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!

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Email me when people reply –

Replies

          • yes i have that param set to 1.  however its not clear if that also applies to the return flight before it gets to the land sequence.

            • My interpretation of the wiki is that it only applies to the landing sequence. When it switches to RTL you would have no control until it begins the landing. Doesn't explain your run away though. Based on your description of the event, it seems that it thought home was somewhere else. It did switch flight modes on command and you regained control therefore, it was working as designed.

              Sorry, that's all I got....

              • That's fine thanks for trying to help. I can't really say I had a fly-away since I was able to regain control as it was approaching. I had no idea it went into RTL mode and freaked out a bit with the control loss. Everything may have been normal, since it was in fact flying towards the take off point- i did not wait for it to get close enough to initiate the hover and land process.

                Flying with only your Taranis radio and no GS can be sketchy at times since you don't always know what the copter is doing- chalk this up to the limited Mav data sent to the Taranis. 

                If however, I can capture T1 as failsafe switching to RTL mode (6), then I can create an audio alert on the Taranis radio.  I'm hoping one of the dev's can let me know if this is possible.

            • Anyone know if failsafe RTL is sent as the current flight mode parameter over FrSky telemetry output?  I have FrSky telemetry working to my Taranis, and it is set up so it displays the T1 flight mode value from pixhawk on my screen.  If the copter failsafes to RTL, does that get sent out as the new set flight mode 6 to T1? Or does the flight mode actually not change.  

              If so, then I can set up an alert in the radio if I hit an RTL event.   I was flying with only my radio and no GS.

        • You can switch out of RTL by changing your flight mode even if it failsafed. Not sure what happens if your outside the fence when you do this though.
      • You have Fence failsafe, check your fence config, perhaps

        3702723524?profile=original

        • yeh ok i saw that as well- is it normal for the sticks to be locked out during an RTL event while it is flying back?  i hit the fence earlier and did not have that issue.

          • Developer

            Cala, nice investigation.

            As some others mention, when in RTL, the pilot's input is ignored except for the final landing phase when (if LAND_REPOSITION=1) the pilot can adjust the horizontal position.

            If you hit the fence you should be able to re-take control by changing the flight mode switch and the fence logic won't kick in again for at least 10seconds and 20m (i.e. the fence is temporarily expanded by 20m).  This should give the pilot time to recover without the fence logic jumping in again and again and yanking away control.

            • Thanks Randy- that info is very helpful. Do you think it would be possible to add to the RTL Mode wiki page with these added notes? e.g. info on how to cancel RTL if needed, when stick controls are locked out, etc. - it would be helpful for new pilots to the AP system.

            • Randy, if I am not mistaken, I think I was able to control yaw during RTL.... Or am wrong, the last time I used RTL as a "passwnger" was a long rime ago... 

This reply was deleted.

Activity