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

    • @Craig DeFleming

      First Issue: It's takes a few seconds for the EKF to start functioning. The BAD AHRS warning should always clear itself momentarily on the HUD.

    • I second that. I too have been patiently waiting for UAVCAN on The APM side. QGroundcontrol is much more user friendly after the latest upgrade but still a bit awkward IMO for flight modes. You can try out your Zubax gps with QGC if you are flying a quad as they have an option for UAVCAN in the frame setup.
      I will be testing 3.3 next week. Thanks Randy and team for all your hard work.

      RB
      • Developer

        @RB,

        We have some UAVCAN support in this release including support for some experimental UAVCAN based ESCs.  Tridge is the one who has been testing out UAVCAN for other sensors so I'll ask him about the UAVCAN GPSs.

        • T3

          Thanks!

          I am interested in testing the zubax as well. It would be perfect if the zubax compass would be supported as well.

          • I'm putting this answer here so everyone interested could see it. Here's the tutorial that explains how to make APM use UAVCAN-interfaced sensors, particularly Zubax GNSS.

            • Can the same principle be applied our custom EPM which myself and Andreas are working on? (which will have UAVCAN).

          • Thorsten,

            Have you tried to implement your Zubax with 3.3 yet?  I have tried with no results.  Zubax indicates CAN bus communication and GPS lock but the pixhawk can't use the data, so I'm not sure how Tridge set it up to work and have had no response from Dev team.  I contacted Pavel at Zubax as well and I think he is looking into it.

            RB

          • Developer

            Ok, so Tridge has tested the Zubax GPS and it "works nicely!" it seems so feel free to give it a try and report back!

            • I connected my Zubax GPS, LEDs on the zubax are lit but I get no GPS signal through to the Pixhawk or indication in APM Planner.  I can't find anything in the parameter list that looks like a UAVCAN parameter or to direct gps signal.

            • Perfect, what are the parameter changes needed?

              RB

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