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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Replies

    • Developer

      Roberto,

      Thanks for giving this a try.  I know Paul got it working (as did some 3DR Solo people) so it *did* work but I haven't tested it personally.  If you have a dataflash log we can ask Paul to have a look.

      Good to see the althold with lidar working well at least!

  • Had finally time to test an AutoTune on RC8, all my previous problems are gone and the Quad preforms really well after AutoTune

    .

    • No it's the southeast coast of Sweden.
    • this looks a lot like nor cal coast, is it? 

    • Developer

      @Maciej: just watching the video can't understand if your quad is well tuned, maybe post here your parameters after Autotune.
      It seems too soft.

      • Sure here are the parameters. It feels much better than the previous autotunes where the quad was very "wobbly" and did overshoot quite a lot.

        3702713672?profile=original

        • Rate Yaw P 0.86??? And i thought mine was high at 0.7 

  • Some logs...

    I am still having problems with uncontrolled climbing when speed increases.

    The vibration levels seem very low in the Vibe XYZ.

    This on a 680mm frame with 380kv motors and 15in cf props.

    The uncontrolled climbing is better the EKF filter on, but in loiter and Alt hold the quad looses altitude badly when moved in any direction.

    I suspect some thing hardware related to be causing the other problem I am having. I am hearing a chattering sound when ever i transition from hover to forward flight. Motor or ESC maybe?

    If it is a motor is there a way to see which motor might be causing the problem?

    MissionPlanner.log.2015-07-29

    MissionPlanner.log.2015-07-30

    https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3702063551?profile=original
    • Round 2....

      2015-07-29 17-08-45 19.bin

      2015-07-30 07-03-10.bin

      • Developer

        Wes,

        The larger of the two logs is from an AC3.2.1 equipped vehicle.  It shows a climb with the classic symptoms of a vehicle with very high vibration: increasing altitude but negative climb rate.  This impossibility shows inertial nav is confused and that's why it climbs.

        The 2nd log is an AC3.3-rc8 log but it's not of an actual flight.  Maybe it's the wrong long?

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