I'm delighted to announce the release of ArduPlane 2.50 for your flying pleasure. This release has a lot of advances to some of the core ArduPlane code, and should be a big improvement for many people.
Perhaps the most important change in this release is the new DCM code that does acceleration correction based on the GPS. This improvement is based on work by Bill Premerlani which really advances the state of the art for attitude estimation on small microcontroller based autopilots. The improvement in attitude estimation is very noticable in flight, resulting in significantly more accurate control. Many thanks to Bill for his patience in working with Jon Challinger and myself to bring this improvement to ArduPlane.
Other significant improvements include:
- updates to the barometer driver to sample the pressure and temperature much more rapidly, leading to better altitude estimation
- updates to the AP_AnalogSource driver to be interrupt driven, allowing us to sample all analog sources much more rapidly. For ArduPlane this improves the airspeed sensor on the APM2 a lot.
- updates to the waypoint completion logic, to use a "finish line" algorithm. This prevents the problem of circling around a waypoint when we miss it by more than the waypoint radius. The waypoint is now considered complete when we pass a line that is perpendicular to the track, and passing through the target waypoint.
- improvements to the AP_Mount code, allowing for control of roll/pitch/yaw stabilisation via EEPROM variables that can be set over MAVLink. This allows you to setup the mount once, and it will resume operation as soon as you boot. These changes also fix a number of bugs in the AP_Mount code, so it AP_Mount hasn't worked for you, please try again. Many thanks to Greg Fletcher and Amilcar Lucus for the AP_Mount improvements.
- Lots of improvements to the ArduPlane parameter documentation. This documentation should be the first place you look when trying to understand ArduPlane configuration parameters. Many thanks to Andreas Antonopoulos for his great work on generating these wiki docs based on the source code markup.
- New LAND_PITCH_CD parameter to control the landing pitch when not under airspeed control. Thanks to Jeff Taylor for fixing this!
- New SCALING_SPEED parameter that allows you to set the base speed for scaling PIDs. Previously we assumed a standard speed of 15 m/s, which is too low for fast aircraft. By adjusting SCALING_SPEED you can have the same set of PIDs for both airspeed and non-airspeed flight control.
There is one change in this release which may require some re-tuning. We were using the wrong value for time delta when using the PID controller for navigation roll. This has been fixed by making the PID library calculate the delta time internally, but it means that existing HDG2RLL_I and HDG2RLL_D values will be incorrect. I have fixed the defaults, but if you have your own settings for these, you will need to drop HDG2RLL_I by a factor of 5, and raise HDG2RLL_D by a factor of 5 to get the same result as for the previous release.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this release!
For the next release the plan is to concentrate on improved stabilisation and navigation controllers, based on the great work being done by Jon Challinger.
Happy flying!
Replies
Hi,
In auto mode, after the “takeoff” command is ended (reaching the right altitude), the plane dives few meters and then start to climb heading to WP #2. How do I correct that?
Thanks
Itzik
Hi Andrew!
I'm looking forward to the next release! Especially the improved stabilization, my project will greatly benefit from that.
By the way, can I conduct an interview with you? its just a couple of questions (5-6 questions). I'll send a friend request with you along with the specifics of my questions. I'll be using it for my university project somehow similar to the Canberra UAV project since it can also carry a package.
Thanks! :D
Hello,
Sorry if this has been covered before - but i can't find the answer anywhere.
I have updated to ArduPlane v2.50 from the previous version and it said that i need to update my APM2 to the latest firmware.
I fly an Easyglider and the only parameters i have modded are to do with 'dual ailerons' and 'servo reversing'.
Once I have updated the firmware, Is it safe to reload the old parameter file?
What are the correct and safest steps in this case? (and should you always do a setup/reset and setup/erase)
Thank you
James
I had a long flight with APM1 and v2.50 this morning. RTL, Loiter, FBW-A & Stabilize all worked fine as per normal except for Auto. It would not navigate to waypoints no matter what I tried, When switching (and with confirmation from telemetry) the plane would return to home and then loiter around home.
What factors would cause the waypoints and auto mode to be ignored?
Since updating both firmware and Mission Planner I have been having a number of issues and just some all-around odd behavior in both simulation mode and when flying for real. At this point I don't know if the problems are on my end or if in fact some bugs have been introduced. I did not knowingly change any parameter settings, but maybe some need to be adjusted to accommodate the new software. I posted some of these issues in another thread, so I won't repeat them here.
I'd like to do a little more digging. I can fix some issues by rolling back Mission Planner, but not all. I'd like to roll back firmware as well for two reasons. One, I'd like to get things working again just to have the comfort level that I can go back if needed. Second, if my problems still exist after rolling back, that will point to problems on my end. If the problems go away, that might point to something in the software.
I only know how to use MP to load firmware. If someone could provide the steps to manually load earlier firmware I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Paul
Another day of test with no luck.
I dont know what happened.
When I start up everithing i have several strange behaviors.
1.- the distance to waypoint 1 is bad on the planner. The planner showme a distance like if theplane where in waypoint 1, I walk with the plane and the distance increases.
2.- when I go to AUTO mode the CH3 OUT gos to minimum. But if I blow into de pitot the engine starts to run.
3.- When I go to AUTO mode the sevos starts to move like a heart beat.
I try with another everithing Change pitot, change APM (another APM2), Change GPS, Change ESC, CHANGE AIRPLANE !!!, And always get the same result.
May be I could make a video showing that or upload all the logs generated in the planner.
Hello everyone,
@Andrew: What about include in code voltage readings for RSSI and a secondary battery voltage? Could be this request studied?
Now I am taking my RSSI and battery voltage reading from two ADC ports on my Remzibi.
The best would be to include natively both of them in the Mavlink datastreams. I think this could be very useful.
Yesterday I have emptied my video battery while I was doing FPV. Thanks to APM failsafe my plane returned to my hands.
Andrew, thanks for your effort.
Regards from Spain,
Dario.
DO_JUMP bug.
After I fly a mission and reset the mission the DO_JUMP counter does not reset. I fly quite a bit with no computer at the field and like to fly the same mission for several battery packs but it won’t work.
Has anyone else had this problem or am I doing something wrong?
.
I want a little faster speed between waypoints. I tried increasing the cruise airspeed but it did not make ant difference and the wind came up before I could try anything else. Maybe increasing cruise throttle is what I need?
What if I just install a higher pitch prop – would that do the trick?
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