Date Released: June 22nd, 2022
Subject: Emergency Disarm bug in Astro firmware v1.0.21
Effectivity: Effective immediately
Required Action: Update Astro aircraft and Herelink controller to firmware version 1.1.11 immediately before next flight or take mitigation actions to set correct parameters on firmware version 1.0.21
INTRODUCTION
This Service Bulletin is being issued to alert all Astro operators that Freefly has found a software bug in Astro firmware version 1.0.21 that affects the emergency stop function in Auterion Mission Control (v1.021 was launched with the Astro Base units). This bug is fixed in firmware version 1.1.11.
BACKGROUND
The Freefly Astro running Auterion Mission Control (AMC) on the Ground Control Station has a feature where the user can activate an emergency stop action at any time- this disarms the motors in the event of an out-of-control aircraft (activating this in air will result in a crash).
It was found in internal testing that aircraft running firmware 1.0.21 may experience motors going to maximum throttle for 3 seconds if emergency stop mechanism is used. The root cause of this issue is a code failure setting the failsafe PWM values on the IO processor.
In the failure scenario, if the user selects emergency kill in AMC and then confirms via swipe, the motors go to full power for 3 seconds before the batteries return to hotswap mode and fault, shutting down the drone.
The correct behavior should be: If the user selects emergency kill in AMC and then confirms via swipe, the motors would shut off and the aircraft disarms.
DISCUSSION
The issue has been resolved in Astro firmware 1.1.11 which is already released. Users are strongly encouraged to update firmware on both the Astro aircraft and Herelink controller immediately. Note: The Herelink Ground Control Station must get firmware updated in order to work with new Astro firmware 1.1.11
In the specific cases where users can’t update and must continue flying on 1.0.21, the following work around should be used- Configure the following parameters as specified:
These parameters would need to be reapplied if the drone parameters are reset. Updating 1.1.11 is the preferred solution.
How to download firmware:
Where to download firmware:
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