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

    • Hi. I have asked for the same thing too. It is useful for those of us who use a double power system to take off as soon as the battery is replaced.

      I think it will be done for 3.4

    • AH!! that's the reason because batt Beep under time, thank's

  • sure - i totally get it. if i had a specific mode already dialed in i would be hesitant to fuss around with a new mode. but I believe you can do everything needed on adjustments with poshold as well.

  • Developer

    Copter-3.3 is out as the default version!  Thanks again to all the beta testers on this thread!

    • Installed and flew it today, all seems to be well except of gps switching between units. I ended up disabling that parameter for auto switch and then it was all fine, very stable.
      Other thing - for my armattan i set all filters to 40hz from default 20hz and it works way better this way.
      Looks like a great release.

      I think for dual gps systems a better logic would be to put in a check if primary gps unit goes completely kaput - like time update stream stops or something like that and only in this case to switch into a backup unit. This 'on the fly' switch mode should probably be removed as in practical reality it causes more trouble than good.
      • Hi what gps are you using I had this problem when I had a 3dr 6h and a Neo7 which would cause it to move say up to 2ms when it switched gps I cured this by changing to two 3dr gps so now it's hardly noticeable the moment between the two gps hope this helps
        Stuart
    • Congratulations. Thanks all devs for your efforts.

      I am already on 3.3rc12- Do I need to update to GA code? or is it still the same code and I don't need to update.

      Thanks.

    • Hello Randy,

      is the version 3.3 still without mkblctrl? If so will the mkblctrl be discontinued?

      As I am using these ESCs I cannot upgrade.

      Regards

      Derek

    • Woohoo!  Congrats on hard work well done.   Will there be a new release of MP so some of the new features in 3.3 show a parameter value & description?

    • Congratulations!

      So when does the 3.4 beta testing start?

      Thank you again.
      We appreciate what you do.
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