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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        • What happens if you apply 5V from a BEC to your landing gear while the signal wire is disconnected ?

          • Nothing happens.

          • if you are using Tarot medium and large landing gear you can very well fry your landing gear controller, lookup on rcg I've posted couple of pics where power protection circuit is untouched, while the microcontroller chip is fried. 

            • I'm using X-Cam X6 original landing Gear. By KongKopter.

            • Hi all 

              and thank you for great job in 3.3.2

              I connected the signal wire to Aux1 (pixhwak) from tarot retract and the ground and 5v to voltage regulator. the result is in the follow video

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZSSq6pkSos

              • I can not obtain the same result.

                Of course if I switch the CH7 I can open and close the landing gear at command.
                This is not a problem.

                The real problem is that when I switch on the PixHawk, PixHawk command the Landing Gear to Open.

                So PixHawk have an High PWM signal at the startup.
                Is this possibile?

                • Yes for servo deploy. That means that landing gear is open in start before flight.

                  Look this page: http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/landing-gear/.

                  Then look the values in this channel(from mission planner radio controller) that use for landing gear and change properly . For fail safe decrease this values .(ex. from 1750 to 1700) .

            • That's good to know. The only thing holding me back has been the extra weight, but hear many stories of the LG failing.

          • It depends on your landing gear controller, but hopefully nothing happens.

            • That's right. In my case nothing happens.

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