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
Hi Leonard,
hmm... I had a look and it is really hard to tell. Strange!
The yaw movements might not have been that much, but it was as if the system was fighting against something. The system was/is very responsive, but I do not think I was moving the yaw stick.
What I can do is try it again with the autotune Stab Yaw P value and make a video.
Thanks and cheers,
Thorsten
Hi Guys,
I am still getting EKF VARIANCE warnings whenever I upload rc5 to any of my machines. I must be doing something wrong as you guys seem to be able to run it without any issues.
If it was a hardware issue I would not expect to see it on three different machines and a spare board.
I have tried wiping the memory by uploading Tracker or Rover firmware and then loading rc5 but this didn't help.
If I disable the EKF check the warning go away but no GPS flight modes will work.
Is there something I am missing? I know the Dev are working on things (and they do fantastic work) I am just worried that this points to a fault in my systems.
Just curious, do you use the same GPS on all machines?
Yes they all have 3DR ublox. All original Pixhawk v2. I get the warning even in Stab so I do not think it is GPS. I tried with one and two GPS and in and out of frame.
All fine on 3.2.1. Low ekfcompv and ekfvelv in MP. No idea about what the problem is. I know Randy/Leonard and the DEVS are looking at some EKF stuff but I was hoping it is just me as everyone else seems to be loading a flying fine. I get the feeling its not an actual software issue.
I don't know enough to dive right into the code. I have a bit of understanding but I have hit my limit there. I have tried the forum and RC Groups but no luck.
I was just hoping I had missed something like erasing the SD card for example!!!
I can fly fine with 3.2.1 but I feel like I need to know why I can't run 3.3rcX when others can and I really wanted to try some of the new stuff!!!
I had some EKF warnings with 3.3 RC3 I think. With NEO-7N. But had good GPS lock with HDOP < 2 and number of stars > 10. Reverted back to 3.2.1 (not because of this). And now HDOP is not that good > 4. Plus last test flight had some GPS warnings. On RC groups forum someone suggested to try to disable internal compass.
Thanks for the suggestion! I tried that but I think the EKF still checks both.
I tried disabling and disconnecting the external compass and also disabling the internal but no joy.
Both read very close to one another and with both running I get no compass variance warnings.
With GPS lock they also seem ok and the EKF3/4 readings seem to be within spec.
My problem seems to be that I get the EKF VARIANCE (EKF_CHECK-2) with both compass and velocity variance under 0.8 (MP reports them at below 0.2) so I am not sure what to look at on any of my three MR's (2xquad and 1xY6B).
Thanks for the reply, much appreciated!
Leonard,
Hi Pomaroli,
I have not been happy with the aggressiveness of Yaw after Autotune. I have worked out why and the next release will result in much sharper Yaw response after Autotune.
The problem was I was not using the full throttle range for the yaw test and backing off the acceleration as well. The new Autotune will still back the acceleration for roll and pitch off to 90% and Yaw to 75%. So you can increase both of these a little before getting to the limit. I chose these numbers to give sharp performance without any overshoot. For fpv racing you may want to increase these until you see a little bounceback after big inputs.
For racing though I tend to find that lower rates and accelerations help with smooth flying provided it doesn't get too slow. The lower accelerations only tend to be a problem if you want to do those really fast flips and rolls. Then you need to push the acceleration to the absolute limit.
After i got sorted a few mechanical things out the copter now works pretty well.
i have only the problem that i can't setup THR_MID as needed. my copter is build for acro and it's very very powerfull, THR_MID should be set to round about 230 but when i try to make this change in mission planner after save and reload of the settings, the value returns to be @min value of 300.
I'm using rc5, could this please be changed for rc6 ?
hi Pomaroli,
I set it in the parameter tree. It doesn't reset there. But it seems you tried to do that. Maybe you need to look at it there too.
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