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
Then obviously not all ESCs do this then. The other ESCs I use don't do this on my 800 hex, min quads etc, and the ones I now have are the first time I have used them. Anyway thanks for you input, its now crystal clear.
Any update on getting terrain following in the next update? Is this still on track? Just curious after having to abort a mission yesterday in a remote location. Flight started in a bit of a bowl and the intent was to fly the perimeter of a farm about 30 feet above the tree line. But on the first leg with Iris about 300 yards away heading over rising terrain I didn't like the margins and engaged RTL. Yes, I know I could sit down with a topo map to plan such a mission but how much simpler it would be if if the waypoint altitudes could be AGL and not relative to takeoff point. Hoping to see this very useful feature...
Just fix a LIDAR to it.
So far, LIDAR sensors like LidarliteV2 don't work in auto flight mode. I do a lot of mapping is areas with 50m trees lol, not so cool when your mission is at 80m and your vertical data isn't spot on. It would be nice if you could set a limited minimum distance between unit and ground independent of the AGL you set in Mission Planner. If you could set say 20m as you safety margin. Take off and fly the auto mission at say 80m AGL, but if something encroaches into that 20m the autopilot would ascend to whatever altitude that put 20m between it and the object. After clearing the object it would return to the requested AGL (sensor pretty much useless beyond 40m). Or just got get a Nvidia Jetson... So want one of those lol!
What I was thinking is that if the GPS database includes elevation (maybe a bad assumption?) that when you load waypoints into Pixhawk you could specify AGL relative to each waypoint instead of relative to takeoff elevation. Seems that would be far more useful and would streamline mission planning in hilly areas.... no need to break out the topo chart or guestimate.
Ray,
What you describe is planned for Copter-3.4. I have a half-baked development version that uses the terrain database (fed from the google-earth or other mapping services) but it needs a bit more development and lots more testing before it's ready.
I have Lidar Lite installed on AC3.3 and I am very pleased how it keeps constant altitude over the terrain. So my wish would be to make sensitivity for altitude change adjustable (right now it could be more sensitive to react faster) and make it work in Auto mode, too
I don't think I would need Google maps data or so for terrain follow.
In my situation I fly over water. I'm not sure but I don't think Lidar works so well of rough wavy water. In any event it would be nice if we had the option to use the terrain data from google if for no other reason it means one less expense and or something to get broken. Not that I ever broke or lost anything I fly :P Also as mentioned above if there is a rather abrupt altitude change,, say a cliff where land starts,, by the time the Lidar saw that it would be too late.
It would be great if it could see ahead so to speak so that if there was an abrupt vertical change in the terrain it could regonise the issue and gain altitude a head of time based on it's trajectory.
hey, I am using a PX4v1 variance board with only EXTERNAL compass present and when moving copter in roll or pitch axis I get "compass variance error". I've triple checked my compass orientation and calibration values are all sub 50. Could one of the devs advise when "error compass variance" can be triggered besides when two compasses do not agree?
Thank you!
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