Rover-4.2.0-beta1 available for beta testing!

Rover-4.2.0-beta1 has been released for beta testing and can be installed on your autopilot using MP, QGC or downloaded directly from firmware.ardupilot.org.

The list of changes vs 4.1.5 are in the release-notes and also copied below:

Rover 4.2.0-beta1 28-Feb-2022
Changes from 4.1.5

  1. AHRS/EKF improvements
    a) EKF startup messages reduced
    b) LORD Microstrain CX5/GX5 external AHRS support
    c) ModalAI VOXL non-GPS system supported (set VISO_TYPE=3, uses ODOMETRY mavlink msg)
  2. Rover specific enhancements
    a) AIS support
    b) Attitude control gains defaults reduced
    - ATC_STR_ANG_P reduced to 2
    - ATC_STR_RAT_MAX reduced to 120 deg/sec
    - ATC_STR_ACC_MAX reduced to 120 deg/sec
    - ATC_ACCEL_MAX reduced to 1m/s
    c) Boats loiter by default at end of mission (see MIS_DONE_BEHAVE parameter)
    d) DPTH message supports multiple rangefinders
    e) Omni motor saturation improvement (scaling applied evenly to all motors)
    f) Pivot turn overshoot reduced (would happen with bad combination of ATC_STR_ACC_MAX and ATC_STR_ANG_P)
    g) Speed control improvement when motor hits limits (especially when MOT_SLEWRATE was set to a low number)
    h) Speed control PID logging and reporting includes FF
    i) Stops maintain zero turn rate (previously steering was straight but trim could lead to turning)
    j) Torqeedo motor support
  3. Custom build server support (see https://custom.ardupilot.org)
  4. Lua scripting improvements
    a) ahrs::get_location replaces get_position (get_position still works for now)
    b) Auto support for NAV_SCRIPT_TIME commands (Lua within Auto)
    c) Frame string support (allows scripting based frame to display custom description after startup)
    d) Parameter support (no need to always use SCR_USERx)
    e) Script logged to onboard log (can be disabled by setting SCR_DEBUG_OPTS)
    f) Set_turn_rate_and_speed control support
  5. New autopilots supported
    a) AirLink
    b) BeastF7v2, BeastH7v2
    c) JHEMCU GSF405A
    d) KakuteH7, KakuteH7Mini
    e) MambaF405US-I2C
    f) MatekF405-TE
    g) ModalAI fc-v1
    h) PixC4-Jetson
    i) Pixhawk5X
    j) QioTekZealotH743
    k) RPI-Zero2W
    l) SPRacingH7 Extreme
    m) Swan-K1
  6. Safety improvements
    a) Dijkstra’s avoidance performance improvements including converting to A*
    b) Parachute option to leave servo in open position (see CHUTE_OPTIONS parameter)
    c) Pre-arm check of IMU heater temp
    d) Pre-arm check of rangefinder health
    e) Pre-arm check that not in RC/throttle failsafe
  7. Sensor driver enhancements
    a) ADIS16470, ADIS16507 and BMI270 IMU support
    b) AK09918 compass support
    c) Battery monitor supports voltage offset (see BATTx_VLT_OFFSET)
    d) Benewake TFMiniPlus I2C address defaults correctly
    e) Buzzer can be connected to any GPIO on any board
    f) Compass calibration (in-flight) uses GSF for better accuracy
    g) CRSFv3 support, CSRF telemetry link reports link quality in RSSI
    h) Cybot D1 Lidar
    i) DroneCan (aka UAVCAN) battery monitors support scaling (see BATTx_CURR_MULT)
    j) DroneCan (aka UAVCAN) GPS-for-yaw support
    k) Electronic Fuel Injection support incl Lutan EFI
    l) FETtecOneWire resyncs if EMI causes lost bytes
    m) Hondex underwater sonar custom message support
    n) IMU heater params renamed to BRD_HEAT_xxx
    o) Lightware SF40C ver 0.9 support removed (ver 1.0 and higher still supported)
    p) Maxbotix serial sonar driver support RNGFNDx_SCALING parameter to support for varieties of sensor
    q) MPPT solar charge controller support
    r) MTK GPS driver removed
    s) Ping200x support
    t) Proximity sensor min and max range (see PRX_MIN, PRX_MAX)
    u) QSPI external flash support
    v) uLanding (aka USD1) radar provides average of last few samples
    w) Unicore NMEA GPS support for yaw and 3D velocity
  8. Other System enhancements
    a) Board ID sent in AUTOPILOT_VERSION mavlink message
    b) DO_SET_CAM_TRIG_DIST supports instantly triggering camera
    c) DJI FPV OSD multi screen and stats support
    d) GPIO pin configured by setting SERVOx_FUNCTION to -1 (also see SERVO_GPIO_MASK. BRD_PWM_COUNT removed)
    e) GPIO pin support on main outputs on boards with IOMCU
    f) GyroFlow logging (see LOG_BITMASK’s “VideoStabilization” option)
    g) Firmware version logged in VER message
    h) Log rate limiting to more easily reduce log sizes (see LOG_FILE_RATEMAX parameter)
    i) SD card format via MAVLink
    j) Serial port option to disable changes to stream rate (see SERIALx_OPTIONS)
    k) Serial port passthrough via USB supports baud rate changes (eases UBlox F9P firmware updates)
    l) VIBE logging units to m/s/s
  9. Bug fixes
    a) Auto mode infinite loop with nav commands that fail to start fixed
    b) BLHeli passthrough reliability improvements
    c) Compass learning (inflight) fixed to ignore unused compasses (e.g. those with COMPASS_USE = 0)
    d) EKF resets due to bad IMU data occur at most once per second
    e) GPIO pin fix on CubeOrange, F4BY, mRoControlZeroF7, R9Pilot
    f) MAVlink2 serial ports always send MAVLink2 messages (previously waited until other side sent MAVLink2)
    g) Omnibusf4pro bi-directional dshot fix
    h) Real-Time-Clock (RTC) oldest possible date updated to Jan-2022

In general we think this release is safe but it is the first beta of a major release so please be careful when testing and report any issues you find below or better yet, in a new topic.

Thanks very much for your help!

4 Likes

Has anyone looked at the reverse Dshot issue on rover yet?

@geofrancis,

Not yet but it is on the issues list.

1 Like

I don’t see S-Bends, is this in the Beta?

Hi @John_Easton,

SCurves for rover haven’t cleared alpha testing yet so they are not included in Rover-4.2.0 (yet). I hope we can get SCurves into 4.2 but let’s see. I will post a question over on the SCurves testing thread to get the opinion of some of the other testers as well.

Even without the SCurves though there are a few improvements for Rover/Boat controls. In particular “2g) speed control improvements when motor hits limits” could slightly improve your vehicle’s speed control.

1 Like

I saw that, can’t wait to test it

1 Like

Hi Randy,

the simple stop avoidance still does not work with Omnibus F4 pro and TF luna lidar. Unfortunately the FC only has 1 MB flash and so I have to use the custom FW builder which generates the 4.3 dev. I am attaching a bin log

@Alberto_Ds,

I’m not sure if we can enable simple avoidance for the 1MB boards because although Rover may have the space Copter does not and we can’t turn on/off features depending upon the vehicle type. I’m sure we will add support for the custom build server to build beta and 4.2.0-stable though so I’ve added this to the 4.2 issues list.

1 Like

Hi @rmackay9 ,

I’m sorry for this, also because the distance reading is perfect. Do you remember this thread?

I used the custom FW builder just to generate a FW with obstacle avoidance features.