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!
Replies
2+ years ago when we first saw a dude turn his dead cat into a quad most of us were appalled, but it started a whole genra of frames and frame conversions. Whilst I find it in poor taste I don't find it any more odd then someone taking their dead pet to a taxidermist.
Obliviously its not that bad then. Then it would be nice to see a radio controlled parrot designed with some gyro and counter rotating propellers so it can run on 1 propeller ax from its head.
People (governments) are using drones to slaughter entire villages, so the cat thing is really nothing.. God and Drones have nothing to do w/ each other. (I wouldn't do that to my dead pet, but there are all sorts of people in this world!)
(And, this is more of a technical info forum.. Go to rcgroups drone section for random chit-chat)
I noticed with RC8 that after a while a get a fast flashing green light which would indicate low hdop I'm assuming.
I also found it a pain when scripting a number of missions that I needed to constantly switch flight modes because the copter would not arm in Auto Mode. I was using Tower to quickly load different flight plans and just needed to have them run only to have to walk over to my RC transmitter and flip the switch so it would not be in Auto Mode. I could have pushed a button on the tablet I suppose but it seem faster to flip a switch.
Mike
I was under the impression you couldn't arm in auto mode anyway, can't in 3.2.1 as it's designed that way.
I know but it would be nice if your just using a GCS and what to fly a number of missions that at the end of the mission it would switch back to Loiter or Stabilize once it lands so I can just lock and load.
Yes, the the fast flashing green LED is a good thing. It means the GPS has SBAS so it's precision should be better. We will definitely add this to the LED description wiki page before the official release. Sorry for missing this in the release notes.
Yes, not allowing arming in Auto and not switching out of AUTO at the end of a mission are safety features to stop accidental takeoffs and to reduce accidents caused by the pilot not knowing what flight mode the vehicle is in.
I tried rc8 on my 250 size quad. Althold, poshold, loiter, rtl is ok. and also I have tried flip, everything looks good in my opinion
Only flip mode needs fine tuning on my 250 size quad
I upgrade to RC8,have few questions,
why "Throttle Accel" & "Throttle Rate" these two items can't make change??
last night I down my Mini Hexacopter with "Autotune",take about 11 mins,when I land battery voltage only left 3.4V...
why take so long to do this autotune? here is my autotune result
Thanks for testing.
The MP still needs to be updated a bit more to match the parameter name changes for AC3.3. I'll remind Michael so hopefully he'll get to it soon.
The AutoTune takes more time because it does Yaw now as well. The AutoTune wiki page has new instructions to allow tuning a reduced set. For the next release (AC3.4) we will likely add a better autotune interface to the ground stations to make this easier.
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