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
Does it work similarly in PosHold mode? Link to my similar problem:
http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/copter-3-3-beta-testing?commentId...
I assume so. I have been ever so confused by this in the past because it has been difficult to tell when it thinks it has landed. I think it beeps now, which makes life easier.
Leonard, thanks for the quick response. I wish I could read the logs with such understanding. Do you have tools (other than mission planner) for reading the logs? Top man! I will hook the esc/motor to a servo tester and try to see what response I get. Is it possible that it could be natively (without flight controller input) not running at a speed consistent with the other 5 motors for same pwm input? I did calibrate these escs, but possible the motor is not responding in the same way as the others. Or when you say it had a 'full loss' should I expect to see this motor stall during a run through the pwm range at some value?
Hi Paul,
" I wish I could read the logs with such understanding. Do you have tools (other than mission planner) for reading the logs? Top man!"
This goes for me too. (perhaps because I'm also called Paul ;-)
Reading the logs is also a bit AbraCaDabra for me, but I'm learning........
BTW. Randy (or another dev) is doing a very good job on this. Thank you devs.
Download Kev's Log Analyzer Here
Hi Paul.
I am just looking at the Rate line outputs and motor outputs. I have a good understanding the pid loops so that makes it easy for me to see what is going on.
The way to test the motor is to put your throttle on a switch and go from 10% to full throttle, on and off. If you see the motor loose sync or scream and continue to scream, you know you have a problem.
You may have the esc speed set differently or have settings different if you are using something like BL heli.
Good luck!!
Leonard,
I have been testing the front left motor, with the same ESC connected as in the crash (motor 3 (CW rotation))as you suggested, and have not found any issues with it at all so far. Also, the prop on that motor is in great shape and was securely fitted still after the crash. I have compared the output with the motor 2 (left most motor in the hexa X formation) and see almost identical responses on both motors. Is there any other possible cause of the detected outputs you see in my log? Also, could you please advise what the best log bitmask should be for beta testing?
Thanks, Paul
Hi Paul,
The log bit-mask I would suggest is 157694 or 157693 if you don't mind a slightly larger log.
It is possible this could have been caused by the ESC connection coming a little loose or large amount of noise messing with your pwm signal. Make sure things are plugged in properly and you have a light twist in any long power leads.
Good luck, Sorry I can't tell you more.
Leonard,
Was out flying today, first proper flight since the repairs to the crash damage. My first flight (about 10mins) went perfectly, no issues, no pre-arm errors, no EKF issues etc - perfect! Changed to 2 x new LiPos and went for second flight. Immediately got errors on Mission Planner HUD during pre-arm, showing bad gyro health (never had this in 3.3 until now). I re-powered the craft, this time bad accel health. Tried to do accel calibrate, and got popup calibration error message. Reset the power again. This time compass mismatch error! So some very strange goings on, especially given I'd just carried out a perfect issue-free flight on the first set of batteries. I re-powered again and this time was able to do the accel calibration without error. Eventually got it to the point where it would arm - this time the front left motor (motor 3) did not spin (this brought back thoughts to Leonard's suggestion (earlier in this chain) that there might have been a motor issue which caused a crash in an earlier flight (specifically front left motor). I re-powered several times but couldn't get the front left motor to spin after arming. So packed up and headed home. On getting home I tested the arming again and the motor issue was still there. I swapped servo connectors for motors 2/3 and the motor in the same position remained stopped, so that ruled out the FC output. Then I happened to push the cable tie holding the ESC on this faulty motor and the ESC chimed into life and initialised - after this the motor span upon arming! So I have orderd a new ESC (x-rotor 20a).
My concern however is with regards to all the pre-arm issues reported on my second flight attempt (detailed above). I used to see similar issues with 3.2.1 where the first flight would be fine, then on connecting new batteries and attempting second flight, I'd get a bad IMU issue on IMU2 (it was discussed in this thread: http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/pixhawk-bad-accel-health-apm-3-2-...). Until now I had not experienced this same issue on v3.3 (any rc revision) with the same Pixhawk FC (even though somone in that other forum post suggested my FC has a physical issue). I have attached what I think is the correct log for this last attempted flight.
Any insight would be awesome. Thanks, Paul
224.BIN
Once I had a situation like you did: motor either will start than would stop midflight as soon as I'll give it more throttle, or won't start at all. Of course I thougt it is a bad ESC first, but ESC turned out to be actually great, the problem was a tiny fracture of the motor lead after they enter the Bell. Also, regarding the bad accell health, the issue is in the hardware, I've actually did a good deal of research about powering LSM 303D and it appears many people from other projects not pixhawk have the same issue with it, because they do not power it down properly. A great and safe fix is to actually put 4.7k resistor on the PM power output. This takes care of it, but I'm lazy to dig out the PMs from some copters, so I just short their PM input leads.
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