/
release-notes.txt
1021 lines (877 loc) · 43.9 KB
/
release-notes.txt
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
Rover Release Notes:
--------------------------------
Rover 4.0.0-rc3 08-Nov-2019
Changes from 4.0.0-rc2
1) IMU heater control parameters (see BRD_IMUHEAT_P/I params)
2) Bug Fixes:
a) DO_CHANGE_SPEED fix (was being ignored)
b) SET_YAW_SPEED in Guided mode made consistent with Auto mission command handling (yaw in degrees, speed in m/s)
c) BLHeli fix to RPM calcs and telemetry (aka 0x8000 error)
d) Fence upload is less strict about altitude types (fences don't have altitudes)
e) Pre-arm message fix to reports AHRS/EKF issue (was blank)
f) Sparky2 autopilot firmware available
g) Startup message "AK09916: Unable to get bus semaphore" removed (was not an error)
--------------------------------
Rover 4.0.0-rc2 24-Oct-2019
Changes from 4.0.0-rc1
1) Vehicle stays in Auto mode after completing missions using RTL-within-Auto, Hold-within-Auto
2) Sailboat gets dedicated parameters SAIL_LOIT_RADIUS and SAIL_XTRACK_MAX
3) RTL/SmartRTL fixes:
a) Boats loiter instead of circling at end of RTL/SmartRTL
b) Warning sent to GCS when SmartRTL buffer is nearly full
4) OSD improvements including total distance fix for slow vehicles
5) Bug Fixes and minor enhancements
a) Wheel encoder fix to use both wheel encoders (if present)
b) EKF failsafe and pre-arm checks when only wheel encoders used for non-GPS navigation
c) Follow mode offsets reset to zero when vehicle leaves follow mode
d) FS_OPTIONS parameter allows enabling failsafes to trigger while in Hold mode
--------------------------------
Rover 4.0.0-rc1 01-Oct-2019
Changes from 3.5.2
1) Path Planning for Object Avoidance (aka Bendy Ruler and Dijkstra's) replaces "Dodge" avoidance
2) Complex Fence support (aka stay-out zones)
3) Flight mode changes:
a) LOIT_SPEED_GAIN provides tuning of loiter mode aggressiveness
b) NAV_DELAY command support for clock-based start of mission commands
c) Simple mode (was present in 5.1 but was undocumented and untested)
d) SPEED_MIN parameter allows setting minimum speed during missions (reducing slow down at corners)
4) Sailboat improvements:
a) motor support
b) tacking improvements
c) NMEA windvanes
5) New flight controllers:
a) Hex Cube Orange
b) Holybro Durandal
6) Sensor and peripheral related changes
a) Fuel flow battery battery types
b) IBUS R/C input support
c) "Inflight" compass calibration
d) NTF_BUZZ_VOLUME allows controlling buzzer volume
e) OSD support
f) UAVCAN improvements including dynamic node allocation
g) WS2812 LEDs
h) Yaw from some GPSs
7) Safety Improvements:
a) Improved watchdog logging allows distinguishing between brown-outs from software failures
--------------------------------
Rover 3.5.2 24-Sep-2019
Changes from 3.5.1
1) fixed I2C storm lockup bug on ChibiOS
--------------------------------
Rover 3.5.1 17-May-2019 / 3.5.1-rc1 30-Apr-2019
Changes from 3.5.0
1) WHEEL_DISTANCE mavlink messages sent to ground station and companion computers
2) Bug fixes:
a) EKF compass switching fix for vehicles with 3 compasses
b) Guided's heading-and-speed controller no longer uses land based speed control
c) Pre-arm check fix that all required motors for the frame are configured
d) Prevent loss of active IMU from causing loss of attitude control
e) Added startup check for Hex CubeBlack sensor failure
f) don't reset INS_ENABLE_MASK based on found IMUs
--------------------------------
Rover 3.5.0 06-Feb-2019
Changes from 3.5.0-rc3
1) Bug fixes and minor enhancements
a) Avoid potential divide-by-zero when waypoints are almost in a straight line
b) LOIT_TYPE parameter description fix
--------------------------------
Rover 3.5.0-rc3 30-Jan-2019
Changes from 3.5.0-rc2
1) Fix build issue affecting fmuv2
--------------------------------
Rover 3.5.0-rc2 24-Jan-2019
Changes from 3.5.0-rc1
1) ChibiOS fixes and enhancements to many boards including Pixhawk4
2) EKF failsafe added and checked before entering autonomous modes
3) Object avoidance enabled in autonomous modes (Auto, Guided, RTL)
4) Cruise speed/throttle learning always runs for 2 seconds (saves user from having to lower switch)
5) Boats hold position after reaching target in Auto and Guided (also see MIS_DONE_BEHAVE)
6) MAVLink message interval support (allows precise control of mavlink message update rates)
7) Bug fixes and minor enhancements:
a) DShot ESC support
b) Auxiliary switch 7 parameter copy from CH7_OPTION to RC7_OPTION
c) Wheel encoder offset fix
d) SmartRTL default num points increased to 300
--------------------------------
Rover 3.5.0-rc1 12-Nov-2018
Changes from 3.4.2:
1) ChibiOS provides improved performance and support for many new boards including:
a) F4BY
b) TauLabs Sparky2
c) Furious FPV F-35 lightening and Wing FC-10
d) Holybro KakuteF4
e) Mateksys F405-Wing
f) Omnibus F4 Pro, NanoV6 and F7
g) SpeedyBee F4
2) BalanceBot support
3) Sailboat support
4) OmniPlus, OmniX frame support (vehicles can move laterally using 4 thrusters or wheels)
5) Auxiliary Switches expanded to many channels (see RCx_OPTION parameters)
6) External position estimates accepted from ROS and Vicon systems
7) Mode changes:
a) Follow mode (allows following another vehicle if connected via telemetry)
b) Simple mode (pilot controls direction regardless of vehicle's heading)
c) Loiter can be configured to always drive towards target (i.e. does not reverse) (see LOIT_TYPE parameter)
d) Guided, RTL, SmartRTL will reverse towards target if DO_SET_REVERSE command received (via telemetry or as mission command)
8) Bug fixes and small enhancements:
a) RC and GCS failsafe timeout shortened
b) Object avoidance fix to include all sectors from proximity sensor (aka 360 lidar)
c) Safety switch ability to arm/disarm vehicle now configurable (see BRD_SAFETYOPTION parameter)
d) Onboard OSD support (for ChibiOS-only boards)
e) Gripper support
f) Sprayer support
--------------------------------
Rover 3.4.2 30-Jul-2018 / 3.4.2-rc1 23-Jul-2018
Changes from 3.4.1:
1) bug fix to pivot turn logic during missions
2) dataflash logging improvement to NTUN message
--------------------------------
Rover 3.4.1 04-Jul-2018 / 3.4.1-rc1 12-Jun-2018
Changes from 3.4.0:
1) lane based speed control (vehicle slows to stay close to line between waypoints), WP_OVERSHOOT replaces SPEED_TURN_GAIN
2) MOT_SPD_SCA_BASE allow configuring speed above which speed scaling begins
3) disable acceleration limits when ATC_ACCEL_MAX is zero
4) accept DO_CHANGE_SPEED commands in Auto, Guided, RTL, SmartRTL
5) DPTH dataflash log messages for recording downward facing echosounders on boats
--------------------------------
Rover 3.4.0 12-Jun-2018 / 3.4.0-rc1 01-Jun-2018
Changes from 3.3.1-rc2:
1) Loiter mode for boats
2) Omni rover support (three wheeled rover with lateral movement)
3) vision-position-estimate support for use with ROS
4) Control improvements:
a) reversing control improvements
b) ATC_DECEL_MAX allows deceleration to be faster or slower than acceleration
c) PIVOT_TURN_RATE allows slower pivot turns
d) turn-rate I-term reset when switching in from manual modes
5) NMEA Echosounder support for underwater depth monitoring
6) Bug fixes:
a) fix forward/back acceleration limiting
b) MaxsonarI2C driver fix
--------------------------------
Rover 3.3.1-rc2 12-May-2018
Changes from 3.3.1-rc1:
1) Bug fix use of ATC_STR_RAT_MAX to limit maximum turn rate
--------------------------------
Rover V3.3.1-rc1 09-May-2018
Changes from 3.3.0:
1) Vectored Thrust to improve attitude control for boats with rotating motors
2) minor changes and bug fixes:
a) remove jump forward when transitioning from forward to reverse
b) safety switch allows disarming motors (was disabled in 3.3.0)
--------------------------------
Rover V3.3.0 07-May-2018
Changes from 3.3.0-rc1:
1) default parameter changes
a) TURN_MAX_G reduced from 1.0 to 0.6
b) ATC_STR_ANG_P increased from 1.0 to 2.5 (converts angle error to desired turn rate during pivot turns)
c) ATC_STR_ACC_MAX reduced from 360 to 180 deg/s/s (slows acceleration in pivot turns)
--------------------------------
Rover V3.3.0-rc1 19-Apr-2018
Changes from 3.2.3:
1) Simple object avoidance support
2) Circular and polygon fence support
3) Pivot turn improvements
a) Heading control used to aim at new target
b) ATC_STR_ACC_MAX limits maximum rotational acceleration
c) ATC_STR_RAT_MAX limits maximum rotation rate
4) Allow ACRO mode without GPS for skid-steering vehicles (reverts to manual throttle)
5) MOT_THR_MIN used as deadzone
6) Parameter default changes:
a) PIVOT_TURN_ANGLE default raised from 30 to 60 degrees
b) ATC_STR_RAT_P and I reduced to 0.2
c) ATC_STR_RAT_FILT and ATC_SPEED_FILT reduced from 50hz to 10hz to better match vehicle response time
7) Boats report themselves as boats allowing ground stations to display boat icon on map
8) ChibiOS support
--------------------------------
Rover V3.2.3 09-Apr-2018 / V3.2.3-rc1/rc2 02-Apr-2018
Changes from 3.2.2:
1) Waypoint origin uses previous waypoint or vehicle stopping point
2) Boats send correct mav-type to ground station
3) TURN_MAX_G parameter description updates (allows lower values)
4) fix two-paddle input decoding
--------------------------------
Rover V3.2.2 19-Mar-2018 / V3.2.2-rc1 08-Mar-2018
Changes from 3.2.1:
1) Fix loss of steering control when stopping in Acro and Steering modes
--------------------------------
APM:Rover V3.2.1 29-Jan-2018 / V3.2.1-rc1 24-Jan-2018
Changes from 3.2.0:
1) Fix mode switch logic to allow Auto, Guided, RTL, SmartRTL, Steering, Acro using non-GPS navigation (i.e. wheel encoders, visual odometry)
--------------------------------
APM:Rover V3.2.0 13-Jan-2018
Changes from 3.2.0-rc4:
1) Here GPS/compass default orientation fix (ICM20948)
2) PID values sent to ground station regardless of mode (see GCS_PID_MASK parameter)
3) Steering PID min and max ranges expanded
4) Mavlink message definition update
--------------------------------
APM:Rover V3.2.0-rc4 05-Jan-2018
Changes from 3.2.0-rc3:
1) Steering controller supports feed-forward (reduces wobble)
2) WP_SPEED, RTL_SPEED parameters allow speed independent of CRUISE_SPEED
3) Dataflash logging improvements for steering and throttle
4) Remove auto-trim at startup
5) GPS reports healthy even without 3d lock
---------------------------------
APM:Rover V3.2.0-rc3 05-Dec-2017
Changes from 3.2.0-rc2:
1) SmartRTL mode (retraces path back to home)
2) Acro mode (pilot controls speed and turn rate)
3) Guided mode ROS integration fixes
4) Steering mode allows pivot turns
5) Auto mode pivots on sharp corners
6) Aux switch allows arming/disarming and mode change
7) PILOT_STEER_TYPE parameter allows controlling turn direction when backing up
8) Mixer change to allow steering to use full motor range (removes need for MOT_SKID_FRIC)
---------------------------------
APM:Rover V3.2.0-rc2 28-Oct-2017
Changes from 3.2.0-rc1:
1) MOT_SKID_FRIC parameter allows increasing power for skid-steer vehicle pivot-turns
2) Bug Fixes:
a) speed nudging fix in AUTO mode
b) throttle slew range fix (was slightly incorrect when output range was not 1100 ~ 1900)
c) PID desired and achieved reported to GCS when GCS_PID_MASK param set to non-zero value
d) use-pivot fix to use absolute angle error
---------------------------------
APM:Rover V3.2.0-rc1 25-Aug-2017
Changes from 3.1.2:
1) Skid-steering vehicle support added (i.e. tank track or R2D2 style vehicles)
2) Brushless motor support
3) Improved speed/throttle and steering controllers:
a) layered P and PID controllers with optional feedforward, input filtering and saturation handling (reduces unnecessary I-term build-up)
b) forward-back acceleration limited (see ATC_ACCEL_MAX parameter)
c) pro-active slowing before waypoint in order to keep overshoot at or below WP_OVERSHOOT distance
d) proper output scaling for skid-steering vs regular car steering controls
e) TURN_RADIUS parameter added to allow better control of turn in Steering mode
f) speed along forward-back axis used instead of total ground speed (resolves unusual behaviour for boats being washed downstream)
4) Auxiliary switch changes (see CH7_OPTION parameter):
a) "Save Waypoint" saves the current location as a waypoint in all modes except AUTO if the vehicle is armed. If disarmed the mission is cleared and home is set to the current location.
b) "Learn Cruise" sets the THROTTLE_CRUISE and SPEED_CRUISE parameter values to the vehicle's current speed and throttle level
5) Wheel encoder supported for non-GPS navigation (can also be used with GPS)
6) Visual Odometry support for non-GPS navigation (can also be used with GPS)
7) Guided mode improvements:
a) for SET_ATTITUDE_TARGET accepts quaternions for target heading, valid thrust changed to -1 ~ +1 range (was previously 0 ~ 1)
b) COMMAND_LONG.SET_YAW_SPEED support fixes (thrust field accepted as target speed in m/s)
c) SET_POSITION_TARGET_GLOBAL_INT, _LOCAL_NED fixes and added support for yaw and yaw-rate fields
8) Bug Fixes:
a) resolve occasional start of motors after power-on
b) steering mode turn direction fix while reversing
c) reversing in auto mode fixes (see DO_REVERSE mission command)
----------------------------------------------------------
Release 3.1.2, 15 March 2017
============================
Minor bugfix release.
- Crashing detection is off by default
- DISARMing of a rover via the transmitter stick works again
- If a user was driving in reverse in Manual and went into an AUTO
mode the rover would do the mission in reverse. This is fixed.
Release 3.1.1, 31 January 2017
==============================
Minor bugfix release for a crash bug in the SRXL driver
Release 3.1.0, 22 December 2016
===============================
The ArduPilot development team is proud to announce the release of
version 3.1.0 of APM:Rover. This is a major release with a lot of
changes so please read the notes carefully!
A huge thanks to ALL the ArduPilot developers. The Rover code
benefits tremendously from all the hard work that goes into the Copter
and Plane vehicle code. Most of the code changes in this
release were not specifically for Rover however because of the
fantastic architecture of the ArduPilot code Rover automatically gets
those enhancements anyway.
Note that the documentation hasn't yet caught up with all the changes
in this release. We are still working on that, but meanwhile if you
see a feature that interests you and it isn't documented yet then
please ask.
The PX4-v2 build has had CANBUS support removed due to firmware size
issues. If Rover users want CANBUS support you will need to install
the PX4-v3 build located in the firmware folder here:
http://firmware.ap.ardupilot.org/Rover/stable/PX4/
EKF1 has been removed as EKF2 has been the long term default and is
working extremely well and this has allowed room for EKF3.
EKF3 is included in this release but it is not the default. Should
you want to experiment with it set the following parameters:
AHRS_EKF_TYPE=3
EK3_ENABLE=1
but note it is still experimental and you must fully understand the
implications.
New GUIDED Command
------------------
Rover now accepts a new message MAV_CMD_NAV_SET_YAW_SPEED which has an
angle in centidegrees and a speed scale and the rover will drive based
on these inputs.
The ArduPilot team would like to thank EnRoute for the sponsoring of
this feature
http://enroute.co.jp/
COMMAND_INT and ROI Commands
----------------------------
COMMAND_INT support has been added to Rover. This has allowed the
implementation of SET_POSITION_TARGET_GLOBAL_INT,
SET_POSITION_TARGET_LOCAL_NED and DO_SET_ROI as a COMMAND_INT
The ArduPilot team would like to thank EnRoute for the sponsoring of
this feature
http://enroute.co.jp/
Reverse
-------
Its now possible in a mission to tell the rover to drive in
Reverse. If using Mission Planner insert a new Waypoint using "Add
Below" button on the Flight Plan screen and select from the Command
drop down list you will see a new command "DO_SET_REVERSE". It takes 1
parameter - 0 for forward, 1 for reverse. It's that simple. Please give
it a try and report back any success or issues found or any questions
as well.
The ArduPilot team would like to thank the Institute for Intelligent
Systems Research at Deakin University
(http://www.deakin.edu.au/research/iisri16) for the sponsoring of the
reverse functionality.
Loiter
------
This changes brings the LOITER commands in line with other ArduPilot
vehicles so both NAV_LOITER_UNLIM and NAV_LOITER_TIME are supported and are
actively loitering. This means for instance if you have set a boat to
loiter at a particular position and the water current pushes the boat off
that position once the boat has drifted further then the WP_RADIUS
parameter distance setting from the position the motor(s) will be
engaged and the boat will return to the loiter position.
The ArduPilot team would like to thanko MarineTech for sponsoring this
enhancement.
http://www.marinetech.fr
Note: if you currently use Param1 of a NAV_WAYPOINT to loiter at a
waypoint this functionality has not changed and is NOT actively loitering.
Crash Check
-----------
Rover can now detect a crash in most circumstances - thanks Pierre
Kancir. It is enabled by default and will change the vehicle into HOLD
mode if a crash is detected. FS_CRASH_CHECK is the parameter used to
control what action to take on a crash detection and it supports
0:Disabled, 1:HOLD, 2:HoldAndDisarm
Pixhawk2 heated IMU support
---------------------------
This release adds support for the IMU heater in the Pixhawk2,
allowing for more stable IMU temperatures. The Pixhawk2 is
automatically detected and the heater enabled at boot, with the target
IMU temperature controllable via BRD_IMU_TARGTEMP.
Using an IMU heater should improve IMU stability in environments with
significant temperature changes.
PH2SLIM Support
---------------
This release adds support for the PH2SLIM variant of the Pixhawk2,
which is a Pixhawk2 cube without the isolated sensor top board. This
makes for a very compact autopilot for small aircraft. To enable
PH2SLIM support set the BRD_TYPE parameter to 6 using a GCS connected
on USB.
AP_Module Support
-----------------
This is the first release of ArduPilot with loadable module support
for Linux based boards. The AP_Module system allows for externally
compiled modules to access sensor data from ArduPilot controlled
sensors. The initial AP_Module support is aimed at vendors integrating
high-rate digital image stabilisation using IMU data, but it is
expected this will be expanded to other use cases in future releases.
Major VRBrain Support Update
----------------------------
This release includes a major merge of support for the VRBrain family
of autopilots. Many thanks to the great work by Luke Mike in putting
together this merge!
Much Faster Boot Time
---------------------
Boot times on Pixhawk are now much faster due to a restructuring of
the driver startup code, with slow starting drivers not started unless
they are enabled with the appropriate parameters. The restructuring
also allows for support of a wide variety of board types, including
the PH2SLIM above.
This release includes many other updates right across the flight
stack, including several new features. Some of the changes include:
- log all rally points on startup
- the armed state is now logged
- support added for MAV_CMD_ACCELCAL_VEHICLE_POS
- support MAVLink based external GPS device
- support LED_CONTROL MAVLink message
- support PLAY_TUNE MAVLink message
- added AP_Button support for remote button input reporting
- support 16 channel SERVO_OUTPUT_RAW in MAVLink2
- added MAVLink reporting of logging subsystem health
- added BRD_SAFETY_MASK to allow for channel movement for selected channels with safety on
- lots of HAL_Linux improvements to bus and thread handling
- added IMU heater support on Pixhawk2
- allow for faster accel bias learning in EKF2
- added AP_Module support for loadable modules
- merged support for wide range of VRBrain boards
- added support for PH2SLIM and PHMINI boards with BRD_TYPE
- greatly reduced boot time on Pixhawk and similar boards
- fixed magic check for signing key in MAVLink2
- fixed averaging of gyros for EKF2 gyro bias estimate
- added support for ParametersG2
- support added for the GPS_INPUT mavlink message
Release 3.0.1, 17 June 2016
===========================
The ArduPilot development team is proud to announce the release of
version 3.0.1 of APM:Rover. This is a minor release with small but
important bug fix changes.
The two main motivations for this release
1. Fixing the arming for skid steering Rovers
2. Fix to the rover steering that should really improve steering of
all rovers.
Skid Steering Arming
--------------------
Fixed arming for Skid Steering rovers. You should now be able to arm
your skid steering rover using the steering stick. NOTE skid steering
Rovers - you will not be able to disarm. The reason for this is zero
throttle full left turn is a perfectly valid move for a skid steering
rover as it can turn on the spot. You don't want to be executing this
and have the rover disarm part way through your turn so we have
disabled disarming via the steering stick. You can still disarm from
the GCS. Thanks to Pierre Kancir for working on this.
Improved Steering Control
-------------------------
For historical reason's the steering controller was using the raw GPS
data for ground speed without any filtering. If you have every graphed
this data you will see on a rover its very spiky and all over the
place. This spiky'ness was feeding into the lateral accel demand and
causing inaccuracies/jitters. Now we using the EKF GPS filtered data
which is much smoother and accurate and the steering control has
greatly improved.
Improved Cornering
------------------
Previously when corning we didn't take into account any "lean or tilt"
in the rover - we assumed the turns were always flat. We have changed
this to now take into account any lean so turning should be more
accurate. Boat users should really benefit from this too.
MAVLink2 support has been added
-------------------------------
See this post by Tridge -
http://discuss.ardupilot.org/t/mavlink2-is-in-ardupilot-master/9188/1
The other changes in this release are:
- setting your sonar_trigger_cm to 0 will now log the sonar data but
not use it for vehicle avoidance.
- the throttle PID is now being logged
- range finder input is now being captured (thanks to Allan Matthew)
- added LOG_DISARMED parameter
- merge upstream PX4Firmware changes
- numerous waf build improvements
- numerous EKF2 improvements
Release 3.0.0, 5 April 2016
===========================
The ArduPilot development team is proud to announce the release of
version 3.0.0 of APM:Rover. This is a major release with a lot of
changes so please read the notes carefully!
A huge thanks to ALL the ArduPilot developers. The Rover code
benefits tremendously from all the hard work that goes into the Copter
and Plane vehicle code. Most of the code changes in this
release were not specifically for Rover however because of the
fantastic architecture of the ArduPilot code Rover automatically get's
those enhancements anyway.
Note that the documentation hasn't yet caught up with all the changes
in this release. We are still working on that, but meanwhile if you
see a feature that interests you and it isn't documented yet then
please ask.
The 3.x.x releases and above DON'T support APM1/APM2
----------------------------------------------------
This release DOES NOT SUPPORT the old APM1/APM2 AVR based boards. The
issue is the amount of effort required to keep the new code ported to
the old platforms. We are very sorry this has to occur and if there
is someone who is willing and technically capable of doing this work
then please let us know.
There will be a discussion created on ArduPilot forums where people
can request features in the new code be backported to the APM code to
run on the AVR boards and if it is reasonably easy and they are
willing to do the beta testing we will do our best to make it happen.
EKF2 - New Kalman Filter
------------------------
Paul Riseborough has been working hard recently on the new
EKF2 variant which fixes many issues seen with the old estimator. The
key improvements are:
- support for separate filters on each IMU for multi-IMU boards
(such as the Pixhawk), giving a high degree of redundency
- much better handling of gyro drift estimation, especially on
startup
- much faster recovery from attitude estimation errors
After extensive testing of the new EKF code we decided to make it the
default for this release. You can still use the old EKF if you want to
by setting AHRS_EKF_TYPE to 1, although it is recommended that the new
EKF be used for all vehicles.
In order to use the EKF we need to be a bit more careful about the
setup of the vehicle. That is why we enabled arming and pre-arm checks
by default. Please don't disable the arming checks, they are there for
very good reasons.
UAVCAN new protocol
-------------------
The uavcan change to the new protocol has been a long time coming, and
we'd like to thank Holger for both his great work on this and his
patience given how long it has taken to be in a release. This adds
support for automatic canbus node assignment which makes setup much
easier, and also supports the latest versions of the Zubax canbus GPS.
Support for 4 new Boards
------------------------
The porting of ArduPilot to more boards continues, with support
for 3 new boards in this release. They are:
- the BHAT board
- the PXFmini
- the QualComm Flight
- the Pixracer
More information about the list of supported boards is available here:
http://dev.ardupilot.org/wiki/supported-autopilot-controller-boards/
Startup on a moving platform
----------------------------
One of the benefits of the new EKF2 estimator is that it allows for
rapid estimation of gyro offset without doing a gyro calibration on
startup. This makes it possible to startup and arm on a moving
platform by setting the INS_GYR_CAL parameter to zero (to disable gyro
calibration on boot). This should be a big help for boats.
Improved Camera Trigger Logging
-------------------------------
This release adds new CAM_FEEDBACK_PIN and CAM_FEEDBACK_POL
parameters. These add support for separate CAM and TRIG log messages,
where TRIG is logged when the camera is triggered and the CAM message
is logged when an external pin indicates the camera has actually
fired. This pin is typically based on the flash hotshoe of a camera
and provides a way to log the exact time of camera triggering more
accurately. Many thanks to Dario Andres and Jaime Machuca for their
work on this feature.
PID Tuning
----------
You can now see the individual contributions of the P, I and D
components for the Steering PID in the logs (PIDY), allowing you to
get a much better picture of the performance.
Vibration Logging
-----------------
This release includes a lot more options for diagnosing vibration
issues. You will notice new VIBRATION messages in MAVLink and VIBE
messages in the dataflash logs. Those give you a good idea of your
(unfiltered) vibration levels. For really detailed analysis you can
setup your LOG_BITMASK to include raw logging, which gives you every
accel and gyro sample on your Pixhawk. You can then do a FFT on the
result and plot the distribution of vibration level with
frequency. That is great for finding the cause of vibration
issues. Note that you need a very fast microSD card for that to work!
More Sensors
------------
This release includes support for a bunch more sensors. It now supports
3 different interfaces for the LightWare range of Lidars (serial, I2C
and analog), and also supports the very nice Septentrio RTK
dual-frequency GPS (the first dual-frequency GPS we have support
for). It also supports the new "blue label" Lidar from Pulsed Light
(both on I2C and PWM).
For the uBlox GPS, we now have a lot more configurability of the
driver, with the ability to set the GNSS mode for different
constellations. Also in the uBlox driver we support logging of the raw
carrier phase and pseudo range data, which allows for post RTK
analysis with raw-capable receivers for really accurate photo
missions.
Better Linux support
--------------------
This release includes a lot of improvements to the Linux based
autopilot boards, including the NavIO+, the PXF and ERLE boards and
the BBBMini and the new RasPilot board.
On-board compass calibrator
---------------------------
We also have a new on-board compass calibrator, which also adds calibration
for soft iron effects, allowing for much more accurate compass
calibration.
Lots of other changes!
----------------------
The above list is just a taste of the changes that have gone into this
release. Thousands of small changes have gone into this release with
dozens of people contributing. Many thanks to everyone who helped!
Other key changes
-----------------
- fixed the MAV_CMD_DO_SET_HOME (thanks salonijain12)
- fixed bug when reverse throttle would increase speed in AUTO
- fixed a bug going into guided and rover still moving
- loitering at a waypoint if Param1 is non-zero
- update uavcan to new protocol
- fixed reporting of armed state with safety switch
- added optional arming check for minimum voltage
- improved text message queueing to ground stations
- re-organisation of HAL_Linux bus API
- improved NMEA parsing in GPS driver
- improved autoconfig of uBlox GPS driver
- support a wider range of Lightware serial Lidars
- improved non-GPS performance of EKF2
- improved compass fusion in EKF2
- improved support for Pixracer board
- improved NavIO2 support
- added BATT_WATT_MAX parameter
- enable messages for MAVLink gimbal support
- use 64 bit timestamps in dataflash logs
- added realtime PID tuning messages and PID logging
- fixed a failure case for the px4 failsafe mixer
- added DSM binding support on Pixhawk
- added vibration level logging
- ignore low voltage failsafe while disarmed
- added delta velocity and delta angle logging
- allow steering disarm based on ARMING_RUDDER parameter
- prevent mode switch changes changing WP tracking
- fixed parameter documentation spelling errors
- send MISSION_ITEM_REACHED messages on waypoint completion
- enable EKF by default on rover
- Improve gyro bias learning rate for plane and rover
- Allow switching primary GPS instance with 1 sat difference
- added NSH over MAVLink support
- added support for mpu9250 on pixhawk and pixhawk2
- Add support for logging ublox RXM-RAWX messages
- lots of updates to improve support for Linux based boards
- added ORGN message in dataflash
- added support for new "blue label" Lidar
- switched to real hdop in uBlox driver
- improved auto-config of uBlox
- raise accel discrepancy arming threshold to 0.75
- improved support for tcp and udp connections on Linux
- switched to delta-velocity and delta-angles in DCM
- improved detection of which accel to use in EKF
- improved auto-detections of flow control on pixhawk UARTs
- added HDOP to uavcan GPS driver
- improved sending of autopilot version
- log zero rangefinder distance when unhealthy
- added PRU firmware files for BeagleBoneBlack port
- fix for recent STORM32 gimbal support
- changed sending of STATUSTEXT severity to use correct values
- added new RSSI library with PWM input support
- fixed MAVLink heading report for UAVCAN GPS
- support LightWare I2C rangefinder on Linux
- improved staging of parameters and formats on startup to dataflash
- added new on-board compass calibrator
- improved RCOutput code for NavIO port
- added support for Septentrio GPS receiver
- support DO_MOUNT_CONTROl via command-long interface
- added CAM_RELAY_ON parameter
- moved SKIP_GYRO_CAL functionality to INS_GYR_CAL
- new waf build system
- new async accel calibrator
- better rangefinder power control
- dataflash over mavlink support
- settable main loop rate
- hideable parameters
- improved logging for dual-GPS setups
- improvements to multiple RTK GPS drivers
- numerous HAL_Linux improvements
- improved logging of CAM messages
- added support for IMU heaters in HAL_Linux
- support for RCInput over UDP in HAL_Linux
- improved EKF startup checks for GPS accuracy
- added raw IMU logging for all platforms
- configurable RGB LED brightness
- improvements to the lsm303d driver for Linux
Release 2.50, 19 June 2015
==========================
The ardupilot development team has released version 2.50 of
APM:Rover. This release is mostly a backend improvement to ArduPilot
but a few new features and bug fixes are included.
Re-do Accelerometer Calibration
-------------------------------
Due to a change in the maximum accelerometer range on the Pixhawk all
users must re-do their accelerometer calibration for this release.
Only 3D accel calibration
-------------------------
The old "1D" accelerometer calibration method has now been removed, so
you must use the 3D accelerometer calibration method. The old method
was removed because a significant number of users had poor experiences.
Changes in this release are:
- CLI_ENABLED parameter added so the CLI can now be accessed
in Rover
- PID logging for the steering controller. It its now
possible to graph what the P, I and D are doing as your
driving the rover around to enable much better tuning of the
vehicle.
- Transition from .pde file to .cpp files for improved
development.
- GIT Submodules created for PX4Firmware, PX4Nuttx and uavcan
git repositories for improved development.
- Followme mode now works for Rover
- GUIDED mode significantly improved. If you have a GCS which is in
Followme mode if the user then changes mode with the RC transmitter to
HOLD or anything else then the Rover will STOP listening to the
Followme updated guided mode waypoints.
- When going into GUIDED mode the rover went into RTL - this
is fixed.
- Added EKF_STATUS_REPORT MAVLink message
- 64-bit timestamps in dataflash logs
- Numerous EKF improvements
- Added support for 4th Mavlink channel
- Added support for raw IMU logging
- updated Piksi RTK GPS driver
- improved support for GPS data injection (for Piksi RTK GPS)
- The SITL software in the loop simulation system has been completely
rewritten for this release. A major change is to make it possible to
run SITL on native windows without needing a Linux virtual
machine. (thanks Tridge)
Release 2.49, March 4th 2015
----------------------------
The ardupilot development team has released version 2.49 of
APM:Rover. This release is a bug fix release with two important bugs
found by Marco Walther - Thanks Marco!
The bug fixes in this release are:
- fixed a sonar problem where objects to the left wouldn't be
identified - thanks Marco Walther!
- Fixed the ordering of the AP_Notify call so the main indicator
light would be correct on startup - thanks Marco Walther!
Release 2.48, February 20th 2015
--------------------------------
The ardupilot development team has released version 2.48 of
APM:Rover. This release is a bug fix release with some important bugs
found by the users of ardupilot.
The changes in this release are:
- fixed a bug that could cause short term loss of RC control with
some receiver systems and configurations
- allowed for shorter sync pulse widths for PPM-SUM receivers on
APM1 and APM2
- fix an issue where battery reporting could be intermittent (thanks
Georgii Staroselskii!)
- fixed a mission handling bug that could cause a crash if jump
commands form an infinite loop (thanks to Dellarb for reporting
this bug)
- improved support for in-kernel SPI handling on Linux (thanks to John Williams)
- support UAVCAN based ESCs and GPS modules on Pixhawk (thanks to
Pavel, Holger and and PX4 dev team)
- Multiple updates for the NavIO+ cape on RaspberryPi (thanks to
Emlid)
- Lots of EKF changes
- added support for MAVLink packet routing
- added detection and recovery from faulty gyro and accel sensors
- added support for BBBMini Linux port
- increased number of AVR input channels from 8 to 11
- auto-set system clock based on GPS in Linux ports
- added SBUS FrSky telemetry support (thanks to Mathias)
- Added AK8963 MAG support (thanks Staroselskii Georgii)
- Added support for second battery
- Auto formatting of SDCard if it cannot be accessed on startup
- A number of significant performance improvements for the PX4 platform
The most important bug fix is the one for short term loss of RC
control. This is a very long standing bug which didn't have a
noticeable impact for most people, but could cause loss of RC control
for around 1 or 2 seconds for some people in certain circumstances.
The bug was in the the AP_HAL RCInput API. Each HAL backend has a flag
that says whether there is a new RC input frame available. That flag
was cleared by the read() method (typically hal.rcin->read()). Callers
would check for new input by checking the boolean
hal.rcin->new_input() function.
The problem was that read() was called from multiple places. Normally
this is fine as reads from other than the main radio input loop happen
before the other reads, but if the timing of the new radio frame
exactly matched the loop frequency then a read from another place
could clear the new_input flag and we would not see the new RC input
frame. If that happened enough times we would go into a short term RC
failsafe and ignore RC inputs, even in manual mode.
The fix was very simple - it is the new_input() function itself that
should clear the flag, not read().
Many thanks to MarkM for helping us track down this bug by providing
us with sufficient detail on how to reproduce it. In Marks case his
OpenLRSng configuration happened to produce exactly the worst case
timing needed to reproduce the issue. Once Tridge copied his OpenLRS
settings to his TX/RX he was able to reproduce the problem and it was
easy to find and fix.
A number of users have reported occasional glitches in manual control
where servos pause for short periods in past releases. It is likely
that some of those issues were caused by this bug. The dev team would
like to apologise for taking so long to track down this bug!
The other main change was also related to RC input. Some receivers use
a PPM-SUM sync pulse width shorter than what the APM1/APM2 code was
setup to handle. The OpenLRSng default sync pulse width is 3000
microseconds, but the APM1/APM2 code was written for a mininum sync
pulse width of 4000 microseconds. For this release we have changed the
APM1/APM2 driver to accept a sync pulse width down to 2700
microseconds.
Auto format of SD Card
======================
From time to time the SD cards in the PX4 autopilots get corrupted.
This isn't a surprise considering what we do to them. Your all
familiar with the windows "please unmount or eject your SDCard before
removing" process. Well we don't do that. In fact normal operation
is to just pull the power on the SDCard - whilst its being written
too!! Not to metion the horrible vibration rich environment the
SDCard exists in. If the autopilot is setup in the internal innards
of your plane/copter/rover this can be a nightmare to get to. To
resolve that problem Tridge has added code at startup so when
ArduPilot tries to mount to SDCard to access it - if that fails it
will then try to format the SDCard and if successful mount the card
and proceed. If the format fails then you will get the usual SOS
Audio that makes most of us want to find the buzzer and rip its heart
out.
I mention this in case anyone has precious logs saved on the SDCard or
they are using the SDCard out of their phone with their wedding
photo's on it. Probably best not to do that and assume any data on
the SDCard can be deleted.
We are also looking to add a parameter to control whether the card is
auto formatted on startup or not but it isn't in there yet.
Release 2.47, November 15th 2014
--------------------------------
The ardupilot development team is proud to announce the release of
version 2.47 of APM:Rover. This is a minor bug fix release. The most
important change in this release is the fixing of the skid steering
support but there have been a number of fixes in other areas as well.
Full changes list for this release:
- add support for controlling safety switch on Pixhawk from ground station
- prevent reports of failed AHRS during initialisation
- fixed skid steering that was broken in the last release
- report gyro unhealthy if gyro calibration failed
- fixed dual sonar support in CLI sonar test
- fixed Nuttx crash on Pixhawk with bad I2C cables
- added GPS_SBAS_MODE parameter - turns on/off satellite based augemtation system for GPS
- added GPS_MIN_ELEV parameter - specifiy the elevation mask for GPS satellites
- added RELAY_DEFAULT parameter to control default of relay on startup
- fixed bug in FRAM storage on Pixhawk that could cause parameters changes not to be saved
- better handling of compass errors in the EKF (Extended Kalman Filter)
- improved support for linux based autopilots
- added support for PulsedLight LIDAR as a range finder
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this release, especially
Tom Coyle and Linus Penzlien for their excellent testing and feedback.
Happy driving!
Release 2.46, August 26th 2014
------------------------------
The ardupilot development team is proud to announce the release of
version 2.46 of APM:Rover. This is a major release with a lot of new
features and bug fixes.
This release is based on a lot of development and testing that
happened prior to the AVC competition where APM based vehicles
performed very well.
Full changes list for this release:
- added support for higher baudrates on telemetry ports, to make it
easier to use high rate telemetry to companion boards. Rates of up
to 1.5MBit are now supported to companion boards.
- new Rangefinder code with support for a wider range of rangefinder
types including a range of Lidars (thanks to Allyson Kreft)
- added logging of power status on Pixhawk
- added PIVOT_TURN_ANGLE parameter for pivot based turns on skid
steering rovers
- lots of improvements to the EKF support for Rover, thanks to Paul
Riseborough and testing from Tom Coyle. Using the EKF can greatly
improve navigation accuracy for fast rovers. Enable with
AHRS_EKF_USE=1.
- improved support for dual GPS on Pixhawk. Using a 2nd GPS can
greatly improve performance when in an area with an obstructed
view of the sky
- support for up to 14 RC channels on Pihxawk
- added BRAKING_PERCENT and BRAKING_SPEEDERR parameters for better
breaking support when cornering
- added support for FrSky telemetry via SERIAL2_PROTOCOL parameter
(thanks to Matthias Badaire)
- added support for Linux based autopilots, initially with the PXF
BeagleBoneBlack cape and the Erle robotics board. Support for more
boards is expected in future releases. Thanks to Victor, Sid and
Anuj for their great work on the Linux port.
- added StorageManager library, which expands available FRAM storage
on Pixhawk to 16 kByte. This allows for 724 waypoints, 50 rally
points and 84 fence points on Pixhawk.
- improved reporting of magnetometer and barometer errors to the GCS
- fixed a bug in automatic flow control detection for serial ports
in Pixhawk
- fixed use of FMU servo pins as digital inputs on Pixhawk
- imported latest updates for VRBrain boards (thanks to Emile
Castelnuovo and Luca Micheletti)
- updates to the Piksi GPS support (thanks to Niels Joubert)
- improved gyro estimate in DCM (thanks to Jon Challinger)
- improved position projection in DCM in wind (thanks to Przemek