Good news: APM 2 preorders have reopened. You can now choose it with the onboard GPS or without, so can use an external GPS or any other supported GPS module (the Ublox GS406/407 can be used with this adapter, and other modules can be used in NMEA mode).
All the necessary components for this batch of APM 2s will be coming in by the end of March, so pre-orders placed to today will be shipping in 4-6 weeks. After this pre-order period we will be in full APM 2 production, so the product should be constantly in stock by the middle of April. At that point, we'll probably also offer versions with external magnetometers, and with an option for different connector pins, including right-angle pins.
We also now offer a version with no pins pre-soldered at all, for those who want to configure it to taste themselves.
You can always follow the 3D Robotics Twitter feed for more regular updates.
On the code front, the current ArduCopter and ArduPlane supports APM 2, but has not yet been optimized for its sensors. Optimized code will be out in the next couple weeks, and further enhancements will be coming in the months to come. There's a lot of power in APM 2's MPU-6000 sensors, and you'll find that each software update taps it more.
The first code enhancement, coming in the next week or two, will address the "lean" issue that some people are experiencing on multicopters. This is due to vibration. With the current code, the APM 2 board is more susceptible to this for two reasons: first, because it's a lighter board than APM 1 and as a result has less mechanical damping even when mounted on vibration-insulation, and second because we have not yet implemented software filtering of accelerometer noise.
The reason for that second issue is that in the current code, most software filtering is done in the ADC library. But because APM 2 uses digital sensors, unlike the analog ones on APM 1 (which go through an ADC), it doesn't use the ADC library. This week we're going to move the filtering to the main ArduCopter code, which is shared by both APM 1 and APM 2, and we'll be able to optimize the settings for APM 2. This should resolve most of the "leaning" issues with a simple software update, which should be out by mid-March.
There are a bunch of other improvements we're doing to improve filtering, including new test processes and easier ways to adjust the filters, both for the dev team and end-users. We're also preparing to use the MPU-6000's internal DMP processor, as an option to replace the software DCM sensor fusion algorithm we now use, but are still working with Invensense on a legal path to distribute the source code, in keeping with our commitment to open source. Look for that update to be out in a few months.
Comments
@Chris
You say more than 1000 were gone out of first batch , But if that is so I should have received my APM 2.0
Here is a email from your sales team saying My order is # 979 to be produced and shipped,
EMAIL >>>
Thank you for your inquiry. We started shipping pre-orders on Friday, Feb 10th, and have shipped until APM# 906. Your Order# 18527 is currently APM# 979. For any further updates, you may log in to the forum of the APM 2.0 or Twitter.
If you have any questions about your order or if we can be of further service to you, please contact us by phone, 858.324.1741, or send us an email to sales@3drobotics.com, and a representative will be happy to assist you. Please have your order number available so that we can expedite your request.
Again, thank you for your patience in this matter and we apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused.
3DRobotics
Very interesting. This discussion goes in a similar direction like at other Projects which are using the MPU 6000.
All this people can't wait :)
That's real life.. buying new electronic components is like a game, always with a risk of delivery problems.
I really don't see the problem here. APM1.4 is still available, and there's nothing wrong with it.
Would you rather have had the announcement in April for the APM 2.0? I assume at that point, you would have been upset because you would have just bought an APM 1.0.
They're in a difficult position where if they don't announce anything, then everyone is jumping down their throats saying "when is the next best thing coming" but if they announce and don't have enough for every person at the moment it's announced, then it's "why did you announce before you had enough for everyone?" You can't please everyone in business and if you try, then you go under.
@Daniel G
It depends what view you want to take. Stocks of electronic components can rollercoaster at a tremendous rate, stock can go from easily obtainable to nothing in the space of a few days depending on many, many factors. This is especially worse when a particular component has only one supplier. The other view is that the component that has caused the most availability issues to date -pressure sensor- was not easily available from the outset and had Not recommended for new projects plastered all over the suppliers page, so really shouldn't have been selected anyway.
I don't get, what is so difficult about stocking enough sensors to build 5000 boards.
I know you are limited by the pick and place machine turning out 100-200 a day, but if you'd have had the sensors in stock from day one, until now everyone would have easily been able to recieve there boards.
I was told by my vendor in germany, they are guessing to see the boards in stock beginning of march, now i am looking at earliest mid-april (that is when vendors will get their stock, right?)
I can't understand, why you did a so early announcment of the boards, if you can't get them produced at the right speed. When you start selling the ARM-Boards, how about stocking 2000 boards + having enough sensors to build another 5000 before posting a gigantic announcment on the web?
I must say I am frustrated, got a copter sitting around here brand new and ready to fly and looks like it will be another 2 months before i get it airborne, when i read the announcment in December, i was guessing, I'd be flying by mid January at the latest....
how is it possible to connect an external GPS on APM2 with an onboard GPS ?
Thanks
Whats with the 3 month delay? Arent you better to have a stockpile to sell, then the pay 1st, build, then ship model? 12 week eta :(, Ill wait till there 'instock' before I upgrade
Hi Chris, its great news that the orders are now open again, however I have a question, you said:
"1) They can be separated, although it's best to send it back to the factory for repairs and let them do it. If you take them apart yourself it will void the warrenty (and you may very well melt something important)
2) At the moment we are not selling daughterboards separately. Again, much experience has shown that if people do their own soldering, we're going to end up with tech support problems that will overwhelm us.
3) See above.
In short, in the next batch we will give quite a lot of flexibility at order time as to what configuration you want, with both daughterboards and connectors. But once it's made for you, we won't encourage user soldering. Of course you're free to try what you want, but it will void the warranty (like most other electronics)."
If the end user orders and solders this kit from the store do they have no warranty?
Regards
Martin.
More than 1,000 have already gone out in the first batch. These are being made as fast as sensors come in. As I said in the post, you can see order status updates in the Twitter feed.
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