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

  • This reply was deleted.
    • Developer

      Aleksey,

      It's more likely a display issue in the MP.  By the way, I strongly recommend using only the current based compassmot.  The throttle method is not very accurate and I was thinking of removing it completely.

      • This reply was deleted.
        • Developer

          Hi Aleksey,

          There is a difference between Alt_Hold and Autotune flight modes in the way it behaves.

          Randy is fixing this now and we hope this should fix your problem.

          Thanks for your input!!!

        • Developer

          Hi Aleksey,

          We will check to make sure that the copter will disarm in autotune if autotune has not finished.

          I am the person responsible for autotune and have done an amazing amount of autotunes testing it. Autotune defiantly disarms once it has finished. However, I am not sure if it disarms when it has not finished.

          If you find the results of autotune have not worked well for you, can you please provide a log of the autotune and a log of the test flight.

          Thanks for your feedback and input!!

          • This reply was deleted.
            • Vitashchi SD card i kachay s neyo....  

              • This reply was deleted.
                • Sorry bro, forgot another helpful thing - using a different USB cable and/or twisting the pixhawk usb/led adapter wires separately from each other i.e. usb data+vcc+gnd together and i2c data+vcc+gnd  in a different batch. 

  • Hello,

    I've tried Autotune with my hexacopter running 3.3.RC3 and it all went well. Now I tried RC5 and suddenly autotune did not finish all axes, just roll and pitch and did not save the values anyway after switched off. Futhermore I'm getting warning "Error compass variance" any time I run more then 10% of throttle. I've recalibrated compass on Pixhawk and I know I have high offsets for internal compass. But I use Zubax GPS with own compass and this one is working fine, low offsets only. So I wonder why I get this warning..

    Thanks.

    • Developer

      Hi Michal,

      How long it takes to complete autotune may vary depending on a number of factors. You can do 1 or 2 axis at a time by setting the autotune bitmask, AUTOTUNE_AXES.

      Sorry I can't help you with the variance issue.

      • Well I've tried another test flight today and the result is even worse. I attempted to try Autotrim feature invoked from the flight start but I could not get off the ground even when throttle was 100% ! Then suddenly copter was able to take off at 60% as usually but after 1 minute of flight time it crashed to the ground. I'm really scared to fly with this copter now. Please is it possible to download RC3 firmware ? I could not find it..

        I'm attaching my logs from this flight.

        5.BIN

        2015-06-08 16-39-22.tlog

        • Developer

          Hi Michal,

          It isn't often I can give good news in a situation like this :)

          Initially I though, oh, this copter is seriously messed up, I wouldn't want to fly that again either.

          However, all that is happening is the copter has been moved after arming and is trying to rotate back to where it should be as it takes off. Because this requires throttle differences and you are so under powered. The average throttle is no longer able to lift you off the ground.

          If you see this, just disarm and rearm (you should be able to bring your throttle all the way down in stabilize). Then you should be fine.

          You are seriously overloaded for your power train setup. This is what is causing your thrust problems.

This reply was deleted.

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