Copter-4.6.0-beta5 available for beta testing!

Copter-4.6.0-beta5 has been released for beta testing and can be installed using MP or QGC’s beta firmwares links. Alternatively it can be manually downloaded from firmware.ardupilot.org

The changes vs -beta4 are in the Release Notes and copied below:

Changes from 4.6.0-beta4

  1. Board specfic changes
  • MFT-SEMA100 compass orientation fix
  • SpeedyBee F405 AIO support
  1. Driver bug fixes and enhancements
  • Bdshot locking issue fix for slow boards that could cause the flight controller to crash
  • BMP280 barometer error handling during init improved
  • CADDX gimbal RC update rate fixed
  • Hexsoon 77G and 24G radar support
  • IE FuelCell generator data rate increased
  • IIS2MDC compass support
  • LD19/LD06 proximity sensor data length sanity check fix
  • RC output cork/push fix to avoid potential motor knocking
  • SBF MosaicX5 packets with invalid length ignored
  • SPL06 barometer accuracy improvements
  • Ublox M10 configuration fix
  1. Plane specific fixes and enhancements
  • Tiltrotor motor check fixed used in throttle control handover from VTOL to forward flight
  • Improved QAssist and VTOL mode recovery from bad attitudes
  • Fixed rudder output in VTOL modes
  • Added fix for indecision in the roll controller close to inverted
  • Ensure tiltrotors use consistent fixed wing and VTOL rates
  • Clear inverted control flag on Q-mode entry
  • Auto-deploy landing gear on all fixed wing landings when enabled
  • Prevent learning bad ARSP_RATIO values when not flying
  1. Rover specific fixes and enhancements
  • Lua bindings for Follow mode
  • WATER_DEPTH mavlink message rate fix
  1. Parameter description improvements
  • ADSB_LIST_ALT param desc improved
  • Alphabetised type params for CAN, Mount, OptFlow, Proximity, Rangefinder, Serial Manager
  • Copter’s battery failsafe action gets “Brake or Land”
  • LOG_FILE_BUFSIZE units fixed
  • MOT_THST_HOVER range fixed
  • SERIALx_BAUD value added for PPP networking
  1. Bug Fixes and minor enhancements
  • Arming check for EKF3 velocity innovations
  • Copter’s LOG_BITMASK includes PIDs by default
  • DO_SET_ROI_LOCATION mission command support
  • MCU min/max voltage logging fix
  • MIS_OPTION parameter handling fixed

There will be one more beta but we’re getting close so all testing and feedback is greatly appreciated!

6 Likes

Hexa frame number 2 of five. Good flash via QGC, Compass calibration seemed to take a long ish time in Mission Planner so I getting a new GPS one on the way from mRo. Dshot driver installed fine. Motor test ok. More to come.

Installed a newish GPS and although I only had one green bar the calibration did take a little longer than normal I am getting 15 sats and the ground speed numbers look tight. Flight test went well and Dshot had a crisp feel.

SAM GPS + IST8308 Mag (Medium Size)

3 Likes

I am testing on SpeedyBee F405 AIO, and very often I get “Param storage failed” message.

04.04.2025 23:56:29 : No ap_message for mavlink id (271)
04.04.2025 23:56:22 : PreArm: Param storage failed
04.04.2025 23:56:22 : PreArm: Rangefinder 1: No Data
04.04.2025 23:56:22 : PreArm: Logging failed
04.04.2025 23:56:22 : PreArm: Compass not calibrated
04.04.2025 23:56:22 : PreArm: 3D Accel calibration needed
04.04.2025 23:56:22 : PreArm: RC not found
04.04.2025 23:55:52 : PreArm: Param storage failed
04.04.2025 23:55:52 : PreArm: Rangefinder 1: No Data
04.04.2025 23:55:52 : PreArm: Logging failed
04.04.2025 23:55:52 : PreArm: Compass not calibrated
04.04.2025 23:55:52 : PreArm: 3D Accel calibration needed
04.04.2025 23:55:52 : PreArm: RC not found
04.04.2025 23:55:51 : No ap_message for mavlink id (271)
04.04.2025 23:55:43 : finished motor test
04.04.2025 23:55:33 : starting motor test
04.04.2025 23:55:31 : AP_Logger: IO thread died
04.04.2025 23:55:27 : finished motor test
04.04.2025 23:55:16 : starting motor test

COA: Perform motor test for example 3% throtthe for 10s, then try to set min arm spin. That results in error, and Param storage failed

Did you do all the calibrations and now they are lost? Otherwise you should do all the accel and compass calibrations before further tests.
There’s 8 megabytes for logging, which is not much so dont set any crazy logging options.

surprisingly no parameters were lost. I just started setting this up, that is why accelerometer is not calibrated. Logging settings are default basically at the moment.

Not sure if that was a root cause, perhaps some leftovers after betaflight. I just uploaded firmware again using STM32 programmer, and now issue is no longer there (at least for now).

1 Like

Hi @Adam_Borowski,

thanks for the report. I’ll leave this off the 4.6 issues list for now but if you see it again we might investigate further.

Second day of testing. Loitor flight mode. GPS does give me a error " no GPS" at times but yea I have GPS installed. the GPS is tending to drift a little. I going over some hardware checks to see it I can get a 1 m drift out. Ground effects working well. GPS break working well. GPS is mounted with 3M tape that could be a little to spongy.

GPS seems to be failing, Yesterday used Loiter without issue. today I added a Gorpro 9 and could not get Loiter working unless it was not in the air. I will poke around. anyone seeing issues?

Note: I did a new Compass cal with the Pro attached and got two green bars.

Hi Brandon - can you send me a .bin log, via personal message if you like. I’m interested to take a look and see what’s going on. Maybe I can help / maybe I cant :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hi Shawn, looks like mounting the GoPro and doing a compass cal removed the error. Just did a test flight and no issue this time.

Just got the no GPS error today but it did go away after letting the new Hexa sit on the ground after a stabilize flight.

Noteworthy was I was not able to arm in Loiter Mode until it sat on the ground. I have a new GPS coming soon. Video of the flight today first is Stabilize then Loiter flight 360 tests.

Simple camera mount:

Bin file sent to PM . Thanks

Got it, replied.
The message means more like “Not a usable GPS signal” rather than something actually wrong with your unit, wiring or settings.

Roger that. Normally I gets sats quickly. I will play with the new settings you set me in the next few days.

Hi again. Today I attempted to fly first time F405AIO based drone, and It didn’t arm. The message was that logger failed to start, and again Storage Failed, so no flight at all. It was failing to arm because of mentioned errors.

Settinga are more or less default.
Beta5 build with removed unused hw support and added optical flow.

Params:
Bee35_F405AIO.param (20.1 KB)
LOG settings are default I think, so should not be any excessive logging.

Which flight controller is this?

SpeedyBee F405 AIO. Sorry, for the confusion. This one has been recently added I belive.

There’s nothing obviously wrong with the hwdef - the flash chip has its own DMA channel. I’ll try your settings on my board and see if I can reproduce.

I just enabled logging when disarmed (LOG_DISARMED=1), and this is something similar I got when trying to fly it today

12.04.2025 22:11:36 : PreArm: Rangefinder 1: No Data
12.04.2025 22:11:36 : PreArm: Logging failed
12.04.2025 22:11:36 : PreArm: Battery 1 below minimum arming voltage
12.04.2025 22:11:36 : PreArm: GPS 1: Bad fix
12.04.2025 22:11:36 : PreArm: RC not found
12.04.2025 22:11:28 : AP_Logger: IO thread died
12.04.2025 22:11:05 : PreArm: Rangefinder 1: No Data
12.04.2025 22:11:05 : PreArm: Battery 1 below minimum arming voltage

Not sure if that is relevant, but after Ctfl-F and reboot parameters are loading very slowly.