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
@gervais
It is great to see that CSG shop, and Drotek provide "Quality implementation" of the M8N GPS.
Drotek M8N, CSG M8N without large disk, CSG M8N with EMI protection, CSG M8N other version
Exeptional linear voltage regulator with more than 55 dB noise rejection (10Hz to 10MHz) and output noise of 4.17 microvolts rms maximum!
You can get these amazing little regulator boards here: Voltage Regulators
The GPS will have no reason to "behave badly" due to noisy power lines :-)
It is now up to everybody to decide if they want to "gamble" and use some "el cheapo GPS board" with "disastrous noise" on the GPS's power lines.
There is a good switching noise blocker from Micrel:
Another way to stop the switching noises from your "switching voltage regulator".
Micrel_Ripple_Blocker.pdf
@crayfellow
I have never used the rctimer GPS.
However I have used three different implementations from CSG M8N.
One thing worth mentioning is that I always power the CSG units, and the others, with a noise free 5 volts power.
(Certainly not a switching line carrying added noise from ESCs) :-)
I took care of insulating the GPS from radiated EMI noise as well.
The best I got of the three is CSG M8N and compass The second best I think would be this one: CSG M8N medium with compass
I used other GPS such as LEA6H, neo7 and many more. For whatever reason(s) the ones I mentionned above (see links) are doing a fantastic job for me.
Cheers
Henri
I have 5 different "budget" m8n's and they all perform fine for me. True I always fly in the open, I never take off until I get max sats [usually from 18 to 20] and the lowest HDOP. The RTFQ mini works GREAT on my 250, a BeStar that started out HORRIBLE now works the best out of all of mine on my beater 300 woody and 2 that are in pucks work great on my 800 hex [it's the ONLY thing working great on that bird right now :(] and one on my 800 X8. If I could afford one of the CSG boards I would get one to test against my other units but I have so many other things I want/need to buy that it is really low on my list :)
Are there any specific settings you like to tweak on the M8N in U-Center? I installed a Neo-M8N today (ebay, combo gps / mag puck) and it does a good job picking up sats quickly, but MP keeps screaming "bad AHRS" at me constantly. Even with an HDOP of .89 and 13 sats, 3D Fix. I've tried a number of things in U-Center (turning off SBAS, etc) but to no avail. My CN06 that was on previously did not have the 'bad AHRS' message even with a higher HDOP and less sats. I have AC 3.3 RC11 on board.
I've googled around and seems a lot of folks have had this issue to some degree as far back as 2011, but no clear or concrete solutions / reasons.
The bad AHRS shouldn't come from the GPS but it can be caused by the EKF being unhappy with the compass, accels or gyro values. Maybe have a peek at the live EKF viewer in mission planner or Tower?
For the M8 GPS Marco's recommended config can be found here.
Thanks will do. BTW i did find Marco's config, but it seems that any changes I make in U-Center are force-overridden by Pixhawk. After a save and reboot the GPS config is placed back to the Pixhawk's preferred settings.
The "bad ahrs" is an extremely generic message. it would be nice if possible, to have a reason given as to what specifically is causing the EKF to act up. e.g. "bad ahrs: [reason]".
You can just remove the TX lead from the flight controller going to the RX lead on the GPS and it will not overwrite the GPS's prom on power up. Do your testing and if you find it no better, then just put the lead back on and let Ardupilot do its thing :)
i don't remember much from using U-Center under wine but perhaps you're not saving to EEPROM and the coin battery in the GPS is missing or dead? There were at least 4 options to choose where to save to on the GPS.
the EKF viewer is a nice addition- i did not even know it had been added. thanks devs.
I'm still not sure how to get Marco's M8 settings to permanently save / not get reverted back by PH.
I can't say anything about rctimers.. Maybe it's fine?
I'm using the mini csg, dual band unit...
http://www.csgshop.com/product.php?id_product=185
So, it's basically the same form factor as the RTFQ GPS.
I've also got an HK one, which was similar in price to the CSG one. Its performance seems to fall somewhere between them.. not quite as good as CSG shop, but I have not done any A/B comparisons with them... I haven't used the HK one for a while..
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