Developer

APMrover2 2.42 released

Posted by Andrew Tridgell on June 30, 2013 at 4:52pm

The rover development team is delighted to announce the release of APMrover2 2.42!

This release contains numerous small improvements that have accumulated over the last couple of months. Many of the improvements came out of the period of intensive development and testing that Tom and I put into the code before the ACV2013 competition (which we were delighted to win!)

The main improvements were:

  • fixed voltage calculation for RSSI receiver signal logging
  • use projected GPS position for waypoint calculations. This helps a lot for tight missions, such as around the barrels at AVC
  • disable cross-tracking over last 3 meters of each mission leg, to prevent fishtailing as a waypoint is approached
  • fixed change of speed command in missions (it was off by a factor of 100x, leading to some crazy speeds!)
  • fixed MAVLink logging of sonar distances
  • made it possible to change AHRS_ORIENTATION at runtime without a reboot
  • added new RCMAP_* parameters to allow for having RC input channels in any order
  • added new internal task scheduler for more accurate timing
  • fixed HIL simulation code
  • fixed handling of PX4 servo arming
  • changed the AUTO_TRIGGER_PIN to be push-on/push-off

Meanwhile Tom and I are working towards adding the L1 navigation controller for the next release. We didn't put that in this release as we aren't yet happy enough with the performance. We hope to get that fixed soon!

The other thing that has changed since the last release is that we have switched to the new rover.ardupilot.com documentation site. The docs have improved a lot, although there is still more to do!

Happy rovering!

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Replies

  • ben September 17, 2013 at 4:15am
    Hi all. Quick question does the learn function allow you to make waypoints without using gps positioning.eg. hold forward 5 seconds .play. returns to start and move forward for 5 seconds.
  • James September 15, 2013 at 12:18am

    Hello, does ArduRover support encoders, I want to drive my rover where gps is not available/ inaccurate.

    Also what kind of support do you have for the optical flow sensor, can it follow a white line for example.

    Also when I power rover up and arm it, wheels start going full throttle, any idea why. I'll try some more next weekend.

  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III September 3, 2013 at 9:22am

    @Gary,

    I have them set to 300cm and angled upwards and outwards, but not by much. I have them angled up such that they will not see the ground if the rover front suspension bottoms out.

    Regards,

    TCIII ArduRover2 Developer

  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III September 3, 2013 at 7:42am

    @Gary,

    It can be whatever distance you want to begin avoiding obstacles at. It sure sounds like the sensors are seeing an obstacle and causing an obstacle avoidance steering correction to the heading input. Try disabling the two sensors and see what happens.

    Regards,

    TCIII ArduRover2 Developer

  • Gary Graf September 3, 2013 at 6:26am

    Hi,

    I am having a problem with way points. The Orange "Direct to Current WP and the Green " Taret Heading" are not pointed at the 1st way point. They are pointed way East of it and that is where the Rover heads off.

    Any thoughts.

    Thanks

  • Gary Graf August 31, 2013 at 8:06pm

    The way I got the 2 sensors to play nice with each other in the CLI Test is to assign the Left Sensor to Sonar Pin 0 and the Sonar_Stop Pin to 2, the Right Sensor to Sonar2 Pin 1 and the Sonar_Stop Pin to 3. It is all in the Manual but I still found it confusing at first for some reason. It make total sense to me now.

     

  • Gary Graf August 31, 2013 at 7:15pm

    Hi,

    I have the 2 sensors hook up with the Sonar2 Pins in the A2 and A3 plugs on the APM. Should I see 2 sets of  Sonar Range and Sonar Voltage out puts on the Tuning Graph? I followed all the instruction in the manual, I am seeing only 1 set of Red and Blue lines.

  • Gary Graf August 31, 2013 at 4:57pm

    Hi Tom and Chris,

    I have gotten it working and it work awesome, I run way points and try to get the rover to hit me and it alwatys avoids it. Tomorrow I will hook up the second sensor and have some fun.

    Thanks again

    Gary

  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III August 31, 2013 at 1:38pm

    @Gary,

    I used a CDROM three wire shielded cable to make my sensor cable. I attached a row of extra long servo connector pins on the sonar, but cut the power pin connection at the board so I could install the series resistor in series with the incoming power. I soldered the capacitor between dc rtn and the board end of the series resistor. I used a separate wire for the trigger line for each sonar. My setup is very similar to the link in my post above.

    You can see the front of my sonar sensors in this sonar wiki: http://rover.ardupilot.com/wiki/sonar-sensors/

    Regards,

    TCIII ArduRover2 Developer 

  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III August 31, 2013 at 12:40pm

    @Gary,

    If you are going ahead with the installation of the acoustic sensors on your rover you might want to review this blog post concerning the powering of the sensors: http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/fantastic-maxbotics-tutoria.... Tridge and I have set up the two acoustic sensor so that they will fire sequentially so they will not see the other's reflected return. Set the following sonar parameters as indicated:

    SONAR_ENABLE 1

    SONAR_FUNCTION 0

    SONAR_MAX_CM 700 for MB1240

    SONAR_MIN_CM 20

    SONAR_OFFSET 0

    SONAR_PIN 0

    SONAR_SCALING 2.04 for the MB1240

    SONAR_SETTLE_MS 50

    SONAR_STOP_PIN 2 for sonar on pin 0

    SONAR_TRIGGER_CM whatever distance you want

    SONAR_TURN_ANGLE whatever angle you want

    SONAR_TURN_TIME whatever time you want

    SONAR2 parameters will be similar

    Regards,

    TCIII ArduRover2 Developer 

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