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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              • Not a problem. It took me a little bit to find it but I remembered seeing the drag and drop box when I setup my quad on there. Just couldn't remember where it was.

      • Here is the log file.

        2014-09-06 07-29-52.log

    • I have a question about RC7 and this release note:

      Note this release does not include the EKF smoothing from Paul Riseborough that Marco and a few others have asked for.  Tridge has his head down ahead of the Outback Challenge competition in less than 2 weeks and I can't merge such a big change without him.

       

      So does this mean we should not fly with NavEKF enabled in RC7?

      • Developer

        No, you can use EKF but there's this little "motors glitch", that's all.

        • Thank you for the clarification!

    • I just updated my Pixhawk to RC7.

      Sitting here on my bench, I get "Bad Gyro Health" after the update.

       

      So I tried to do a accel recalibrate. This seemed to work ok in RC6, but now it fails.


      I see the following messages in Mission Planner's Messages window after an accel recalibrate:

       

      Place vehicle level and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle on its LEFT side and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle on its RIGHT side and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle nose DOWN and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle nose UP and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle on its BACK and press any key.

      Initialising APM...

      Offsets[0]: nan nan nan

      Scaling[0]: nan nan nan

      Offsets[1]: 1.01 1.05 1.34

      Scaling[1]: 1.02 1.01 1.02

      Calibration FAILED

      PreArm: Alt disparity

      PreArm: Alt disparity

      PreArm: Accels not healthy

      PreArm: Accels not healthy

       

      THEN, I removed power from the PixHawk (I'm using only USB power at this point) and then tried a calibrate again. It seemed to work OK as you can see by the following:

       

      Place vehicle level and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle on its LEFT side and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle on its RIGHT side and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle nose DOWN and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle nose UP and press any key.

      Initialising APM... Place vehicle on its BACK and press any key.

      Initialising APM...

      Offsets[0]: -0.09 -0.16 -0.62

      Scaling[0]: 0.99 0.99 0.99

      Offsets[1]: 1.01 1.08 1.35

      Scaling[1]: 1.02 1.01 1.02

      Calibration successful

      I saw a brief  'BAD AHRS" message, but then that went away.

       

      Am I OK to fly, or do I have something flakey?

       

       

       

       

      • Hi, Rich B

                 Now, I got the same issue "Initialising  APM" with pixhawk, How did you solve it? can you help me? 

                 Thanks!

      • Developer

        I think the issue is that the board is not in a good state immediately after uploading the firmware.  It's best (perhaps required) to power off/on the board after a firmware update.

        I think your board is fine.

    • I thought EKF smoothing will be included in this release. :(

    • After upgrading to 3.2rc7, I'm not able to choose "Position Hold" flight mode in Mission Planner -> Flight Modes - no fm value on the combo box list. Full parameters page also does not show this flight mode in options column.

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