v3.0-rc1-5

[rickp]

Looks like comments are being sought on 3.0-rc1...

  https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!topic/drones-discuss/0cuxdYCDchk

[coastersteve]

OK, who';s going to be first..... 

[rickp]

Well, it passes the ';does it fly'; test. Slight hint of ';toilet bowl effect'; as it goes into loiter and then its a bit twitchy (not tuned it yet). No wind here, and I always found it to be a bit more twitchy when there was nothing to fight against. Not quite the performance that we';ve seen on the videos - but this was the first flight I';ve done with the code.

I did ';erase'; and carefully merge back in my parameters. I need to do the compass dance - was using the parameters from 2.9.1 - with auto-learn off. That may explain a little bit of TBE...

I updated Mission Planner to 1.48, and couldn';t make the level config work. I had to resort to using ';accel'; in the cli setup system. When it says ';Place copter level and press any key'; it means ';press enter';.

[rickp]

Release notes:

ArduCopter 3.0.0-rc1 01-May-2013
Improvements over 2.9.1b:
1) Inertial navigation for X & Y axis (Randy/Leonard/Jonathan)
2) 3D waypoint navigation library (Leonard/Randy)
    WPNAV_SPEED, WPNAV_SPEED_UP, WPNAV_SPEED_DN control target speeds during missions and RTL
    WP_YAW_BEHAVIOR to allow disabling yaw during missions and RTL
3) PX4 support (some features still not available) (Tridge/Pat/PX4Dev Team)
4) Safety improvements:
    Tin-can shaped fence (set FENCE_ENABLED to 1 and copter will RTL if alt > 150m or horizontal distance from home > 300m) (Randy/Tridge/Leonard)
    GCS failsafe (set FS_GCS_ENABLED to 1 and if you are using a tablet to fly your copter it will RTL and return control to the radio 3 seconds after losing telemetry) (Randy)
    pre-arm checks to ensure accelerometer and radio calibration has been performed before arming (Randy)
5) motor interference compensation for compass (Jonathan/Randy)
6) Circle mode improvements:
    set CIRCLE_RADIUS to zero to do panorama shots in circle mode (copter does not move in a circle but instead slowly rotates)
    CIRCLE_RATE parameter allows controlling direction and speed of rotation in CIRCLE mode and LOITER_TURNS (can also be adjusted in flight from CH6 knob)
7) SONAR_GAIN parameter add to allow reducing the response to objects sensed by sonar (Randy)
8) support for trapezoidal quads (aka V shaped or FPV quads) (Leonard/Craig)
9) performance improvements to dataflash logging (Tridge)
10) bug-fix to analog read which could cause bad sonar reads when using voltage or current monitor (Tridge)
11) bug-fix to motors going to minimum when throttle is low while switching into Loiter, AUTO, RTL, ALT_HOLD (Jason/Randy)
12) bug-fix for auto disarm sometimes disarming shortly after arming (Jason/SirAlex)

[coastersteve]

I';ve had a play tonight, this is what I found.

Getting to waypoint 1 and to Altitude whilst doing an RTL seemed to take an age, looking at the logs it took over a min to get to 20m.

Loiter seemed cracking, as did ALT HOLD.

Switching to Auto and RTL seemed cause the quad to kick.

Stabilise flew really well.

Quick test mission of arducopter v3 rc1

[rickp]

Slow rtl/missions seems to be a common complaint...

[titeuf007]

so the code is not ready..i hope they will not launch this new release without correcting all problems....

[sevet]

RC2 also up:

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!topic/drones-discuss/sF6fn7Ue46Y

Although the site is down last two days (new site):
http://copter.ardupilot.com/

[titeuf007]

the real problem is the compass.......i don t understand why diydrone team  didn t put the compas on the  gps..they are going to do now but we are many who doesn t buy an another gps..bad enginnering

[coastersteve]

The compass is easy to cure - move it miles away from any power rails. That';s what DJI do and it works, so if it works, copy it!

[rickp]

Been flying -rc2 quite a bit this weekend. Pretty happy with it - having done the compass calibration and compassmot. Still seeing a few compass issues but nowhere near as bad as before running the compassmot calibration.

I';d say -rc2 is giving me far better performance than 2.9.1b - I';ll keep flying it for now, unless I read of any major show stoppers.

I think I may still investigate an external compass (if its possible on the APM2).

[Gaza07]

Also flown rc2 today set the compass manually because it was toilet bowling on auto after that every thing was fine 
Had several flights and loiter was very good 

http://youtu.be/XqqWEPybA-E

Heres a short video showing the results I cut the end off as i turned loiter off then went and clipped the top of the trellis and crashed it 

[rickp]

Gaza - yes, loiter is great for me, but if I start pirouetting, then it starts to wander around quite a bit. It seems to recover, but it heads off as you spin. I haven';t got to Marco';s level of performance (where he was pirouetting on the spot whilst loitering, or flying around in simple mode) - so I';ve still got some issues to solve..

Marco';s example
ArduCopter V3 Release - Loiter in a strong crosswind

[Gaza07]

Ah I didnt try that will give it a go next time, mine was toilet bowling before the manul setup of the compass my off sets were quite small some thing like -15 and a couple of 50s 

[rickp]

Nice. My current compass setup:

COMPASS_AUTODEC  0.000000
COMPASS_DEC      -0.157080
COMPASS_LEARN    0.000000
COMPASS_MOTCT    2.000000
COMPASS_MOT_X    -7.470078
COMPASS_MOT_Y    -4.563303
COMPASS_MOT_Z    -6.967199
COMPASS_OFS_X    -93.968796
COMPASS_OFS_Y    20.449726
COMPASS_OFS_Z    19.668779
COMPASS_ORIENT   0.000000
COMPASS_USE      1.000000

[Gaza07]

Hi Rick I just tested mine in loiter and did the piro thing it moved about slightly but its not in simple mode does it need to be ?
I will video it in a bit if i get chance 

Just thought about this I suppose it needs simple mode if its fighting strong wind but not so critical when its calm

[rickp]

In loiter on the spot, simple mode won';t make any difference - if you fly it around then it will do.

I';ve just done some more flying, and I';m less convinced that its my compass now. If I pirouette in alt+hold, it always heads off in an clockwise arc. I suspect that means its an airframe issue, rather than compass.

[Gaza07]

I will leave simple mode off then as it can be confusing if you forget your in that mode like I did once 
mine appears to piro fine when in loiter and if i move it re locks and loiters again 

[neagron]

Hi,Gary and Rick,I found that when you played around with the yx parameter moveing it up or down just a little played a part in getting rid of the toilet bowel syndrom,ile look later and post my setting for it,Marty, :scotland:

[Gaza07]

Here';s a video with loiter with a piro 

http://youtu.be/wVrnDWn_U9A

[rickp]

Looks good Gaza. I can';t do that even in stable - so pretty sure I have an airframe issue. CoG seems fine - not sure where to go next.

[rickp]

Finished off my reptile and with 3.0-rc2 on an APM2.5 on that frame, it flies wonderfully - just like Marco';s. Piro for ages without it wandering - and can fly it around piro-ing in simple mode without problem.

So all I did on this frame was to zero declination and turn off autolearn for the compass. Did the compass dance, and the compassmot procedure (based on current). Set up tune for rate p. I held it down lightly and increased throttle on the bench to see how it was performing. Some fast oscillation, so reduced the rate p quite a bit (down to 0.06 on this frame, its a bit of a beast on 4S with 1000kv motors!). Then test flew it in the yard, and all was good. Solid alt-hold, low vibrations. Loitered for most of the second battery. Will tune declination next, but it was fine without.

3.0-rc2 is great. Be nice to get -rc3 soon to remove the ';clearing logs'; bug, but as far as I';m concerned, 3.0-rc2 is solid gold...

[rickp]

rc3 is imminent:

ArduCopter Release Notes:
------------------------------------------------------------------
ArduCopter 3.0.0-rc3 22-May-2013
Improvements over 3.0.0-rc2
1) bug fix for dataflash erasing unnecessarily
2) smoother transition to waypoints, loiter:
    intermediate point';s speed initialised from copter';s current speed
3) Ch8 auxiliary function switch (same features as Ch7)
4) safety checks:
    Warning to GCS of reason for pre-arm check failure
    ARMING_CHECK parameter added to allow disabling pre-arm checks
    Added compass health and offset check to pre-arm check
    compassmot procedure displays interference as percentage of total mag field
5) WPNAV dataflash message combined into NTUN message
6) allow TriCopters to use ESC calibration

[neagron]

Tanks for that Ricky,its just getting better and better,Marty. :scotland:

[titeuf007]

i hope they will have lots of beta release before officiel
it will be great if we could have a release without major bugs

[optiplex]

in rc3, can u guys enable raw logs ? i do the command enable raw and doesnt seem to do anything
i can do enable all and it shows me all types and dont see raw
is it maybe changed in v3 ? is it called differently now ?

[firey1]

 in 3.0, it will be ';enable IMU'; rather than ';raw'; to turn on the appropriate logs

[optiplex]

in 3.0, it will be ';enable IMU'; rather than ';raw'; to turn on the appropriate logs

thx firey ... i given u another THANKS 

[coastersteve]

I';ve tried V3 a few times but failed to get WP and RTL speed higher than a crawl. I';ve tried several time';s and it just plods through the sky. Went back to 2.9.1b and its happy rocketing through the sky.

Loiter worked well but loiter repositioning is very strange. RC4 supposed to be different again.

[rickp]

I';ve been flying the latest code checked into the git repo today. I';ve been trying to work out the issue i';m having with loiter turning into a fly away randomly.

The problem seems to be that my JR RG831B receiver really interferes with the GPS, to the extent that I get large translations in the GPS waypoint. I didn';t have this on the quad - but when it was rebuilt onto the reptile frame - the problems started.

Very pleased with the progress on 3.0 - but need to go out and try some RTL/Circle stuff to test the nav...