Copter-3.6.4-rc1 available for beta testing

rmackay9 · December 20, 2018, 6:44am

Copter-3.6.4-rc1 has been released for beta testing and is available through the Mission Planner and QGC’s beta firmwares link. The changes are in the ReleaseNotes and copied below.

Bug fixes and minor enhancements
a) Detect and clear stuck I2C bus when using ChibiOS. May help some Radiolink TS100 GPS/compass module users
b) Pixhawk4 fix for battery monitor voltage scaling
c) TradHeli Dual (aka Chinook) fix for scaling of second swashplate movement
d) Omnibus F7 IMU orientation fix
e) Gimbal fix to avoid extreme movement if pilot’s transmitter is off at startup
f) Follow mode fix to obey FOLL_SYSID parameter (controls which vehicle to follow)
Cheerson CX-OF optical flow sensor support (wiki)

Any testing and feedback that people can provide will be greatly appreciated. If all goes well we will release this as the official version in about a week (i.e. just after Christmas I suspect).

We still have some known issues that we are working through including the persistent “Bad Logging” message that some users are seeing.

tbarnard · December 20, 2018, 9:12am

Thanks very much for the work you and the team do, very much appreciated…

rmackay9 · December 20, 2018, 11:22am

It took a while but this version has finally appeared in the ground stations…

AndreyI · December 21, 2018, 3:16pm

Small report:

yesterday tested on the table, today went out to fly. There were no problems with the I2C bus.
There is still no audible indication when calibrating the compass with the transmitter.
Still not working configuration BlHeli_S regulators.

rmackay9 · December 21, 2018, 11:58pm

Roman,

Thanks for the report! The sounds from the tx triggered compass cal was missed from the Copter-3.6 issues list so I’ll add it.

I don’t think I’ve heard about the BLHeli S issue…is there another discussion somewhere about that. If not, any extra details?

winstonsaz · December 22, 2018, 12:30am

Today I made two flights with Copter-3.6.4-rc1 and when I did the auto analysis to the flight logs downloaded in the mission planner, I could see that the GPS test appears fail, the truth is that the vehicle flew in PosHold very well.

Log File \Mac\Home\Documents\Mission Planner\logs\QUADROTOR\1\2018-12-21 15-31-40.log
Size (kb) 15527.474609375
No of lines 183824
Duration 0:08:54
Vehicletype ArduCopter
Firmware Version V3.6.4-rc1
Firmware Hash 58f5da7b
Hardware Type
Free Mem 0
Skipped Lines 0
Test: Autotune = UNKNOWN - No ATUN log data
Test: Brownout = GOOD -
Test: Compass = GOOD - mag_field interference within limits (15.58%)

Test: Dupe Log Data = GOOD -
Test: Empty = GOOD -
Test: Event/Failsafe = GOOD -
Test: GPS = FAIL - Min satellites: 0, Max HDop: 99.99
Test: IMU Mismatch = GOOD - (Mismatch: 0.23, WARN: 0.75, FAIL: 1.50)
Test: Motor Balance = GOOD - Motor channel averages = [1607, 1632, 1628, 1620]
Average motor output = 1621
Difference between min and max motor averages = 25
Test: NaNs = FAIL - Found NaN in CTUN.TAlt
Found NaN in CTUN.DSAlt

Test: OpticalFlow = FAIL - FAIL: no optical flow data

Test: Parameters = FAIL - ‘THR_MIN’ not found
Test: PM = GOOD -
Test: Pitch/Roll = GOOD -
Test: Thrust = GOOD -
Test: VCC = UNKNOWN - No CURR log data

rmackay9 · December 22, 2018, 12:33am

Winston,

Thanks for the feedback. The MP’s autoanalysis being out of date is a “known issue” but perhaps I’ll ping one of the other devs to see if we can sort it out.

Nice job on the motor balance on the vehicle! that’s a well balanced copter!

winstonsaz · December 22, 2018, 12:52am

Thanks Randy, I’m flying a prototype that I’m building in Fusion 360. I’ve taken the vehicle’s center of gravity very seriously.

AndreyI · December 22, 2018, 4:46am

Details I described here: BlHeli_S passthrough

nomar · December 23, 2018, 1:10pm

Hi all

Yesterday 22nd I tried Firmware Version V3.6.3 ChiBios, It goes very well.

Download an auto analysis:

Log File C:\Program Files (x86)\Mission Planner\logs\QUADROTOR\1\2018-12-22 12-54-42.log
Size (kb) 30067.1337890625
No of lines 353065
Duration 0:17:30
Vehicletype ArduCopter
Firmware Version V3.6.3
Firmware Hash 63eb66fe
Hardware Type
Free Mem 0
Skipped Lines 0
Test: Autotune = UNKNOWN - No ATUN log data
Test: Brownout = GOOD -
Test: Compass = GOOD - mag_field interference within limits (21.32%)

Test: Dupe Log Data = GOOD -
Test: Empty = GOOD -
Test: Event/Failsafe = FAIL - ERR found: FS_BATT
Test: GPS = GOOD -
Test: IMU Mismatch = GOOD - (Mismatch: 0.46, WARN: 0.75, FAIL: 1.50)
Test: Motor Balance = GOOD - Motor channel averages = [204, 209, 219, 211]
Average motor output = 210
Difference between min and max motor averages = 15
Test: NaNs = FAIL - Found NaN in CTUN.TAlt
Found NaN in CTUN.DSAlt

Test: OpticalFlow = FAIL - FAIL: no optical flow data

Test: Parameters = FAIL - ‘THR_MIN’ not found
Test: PM = GOOD -
Test: Pitch/Roll = UNKNOWN - Unknown mode in TestPitchRollCoupling: SMART_RTL
Test: Thrust = GOOD -
Test: VCC = UNKNOWN - No CURR log data

Today I tried Firmware Version V3.6.4-rc1 ChiBios and it worked fine, I have not noticed any difference, It goes very well.

I leave auto analysis of today’s flight:

Log File C: \ Program Files (x86) \ Mission Planner \ logs \ QUADROTOR \ 1 \ 2018-12-23 13-00-49.log
Size (kb) 29881.2783203125
No of lines 351952
Duration 0:17:37
Vehicletype ArduCopter
Firmware Version V3.6.4-rc1
Firmware Hash 58f5da7b
Hardware Type
Free Mem 0
Skipped Lines 0
Test: Autotune = UNKNOWN - No ATUN log data
Test: Brownout = GOOD -
Test: Compass = GOOD - mag_field interference within limits (21.52%)

Test: Dupe Log Data = GOOD -
Test: Empty = GOOD -
Test: Event / Failsafe = FAIL - ERR found: FS_BATT
Test: GPS = GOOD -
Test: IMU Mismatch = GOOD - (Mismatch: 0.48, WARN: 0.75, FAIL: 1.50)
Test: Motor Balance = GOOD - Motor channel averages = [205, 207, 204, 225]
Average motor output = 210
Difference between min and max motor averages = 21
Test: NaNs = FAIL - Found NaN in CTUN.TAlt
Found NaN in CTUN.DSAlt

Test: OpticalFlow = FAIL - FAIL: no optical flow data

Test: Parameters = FAIL - ‘THR_MIN’ not found
Test: PM = GOOD -
Test: Pitch / Roll = GOOD -
Test: Thrust = GOOD -
Test: VCC = UNKNOWN - No CURR log data

ahh

my hardware to experience:
it’s a 2.4.8 pixhawk clone, it’s going very well
frame F450
GPS u-blox 6
ESC 20a
EMAX MT2213 935KV
propellers 1047

regards

rmackay9 · December 24, 2018, 12:42am

@nomar,

Great, thanks for the feedback. We’ve created an issue to correct some of the “false positive” alerts in the auto analysis.

Rolf · December 24, 2018, 3:02pm

Today I did a short test-flight backyard with the Cheerson CX-OF with a pixracer and 3.6.4-rc1.

As stated in the wiki i changed FLOW_ENABLE = 1, SERIAL1_PROTOCOL = 18 (CX-OF is connected to telem1) , EK2_FLOW_DELAY = 80 snd EK2_GPS_TYPE = 3. At the workbench, the actual beta mission planner displayed flow quality, flow comp mx and flow comp my.

Then a first short testflight back and forth, right and left in stabilize. In flow mode the copter was not flyable at all - he flew quickly to the side. After landing, I wanted to be able to take a look in the SD-card logfile whether optical flow works properly. But wat are the names of the parameters in sd-card *.bin logfile with which optical flow and eg GPS movement can be compared?

Regards Rolf

EDIT: Problem solved. Changed LOG_BITMASK from 26622 to 176126 and hope to get the OF.nnnn values

rmackay9 · December 25, 2018, 11:25pm

Rolf,

Thanks for giving the CX-OF flow sensor a test. Perhaps it’s not clear enough in the wiki but:

the EK2_GPS_TYPE = 3 should only be done if there is a lidar on the vehicle
FlowHold does not require a lidar to work but all other position hold modes (Loiter, PosHold, RTL, Auto) will require a lidar to work

FRED_GOEDDERT · December 26, 2018, 2:26am

3 = Inhibit GPS use - this can be useful when flying with an optical flow sensor in an environment where GPS quality is poor and subject to large multipath errors.

Above that is the wording in the WIKI, - confusing?

rmackay9 · December 26, 2018, 2:47am

Hi Fred,

Sorry to be annoying but where are you seeing this in the wiki? I couldn’t immediately find it on the optical flow wiki pages.

FRED_GOEDDERT · December 26, 2018, 2:53am

I copied that from the Wiki = Full Parameter List at = EK2_GPS_TYPE

anbello · December 27, 2018, 10:32am

I did an outdoor test flight with Copter-3.6.4-rc1 on a Pixracer and the Cheerson CX-OF (without a lidar).

I tested the FlowHold mode with mixed results, when I switch from Loiter to FlowHold I see the Copter oscillate quickly in roll and pitch (like if the Roll / Pitch PID was bad tuned), then if I move the quad a little bit around (with RC) the oscillation disappear and the Copter remain stable.

dataflash log

Another problem is that even if I have the OF message on dataflash log I see all 0 on OPTICAL_FLOW message on Mavlink Inspector (MissionPlanner-1.3.62)

anbello · December 28, 2018, 5:02pm

@rmackay9 sorry, when you have the time can you please take a look at my log posted above to see what is wrong with my settings?
Furthermore have you any idea why I am not able to see Optical Flow values on Mavlink Inspector?