Arducopter 2.9 Rc1 beta released

[Jumpy07]

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/downloads/list

For beta testers only!
ArduCopter 2.9-rc1 (release candidate #1) includes the following improvements over 2.8.1:
Improvements over 2.8.1:
1) altitude hold improvements:
    a)inertial navigation for vertical axis [Randy/Jonathan/Leonard/Jason]
    b)accel based throttle controller [Leonard/Randy]
    c)accelerometer calibration routine updated to use gauss-newton method [Randy/Tridge/Rolfe Schmidt]
    d)parameters to control climb rate:
        AUTO_VELZ_MIN, AUTO_VELZ_MAX - allows you to control the maximum climb and descent rates of the autopilot (in cm/s)
        PILOT_VELZ_MAX - allows you to control the maximum climb/descent rate when in alt hold or loiter (in cm/s)
2) landing improvements [Leonard/Randy]
    LAND_SPEED - allows you to set the landing speed in cm/s
3) camera related improvements:
    a) AP_Relay enabled for APM2 and integrated with AP_Camera [Sandro Benigno]
    b) camera trigger with channel 7 switch or DO_DIGICAM_CONTROL mission command [Randy]
    c) allow yaw override by pilot or with CONDITIONAL_YAW command during missions [Randy]
        YAW_OVR_BEHAVE - Controls when autopilot takes back normal control of yaw after pilot overrides (0=after next wp, 1=never)
4) trad heli improvements [Rob]
    a) code tested and brought back into the fold (2.8.1 was never released for trad helis)
    b) enabled rate controller (previously only used angle controllers)
    c) fix to rotor speed controllers - now operates by switching off channel 8
    d) allow wider collective pitch range in acro and alt hold modes vs stabilize mode
    e) removed angle boost function because it created more problems than it solved
    f) bug fix to allow collective pitch to use the entire range of servos
5) mediatek gps driver improvements [Craig]
    a) added support for 1.9 firmware
    b) bug fix to start-up routine so sbas can be enabled
6) failsafe improvements (both throttle and battery) [Randy/Craig/John Arne Birkeland]
    a) RTL will not trigger if your throttle is zero - reduces risk of accidentally invoking RTL if you switch off your receiver before disarming
    b) failsafe triggered in unlikely case of a PPM encoder failure
    c) bug fix to resolve motors momentarily reducing to zero after failsafe is triggered
7) mpu6k filtering made configurable and default changed to 42hz for copters [Leonard/Tridge]
8) support ppm sum for transmitters with as few as 5 channels [Randy/John Arne Birkeland]
9) acro trainer - copter will return to be generally upright if you release the sticks in acro mode [Leonard]
    ACRO_BAL_ROLL, ACRO_BAL_PITCH - controls rate at which roll returns to level
    ACRO_TRAINER - 1 to enable the auto-bring-upright feature
10) other changes and bug fixes:
    a) allow >45 degrees when in stabilize mode by adding lines like below to APM_Config (compile time option only) [Jason]
        #define MAX_INPUT_ROLL_ANGLE 6000     // 60 degrees
        #define MAX_INPUT_PITCH_ANGLE 6000    // 60 degrees
    b) bug fix to stop RTL from ever climbing to an unreasonable height (i.e. >80m) [Jason]
    c) event and state logging [Jason]
    d) allow cli to be used over telemetry link [Tridge]
    e) bug fix to allow compass accumulate to run when we have spare cpu cycles [Randy]
    f) bug fix so do_set_servo command works [Randy]
    g) bug fix to PID controller';s so they don';t calculate crazy D term on the first call [Tridge]
    h) bug fix to initialise navigation parameter to resolve twitch when entering some navigation modes [Jason]
    i) performance improvement to copter leds - use DigitalFastWrite and DigitalFastRead instead of native arduino functions  [Randy]
    j) removed unused stab_d from roll and pitch controller [Jason]
    k) bug fix for guided mode not reaching target altitude if it reaches horizontal target first [Randy]
    l) code clean-up, parameter documentation improvements [Randy/Jason/Rob/others]

Note: Accelerometer values are much more important now so please use the new accel calibration routine, "Calibrate Accel (Beta)", at the bottom of the ArduCopter Level page in the mission planner.  Don';t use the "Calibrate Now" button which is the old method.
    Accel based throttle controller has new set of PID gains that appear at the bottom of the ArduCopter Config page of the mission planner.
    Default Altitude Hold PID values are : P:1.0, I:0.0
    Default Throttle Rate PID values are: P:1.0, I:0.0, D:0.2
    Default Accel Throttle PID values are: P:0.75, I:1.5, D:0

[Gaza07]

Sounds great I just need my APM to give it a try   

[Jumpy07]

I installed it from Arduino.. but couldn';t get PPM SUM to work..  didn';t spend a lot of time on it.. went back to 2.8 now.. will wait on Alpha methinks..  also new calibration failed on mine.. tried a few times..

[Gaza07]

Thats always the risk with testing beta releases it is a test version to discover bugs 

[Jumpy07]

RC2  now released..

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/downloads/list

[Jumpy07]

ArduCopter 2.9 Final - Intro

[Gaza07]

Cant wait  oh hang on my APM isnt here yet 

[Jumpy07]

RC3 now released........

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/downloads/list

AC2.9 Release candidate #3 is out in the downloads area.    The biggest change should be for APM1 users because we increased the speed of the baro updates and also added some performance improvements.

The other big change is that "surface tracking" is now on by default for people with a sonar enabled.  When a pilot is flying Alt-Hold or Loiter, when we first detect an object below the copter we grab onto it';s distance and for as long as we maintain sonar contact we try to stay at that distance.  If we lose sonar contact completely we just stick at our current altitude.  This surface tracking is not used in auto missions.
In general we hope this works better than the blended sonar+baro altitude hold we had in 2.8.1 because it will allow you to climb hills or flights of stairs even if that takes you far above your home altitude.  Still, it could lead to some unexpected behaviours..for example if your friend hovered a quad below your quad as he/she adjusted his altitude your copter would also move up and down.  If you fly overtop of a tree you may also find that your copter jumps up and down as it detects the different heights of the branches.
Ah, the sonar is also used when landing so if you go into LAND mode above a roof for example, you should do a gentle touch-down on the roof.

List of changes over 2.9-rc2:
1) alt hold with sonar improvements - now on by default
2) performance and memory useage improvements
3) increase APM1 baro pressure read from 5hz to 8.3hz to improve alt hold
4) bug fix: altitude error reported to GCS
5) limit inertial nav';s max accel offset correction to 100cm/s/s to speed up recovery after hard impacts
6) moved rate controllers to run after imu read

[Jumpy07]

RC4 released

ArduCopter 2.9-rc4 12-Jan-2013
Improvements over 2.9-rc3:
1) Smoother transition between manual and auto flight modes
2) bug fix for LAND not actually landing when initiated from failsafe

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/downloads/list

[Jumpy07]

Just tried 2.9 RC4 on my reptile frame..

Felt kinda weird..  dampened / soft...  result was it was very very stable..  was a  quick test with one battery..

Tried alt hold and loiter.. but on both it was inconsistent... but was that way before on stock pids with 2.8
If weathers better tomorrow.. will try some tuning on my throttle rates to see how good PH and alt hold is...   but so far quite impressed...

[Jumpy07]

RC5 Released

ArduCopter 2.9-rc5 15-Jan-2013

Improvements over 2.9-rc4:

1) add constraint to loiter commanded roll and pitch angles
2) relax altitude requirement for take-off command to complete
3) added sonar on/off to ch7 switch
  http://arducopter.googlecode.com/files/ArduCopter-2.9-rc5.zip