Dev Call Dec 9 2019 2300 UTC

Development Team
2

Attendee count (max): 24

UTC1100 - Bruno

  • Brazil
  • Helping out with the Wiki and servers
  • Would like to help out with Copter stuff
  • Working on versioning of parameters on a per-release basis

UTC1103 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/13012

  • Direct-drive issues
  • Have to reverse a servo
    • Which has issues on startup
      • On arming it goes to 2000PWM
  • Need a reverse instead on the dd option
  • clockwise/counterclockwise
  • Higher throttle usually means spin this way, but in this case it actually goes the other way
  • Sense of yaw needs to be reversed
  • Servos have midpoint
  • Ddfp_yaw_dir instead
    • Clockwise and counterclockwise
  • Rob came up with a scheme for saving that new parameter
    • Documentation is going to need to be rather clear
      • Also need to copy with something that can spin both ways

UTC1111 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/13010

  • Sequence number or random ID?
    • 16 bit random ID
  • Dictionary by systemid/componentid/randomID
  • Use null-termination thing

UTC1121 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/13006

  • Reduce blheli flash usage
  • Tridge uses this debug
  • Too many debug lines
  • Should selectively delete about half
    • keep the more important ones and debugging generally
  • Tridge will comment
  • Tridge didn’t realise quite how much it was costing

UTC1124 - minimise features discussion

  • Big stick
    • Loses too many features on 1MB boards
  • New approach:
  • Is this the right approach?
  • MdB: different sticks?
    • Hard to tell what’s supported and what’s not with the scheme in that PR
    • Maybe “racing board” stick?
    • Medium sticks? Short sticks?
    • Board documentation?
    • We did discuss automatic generation from hwdef
      • Feature support matrix
      • We add features relatively often
      • Inheritance problem?
        • E.g. CubeGreen inherits from CubeBlack inherits from fmuv3
          • Need to cope with that with autogeneration
  • Other big stick we could use
    • Not compile in both EKFs
      • 100kB!
      • Maybe be able to run scripting
        • Would need to consume less memory
      • Gyro scale factor in EK2
      • Vision stuff in EK2
      • We’ve just branched master
      • Build both?
        • Make ek3 a default
        • Luis thinks it would be confusing
        • Randy thinks just one option
      • Do away with HAL_MINIMISE_FEATURES?
        • PB: don’t give back features just to take features away again
        • Tridge: give people whatever we can fit
        • PB: don’t chop and change
        • Pixhawk1-1M
          • If we gain 100kB of flash
          • We could let this have a full set of features
          • Everything but second EKF?
          • Why wouldn’t we give them the extra GPS types
          • MdB: because we’d have to take features away again in the future
          • MdB: getting a feature and losing it again is going to be frustrating
          • PB: don’t have the “I didn’t upgrade because I would lose feature X” problem
          • Luis: freeze features on smaller boards
          • Tridge: no!
  • Peter will do a PR to allow building without EKF2 and EKF3
  • Make EK3 the default for 5.0?

UTC1146 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/12987

  • When VFS layer arrives then all of this should be cleaner
  • Some sort of frontend/backend arch
  • Merged!

UTC1148 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/12954

  • Can be merged after a flight with both EKF2 and EKF3

UTC1152 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/12865

  • Centrally-mounted boost motor
  • Boost motor would tilt and you can use it for forward flight
  • Normal quadplane with boost motor
    • Acts a bit weirdly
    • Why not “normal throttle”?
    • Would be active in giver and normal flight
  • Tailsitters point up when hovering
  • New TriCopter-Quadplane Concept
  • Why wouldn’t normal throttle just work?
  • So boost motor tilts, normal motors don’t in this scheme
  • Tridge wants to see a physical aircraft before this is merged

UTC1159 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/12801

  • Turn PixHawk into a datalogger
  • This would be a perfect thing for a script to be doing
  • E.g. I2c load cells
  • Tridge would like more than raw ascii data
    • Line-oriented thing with field names?
  • [11:03 AM] (Channel) Michael_duBreuil: If I get you a serial abstraction for scripting that lets you read/write a port can this be a script?
  • MdB wants this to be a scripted feature
  • Pete was not in charge of the Arduino code, only the ArduPilot side
    • Big advantage not to have to set the fields up in the first place
  • Tridge: Have library register into parameter space
  • This would need to be minimise-features
  • Would this be ripped out if we had a serial abstraction layer in scripting?
    • PB would be happy for this to be a script
    • [11:09 AM] (Channel) MdB: I’ll do the abstraction for you :stuck_out_tongue:
    • [11:09 AM] (Channel) MdB: I can help with the serial abstraction
    • [11:09 AM] (Channel) MdB: Cause thats a pain we don’t have anything like it atm
    • [11:09 AM] (Channel) MdB: It’s not going to be to bad
    • [11:13 AM] (Channel) MdB: I can probably get the abstraction to you this week/next at the latest if you’re okay with the delay?
    • Serial protocol number for scripting
  • This feature much better done as a script

UTC0013 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/12829

  • Circle radius
  • Still on Randy’s list

UTC0017 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/12643

  • Tridge isn’t confident this can be merged

UTC0028 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/12629

  • No Sid

UTC0029 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/10581

  • Hwdef.dat should specify internal sensors, not probing

UTC0032 - Plane update

  • DOP issue fixed
  • 16-bit timer fix for several boards

UTC0034 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/issues/12547

  • Copter3.6.12rc1 for beta testing
    • New parameter for compass scaling parameter
      • Will make ek2 appier
    • I2c DMA fix
    • Fix in 3.6 backports was missed
      • Oneshot fix
      • Will go in 3.6.13 if one is done
    • Went out yesterday
    • Only one beta at a time
      • So no 4.x beta to download ATM
      • 4.0rc3 will go out in a week
        • With fixes for various things that have come up in testing
  • BendyRuler with sf40c doesn’t work
    • Randy is working on it
    • Too much for CubeBlack
  • New navigation target meaning not moving at all?!

UTC0043 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/issues/12509

  • D-shot and blheli issues
    • Blheli passthrough not working when MOT_PWM_TYPE is zero

UTC0047 - conference updates

  • Get your visa and accomodation sorted!
  • If you need letters of invitation then get in touch with tridge
  • Hoping to meet with CASA next week

UTC0049 - close

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