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

    • Developer

      Hi Lijingwei,

      This has two issues. The first is your copter is under powered. The second is your tune is not as stable as it could be. You hit the copter with a roll command and it then struggles to keep control. The act of decreasing some of the motors and increasing others means that it can no longer keep the average throttle high enough to maintain altitude.

      I would suggest reducing ATC_ACCEL_R_MAX and ATC_ACCEL_P_MAX to 72000 and doing an autotune.

      • Question for check: 72000 or 720000?

        In description on _YAW_ 720000 = disabled.

        • Developer

          Hi Aleksey,

          I did mean 72000.

          From what I can see it says:

          Values: 0:Disabled, 72000:Slow, 108000:Medium, 162000:Fast

  • Hello

    what is actually the most stable FW-version that I can use in a "productive" copter?

    Thanks

    • Developer

      Hi Jin'

      The answer to that question is always the last official release.

      • ok, but i read also about bad problems with 3.2.1 

        and i also have problems with 3.2.1 

        - alt hold jumps

        - or it randomly rolls without command

         in the log i see a roll command from the imu, but not from the desired roll

        the vibrations are way lower than suggested :3702702471?profile=original

        • Developer

          I am interested to hear what problems 3.2.1 has. You need to be careful looking at the problems people are having because people tend to make a lot of noise talking about their problems but say very little after it is pointed out it was caused by a mechanical failure or setup problem. Our logging is so extensive that we can see pretty much exactly what the controller is doing at any given time. The only thing we really need to make educated guesses about is the external disturbances and mechanical/electrical problems. Maybe 1 in 100 basic stabilize/alt_hold issues turn out to be caused by problems with the controller now days.

          I would be interested to see a log demonstrating your problems as I have not seen anything remotely like this for years. 

          I hope I can help you with your issues. I just need a log.

          • ok, for example this one: gps turns off(?) after starting in acro then loiter doesnt work, gps errors happen, and this is always, i can not use rtl or loiter because it just flies away when i activate it.

            acc and mag are calibrated (several times - same results - seems ok)

            what can this log tell me? please would you be so kind to "translate" it for me?

            2.BIN

            • Developer

              Hi Jin,

              Well, it looks like you are right. It looks like you have completely lost contact with the GPS. From the logs I can't say if it has lost power or just lost the data link to the gps. I can't see any sign that your compass has a similar problem so that makes me think it is just the data link to the gps that has gone. (assuming you are using a 3dr compass/gps module)

              I would be checking my connector between GPS and Pixhawk. I would replace it if possible and try again.

              • hmmm, it looks like a ... brownout(?)

                now i just soldered a 22µ directly on the power line of the gps module and it looks... better:

                1.BIN

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