Developer

Copter-3.3 beta testing

Warning #1: an issue has been found with Tower's Pause button which can cause the vehicle to fly to an old position if the vehicle has not sent a position update to Tower in some time.

Warning #2: Copter-3.3.2 fixes a bug found in Copter-3.3.1's desired climb rate initialisation which could lead to a sudden momentary drop when switching from Stabilize or Acro to AltHold, Loiter or PosHold.

Warning #3: Copter-3.3.2 fixes an issue found in Copter-3.3.1 which could lead to hard landings in RTL or AUTO if the WPNAV_SPEED_DN was set too high (i.e. >400 or 4m/s) and/or the WPNAV_ACCEL_Z was set too low (i.e. <100 or 1m/s/s).

Warning #4: a bug was found in Copter-3.3 which could cause a sudden crash if you abort a Take-off initiated from a ground station.  Video description is here.  The bug is fixed in Copter-3.3.1 so we recommend upgrading.

Note #1: AC3.3-rc8 corrected a long standing bug in the HDOP reporting.  HDOP values will appear about 40% lower than previously but this does not actually mean the GPS position is better than before.
Note #2: if upgrading from AC3.2.1 the vehicle's accelerometer calibration needs to be done again.
Note #3: set SERIAL2_PROTOCOL to "3" and reboot the board to enable FrSky telemetry like in previous versions.
Note #4: the wiki will be updated over the next few weeks to explain how to use the new features

Copter-3.3.1 is available through the mission planner.  The full list of changes vs AC3.2.1 can be see in the ReleaseNotes and below are the most recent changes since AC3.3.

Sadly this version (and all future versions) will not run on the APM2.x boards due to CPU speed, flash and RAM restrictions.

Changes from 3.3:

1) Bug fix to prevent potential crash if Follow-Me is used after an aborted takeoff

2) compiler upgraded to 4.9.3 (runs slightly faster than 4.7.2 which was used previously)

Changes from 3.3-rc11:

1) EKF recovers from pre-arm "Compass variance" failure if compasses are consistent

Changes from 3.3-rc10:

1) PreArm "Need 3D Fix" message replaced with detailed reason from EKF

Changes from 3.3-rc9
1) EKF improvements:
    a) simpler optical flow takeoff check
2) Bug Fixes/Minor enhancements:
    a) fix INS3_USE parameter eeprom location
    b) fix SToRM32 serial protocol driver to work with recent versions
    c) increase motor pwm->thrust conversion (aka MOT_THST_EXPO) to 0.65 (was 0.50)
    d) Firmware version sent to GCS in AUTOPILOT_VERSION message
3) Safety:
    a) pre-arm check of compass variance if arming in Loiter, PosHold, Guided
    b) always check GPS before arming in Loiter (previously could be disabled if ARMING_CHECK=0)
    c) sanity check locations received from GCS for follow-me, do-set-home, do-set-ROI
    d) fix optical flow failsafe (was not always triggering LAND when optical flow failed)
    e) failsafe RTL vs LAND decision based on hardcoded 5m from home check (previously used WPNAV_RADIUS parameter)

Thanks for your testing!

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  • following the wiki page :http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/landing-gear/ but can not got the landing gear working.

    set RC12_FUNCTION to 29 , plug landing gear to AUX4 , set ch7 opt to "landing gear", nothing happend when switch being fliped.

    • Can you attach a log please?  I'd like to look at the settings, PWM signals, etc.

    • Developer

      Lijingwei,

      One thing we haven't mentioned on that wiki page is that an external BEC is required to power the servos.  So the Pixhawk does not power the rear servo rail on it's own.

    • Maybe you have to adjust the pwm settings a bit? For me it is working fla

  • Just have a new feature request for next release as follows, in case a crash is detected the buzzer should start to beep. This could help people find the copter.

    • Yes I like that too.

      +1 here

    • Developer

      Pomaroli,
      There's a lost-copter alarm that will sound if it's attached to an aux switch (aka ch7/ch8 switch) and there's also a special transmitter stick move which is: right stick down and right, left stick down.

      • Cool feature, good to know.

      • The Lost copter alarm works really well. Tested is a couple of days ago and it's nice to be able to let it beeb once or continue to beep as long as the stick is held down / right

        1:10 in the video

  • Has anyone else tried to use serial 4/5 with storm32? I have got it working only in tele2 port. How ports and configurations match? Are ser1-4 configurations tele1,tele2,gps,ser45? 

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