I've just released ArduPlane 2.73 as a bug fix release for several important bugs in 2.72
The main reasons for this release are:
- fixed a noise and scaling problem with airspeed sensors
- fixed a potential flyaway problem with the L1 navigation controller
- improved handling of poor GPS velocity for attitude correction
This release does not contain the new attitude controllers that I previously said would be in 2.73. Paul and I decided that it would be better to hold those over to the next release, and get this release out with just the above critical bug fixes.
The airspeed problem stemmed from a changed introduced in 2.72 to make ArduPlane automatically scale analog inputs with board voltage. That change was good for voltage and current sensing, but it added a lot of noise to airspeed sensing as the 3DR airspeed sensor is ratiometric (the sensor output scales with the supply voltage). The fix was to add support for ratiometric analog inputs. This release also fixes a bug in the airspeed ratio handling. To confirm the fix I have been driving around in my car with an APM2 and PX4 logging airspeed and GPS speed - that test confirmed the airspeed sensing is now accurate.
The flyaway bug in L1 was caused by an unusual situation where the previous waypoint was equal to the next waypoint, which can happen when a mission is interrupted and restarted. The L1 controller would then level the wings and fly straight ahead until the operator intervened. The bug fix was to make the L1 controller detect this situation and track directly to the next waypoint. I don't think many users would have seen this bug, but it definitely could happen and warranted a bug fix release.
The GPS handling bug was related to the MTK GPS, which can be very slow to report loss of GPS lock, which could lead to very poor attitude from DCM and even a crash if the plane tries to turn while the GPS is reporting incorrect velocity information. The fix was to watch the satellite count, and stop using the GPS velocity for accelerometer correction when it had less than 6 satellites. This is selectable with the new AHRS_GPS_MINSATS option.
Other changes
While this release doesn't have the new attitude controllers I decided to leave in some other smaller changes that have been made since the 2.72 release that I consider to be low risk, including:
- fix the PX4 barometer driver to run at full rate
- fixed handling of a saturated compass on PX4
- added COMPASS_ORIENT option to support external compasses
- fixed the compass in HIL simulation
- added GCS messages to flash logs
- allow 3D accel calibration over MAVLink
- Added new ELEVON_OUTPUT option
- removed MANUAL_LEVEL option (manual level is now always on)
- improved pitch handling when inverted
Of these, perhaps the most useful is the ELEVON_OUTPUT option. That makes it possible to setup your transmitter with normal aileron/elevator and get the APM to do a software elevon mixer on output. That gives better control in FBWA mode than the previous elevon options.
I recommend that all users of 2.72 upgrade to 2.73. Happy flying!
Cheers, Tridge
Replies
I've now released APM:Plane 2.74
Thanks to everyone who contributed! Please give feedback on the new release in the 2.74 release thread.
Cheers, Tridge
Please could someone clarify the ARSP2PTCH_P and ALT2PTCH_P parameters, what they do and their effect on level flight?
On another note: today I tried "takeoff", I loaded a mission which consisted of "1).Takeoff @ 20° to 50m 2). loiter @ 50m AGL unlimited", the first time worked great, the motor started as soon as I hit AUTO but the climb out was not very steep but no problem, I landed and tried again. The second time the motor wouldn't start and even clicking 'Restart Mission' would not get the mission to run again. Is there something I'm missing?
Is it normal for the amp to register a altitude of several hundred feet on every start up? I re-set to zero each time but was wondering if I missed a setting so that it would do this automatically on start up just as it sets RTL each time. Or... if not perhaps there is a valid reason for it not to do this? Thank you!
I've just done a new ArduPlane 2.74beta3 release
This release includes the great new TECS speed/height controller from Paul, plus the new attitude controllers and a new ACRO flight mode that was requested by Pieter, Thomas and Soren.
Please test it as much as you can and give feedback in that discussion thread.
Cheers, Tridge
Tridge, any chance of a Mission Planner-initiated "auto take off followed by a loiter at x altitude" sequence? Currently, I think this can only be done by a preloaded mission.
@sergey, i had the exactly same problem with my skywalker which otherwise would fly fine in any auto modes in all the prior releases of arduplane. in my case what i found was that the tailplane had come loose which is held down by two M3x25 screws. so when u put it in RTL the elevator tries to pitch the plane up slightly and a s a result the tailplane's angle of attack increases (since it was loose). this causes the plane to nose dive. my problem was solved when i tightened the two tail plane screws. but it took me a long............ time to find the cause. this time u put blue color thread lock on the tailplane screws.
Hi Andrew.
Could you tell me what conditions needed to make motor work in auto mode or RTL mode.
In flight last Saturday use my own GCS, With a fixwing plane, at airspeed 10m/s, height 15-20m to ground, and The distance from plane to GCS is about 40m, I switch mode from stabilize to auto, then,the motor is shut down, and plane crashed.
Some one tell me if airspeed less than 3m/s, the motor will be shut down. Could you tell me more thing about auto/RTL mode? What conditions does APM/ArduPlane needed to make motor work in auto/RTL mode?
Yesterday, I analysis mavlink message between APM/ArduPlane and GCS, and I found I lost Home point data to upload. perhaps this is one reason which make motor shut down?
Sorry for my poor english, expect your help.
Thanks!
This is my own GCS developed by Visual C++, but it's telemetry data format not same with tlogs, I will try to make it compitable with tlogs in next.
I mostly use Arducopter with an APM2.5, and I'll be soon using my old APM2.0 with a Funcub. There are several things very nice with Arducopter I didn't find in Arduplane like UserCode and UserVariables to implement some custom code, and COPTER_LEDS to have visual information, like GPS fix, flight mode, etc.
Do you plan any release with those elements ?
Thanks,
I got mine work today, and all I done is turned off compass (magnetometer). Plane is rock stable, RLT, FBWA and loiter works, APM don't want to kill my plane anymore, I'm happy again :D
But then another question rises, If my board is yaw180, do I need to set onboard compass also yaw180, or this value is relative to the board?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9_X7h45RhE
@kullman, that means your PPM output is OK form the Rx. did u try using normal PWM in to all channels. do the servoes respond. if it does that means your PPM encoder on the APM2.5 is OK. have you shorted the correct pin nos. 2&3 on the input side of APM2.5.
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