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
I did a couple of long flights with rc7 this evening. Everything seemed fine. No different to rc5 that I could tell. Was a little windy and it held position well.
Running my DIY quad based on F450 frame with rc7 firmware and it is much better behaved than it was with rc6. I had had a couple of scary takeoffs with rc6.
I tried to do autotune today but it was too windy and I spent most of the time re-positioning so even after 15 minutes it wasn't done even though I'd selected autotune roll & pitch only. Will try again in the morning (if it's calm) and report.
OK, this morning was calm so I did roll & pitch autotune with rc7. Roll took almost 8 mins while pitch was somewhat faster. The quad was very stable and well behaved except at landing when it refused to slow the motors & disarm until it had flipped over and mowed the lawn.
Tried a second flight with the new settings and again, great handling but disaster again at landing. This time the props were digging through the dirt before finally shutting down. Is anybody else having landing problems?
Hear are a couple of screen shots from the first flight. Unfortunately Default + IMU does not give me RCIN & RCOUT logging: Both THRIN & THROUT were at "0" during the excitement.
Screen Shot 2015-06-30 at 10.13.57 AM.png
These look normal to me. If it was fine in flight I doubt the gyro is the issue.
landing in RTL seems to suffer from position adjustment errors IMHO when drone gets really close to the ground, then it catches at the ground with landing gear and flips over. sometimes it happens, sometimes does not.
it actually happened today once to me, after not happening for quite a long time. it helps to have a mapped emergency engines stop function to one of a switches on the TX so you could kill motors at once if you see this dance started happening. .
Hi Paul:
I was in AltHold both times but admit that I might have had some horizontal motion when it touched down. What bothers me is that even with transmitter throttle at minimum the motors are revving when flipped over (I do have Copter min throttle at default 130).
Re: "Emergency Stop Motors", I wasn't aware that was now available in 3.3. How quick does it act?
update MP to newest beta version. it is function code 31. I assigned it to lower right switch on taranis, a flip switch. it is immediate. it is extremely helpful. if you hold it up for 2 sec it disarms the drone.
I don't have access to a windows pc but I did find it in APM Planner v2.0.18rc2.
I'll configure my Taranis the same way. I guess I'll have to be very careful not to flip the switch while it's in the air;-)
This will be extremely helpful. Thanks for your help.
Roger,
I wasn't sure but just checked and it looks like we did manage to update the ch7/ch8 wiki page to include this option including a video!
Here's the missing second screenshot:
Screen Shot 2015-06-30 at 10.35.00 AM.png
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