ArduCopter 2.9.2ß: position hold near "DJI Wookong-M" performance!

Today I did a lot of testing and tuning with the new unreleased beta version of ArduCopter code, known as "2.9.2ß" (V3 i think for the official exit), quad with APM V2.5 and U-Blox GPS by 3DRobotics.
The inertial control developed by Leonard and Randy, with the support of Jason, is finally giving the results that for over a year all we are waiting.
To be perfectly sure I've repeated this test at least 10 times in three different flight, with the same great performance.
As you can see from this image and video the max radius in Loiter is now not over one meter in windless/gusty winds and max two meters in strong crosswind, near the position hold performance of the best commercial product, DJI Wookong-M.
We are trying to improve the waypoint navigation but now we're here, the next release will be really a milestone.
We still have to solve a few problems related to the inertial control x/y/z, but I am sure that the excellent results achieved so far are to mean that we are on the right track.
I attach the telemetry log.
DJI, here we come...

Ciao!

Marco
-= AC Dev Team =-

EDIT: in my video you can see the version "3" of the code, nothing secret of course, is the current master branch on GitHub called at the moment "2.9.1b-DEV".
Jason Short on the dev list has proposed to move version from 2.9.1 to 3.x for the massive changes inside the code (ap_hal, PX4 support and other), and following its proposal I have appointed as such in my videos, that's all.

2013-04-14%2014-04-46.tlog

@Marco

FYI: Had good timing on test as the LEA 6H just came in... Test results not as promising though:

===T05d-w ====== firmware:   4-30-2013 TRUNK/master source code compiled and firmware used per suggestion
commit Author: Randy Mackay <rmackay9@yahoo.com>
Date:   Tue Apr 30 18:07:48 2013 +0900
Scope: Stabilize, AltHold non sonar, AltHold Sonar and Loiter, settings: INAV_TC_XY 2.5, rest Marco's def.
     as start, gradually decreasing P from 1 to 0.4000,
T05d-w-QC01 10 min. flight, configuration: 2.085 Kg UAW 750mm quad, 3S 5 A Lipo, UBLOX LEA 6H GPS
     -   loiter increase drift with consistent faster than before "toiletbowling"
     -   althold is perfect without any vertical drift
T05d-w-QC02 8 min. flight, configuration: same as above, cont'd decreasing P; last 2 legs of flight increased INAV
     to 6 and P down to 0.2400 (parms tested before producing very stable loiter)
     -   consistent loiter increase drift and faster than before "toiletbowling" except last 2 legs, where the "toiletbowling"
         was slower and smaller in radius
     -   althold is perfect without any vertical drift, as well as other modes in scope.

Pls. find attached logs of the 2 flights... (mmmm, as soon as I figure out the way to attach the files ;-)

Cheers.

Daniel

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Comments

zzisflying June 25, 2013 at 12:48am

Great! Special good stability in strong wind. Hope the new version can be released ASAP.
Developer

Marco Robustini May 1, 2013 at 11:16am

I pray every volunteer testers to leave your feedback about the version 3.0.0.rc1 available only for expert users on GitHub (downloadable here), you can interact and leaving your comments in this discussion but of course, first update your APM, calibrate manually the compass and declination, try it and post your impression!
Remember: there's safety system on V3, you can't arm the motors if you compass or accelerometers value are wrong or out of range!
In the first post there's my parameters.

Thanks, Marco
Developer

Marco Robustini May 1, 2013 at 4:11am

Hi Daniel, i opened a discussion about "ArduCopter V3.0.0.rc1", find it by clicking here, can interact by leaving your feedback but updates before your APM, thank you!
Daniel B April 30, 2013 at 1:29pm

@Marco

FYI: Had good timing on test as the LEA 6H just came in... Test results not as promising though:

===T05d-w ====== firmware:   4-30-2013 TRUNK/master source code compiled and firmware used per suggestion
commit Author: Randy Mackay <rmackay9@yahoo.com>
Date:   Tue Apr 30 18:07:48 2013 +0900
Scope: Stabilize, AltHold non sonar, AltHold Sonar and Loiter, settings: INAV_TC_XY 2.5, rest Marco's def.
     as start, gradually decreasing P from 1 to 0.4000,
T05d-w-QC01 10 min. flight, configuration: 2.085 Kg UAW 750mm quad, 3S 5 A Lipo, UBLOX LEA 6H GPS
     -   loiter increase drift with consistent faster than before "toiletbowling"
     -   althold is perfect without any vertical drift
T05d-w-QC02 8 min. flight, configuration: same as above, cont'd decreasing P; last 2 legs of flight increased INAV
     to 6 and P down to 0.2400 (parms tested before producing very stable loiter)
     -   consistent loiter increase drift and faster than before "toiletbowling" except last 2 legs, where the "toiletbowling"
         was slower and smaller in radius
     -   althold is perfect without any vertical drift, as well as other modes in scope.

Pls. find attached logs of the 2 flights... (mmmm, as soon as I figure out the way to attach the files ;-)

Cheers.

Daniel
Mathieu April 30, 2013 at 9:35am

Does anyone know if the compass motor interference setup is fonctionnal in 2.9.1b-dev ? Thx Math
Daniel B April 30, 2013 at 9:12am

Will do and get back soon with results. Cheers. Daniel
Developer

Marco Robustini April 30, 2013 at 6:58am

Thanks Daniel for your great report, please can you try with hte actual master trunk?
Remember to decrease INAV_XY from 3 to 2.5.
Daniel B April 30, 2013 at 6:48am

@Marco

Not to preempt any ongoing testing and this could just be isolated to my quad, but just tested latest compile (2013-04-30-09:04/30-Apr-2013 09:26) a few min ago and highlights:

T05d-w-QC03 10 min. flight, configuration: 2.085 Kg UAW 750mm quad, 3S 5 A Lipo, UBLOX NEO 5M GPS
     INAV_TC_XY 2.5:
     -   loiter increased drift with consistent faster than before "toiletbowling"
     -   althold is perfect without any drift
    INAV_TC_XY 6 (my baseline most stable per earlier tests) :
     -   loiter drift reduced (about < 2m r) and "toiletbowling" eliminated
     -   althold ibid

Notion: revert back to commit 2013-04-29-12:04/ 29-Apr-2013 12:51 w/c I observed to be most stable in loiter, so far.

Hope this helps.

All the best.

Daniel
Developer

Marco Robustini April 28, 2013 at 11:26am

There's no guide for "test version", only for the release:

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/Programming

Here a video of "manual compass calibration" (in italian, sorry).
William Burkert April 28, 2013 at 8:54am

I have looked for a guide on upgrading to custom firmware and never see anything that guides you through the steps. The fact that the compass must be calibrated before arming is never mentioned. I browse and search and can find pieces of information in multiple places but never find definitive information in one spot. I have been able to get the custom firmware to arm but I can never get the APM to initialize for Arducopter Level after loading custom firmware. If I fall back to 2.9.1b I can perform the Arducopter Level so what's up with the custom firmware?

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