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
Erwin,
It should eventually show up in the list of flight modes but I see that it's still not there. I'll check with MichaelO to see if there's some issue. In the mean time, it's possible to setup the Stop flight mode by setting the FLTMODE1,2,3,4,5 or 6 to "17". It's not dangerous to do this I think because if a flight mode switch it set up with an invalid flight mode the pixhawk will simply make an unhappy noise and refuse to go into the mode.
the modified firmware(upper) and original one(lower)
I got that modified px4flow firmware tested, its framerate seems to be slowed down to about 15Hz from 100Hz, and the preview image in QGroundcontrol is much brighter.
I suppose that's a trade-off for max fly speed.
I uploaded that 30 bucks firmware as follows:
http://pan.baidu.com/s/1eQesJOu
Maybe that could be a help.
Zhang
Copter 3.3-rc2 is now available through the MP’s beta firmwares link.
We’ve packed a lot of new features into –rc2 but I think we’re pretty much “feature complete” for AC3.3. Over the next few weeks we will focus mostly on bug fixes, documentation and support calls. As issues turn up we will release more release candidates but the changes should be relatively minor.
1) AutoTune reliability fixes (improved filtering to reduce noise interference)
2) Optical flow improvements:
a) Range Finder pre-arm check - lift vehicle between 50cm ~ 2m before arming. Can be disabled by setting ARMING_CHECK to "Skip Params/Sonar"
b) Vehicle altitude limited to range finder altitude when optical flow is enabled
3) AltHold & Take-off changes:
a) feed-forward controller and jerk limiting should result in slightly snappier performance and smoother take-offs
b) vehicle climbs automatically to PILOT_TKOFF_ALT alt when taking off in Loiter, AltHold, PosHold, Sport (disabled by default, pilot's throttle input overrides takeoff)
c) PILOT_THR_FILT allows enforcing smoother throttle response in manual flight modes (defaults to 0 = off)
d) TX with sprung throttle can set PILOT_THR_BHV to "1" so motor feedback when landed starts from mid-stick instead of bottom of stick
e) GCS can initiate takeoff even in Loiter, AltHold, PosHold and sport by issuing NAV_TAKEOFF mavlink command
4) Stop flight mode - vehicle simply stops and does not respond to user input (requires GPS, will be renamed to Brake mode)
5) Aux channel features:
a) Emergency Stop - stops all motors immediately and disarms in 5 seconds
b) Motor Interlock - opposite of Emergency Stop, must be on to allow motors to spin motors, must be off to arm
6) Air pressure gain scaling (of roll, pitch, yaw) should mostly remove need to re-tune when flying at very different altitudes
7) landing detector simplified to only check vehicle is not accelerating & motors have hit their lower limit
8) Loiter tuning params to remove "freight train" stops:
raising WPNAV_LOIT_MAXA makes vehicle start and stop faster
raising WPNAV_LOIT_MINA makes vehicle stop more quickly when sticks centered
9) Other items:
a) faster EKF startup
b) Camera control messages sent via MAVLink to smart cameras. Allow control of camera zoom for upcoming IntelEdison/Sony QX1 camera control board
c) Lost Copter Alarm can be triggered by holding throttle down, roll right, pitch back
10) Bug fixes:
a) Home position set to latest arm position (it was being set to previous disarm location or first GPS lock position)
b) bug fix to mission Jump to command zero
Thanks as always for your testing!
this upgrade will require the vehicle's accelerometer calibration to be done again....is that thrue if upgrade from 3.2?
Emin,
Ok, just to be clear, if upgrading from AC3.2 then "yes". If upgrading from AC3.3-rc1 then "no".
THX
Is there a chance to get more serial ports working in 3.3? I am running out of ports:
And in future camera control over Mavlink
In my opinion the serial 4/5 ports on Pixhawk are not usable at the moment.
Any news when this ports will be useable?
Cheers
Gregor
Already asked something like this, pages before, in combination with storm32. Wiki says with 3.3 it should be possible to use it ony any of the free 6P Ports which would include Serial 4 & 5. Sadly still no answer yet
SToRM32 is currently only useable on Telem2 (or whichever is the 2nd serial port set with protocol "MAVLink"). Before AC3.3 goes out we hope to automatically detect which port the gimbal is plugged into and we also plan to add *one* more MAVlink port.
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