V1.3.0 beta testing

@dogmaphobic

Heres the difference on a phantom 3 which is much better results since DJI knows when there cameras trigger.

Here the error is virtually constant, as I would expect from a digital system.

@dogmaphobic

That was using APM flying about 16 m/s with a seagull trigger cable and sony wx500. This is the issue we get with these PWM trigger systems on APM and the we eliminate it using the camera feedback system. When mapping we use auto exposure mode on bright days and shutter priority on cloudy days for best results. The camera feedback system eliminates all of the issues and the dots line up correctly.

Here is a cannon S110 with the camera feedback.

My guess is that if you use manual focus and manual exposure, you would have zero errors and no need for a feedback system. The variance in error is caused by the camera focusing and computing exposure. I donā€™t see a reason to have automatic anything on these. Turn off all ā€œautoā€ anything. Just have the lens set to infinity, the aperture down a few stops to minimize edge distortion and calibrate the sensor sensitivity (ISO) accordingly. Unless you are shooting during a solar eclipse, there canā€™t be enough light variation to require adjustments.

@Justin_Cooper @dogmaphobic Letā€™s move the camera discussion here: Camera Interfacing & Triggering

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There have been plenty of studies on this topic and the results are always the same. If your not shooting in one of these two modes your results generally turn out visually very bad when compared. We always want focus set to infinity when mapping. Thatā€™s why APM had such a big push for the feedback systems.

For all non-camera people: Iā€™m not aware of big open issues or significant missing features for the 1.3.0 release. If you think something is still wrong, please raise it. Otherwise please help us test as much as possible and share your experience and log files.

I did some flying yesterday which ended in a Fly Away I had to terminate using the Kill-Switch. No major damage to the copter. I assume this was caused due to improper mounting/calibration of the Flight Controller combined with a loss of GPS Signal Quality. Iā€™ll maybe have the chance to test again tomorrow.

@LorenzMeier Iā€™ll send you the link to the UAVentures Log file, just in case.

  • Could you clarify the behaviour of MAX VEL / MAX CRUISE? Which will be used for RTL? I assume MAX VEL?
  • What about the erratic request to Press safety switch first?
  • Could you clarify on the behaviour of Return (Geofence) vs. Return to Land i.e. on Command Link Loss?

Iā€™m currently at your log file, thanks!

If you are only using the Pixracer mag you might not be able to get decent performance. The interferences in the center of the frame are typically significant and you want the GPS including a mag to be on a mast for good performance.

The velocity is set by VEL CRUISE. Max is just the upper limit. I have not seen another report on the safety switch and canā€™t reproduce. Iā€™ve updated the param meta data to clearly state that the Geofence option is ā€œReturn to Landā€ and Iā€™ve removed the flight termination option from the drop-down since its a pro feature.

Everything seems good from my testing outside of issues already noted

Noticed two things (dry Tests Indoor):

  • When Powering up via USB and attaching the Battery later it will always deny to Arm with Very Low Battery Alert even if Battery is full.

  • I could arm and fly when having no GPS Signal (0 Sat with GPS attached - Basement = no Signal for uBlox 6M) while having GPS Circuit Breaker disabled.

F450 with Pixracer RC14 latest BETA Build.

@Andreas_Hoffmann None of that seems wrong. If you donā€™t boot with battery the voltage measurement results will undefined. And flying manual without GPS is always supported.

@LorenzMeier

i found an issue. I am setting up a new airframe a flying wing and modifying Phantom wing pitch PIDs in attitude control. Every time I power cycle the gains revert back to originl gains of the phantom wing. If i just power cycle the plane and leave QGC open it does not matter what values I enter the plane does not use them. I have to restart QGC and enter new PIDs every time I power cycle the plane. I didnt have this issue on thursday. I am changing PIDs over 915 mhz radio.

sys_autoconfig is set to 0 and same with restart type

@LorenzMeier Does this mean that even if no GPS Signal is present I can always arm? I agree that flying without GPS (connected) should be supported, but then the Circuit Breaker has to be set. I thought this would prevent arming when a GPS Module present but no Lock aquired. If this is not the case I would suggest implementing an option where arming without 3D Lock would be denied. To make the comparison with DJI, it is clearly visible if Home Point Set and GPS Lock aquired by the Status LED.

You stated the GPS circuit breaker was disabled, so that would mean you can arm without GPS. I have the GPS circuit breaker set to 0 and I cannot arm in my basement.

@LorenzMeier

Another issue is if I want select a different airframe I have to apply the new frame multiple times before it takes effect.

@LorenzMeier

Actually it continually reverts back to all previous setting and airframe on restart, so we cannot Shane airframes or parameters.

@LorenzMeier

I fixed the issue I was having at least temporarily. Hereā€™s what I had to do.

  1. Uninstall daily build QGC and install 2.9.4 stable
  2. Flash stable px4 firmware
  3. Flash new airframe to reset all settings
  4. Install daily build of QGC
  5. Confirm all setting have changed then flash px4 beta firmware from beta build of QGC
  6. Load my parameters and restart
  7. Itā€™s asking me to recalibrate all of my sensors but the sensor icon is not red.

Everything seems to be working again now after that procedure.