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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        • I updated firmware with whatever it is the latest one but i did not see any difference. Telem1 port i think is set to 115kbit, it feeds 3dr radio, minimosd, teensy board, all seems to work fine.
          • Developer

            Normally to work with the 3dr radio the SERIALX_BAUD rate should be set to 57 (i..e 57600 baud).

            It's likely that the minimOSD is not telling the pixhawk what data rates it wants.  This could happen if the minimOSD's TX line is not connected to the Pixhawk or maybe there's some problem with the MinimOSD firmware.  It's possible hardcode the datarates by modifying the SRX_ parameters to some number like "3" (note: "X" should be replaced with the port number the MinimOSD is connected to).

            If the minimOSD is leeching off the telemetry radio (i.e. using a Y cable) then the then TX line from the minimOSD should not be connected.

            • Randy,

              Thank you for the clue regarding where to look.  I have my osd working again. 

              Arducopter instructions state to use TELEM 2.   I was using TELEM 1 for the OSD.  When I upgraded software I went to default settings - I've been burned in the past just moving settings forward.  Doing the default settings set all of the SRX parameters to 0.

              Minor issue in Mission Planner.  For the OSD there is a button to click that states "Enable Telemetry" with a side note "You only need to use this if you are having issue with your OSD not updating".  Clicking on this sets SR parameters for SR1 and SR3 not SR2.  Since I was using port TELEM 2 I was seeing no data.  I matched the settings for SR2 and it's working again.

              Thank you again for the help.

              • Can you tell me what settings you used, just to be sure for SR2 as I am also using TELEM2 as stated by Arducopter instructions.
                I didn't post mine as I was unsure if they where correct or not.
                The values for SR1 and SR3 where different I think with me.

                Is appreciated.

                Thanks!

                • Ok so I figured the values out myself, I just used the values that where at SR1 these are the ones that where there and I just entered them for SR2:

                  SR2_EXT_STAT: 2

                  SR2_EXTRA1: 10

                  SR2_EXTRA2: 10

                  SR2_EXTRA3: 2

                  SR2_PARAMS: 10

                  SR2_POSITION: 3

                  SR2_RAW_CTRL: 2

                  SR2_RAW_SENS: 2

                  SR2_RC_CHAN: 2

                  Seems to work great now, and also the panel switching is reliable, which I wasn't too sure about at first, might be my settings though.

            • Hi I see the same issue, I just finished my Tarot X8 build last week with a Pixhawk and the minimOSD both from 3DR directly.
              I soldered the two pads to only use the power from the Pixhawk, the camera is powered from the TX.
              Everything works, though sometimes it stays on waiting for Mavlink Heartbeats, on 3.3 RC7 and the minimOSD on 2.2 Copter. But as soon as I updated to extra r800 Copter there is almost no dataupdate on the minimOSD. It is conencted to the TELEM2 port on the Pixhawk, on the TELEM1 port is the 3DR telemetry radio
              SERIAL2_BAUD is 57 and SERIAL2_PROTOCOL is set to 1.
              So I also need to set the SR2_ settings? What are the settings I should use as there are 9 to set, and I am getting mixed results and sometimes things work but the next time I power everything it says no MAV data? I'm at a loss right now. And any help would be realy appreciated.

              This is my first multirotor and I have already performed two successfull flights with rc7 so I know things are working, I've seen no VIBE clipping so that's good.

              • So somehow things are working but I am not sure if things remain stable.

  • In the 3.3rc7 beta, I am getting a message for bad lidar health, which will not let me arm. I do not have lidar. I don't see that anyone else has posted this error. Am I the only one? I have Pixhawk with MinimOSD and PX4FLOW, the latter is the worst $150 I have ever spent, but that is a side issue.

    I did recalibrate accelerometer and magnetometer.

    • Developer

      Rick,

      So Optical flow requires the use of a range finder and sadly the sonar on the px4flow itself isn't sufficient because it's range is very short.  I've updated the wiki page a bit to make this more clear (it mentioned the sensor's range finder wasn't sufficient but now it makes it a bit more clear that another is required as well).  I suspect that doesn't make you much happier but perhaps it'll save the next person.

      • Yeah, and 3DR is still selling them for $150. Do they still have the unusable sonar? It seems to me that the sonar doesn't need to have much range as these are to help indoors, where there is no GPS reception. How far can that be, and how irregular can the surfaces be? I hope people know to read wiki pages before they believe the hype on the sales page. I didn't.

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