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dRonin 2017-07-17 Release ("Neat")
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@mlyle mlyle released this 17 Jul 18:42
· 1037 commits to next since this release
Release-20170717
1283f27

It's been a long time coming--- but we're pleased to announce the new "Neat" release of the dRonin flight controller firmware and ground control station.

A lot has changed, so please read the release notes carefully.

Please see the documentation at: http://dronin.org/docs/

@jhitesma has produced an excellent upgrading video that you may want to watch if this is your first time upgrading dRonin.

Jump ahead to: Changes / Errata & troubleshooting

Major changes since last release:

  • Core flight firmware improvements
    • "NeoTune" next generation cross-correlation based tune algorithm yields better results-- even in the presence of vibration and other anomalies.
    • Improved sensor filtering implemented in the Sensor module.
    • Improvements to attitude estimation performance in the presence of vibration.
    • Support 4WIF passthrough for ESC programming across 'MSP' protocol interface.
    • Improvements to realtime behavior and removal of jitter.
    • Mixer architecture changes improve performance and allow custom mixers that use "accessory" data across outputs (and lays the groundwork for future control improvements).
    • Several fixes made to telemetry/configuration protocol performance across flight and GCS.
  • Changes in supported targets
    • Support added for PikoBLX micro flight controller
    • Support added for Seriously Pro F3 EVO ("SPRF3E") and various clones (e.g. FrSky XSRF3E). Note that only the "EVO" SPRF3 variants are supported.
    • REMOVED SUPPORT FOR F1 FLIGHT CONTROLLERS (CC3D, NAZE). Use "Artifice" for these controllers.
  • Target improvements
    • Support for WS2811/2812 LEDs added to select F3 targets (Lux, SPRF3E)
    • DShot using DMA implemented for OSD targets (original Brain, Seppuku, and BrainRE1)
    • Improvements to on screen display reliability on original Brain and Seppuku flight controllers.
    • Various improvements to the AQ32 target: flash erase, DAC annunciation, and WS2811 features. However, PWM RX support was removed.
    • Moved all Invensense targets to a common, improved sensor driver.
    • Simulation/flyingpi: move to OS-native threading model instead of embedding ChibiOS; put the simulator binaries for ARM and x86 in the Linux packages.
  • External hardware support
    • Support for TBS Crossfire receiver protocol
    • Preliminary support for OmniPreSense millimeter-wave radars.
    • Improvements to IBus protocol reliability.
  • Miscellaneous
    • Simple UI added for annunciator (LED, buzzer) settings.
    • Various bugfixes and performance improvements.
    • Improvements to UI styling.

Errata & Troubleshooting

  • THIS RELEASE REMOVES SUPPORT FOR F1 FLIGHT CONTROLLERS (CC3D, NAZE). Use "Artifice" for these controllers.
  • USB/F4: A long-standing bug prevents reconnecting the flight controller by USB without a FC reset (e.g. when powered by external power). This can worsen communications when using a flaky USB cable. We intend to devote significant effort to fixing this soon.
  • Windows: Windows XP is no longer supported; Windows Vista or later is required for operation.
  • Windows: If you are on Windows Vista, 7, or 8 and receive a message "api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer," please see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2999226
  • Windows: If you are unable to communicate with the flight controller after plugging it in, please see this procedure for a possible solution.
  • OS X: OS X Version 10.9 ("Mavericks") or later is required to run GCS.
  • OS X: the application is unsigned; it is necessary to open Applications, right-click on dRonin GCS and select Open on the first launch.
  • Linux: NOTE THE UDEV RULES HAVE CHANGED ONCE AGAIN you will have to install .udev rules for the device. The .deb package attempts to do this automatically. To do this manually (e.g. from the tarfile), download the rules and then sudo cp dronin-linux_Release-20170717.udev /etc/udev/rules.d/45-dronin-permissions.rules && sudo udevadm control --reload-rules . Also please ensure your user is in both the plugdev and dialout groups as is appropriate for your distribution.
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