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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  • Hello, with the CES 2016 Announcement of Multi point cable Cam and Follow Me Free Look, is that something that would be available earlier in Pixhawk as a flight mode as opposed to the SOLO App? thanks in advance

    https://3drobotics.com/ces-3dr-drone-2016/

    • Developer
      You can already do spline waypoints which is essentially like the 'cable cam' and free look camera with ardupilot, without the companion computer. The cable cam feature on the solo adds ease-in and ease-out to flight speed. That would be cool to add to missions in ardupilot.
      • Developer

        Yes, that's true but Solo's "cable cam" also controls the gimbal though and allows the user to pull back on the sticks to control the vehicle's position along the virtual cable I think.

        • Developer

          I don't mean to say it's anywhere near as refined as what in the solo it's just something similar.

          • thanks for the Response Bill but i think Randy answered this question succinctly enough! the feature really does alot more than just adding waypoints, which i was aware of. 

    • Developer

      Thor,

      No, I'm afraid those features are in the Solo's companion computer and are closed source.  It would be nice if it was all open souce and that could be done if a community developer went and re-implement many of those features in an open source way within ardupilot but for the moment, I think the dev team has it's hands full with lots of other things.  I think it's also fair that manufacturers using ardupilot (including 3DR) be able to differentiate themselves with features that specifically suit their market niche.

      • thanks Randy i was hoping you and your team were involved in it in some way and i could get a sneak peak earlier...ok i lied i wanna use those features NOW! :P thanks for the response Randy

  • Any chance we can implement additional battery monitor simultanesly ?

    https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot-wiki-issue-tracker/issues/154 http://diydrones.com/group/apmusergroup/forum/topics/how-to-monitor...

  • Developer

    You may notice that Copter-3.3.3-rc1 is now available through the Mission Planner's beta firmware link.  It's a fairly minor change as you can see from the changes below (and Release Notes here) but any testing would be appreciated.

    I must admit it got dark before I was able to test fly the exact firmware that the MP is dispensing but I will tomorrow morning and report back (I'm 99% sure it's fine but you might want to wait 15h just in case).

    Changes from 3.3.2

    1) Restrict mode changes in helicopter when rotor is not at speed

    2) add ATC_ANGLE_BOOST param to allow disabling angle boost for all flight modes (requested by XCraft whose vehicle provides lift when leaned over)

    3) add LightWare range finder support

    • OK, for a first time, I think, ever, I got an error from MP software claiming 'query error' when it tried to download firmware.

      I just updated MP to latest beta and tried to flash 3.3-rc1 it fails every time it tries to get a firmware file.  

      It is same error for quad and hex.  

      Untitled.jpg

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