Copter-3.5.0 has been released!


After months of beta testing, Copter-3.5.0 has been released! This covers multicopters including quad, hexa, octa, tri, traditional helicopters, single and coax copters.

Note #1: The FRAME_CLASS parameter must be set once after the upgrade (except for tradheli which will default automatically). 1=quadcopter, 2=hexacopter, 3=Octa, 4=OctaQuad, 5=Y6, 6=TradHeli, 7=Tri, 8=SingleCopter, 9=CoaxCopter, 10=DualRotorTradHeli (wiki)

Note #2: in a few cases, Pixhawk1 users have found the I/O board’s firmware is not updated and they hear this sad tune. The solution is to force the I/O firmware upgrade by attaching and safety switch and then keep it pressed during the first several seconds after powering on the board.

Note #3: RCx_FUNCTION parameters have been renamed to SERVOx_FUNCTION. Some wiki pages do not yet reflect this renaming but will be updated shortly.

Warning: during beta testing there was one case of RC input corruption for a DSMx receiver attached to a Pixracer (report). The issue appears within 30 seconds of startup so if you are using a DSMx receiver with Pixracer please keep an eye out for this and post in the forums if you see a problem

A compass calibration will be required after the upgrade (a message should appear on the HUD as part of the pre-arm checks) but beyond that, all parameters should be automatically copied and translated from previous versions meaning no additional calibration or re-tuning should be required.

The full list of changes can be found in the ReleaseNotes but some of the highlights are:

  • Performance improvements including 8kHz IMU sampling for improved vibration resistance, greatly reduced latency between IMU updates and motor outputs
  • AutoTune with position hold if entered from Loiter/PosHold flight modes (wiki)
  • Delivery improvements including Servo Gripper and Package Place
  • Driver additions and improvements:
  • Improved Smart Battery support (individual cells voltages, battery serial number, Maxell battery driver) (wiki)
  • OLED Display
  • Lightware LW20 lidar, all lightware products can now use I2C interface.
  • TeraRanger Tower lidar for Object Avoidance
  • Maxbotix sonar serial interface now supported
  • Garmin Lidar-Lite v3
  • Landing gear retracts/deploys on startup only after pilot moves transmitter switch
  • Flight controllers supported now includes:
  • The Cube (aka Pixhawk2)
  • Beagle Bone Blue
  • improved Intel Aero RTF support (ArduPilot is included in Intel’s next software release)
  • AUAV2.1
  • PixhawkMini support
  • GPS improvements:
  • Here+ RTK GPS
  • Piksi Multi RTK GPS
  • Dual GPS Blending (wiki)
  • Mission fix for Turn-towards-next-waypoint-too-soon issue (only applies to AUTO flight mode)
  • Non-GPS loiter and navigation:
  • support StereoLabs ZED camera (visual odometry) (wiki)
  • support Pozyx beacons (wiki)
  • Object avoidance:
  • normal (i.e. non 360deg) range finders supported (video)
  • simple object avoidance in AltHold mode (wiki)
  • Precision Loiter using IR-Lock (wiki)
  • Pixracer improvements:
  • ESC calibration fixes
  • board LEDs now work
  • Solo supported (we recommend upgrading flight controller to a Green Cube from a HEX reseller)

Support issues should be raised in the Copter-3.5 forum.

To backout to Copter-3.4.5 using Mission Planner:

  • open the Initial Setup >> Install Firmware screen
  • click “Pick previous firmware” and select “AC 3.4.6”
  • the version displayed under the icons should change to “APM:Cotper V 3.4.6”
  • click on the appropriate icon to download and install the older version
  • Note: if the “install previous firmware” link is not available, click Config/Tuning >> Planner and set “Layout” to “Advanced”

To backout using other GCSs with exact firmware version

  • with a web browser open http://firmware.ap.ardupilot.org/Copter/stable-3.4.6/
  • click on the appropriate link for your board and frame type. For example, if you are using a Pixhawk, Cube/Pixhawk2 or Pixracer on a quadcopter select the “PX4-quad” directory.
  • right-mouse-button click on the appropriate ArduCopter-XX.px4 firmware file and select “Save Link As”. For example, ArduCopter-v2.px4 is for Pixhawks, ArduCopter-v4 is for pixracers. Pixhawk2 users should in general stick with Copter-3.5.
  • From the ground stations install firmware screen select “Load custom firmware” and select the file downloaded from above
  • Note: if using MP and the “install previous firmware” link is not available, click Config/Tuning >> Planner and set “Layout” to “Advanced”
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Congratulations to all developers and testers!

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This is great work, thanks! An issue of concern going forward … I’m still sometimes finding chips with the 1M limit in units currently being sold by various vendors. There appears to be no sure way to determine ahead of time when this might happen in various cases – many of the sellers are absolutely clueless of course and even when they claim newer chips are used frequently they’re not.

I’m wondering what the longer term plan for dealing with this is. I see for example that the Solo gimble is compiled out for “-v2” – are there currently any other specific functions missing in -v2 vs. versions that exceed the 1M boundary? It does not appear obvious which version is routinely pulled down by Mission Planner (stable or beta firmware), but when I pulled down the latest rc via MP it installed fine in a 1M limited unit here.

In the even longer run, I recall from the original discussions of this problem that one possibility was a version that simply didn’t use the USB for firmware upgrades or calibration/parameter reading/setting (perhaps using the USB in other ways in more limited fashions) and instead relying on radio telemetry links, etc. to handle these routine functions (albeit slower).

Any current thoughts on this? Thanks again.

The Blog area is not the right Category for this post and you have posted it multiple times elsewhere - deleting