PX4 Dev Call: March 25, 2020

Coordination Calls PX4 Autopilot
1

March 25, 2020

Agenda

  • Status update by component/project
  • Roadmap, and Release discussion
  • Community Q&A
  • In-Depth discussions

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Meeting ID: 946 175 205
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Component update

Hardware / Pixhawk

Flight Testing

System Architecture

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/14438

OS / NuttX

  • SPI DMA H7 PX4 NuttX support
  • S32K PX4 NuttX support

Drivers

@dagar wants to switch all the Invensense drivers over to the new driver structure and filtering architecture. It applies to every Invensese powered board (all except NXP) and needs heavy testing such that we can be confident for the release.
By default not using the MPU9250 internal mag anymore but a different internal one if available because it screws up the measurement rate of also accel and gyro of the same chip. Capture in release notes to remind people to recalibrate their mag because it will not be available anymore.

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/14473

Commander

@dagar Is testing arming state machine transition issue where it was in SHUTDOWN state and he could not calibrate anymore. The error is quite confusing. It’s a common problem.

Estimation

  • No complaints about EKF heading estimator.
  • No complaints about the hover thrust estimator being enabled by default.

VTOL

@Roman
Waypoints are tracked in transition mode.
Tries to keep deceleration in back transition.

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/14405

Fixed Wing

@sfuhrer still has the pr open to local position setpoints in the fixed wing position controller. It passed already quite some testing and needs review.

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/14298

It would be nice to have terrain aware landing tested in simulation because we don’t know anymore if it works or if it breaks with this pr. @Jaeyoung-Lim

Multicopter

Auto kill upon attitude divergence detection in the first 3 seconds after takeoff.

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/14428

Passing through waypoints in a straight line is now done with more speed. There was a bug.

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/14476

Integrator wind-up fixed for the acceleration setpoint execution.
VTOL transition needs additional testing because it had to be adjusted.

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/14212

Independent yaw weight and yaw gain.

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/12175

MAVSDK

https://github.com/mavlink/MAVSDK/pull/1021

MAVROS / RTPS / ROS2

@TSC21:

Avoidance

No update

Simulation

  • Changed how the model is spawned in the world. Which allows spawning the same model in different worlds that are aligned also with the correct map coordinates.

https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/pull/14166

https://github.com/PX4/sitl_gazebo/pull/441

Roadmap, and Release discussion

We had the goal to release by the end of March but it currently looks like we slip by week(s).
@dagar wants to have the drivers in a decent and consistent shape for the release which is mostly finished and just needs a lot of testing to settle. Please make sure the necessary issues and bug fixes are in the release blocker project https://github.com/PX4/Firmware/projects/17
Everyone try to push for that board to get emptied and all the remaining things being up to date with master and tested.

In-Depth discussions

  • @david_s5 CI seems to use Astyle 2.x instead of 3.1 which presumably is the stable default version on Ubuntu 18.04. Along with the release we need to get documentation to reference the setup scripts and not mention different packages and or versions. Also we need to use the setup scripts for the CI containers.

Community Q&A

  • ? is asking about gimbal driver, the new gimbal protocol and how to get invloved. @JulianOes summarizes that he’s constantly working on the new gimbal protocol which will replace for the current MOUNT_CONTROL and MOUNT_ORIENTATION MAVLink messages. Timeline for first implementations next few weeks. To get involved from the beginning there will be offline discussions on slack. Pull request for documentation:

https://github.com/mavlink/mavlink-devguide/pull/219

Errata and Feedback

Let me know below if I failed to capture anything the right way, and if there are any updates, or you have feedback on the call format.

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