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Re: AW: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 5:43 pm
by Simson
Hi Max,

thanks for your quick reply.
You're right. ...I've deleted the params.txt from the uSD Card and then the M4V2 saved the values to the permanent memory.
That's very interesting to know. I didn't spot that in the older firmwares, because I'm often change values with the Android Groundstation.
I guess, the best is to not safe the params.txt to the uSD Card, right? Otherwise it will always pick up the values from the uSD Card.....
In terms of the OSD Firmware I'm using right now the one from here (James):

viewtopic.php?p=15020#p15020

From the AQ I use UART 1 -TX- on the N4 Board to -RX- from the OSD Micro MinimOSD.
Actually I can't use RX and TX together for the OSD, due to 3DR Telemetry connected on UART1.
It would be great, if you could have a look in the code from James and hopefully you are able to change it, that I can always see the RSSI Value in my Groundstation.
Alternatively "bluuu" posted a few days ago his code of an alternative Firmware.
This one would be also great for my application. Important is the Baudrate of 115.200, because then I'm able to use it for the Bluetooth, the 3DR Telemetry and the OSD.

viewtopic.php?p=36397#p36397

Hopefully you can find a solution for me. Thank you very much.
Cheers, Harry

Re: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:57 pm
by Max
Hi Harry,

Yea the params to SD can be both useful and annoying. I spent a good 15 minutes the other day trying to figure out why my params did not seem to be saved, and the loaded ones looked like params from another AQ. Finally dawned on me that I had put an SD card in with an old params.txt on it (I was debugging another problem and assumed for a while that it was related). It was more useful before saving params from QGC actually worked. I think the params on SD feature could use some updating.

Let's move the OSD topic to that thread... I posted a suggested code addition there. I didn't look at James' version, but I imagine it would be the same.

Cheers,
-Max

Re: AW: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:05 am
by Simson
Hi Max,

I really like the new features in the new firmware and the new possibilities in the QGC.
I found out, that in the meantime Waypoint Recording is also possible; that's great, I'm looking forward to check that out.
One question remains open for me. Is Follow me mode also implemented in the newer firmwares, or is it still a "special " firmware?
Right now I can't find it as an option in QGC.
Cheers, Harry

Re: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 1:24 am
by Max
Hi Harry,

Thanks, glad you like it. "follow-me" is not in this version yet... I do have "go-to" feature in the works and some other related stuff (QGC 1.7 is ready for it), but they're not compatible with the current Android app. I thought Peter (sandmen) would be adding support for it, but haven't heard from him in a long time. Unfortunately I don't have access to the source so I can't make the changes myself either.

The current plan/implementation introduces a new "guided mode" which accepts nav commands from an external source like a GCS. This ads a margin of safety against remote takeover or other possibly nasty side effects of just accepting any external navigation command via unsecured Mavlink. It allows ad-hoc temporary wpt commands (like "follow me"), remote takeoff/land/RTH requests, and some other improvements.

Cheers,
-Max

Re: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:40 pm
by jason0999
Hi Max I have been using your latest Firmware release for a few days now and have yet to encounter any issues many thanks for the hard work and time you invest.

Re: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 7:36 am
by Max
Thanks Jason, report appreciated!

Based on feedback so far and my own extensive testing, I don't think any bugs remain in this firmware update.

The only change I have pending is that the QUATOS_TAU parameter shouldn't be RC-adjustable because the value is only used at startup anyway. Never realized that, and didn't even have it marked in QGC as "requires restart," which it does.

The one thing I ran into which could be a bit confusing is the "use adjusted values when saving params to flash" feature. If you have this enabled, then pull the changed params to QGC, then try to make changes and save them back to the AQ, things can get a bit confused, especially if the onboard values are still being affected by RC.

Has anyone else run into this? I'm not exactly sure how to handle it, besides recommending that you don't send the changed params from QGC back to AQ in such cases (it's OK to load/refresh them to check values, just don't save them back to AQ). Either save the current onboard values to flash directly (sticks or using button in GCS), or disable the "use adjusted values" option and do all the final changes manually. Perhaps disabling this feature by default would be a good idea, if it might confuse users.

Thanks,
-Max

Re: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Sat Mar 19, 2016 4:09 pm
by pilotnbr1
Hi Max,
Very nice work! I have not tried it yet- I will let you know as I seem to be the minority ubuntu user here :D

Any plans to impliment a way to manually fly the m4 via mavlink? I would like to throw away my transmitter and fly with an xbox type controller paired with a raspberry pi which already runs WifiBroadcast.

Thanks again!

Luke

Re: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Sat Mar 19, 2016 11:14 pm
by Max
Hi Luke, thanks. AQ shouldn't care what OS you run, but I really want to know if the Linux QGC builds work for anyone.

I don't have any plans for remote control like you describe. To be honest I'm not sure why anyone would want to use a game controller to fly a MR -- even the simulators are hard for me to fly with a gamepad, and they all recommend using a real Tx anyway. But I didn't grow up with a game controller in my hands... I realize some people can probably thread a needle using one. Also mine's a Logitech, maybe that's the problem.... :D

I'm thinking of setting up a site/page where people could contribute to sponsoring my work on the project, and perhaps also vote on desired features. It would be interesting to get a real take on what people care about/want most.

Cheers,
-Max

Issue with Gimbal parameters

PostPosted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 1:59 pm
by nigelUNO
Hi,
I've tried to use the Gimbal feature with the new firmware on M4 v2.

But when I try to reverse the PITCH or ROLL (I use the new Ground Station) the parameter was not written (with minus sign) and the system returns an error (GMBL_SCAL_PITCH and/or GMBL_SCAL_ROLL out of range).

The new ground station does not permit (I think) to save the GMBL_SCAL_PITCH/ROLL parameters reversed (with minus sign)

Any hint?

Ciao

Luca

Re: RC-adjustable parameters firmware update

PostPosted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:58 pm
by Max
Hi Luca, welcome to the forums, and thanks for reporting this!

Actually it was a firmware bug with the new config setup. I just published a fix. The new builds are running now and will be @ ftp://ftp.autoquad.org/3/334693_22529/a ... trol/next/

BTW all these changes have been integrated into 'next' branch. Full list @ https://github.com/mpaperno/aq_flight_c ... CHANGES.md

Cheers,
-Max