Autonomous flight

[Bill Schroeppel]

Here's my questions about an app with autonomous flight, when flying in autonomous flight mode, I have dbs Mods, does the RC need to be pointing at the quad? If it goes behind a building or tree, will it automatically RTH or does it continue regardless of obstructions. Does the quad communicate with the RC, or is it pretty much on it's own until it completes the waypoints? During the flight, what happens if the controller looses contact with the quad? Is it going to continue the mission or RTH? I'm just don't totally understand this autonomous fight thing.

 

[bbfpv]

it will complete the mission w/ or w/o signal. it would be pretty pointless otherwise, don't you think?

 

[Bill Schroeppel]

True, but what happens if you take it out to far and the RC looses connection, does it RTH or continue the mission? Is RTH built into the quad or the controller?

 

[n6vmo]

True, but what happens if you take it out to far and the RC looses connection, does it RTH or continue the mission? Is RTH built into the quad or the controller?

As I understand it, that will depend on the 'Action' you set at the last way point and the distance from the RC . If no action is specified, then the P3 will hover until low battery, or if the last way point is out of RC range and no action is specified, the P3 will then RTH on its own.

 

[ScatSpeak]

I can confirm that the autonomous mission will continue even if communication to the RC is lost - this is because the mission is uploaded to the P3x and stored locally for execution there. I always plan my autonomous mission so that it returns to the starting waypoint location (or some other location close by and assured to have strong connection).

Of course, your mission plan must take into consideration flight time and battery power because you don't want the P3x to be out of RC contact and become low battery that causes it to abort the mission and land wherever it is at that time.

 

[n6vmo]

This weekend, I noticed that during a Litchi autonomous orbit, I lost RC early into the orbit and the P3 performed an RTH. After thinking about that for a while, I believe that is the way the orbit works. When flying the radius of the orbit, you can easily get out of RC range, then you may have no control to end the orbit.

Maybe some else can confirm this orbit RC issue.

 

[BigAl07]

As stated above (at least from what I've tested thus far) the Flight Controller will complete the mission with or without the controller being in contact. For this reason you need to make sure your flight data (altitude, Home Point) etc are set correctly prior to launching the mission. If there are buildings/Trees/Towers/Antennae between the mission completion point and home point you may not have a positive outcome.

The first time I flew an Autonomous Mission out of Line of Sight it was very unnerving until I heard the aircraft back in ear-shot.

 

[ViperNuke]

It will continue its mision even if RC signal is lost... But here is a Pro Tip for peace of mind... when flying waypoints misions, always set the first waypoint right above you and the last right next to you or close to the homepoint...

 

[Bill Schroeppel]

So, even if you turn off the controller completely and leave it off and you have RTH set before the flight, it will return and land with no controller?

 

[ScatSpeak]

This weekend, I noticed that during a Litchi autonomous orbit, I lost RC early into the orbit and the P3 performed an RTH. After thinking about that for a while, I believe that is the way the orbit works. When flying the radius of the orbit, you can easily get out of RC range, then you may have no control to end the orbit.

Maybe some else can confirm this orbit RC issue.

According to the Litchi FAQ's (great app btw, it's all I use anymore with my P3A), it should continue orbiting until it reaches critical battery and then will land at that spot... Help - Litchi I've not lost RC during any orbit mode so can't confirm the behavior personally... I think that if there is risk of losing RC where you want to do a POI orbit, it would be better to create a Ground Station waypoint mission that effectively accomplishes the same thing and is setup to return to a waypoint within RC range...

 

[n6vmo]

According to the Litchi FAQ's (great app btw, it's all I use anymore with my P3A), it should continue orbiting until it reaches critical battery and then will land at that spot... Help - Litchi I've not lost RC during any orbit mode so can't confirm the behavior personally... I think that if there is risk of losing RC where you want to do a POI orbit, it would be better to create a Ground Station waypoint mission that effectively accomplishes the same thing and is setup to return to a waypoint within RC range...

Yes, my weekend orbit took it out low, at a 300' radius and just above the neighborhood (@39'). I quickly lost RC within the first quarter of the orbit because the RC and AC were blocked by several rows of houses. It was then that it performed the RTH.

Even though I was only 300' away, my thoughts were that the AC was getting interference from the many WiFi signals in the neighborhood, thus causing the RTH.

Having the AC orbit until battery is low and landing somewhere on the radius would not be good. I set my low battery alarm to RTH.

Yes, I also use Litchi exclusively, only switching to DJiGo to make camera exposure adjustments.

 

[ScatSpeak]

Yes, my weekend orbit took it out low, at a 300' radius and just above the neighborhood (@39'). I quickly lost RC within the first quarter of the orbit because the RC and AC were blocked by several rows of houses. It was then that it performed the RTH.

Even though I was only 300' away, my thoughts were that the AC was getting interference from the many WiFi signals in the neighborhood, thus causing the RTH.

Having the AC orbit until battery is low and landing somewhere on the radius would not be good. I set my low battery alarm to RTH.

Yes, I also use Litchi exclusively, only switching to DJiGo to make camera exposure adjustments.

Interesting.... if it activated RTH failsafe with loss of RC comm instead of following what the Litchi Orbit mode/FAQ page states, you might want to contact VCTech and let them examine the flight log from that occurrence... Google group: Google Groups

 

[Bill Schroeppel]

Are any of you Beta testers for FPV Camera, they have put together an excellant app with a great mission planner with waypoints and target waypoints. I have flewn several missions with it and it works percectly with Ipaid Air II only for right now. Any others with feefback?

 

[Wacker2611]

Are any of you Beta testers for FPV Camera, they have put together an excellant app with a great mission planner with waypoints and target waypoints. I have flewn several missions with it and it works percectly with Ipaid Air II only for right now. Any others with feefback?

You're going to wonder why I'm replying as I haven't flown with it yet due to the weather. However I am a Litchi user on an android tablet and still can't get over how clever that app is, particularly on wp/poi. So, as I also have an Air 2 I thought I'd put my name down and happy days, got the invite.
So, I've only planned a few wp missions so far, without actually flying any yet. But what I can say is that the thing is incredibly intuitive to use, probably more so than Litchi. Would like to know whether they can make it work on iPhones as well though....
Basically it seems to achieve the same thing that Litchi does, but on iOS and with a slightly more user friendly ui. If I could recommend on ui alone I would, but I need to field test it still - we are still enveloped in fog over here in the uk!

 

[BigAl07]

Are any of you Beta testers for FPV Camera, they have put together an excellant app with a great mission planner with waypoints and target waypoints. I have flewn several missions with it and it works percectly with Ipaid Air II only for right now. Any others with feefback?

I've got it but weather has kept me grounded for several days now. I "hope" to get to try it out some this weekend if the weather will give me a BREAK!!! lol