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RPM Filter
Bidirectional DSHOT is a new feature in Betaflight 4.0 which enables the flight controller to receive high frequency RPM telemetry for each motor on the ESC motor signal line. It does not require any additional wiring or an additional telemetry back-channel. Each DSHOT frame from the FC gets acknowledged by a frame from the ESC containing the current eRPM. The FC needs to know the motor pole count to convert to RPM.
The RPM filter is a bank of 36 notch filters on gyro and Dterm which takes advantage of this high frequency RPM telemetry data to implement a motor harmonics filter which removes motor noise with surgical precision. In its default configuration it runs 12 notch filters each on pitch, roll, and yaw, covering the first 3 harmonics of each motor's RPM for the gyro filter bank.
These two features are currently supported by BLHeli_32 and require an update to the latest firmware. See References
Here's a demo of the feature in flight. Quad has minimal filtering other than the rpm filter, handles very well and shows close to no prop wash: https://youtu.be/jwFYaGHp91c, https://youtu.be/SoG245vmaLo
If the RPM Filter is enabled but one or more of the ESC's are not supplying valid telemetry data, then arming will be prevented with the RPMFILTER message (see Arming Sequence & Safety). This is in place to prevent arming with incomplete or non-working configurations that may result in flyaways or hot motors due to the non-functioning filtering. See the sections below to ensure the ESC's are properly configured to support this feature.
In order for RPM Filtering to work, BLHeli_32 beta firmware is required to enable the Bidirectional DShot protocol. This is not available in the BLHeli_32 configurator yet, and must be downloaded and selected in the flashing interface. BetaFlight 4.0 and 4.0.x requires the BLHeli_32 32.6.4 firmware. BetaFlight 4.1 nightly builds (test) requires the more recent 32.6.5+ firmware. The Bidirectional DShot protocol is different in 4.1 and is based on an inverted protocol, so it is important that you match the correct version of BLHeli_32 to the version of Betaflight you are running. Download the correct firmware for your ESC brand/model by right clicking on "Raw" and choosing "Save As", and flash it onto all four ESCs. You will need to select the firmware file separately for each ESC as it will default to the most recent stable version of BLHeli.
Remove any extended startup melody if you have configured one for the ESCs since that currently interferes with Bidirectional DSHOT. The standard startup tones will work fine.
The ESCs report eRPM, which needs to be converted to RPM using the number of magnets of the motors. These are found on the bell of the motor, not the stator magnets where the windings are located. Typical 5" motors have 14 magnets, so that is the default setting. Smaller motors have fewer magnets, often 12. Count them or look up the motor specs and configure using the following command in the CLI if you don't have 14 magnets:
set motor_poles=xx where xx is the number of magnets you counted.
Check the table at the bottom of this page to see if your target is supported. Some boards require a reconfiguration of timer or dma channels. Additionally since the rpm filter removes motor noise so effectively we have developed a set of filter defaults optimized for use with the rpm filter. Both changes plus conservative selections of DSHOT600 and a gyro frequency of 4k are included in a board specific snippet which is liked in the table.
We've added a bit of tuning for optimal prop wash handling which should be ideal for new installs but might change the tune of an existing quad. These are included in the NEW snippets. Use the UPGRADE snippets for existing already tuned quads where you just want to enable the rpm filter. Click on the snippet for your board and cut/paste the commands into the CLI.
Don't be discouraged if your target isn't listed. Many targets will work. Use this Default Snippet, try it out and report back.
Beware of issue https://github.com/betaflight/betaflight/issues/8019: a diff of the config after applying the snippet will currently not cleanly reproduce the config when applied to a clean install. To fix this take any dma pin lines in the snippet and reapply them after applying your diff.
Now your FC is set up for bidirectional dshot. You now need to verify that it works. To do so power cycle FC and ESC. Connect the lipo first to the ESC, then the USB cable. Open the CLI and enter status. For BF 4.1 builds use the command dshot_telemetry_info instead. You should now see bidirectional dshot statistics similar to this:
Dshot reads: 145267
Dshot invalid pkts: 36
Dshot irq micros: 5
Dshot RPM Motor 0: 0
Dshot RPM Motor 1: 0
Dshot RPM Motor 2: 0
Dshot RPM Motor 3: 0
The number of invalid packets should not exceed 1% of all Dshot reads. All motors should report an RPM of 0.
Type exit to leave the CLI. Go to the motors tab and let all motors spin very slowly. Go back to the CLI and repeat the status command. Now your output should look like this:
Dshot reads: 505108
Dshot invalid pkts: 8
Dshot irq micros: 4
Dshot RPM Motor 0: 106
Dshot RPM Motor 1: 112
Dshot RPM Motor 2: 107
Dshot RPM Motor 3: 111
Note that the motors have to actually be spinning at the time you check with the status command for a non-zero RPM to be reported.
If so you're ready for your first test flight! Log to blackbox if you can. The snippet sets the debug_mode to rpm_filter which allows you to see the live rpm of your quad in your blackbox log.
If your board is supported the board snippet should get you up in the air with very effective default settings. Below is a description of more advanced topics which explains some of the setting in the config snippets.
Bidirectional DSHOT works with DSHOT 300, 600 and 1200, and also with Proshot 1000. Remember, though, that for each frame sent there will now be a frame coming back, and between input and output frames there is a period of 25us to switch the line, DMA, and timers. The loop time selection needs to be low enough that given the DSHOT protocol rate both frames + 50 us fit into one gyro loop iteration.
Both bidirectional DSHOT and the RPM filter are fairly CPU intensive and it is very important for the loop rates to be exactly on spot so that the filters get tuned to the right frequencies. It is recommended to run at 4k/4k. All DSHOT speeds should work at that loop rate.
On F4, RPM telemetry costs about 3-4uS per motor per line direction change. So something around 24-32uS for the line direction switching both directions together. The RPM filter has 36 notch filters that get dynamically tuned at 1000Hz update frequency. So running at 8k/8k can get tight.
First install the BLHeli_32 test firmware on your ESCs. Also switch off any extended startup melody since that currently interferes with bidirectional DSHOT. The standard startup tones will work fine though.
The current implementation requires normal DMA to be used, not burst DMA. This may or may not work with a given FC. You can simply try it out:
set dshot_burst=off
And test whether your quad still flies. If so proceed to the next step:
Since the RPM filter works with very narrow notch filters, it's imperative that the gyro loop time does not vary and is exactly as specified. This used to require low loop rates and overclocking. A scheduler change has now been added, which allows consistent gyro rates even at higher loop rates. Bidirectional DSHOT requires enabling this feature:
set scheduler_optimize_rate=on
set dshot_bidir=on
See if your motors still spin up. If so try detach the USB cable, connect a battery and reconnect USB. Now go to the CLI and type status. You should see DSHOT telemetry being reported. The reported RPM should be zero for each motor and there should be few errors.
The ESCs report eRPM, which needs to be converted to RPM using the number of poles (magnets) of the motors. These are found on the bell of the motor, not the stator magnets where the windings are located. Typical 5" motors have 14 poles, so that is the default setting. Smaller motors have fewer poles, often 12. Count them or look up the motor specs and configure using:
set motor_poles=14
Important:
After enabling all of the above features double check that your loop rate is consistent. If not select a lower loop rate. Remember that unlike effective filtering, loop time has very minimal effect on flight performance.
To do so enter tasks in the CLI and check that the gyro rate matches what you have specified (Note: Battery should be connected to FC to get accurate loop rate results). For example:
# tasks
Task list rate/hz max/us avg/us maxload avgload total/ms
00 - ( SYSTEM) 10 1 0 0.5% 0.0% 0
01 - ( SYSTEM) 1000 3 1 0.8% 0.6% 522
02 - ( GYRO/PID) 7999 43 34 34.8% 27.6% 2845
03 - ( ACC) 1000 12 10 1.7% 1.5% 107
04 - ( ATTITUDE) 100 17 10 0.6% 0.6% 11
05 - ( RX) 32 34 32 0.6% 0.6% 12
06 - ( SERIAL) 100 851 3 9.0% 0.5% 8
08 - (BATTERY_VOLTAGE) 50 4 2 0.5% 0.5% 1
09 - (BATTERY_CURRENT) 50 1 1 0.5% 0.5% 0
10 - ( BATTERY_ALERTS) 5 3 2 0.5% 0.5% 0
11 - ( BEEPER) 100 2 1 0.5% 0.5% 1
14 - ( BARO) 43 98 66 0.9% 0.7% 34
15 - ( ALTITUDE) 40 7 3 0.5% 0.5% 1
17 - ( TELEMETRY) 250 1 0 0.5% 0.0% 27
19 - ( OSD) 60 21 13 0.6% 0.5% 9
21 - ( CMS) 60 1 1 0.5% 0.5% 0
22 - ( VTXCTRL) 5 1 1 0.5% 0.5% 0
23 - ( CAMCTRL) 5 1 1 0.5% 0.5% 0
25 - ( ADCINTERNAL) 2 3 1 0.5% 0.5% 0
26 - ( PINIOBOX) 19 1 1 0.5% 0.5% 0
RX Check Function 2 1 0
Total (excluding SERIAL) 46.0% 37.1%
You need to check the GYRO/PID line:
02 - ( GYRO/PID) 7999 43 34 34.8% 27.6% 2845
In this case we have the Gyro/PID configured in 8k/8k and this line show us that it is executing at a rate of 7999Hz. This must be very, very close to the 8k value (8000Hz). A recommendation will be maintain the error under the 1%.
There are two blackbox debug modes to verify the RPM filter: RPM_FILTER logs the frequency of each motor as reported by the ESC. DSHOT_RPM_TELEMETRY logs the unconverted eRPM.
The RPM filter will do the heavy lifting without adding much latency. Typically only the Dterm lowpass filter and the dynamic notch are additionally needed to remove broad background noise and frame resonances, respectively. You should remove the filters in stages, test hovering and flying after each change to verify that your motors are not getting too hot. running quick black box logs and looking at the gyro spectra graphs to see if you suddenly gain any massive noise spikes is also a good idea and more useful that just running Plasma Tree graphs as your PT graphs are going to look worse as you turn stuff off but this is to be expected as you reduce the overall filter levels. please also note the absolute numbers and number of filters turned off were reached using a very clean high power to weight racing quad with good props... Lastly do not turn off all the Dterm filtering, doing this is a very bad idea
The first thing to do is to get a good 4.0 tune. I don't recommend dumping in some one else filtering settings with out first tuning your quad on 4.0 as it is. basically running RPM filtering in its optimised state means you have very little actual filtering and for this to work well you are going to need a mechanically sound build that doesn't have de-lamitated arm, loose bolts, a bad gyro chip or cooked motor bearing. by starting with a quad tuned with out the RPM filtering you can simply move to turning off the un needed filters and then optimise them a little.
now on to the tuning of filtering using the Bi Directional Dshot
remember to test fly every single stage of this process
first filter to turn off is the stage2 Dterm lowpass filter.
set dterm_lowpass2_hz = 0
Next is to slim up the dynamic notch filter. We recommend setting dynamic notch width to 0, this gives you the classic single notch filter, not the cascaded version.
set dyn_notch_width_percent = 0
Now you need to set the minimum frequency and range for the dynamic notch filter. On a typical 5” racer, a dynamic min of 200hz and range of medium should be fine, a heavier acro quad 150hz would be a good start but for a larger quad with 6-7” props, you might need to set the min to 100hz and range to low. A black box log will verify this, basically you are looking for the frequency of the idle motor noise.
set dyn_notch_range = medium
set dyn_notch_min_hz = 200
If the quad is very clean, you can likely get away with the dynamic notch Q of 200-250 (stock is 120). This makes the notch narrower and produce less latency.
set dyn_notch_q = 200
Next is gyro lowpass filtering. Remember there are both static and dynamic gyro lpfs, if you turn off the dynamic it will revert to a static lowpass and you need to turn that off too.
set gyro_lowpass_hz = 0
set dyn_lpf_gyro_max_hz = 0
If your quad doesn't like this and your motors get too hot, reenable the static gyro lowpass filter and change its type to PT1 to at least reduce its latency by a small amount.
set gyro_lowpass_hz = 150
set gyro_lowpass_type = PT1
Lastly, you should be able to push the dynamic Dterm lowpass filtering up a bit higher, you need it so don’t turn it off, but you can increase the min/max and make some big savings to the overall filter latency. Stock settings for min/max are 150Hz and 250Hz, respectively. Starting with the max, you can try to push it to 300 or even 400Hz.
set dyn_lpf_dterm_max_hz = 300
Once that is set, you can try pushing the min up to 200Hz. If this is too high, you will get a grinding noise from your motors at idle, and if that happens, simply lower it back to 150Hz.
set dyn_lpf_dterm_min_hz = 200
UPDATE I'm leaning towards a min of 150hz
It is possible to run the dynamic notch filter off if you lower your Dterm lowpass enough, but this removes any filtering that can react to external influences, e.g. wind. I had a near flyaway while testing this on a really windy day where the wind gusts were stirring up the motors enough to not descend on idle throttle.
Finally, I do recommend using the D only TPA (aka TDA, which is now the default in 4.0) using a strong rate cut of 60-80% (default 50%) and the threshold at 1750 (default 1500). This way, you still have strong D for pulling out of prop wash, but it also cuts nice and sharply for high throttle runs.
set tpa_rate = 80
set tpa_breakpoint = 1750
Note: The RC Smoothing fix for FrSky section has been moved to the 4.0 Tuning Notes page.
| Target | New Install Snippet | Upgrade Snippet | Notes | Supported Motors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AG3XF4 | new | upgrade | M1 - M4 (tested Mister_M) | |
| AIKONF4 | new | upgrade | M1 - M4 (tested fujin) | |
| ALIENFLIGHTNGF7 | new | upgrade | M3 doesn't work, use one of M5-9 instead. LED doesn't work with M1 | M1-M2, M4-M9 |
| ALIENWHOOP | new | upgrade | M1-M4 | |
| ANYFCF7 | new | upgrade | M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M9 | |
| ANYFCM7 | new | upgrade | M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M7 M9 M10 | |
| BETAFLIGHTF4 | new | upgrade | M1 - M4 ok (tested Balint) | |
| CLRACINGF4 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 ok | |
| CLRACINGF7 | new | upgrade | Motor 4 doesn't work. Use the LED pad instead | M1 M2 M3 M5 |
| DALRCF4 | new | upgrade | M1-M6 (tested QuadMcFly) | |
| DALRCF722DUAL | new | upgrade | M1-M6. But either M5 or M6 | |
| DYSF4PRO | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested BRadFPV) | |
| ELINF405 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested elin-neo) | |
| ELINF722 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested elin-neo) | |
| EXF722DUAL | new | upgrade | M1-M8 | |
| FLYWOOF7DUAL | new | upgrade | M1-M6 | |
| FORTINIF4 | new | upgrade | M1-M4(tested QuadMcFly) | |
| FOXEERF722DUAL | new | upgrade | M1-M6 | |
| FURYF4 | new | upgrade | M1-M4, No LED support, Tested RawFPV | |
| FURYF7 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 | |
| HAKRCF722 | new | upgrade | M1-M6 | |
| KAKUTEF4V2 | new | upgrade | ||
| KISSFCV2F7 | new | upgrade | M1-M6 | |
| LUXF4OSD | new | upgrade | ||
| MATEKF405 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 tested (Wudz_17) | |
| MATEKF722 | new | upgrade | M1-M8 | |
| MATEKF722SE | new | upgrade | M5 does not work | M1-M4, M6-M8 |
| MLTEMPF4 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested RC2 monko760) | |
| NERO | new | upgrade | M1-M8 | |
| NOX | new | upgrade | M1-M4 | |
| NUCLEOF7 | new | upgrade | M4 does not work but can be replaced with M6 | M1-M3,M6 |
| NUCLEOF722 | new | upgrade | M4 does not work but can be replaced with M6 | M1-M3,M6 |
| OMNIBUSF4 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested omerco) | |
| OMNIBUSF4SD | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested joe lucid) | |
| OMNIBUSF4FW | new | upgrade | M1-M4 tested (skonk) | |
| OMNIBUSF7 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested in RC2 IgguT) | |
| OMNINXTF7 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 | |
| PYRODRONEF4 | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested fujin) | |
| REVOLTOSD | new | upgrade | M1-M4 (tested JayBird) | |
| SPRACINGF7DUAL | new | upgrade | M1-M10 | |
| YUPIF7 | new | upgrade | M1-M6 |
Please add additional verified configurations here.
| Target | Notes |
|---|---|
| MAMBAF722 | Requires DSHOT burst and only 2 motors will spin with it OFF |
A test version of blheli32 with erpm telemetry on signal line support is now available. Download your ESC firmware for your target from BLHeli_32 Test code Rev32.6.X hex files folder where X is the current test revision.