CraigElder
March 12, 2018, 11:02pm
1
New meeting order
Welcome Chris Olsen and Bill Geyer
Issues & PRs
General
new script database: start filling with ideas then replace with scripts
ChibiOS dshot
ChibiOS bootloader
MAVFTP
GSoC
students can now submit their applications to us
Copter
3.6 beta test may start in 2 weeks
Rover
beta test has started for Rover-3.2.2-rc1
New Loiter will hopefully go into master this week, last chance for people to check the PR!
Attendee count (max): 25
UTC2301 - Pre-meeting discussions
UTC2303 - new meeting order
Issues and PRs at start of meeting
Updates afterwards
UTC2303 - new tradheli maintainers
Bill and Chris
Welcome!https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/7894
Align heli code with multi code
In particular the spool-state within the motor’s library. States include throttle-unlimited / spin-when-armed, etc
There’s a question as to whether spool-when-armed is a good name for one of the states. In multicopters the motors spin, in helicopters it’s a warm up before the motors spin.
Added function to return spool mode
Trying to eliminate as many #if statements as possible
Changed things so you can wait until you’re in unlimited rather than simply looking at armed state
Big multis also need to wait for spool-up like helicopters.
Currently you can have control issues as you can take-off while still not fully spooled up
So multis are benefitting from these patches too
Randy and Leonard will be sitting down and looking at the patches
Hoping to have it ready for review for master in a couple of hours
Q: are we losing the ability to recover quickly after motor is disabled and then re-enabled in flight because the ramp-up will slow this down?
Answer: The goal of these patches is to have no functional changes from 3.5.5 to 3.6.
RL will talk to Chris and Bill so they can understand why some decisions have previously been made
Need to handle the no-rotor-RPM-meter case
Some sort of model required to estimate what the rotor speed actually is
Couple of parameters?
[10:19 AM] (Channel) JW: OooO I didn’t know they had a clutch
[10:19 AM] (Channel) JW: I thought it was a constant reduction
[10:19 AM] (Channel) RL: Most have a one-way except for very small helis
Multi code should support all the features of helis
We learn a lot about multis (including safety features) by making the codepaths as similar as possible
Q? Has interlock feature been modified? current spool mode interactions need explaining
Interlock would set landed flag immediately previously
A. Need a clear specification from the heli users as to how interlock should work
Including transitions between spool states
UTC2311 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/7849
Mavlink extension for transfering total number of feedback events
Allow autopilot to track number of feedback events the autopilot has received
No way to tell on GCS how many camera feedback events have actually occurred
Due to lossy links
You can’t tell the difference between lost packets and lack of feedback events
Uint16_t big enough?
4fps for 4 hours
GCS could look for wrap itself
Current message already has a 16-bit integer in it
Multi-camera
Need support on ArduPilot side
Mavlink side merged!
UTC2330 - github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/7213
MdB asks for someone to look at it!
UTC2330 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/pull/7861
Any argument for keeping this code
Tridge wants it removed because it might spit out bad binaries and no core devs would notice because nobody flies AVR boards
[10:31 AM] (Channel) JW: It’s confusing to newcomers looking into the code
[10:31 AM] (Channel) JW: That’s my main argument to get rid of it
If we need to do an APM release we’ll do it by hand
The appendix of building binaries based on a branch-name suffix will stay until it hurts
UTC2334 - https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/issues/7732
Should we remove the dev-call tag?
Someone to close this issue off as a “this is the way it is” resolution
UTC2335 - UAVCAN pending PRs
Eugene has a 100% CAN aircraft
He’s happy to do flight testing on Tuesdays (European time)
Weight-on-wheels patches
MdB has concerns about the interval between PR and merge
Tridge e.g. Blending of airspeed sensors
Would like a heads-up on core plane functionality PRs
Tridge did look over it and found some stuff that doesn’t make sense
E.g. uses wind estimate to enable/disable airspeed sensor
But the airspeed sensor is used to create the wind estimate
May cause airspeed sensor to be disabled and the DCM estimate to be used
Which PRs?
More testing of these UAVCAN changes
Make sure stuff boots!
TomP, Nate happy to take on this responsibility
Funding committee will probably approve UAVCAN hardware for testers
Tom will just buy one
Someone should put in a funding request for Nate to get HW for this
Philip will talk with Nate and Tom
Can Here2 be used for testing?
Bootloader is functional
But not usable as UAVcan GPS/compass ATM as no firmware
Zubax might be best test candidate for hardware ATM
Emlid also have a unit
Part of the Edge product
[10:50 AM] (Channel) JP: the V2 is an M8Q, not M8P fwiw
Back-to-back testing of Here2 with Zubax would be a good way to develop
RM: we know UAVCAN is important because it’s on the roadmap
MdB: We also don’t have any support for sending correction data over CAN
Q? Who is responsible for writing Here2 UAVCAN firmware? A: Yes, Jonathan, Sid, etc doing it.
OMD - Jani’s started to look at doing this
JC and SP are looking hard at OMD ATM
Bits missing in AP to work with CAN devices
Ability to bootload
Mavftp
Philip should raise an issue
Maybe make the PixHawk look like a thumb drive instead?
UTC0000 - Tridge has been working on a ChibiOS-based bootloader
OMD already has a bootloader?
Tridge wants to use hwdef.dat to create bootloader
Need to stick to 16k for F4
Sectors on F7 are 32k
current bootloader is based on Libopencm3
3k for bootloader logic
No room for CAN + USB + serial
UTC0004 - Tom / new script database
Collect ideas?
Then later replace with actual script
Lets us know where we’re hoping to achieve
Threading concerns in terms of providing access to libraries
This makes it difficult to promise access
E.g. mission won’t be first priority
position/attitude of vehicle will be first priority
Then servos
Play tunes
Mixers in plane!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc8IwU2G1rY MdB doesn’t want this to be seen as a roadmap as the scripting is too much under active development.
Consider it a “broken dreams” list!
Tom will put document together
UTC0013 - GSoC
Submission period has started
Students are able to submit proposals
Still don’t know how many slots we have
We need students to submit draft proposals!
Submitting final proposals is bad!
Need to be able to comment on any google documents too!
So we can give feedback on drafts
pdf documents are not a good solution as they can’t be commented on
UTC0015 - Randy and Copter/Rover announcements
(should anybody be able to make “announcements”?)
Rover testing for 3.2.2 has started
New-loiter is ready to go into master
Tridge wants to look over it
We’ve lost use of one of the parameters we use in Plane
Q_trans_decel when entering loiter
How rapidly the aircraft can decelerate
To avoid rearing up problem with quadplanes
Leonard will work on
How does it find Target position after fast-forward flight?
LH: “correctly”
LH and tridge will discuss
Copter 3.6 beta testing start
Get stuff in if you want it in!
UTC0021 - Plane 3.8.5?
Here-compass fix
Hopefully within next week
UTC0023 - tridge and S.BUS HAL/PX4
Parity bits are not checked!
Horrible protocol
Which we must support
Header bytes in middle of frame is just fine
No CRC
NuttX doesn’t support parity bits
You will get crap RC input
Including latest version
ChibiOS implements correctly
Raw dsm has no checksum
Air-packet has checksum
But stripped before sending over uart
Blame Spektrum
MdB: my comment is more that you should never accept the first DSM packet. You should require one withing 30 ms before accepting
[11:25 AM] (Channel) MdB: Otherwise static can convince NuttX to think you have DSM input
Tridge created something that could introduce parity errors
Which used DMA-to-pin
Which led to first implementation of a D-Shot ESC!
Frames generated (see spectrum analyzer output)
Tridge’s ESC is on the way
4-bit CRC
“ProShot” support would also be nice!
Betaflight uses “burst DMA-R”
Great stuff, so tridge swiped it
4 output pins in single transfer
Obscure STM32 datasheet page…
Synchronised output!
One dma channel per timer
Quadcopter only single channel required
Hexacopter 2
Octacopter 2 or 3
JW, Luis and/or Leonard will do some testing for tridge
UTC0032 - expenses
Please get any claims into Luis!
UTC0032 - funding proposals for AUVSI
UTC0045 - other discussions
Swag Shop discussion:
Should add link in Discuss
Sales update from Jani in coming days, most came from canberra event
Bump in sales occurs whenever someone posts on Facebook
Jani asks Randy to send note to Partners making them aware of the swag shop
Banner ads:
Should raise a vote as to whether we have banner ads on ardupilot.org
