CRIUS AIOP v2 - Altitude hold based on MS5611 barometer

Some notes about the barometer included in the CRIUS AIOP flight controller and the importance of covering it with dark foam. I read some times about foam covering and I interpreted it as a way of getting more precise measurements, I expected to have some variance (cms, or 1, 2 meters as much)  if  you didn't cover it, but in fact it is absolutely necessary for being able to trust altitude measurements. Altitude is used in almost all common flight modes but Stailize and Acro (Auto, Altitude Hold, RTL, Loiter... )

The barometer used in CRIUS AIOP v2 is the MS5611-01BA03. This is an update from the MS5611-01BA01 used in previous versions of CRIUS board, but apart from the change from ceramic to metal case and slightly better response to variations in supply voltage, the specifications are same.

Having a quick look at the datasheet you see that the pressure calculated value depends on temperature, as the sensitivity of the sensor varies with it. Indeed there is a different calculation method for pressure when the temperature is below 20 degrees. This should not worry much if you fly in a cold day as long as the tempreature at the sensor remains more or less constant, but it would worry me if the temperature at the sensor suffers a dramatic change, say from 20 to 15 degrees in a very short time (due to a fresh air flow from the props for instance). It could easily led you from an altitude value of 10m to 500m, with the corresponding reaction from the copter....This kind of issue is what you can suffer if the sensor is exposed to sunlight or propwash.

I learned it by the hard way, the first flight with the sensor completely exposed gave me altitude values that varied as much as 500m from one momment to the other, just imagine the reactions from the multicopter when I was on any auto mode. 

In this log it can be seen the variations of 500m while trying to do a RTL (throttle in blue represent the reactions to such an altitude change, red is altitude, green is desired altitude)

So I covered the sensor with foam and introduced all the electronics into a dark box. I tried before just covering the sensor, but the altitude values were jumpy sometimes due to sunligth, for example one day I suffered a crash when the weather changed from foggy to shiny while copter was in the air. Conclusion: both air flow from propwash and sunligth produce important variations in temperature at the sensor, and in measured pressure therefore, so keep it calm and dark.

after that changes the values from the sensor were quite precise and now I can enjoy of rock solid loiters and auto missions. Here an example of the last log, you can't even distinguish the line of the desired altitude behind the real altitude:

And here a video demonstration of the perfect Loiter performance:

Quadcopter data:

- CRIUS AIOP v2
- MPNG 3.0.1 R2 firmware
- NTM 800kv 300W motors
- Graupner 12x6 props
- Rctimer 30A ESC with Simonk.