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Hey All,

I have been reading about getting solo running on Arducopter master and seem to be getting conflicting information. On the one hand there is Philip Rowse and the green ph2.1 that is supposed to be released (soon) that should be able to run Arducopter master.

However there are videos out there demonstrating solo running on master from over a year ago. See the following video from Randay Mackay running Solo on Master from December 2015:
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. .

Another one showing solo running on master:
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.

So my question is: what is going on? If I try to compile master and upload it to solo, how come it no longer works when these two examples show it working? Am I missing something in terms of the make commands?

I have been following these two guides: 3DR Solo (Developer Information) — Dev documentation and Building ArduPilot for Pixhawk/PX4 on Linux with Make — Dev documentation.

I would really appreciate some insight!
 
Hey All,

I have been reading about getting solo running on Arducopter master and seem to be getting conflicting information. On the one hand there is Philip Rowse and the green ph2.1 that is supposed to be released (soon) that should be able to run Arducopter master.

However there are videos out there demonstrating solo running on master from over a year ago. See the following video from Randay Mackay running Solo on Master from December 2015:
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
. .

Another one showing solo running on master:
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
.

So my question is: what is going on? If I try to compile master and upload it to solo, how come it no longer works when these two examples show it working? Am I missing something in terms of the make commands?

I have been following these two guides: 3DR Solo (Developer Information) — Dev documentation and Building ArduPilot for Pixhawk/PX4 on Linux with Make — Dev documentation.

I would really appreciate some insight!
I'm not up completely on the merging of the 2, but seems to me you can run master, but would not have the Solo specific gimbal controls. And that is what is needed to make it worthy. Otherwise, you can run master and it would operate the same as any other DIY running the same FW.
 
I believe there are some other issues besides the gimbal interface. Issues that make it unsafe. I believe it will also run the risk of roasting the ESCs. I couldn't name the issues today, but I know it's not recommended, even if you can live with the lack of gimbal control.
 
From what I understand a lot of it has to do also with the incompatibility of the companion computer on Solo's PH2. As I haven't tried doing any of this I'm just relaying what I'm reading on the Arducopter forum.
 
IMO, no net gain and a whole lot of pain. I've ordered the "green cube" and will apply "master" at that point.
Like the little green dude says...:)
42a0c868fad26ccebf123244cf6da8b5.jpg
 
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I'm trying to update the solo firmware and I just want to clarify the "arducopter master" that you guys are talking about. Is it the firmware from arducopter's master branch (ardupilot/ArduCopter at master · ArduPilot/ardupilot · GitHub) or the 3DR custom arducopter in (ardupilot-solo/ArduCopter at master · 3drobotics/ardupilot-solo · GitHub).

From what I understand, installing the firmware from ardupilot causes the solo to not speak to the controller. But with the pixhawk 2.1 this is not a problem?

I'm new to this forum so I apologize if I am not following specific posting etiquette.
 
Because 2.1 is not designed for the Solo specifically, it's designed as a DIY solution. The Green Cube will be the updated Solo FC if it comes out (I still have my reservations) and should work out of the box with Solo is my understanding. Now, whether or not you can run solo firmware on 2.1 is unclear. That may be possible but 2.1 is suffering from more delays so I've not heard of anyone trying it this way.
 
So when you talk about ardupilot master, you meant the general firmware and not the custom FW that 3DR wrote?
 
Master refers to the current release version of Arducopter. Which as of today is 3.4.4. It can only be safely and correctly used on non Solo pixhawks. For custom built rigs, not the solo. Efforts are underway to modify master for use on the solo. And when it gets there, the ProfileCNC "green cube" solo special pixhawk will be required in your solo.

The Solo's current stock modified pixhawk requires the Solo specific branch of Arducopter which was based off of Arducopter master 3.2 from about a year ago. It has its own version numbers. The current solo branch Arducopter consumer release that comes with the firmware update via the Solo app is v1.3.1. You can unofficially grab solo branch Arducopter latest release from 3DR's GitHub which is v1.5.3. It is pushed automatically for Site Scan commercial users. So us using it is unofficial but allowed and works fine.
 
Some additions:
Master refers to the most current Arducopter codeline, which is currently 3.5. The most current build is 3.5-RC1, followed by RC2 later this week for beta testing. (RC= release candidate)
This codeline includes support for the new features of Pixhawk 2.1, such as the pre-heated IMUs, RTK and many other new stuff.

Currently it will not work with all Solo features, since the necessary Solo specific hooks have not been ported over from the 3DR Solo branch of the code into Master.

In my humble opinion it will run on the Solo stock Pixhawk in future as well as on the "green cube" Someone may prove me wrong, but I could not find any coding yet which makes it incompatible with the Solo stock Pix. Of course you need to copy the Solo params to the AC firmware such as the Max_Throttle settings to save your ESCs from overpowering.
 
The problem I've been reading is that that current master branch will not run the companion computer onboard the original Solo.
 
You're both right from my understanding. There is the issue of motor output programming, which goes beyond just the max PWM value parameter. I believe you can work around it somehow, but IDK what that procedure is. Over my head. And there is the issue of smart shots. If you run AC Master, the smart shots will not have control of the gimbal. You will have manual control of the gimbal tilt with the paddle like normal. But smart shots will not.

At some point in the future, AC Master will have the necessary changes to work with the solo. It will likely require the Pixhawk 2.1 Green Cube to work. And there is no scheduled date for that. It's just smart guys working on it in their free time, as with most everything with ArduPilot.
 
According to Philip, here's the commit AP_Motors: Allow adjustment of thrust priority parameters · 3drobotics/ardupilot-solo@e79654d · GitHub that is not found in ArduPilot and is the software workaround for a hardware flaw in PH2.0.
Hmmm the commit was done in September on the Sitescan branch. Never made it into the consumer Solo firmware. Doesn't convince me that this fixed a hardware flaw - at least not for the 99.9% of Solo pilots happily flying out there today.
 
That commit I'm not sure is really related to the compatibility issue. Those commits related to the thrust priority over yaw priority in a low battery situation. Which is one of the cool new features in 1.5.3 we've been talking about lately. I didn't see anything in those commits related to the ESC problems.
 
My understanding is the cube and test code in March sometime
The more I read into the code, the more my impression becomes that the "green cube" is more a marketing move to get people buy stuff. And it's delayed anyway. Technically I don't see a reason why you would not be able to run master on any Pixhawk, including the stock Solo cube.
The 3.5 version still lacks the hooks into the Artoo code. March will be optimistic I guess.
 
why would you do a marketing ploy on a community product with little to no profit margin
 

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