5:

      RCMAP_YAW, RCMAP_THROTTLE, RCMAP_ROLL and RCMAP_PITCH can be changed and save.

      However they are not functional any more. 

      Not sure why.

      • Developer
        Randy > Henri August 15, 2014 at 11:31pm

        Henri,

             Thanks for the report.  I think it's a reporting issue.  So the roll, pitch, yaw and throttle controls are properly remapped internally but the output that we see in the mission planner's Radio Calibration screen doesn't show the change.  I've made a change so rcmap is reflected in the message arducopter sends the mission planner and it'll go out with -rc6.

        Update: unfortunately the change I mentioned above wasn't compatible with plane so I've had to revert it.  I think we will have to handle this in the documentation or ask MichaelO to modify the GCS to flip around where the green bars appear based on the RCMAP parameters.

        • gervais > Randy August 15, 2014 at 11:47pm

          Same seems for ResetToArmedYaw, set @ CH7. Can be changed and saved, but it doesn´t work. Maybe someone else can try it. Btw. checked the logs, no ERRORs reported.

          Regards

  • Reuben August 15, 2014 at 1:48pm

    I Have a technical question ..  If you arm on top of a hill, baro sets altitude at zero .. you take off and fly to say 40ft then fly down into the valley below.. so now your baro altitude goes minus 40ft what would happen ? Would the copter think it landed, what would happen to the throttle ..or say you wanted to land at a lower altitude than you took off from ? these are scenarios I could see me doing as I live in very hilly country side.

    cheers Reuben

  • Esteban Jaramillo August 15, 2014 at 11:20am

    This is a little off-topic question but is it possible you devs implement a way to set current position as home via a switch?

    Thanks guys for all the hard work, waiting for rc5 so I can fly my TBS Discovery without any worry

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