FYI......Autopilot for DJI 2.0 (24)

@autoflightlogic
Just got the version 3.0 beta which includes waypoints, yeh!!!
What's the earliest P3 firmware version that will work with it?
 
Remember to sign up for the beta if you haven't already. Here are some details on some of the new features in Waypoint Mode:
  1. Mission Types
    1. Patrol - Autopilot flies back and forth a set number of times, or continues the loop a set number of times if the End Point is set to the First Waypoint. When the limit is reached it executes the mission completion action (hover or RTH).
    2. Joystick - If you press Up on the Right Joystick Autopilot will fly forward through the waypoints, and vice versa if you press Down.
    3. Mark - Autopilot will fly the waypoints up until the Mark point. On closed loop courses, it will choose fly in the direction that results in the least distance travelled.
  2. Focus Strategies
    1. Triggers - Allows you to place one or more "triggers" at various points on the path which can then define a Focus Strategy for that part of the path (until the next trigger). Triggers can be linked (interpolation) if the strategies are the same
    2. All others - Essentially allow you to choose one Focus Strategy for the entire path. Using 1 trigger would result in the same behavior.
 
No wonder it's taken so long. You guys build the waypoint mode with true agility in mind. A little overwhelming when you first look at it, but your summary makes total sense as I step through functions. Can't wait to try this weekend!
 
A little overwhelming when you first look at it, but your summary makes total sense as I step through functions. Can't wait to try this weekend!
I agree, its overwhelming but once you tap around for a 30 minutes and test stuff it falls into place.

May i suggest that instead of dragging that "agent" around and check where the drone is looking just add a line from the edge of the triggermarker that points in the direction the drone will look. And add a suitable letter that indicates which focus strategy that is chosen for that marker.

We have really bad weather for flying so i cant see myself testing this in the coming days/weeks but if it clears up i will try to get out and do a high speed mission over water/ice.

One thing. Make RTH default when a mission ends, at least its coming home if you loose contact with it and you forgot to change this in the mission settings.

Btw, when i start a mission, will the mission upload to the quad and the quad continues with the mission if i radio contact is lost?
 
just add a line from the edge of the triggermarker that points in the direction the drone will look.
It will render such a line if the trigger or subject is selected, but we opted to not render them all the time as it can get very cluttered, and if interpolation is enabled it won't show you the motion (which the path inspector does).

Add a suitable letter that indicates which focus strategy that is chosen for that marker.
Would you prefer to see this letter over the trigger number?

Make RTH default when a mission ends, at least its coming home if you loose contact with it and you forgot to change this in the mission settings.
If the drone loses connection it will automatically RTH (if that is what you have set in the GO app) as this is not a normal "SDK Waypoint Mission". We use our own Flight Controller.

Btw, when i start a mission, will the mission upload to the quad and the quad continues with the mission if i radio contact is lost?
No, see above about our own FC. By the way, this has many other implications and allows our solution to do things that no other apps can (at least the apps that are using the SDK missions).

Here is an overview of what is possible:
  • Waypoints defined relative to a reference point which allows transforms, “follow” type behavior, and even moving entire paths to other locations via search
  • Multiple Waypoint input methods, including:
    • Direct on map input via long press gestures, insert / append markers, and segment splitting
    • Drawing with drawing markers, with the ability to insert / append new paths to the existing path
    • Aircraft position (DJI GO style), including the gimbal position (think key frames)
  • Real-time modification of the path while flying
  • Waypoint carry-over settings from default or previous waypoints
  • Multiple Mission Types including patrol, mark, joystick
  • Multiple Focus Strategies, including Triggers which allows arbitrary Strategies at any point on the path, not just at Waypoints
  • Triggers can be linked (interpolated)
  • Smooth pathing with true Bezier curves (not just rounded corners)
  • Path Inspection for extremely precise mission planning from a movement and camera perspective
  • Sharing flight plans
 
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Thx for your answer.

Personally i find the path inspector to be a mess. Its not intuitive imo. I would like to see more stuff on screen or give us the option to toggle different objects. It might already be in there and i just missed it, its a bit overwhelming tbh.

Yes, over the marker number might work or you can use style of lines or color to indicate focus strategy. In general i think you should use a larger of number of colors to indicate the identity of different items. And why not have a palette (toggle able) on the side so you can look up what different colors mean. That way you could add in more info in the GUI and at the same time reduce clutter.

Ok, now i get why your mode work better than some of the competition. Might i suggest a new flight mode, "Auto Mission" which allows you to program 20 waypoints that are carried out no matter the signal status.
 
Whats great about the implementation is they have really taken onboard requests regarding the features of the waypoint mode including the focus strategies.

Looking forward to testing this weekend.
 
Just took it out for a spin and here are some first impressions.

When you have a segment going from north to south or vice versa all the markers end up south/north of the end waypoint. Its kind of difficult to find the right marker and if we add in a trigger marker at the end waypoing we got 4 markers laying on top of each other. I suggest that you instead move the markers except the "pen" to be +/- 90 degrees of the last known bearing.

I also would like a palette the the right/left of the screen where you can toggle markers/tools on and off and it could also serve as a reminder what different markers are for.

I love the patrol mode (this is probably the mode i will be using to get great clips) but you could just merge zip line and patrol, just move the option to repeat a patrol to zip line and to have multiple waypoints in zip line and you could facilitate way point mode by removing patrol.

The app crashed on me in trigger mode and i also got "got no telemetry" issue that i reported earlier. Will swap my ipad 2 mini retina for my iphone 6 and test again when the weather allows it.
 
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Just came in from the second flight and here is one more thing. I would like to see the ability to adjust the speed of the panning when i swap subject to focus on. Like if you tap the trigger point and you have chosen focus subject i could adjust the time it would take to change subject.

Atm the panning is to fast imo.

If its possible to add such a slider it would be great if the time to re-pan was displayed as a different color on the segment. That would be very helpful when planning and visualizing your flight. Imagine the flight path in blue as it is today but with some sections yellow, illustrating that the copter is executing the trigger instruction during that part of the flight.
 
When you have a segment going from north to south or vice versa all the markers end up south/north of the end waypoint. Its kind of difficult to find the right marker and if we add in a trigger marker at the end waypoing we got 4 markers laying on top of each other.
Can you zoom in or rotate the map to resolve the issue?

I would like to see the ability to adjust the speed of the panning when i swap subject to focus on. Like if you tap the trigger point and you have chosen focus subject i could adjust the time it would take to change subject.
You can accomplish this behavior already using multiple triggers with interpolation. The technique is something we will cover in the advanced tutorial, but effectively you place two triggers down separated by the length of path you want the pan to occur over, then enable interpolation and call it good.
 
Can you zoom in or rotate the map to resolve the issue?


You can accomplish this behavior already using multiple triggers with interpolation. The technique is something we will cover in the advanced tutorial, but effectively you place two triggers down separated by the length of path you want the pan to occur over, then enable interpolation and call it good.

Yes you can but it still keeps all markers clustered and its still kind of difficult to find the right one. I would keep the "plus" where it is, its logical, and move the other ones and spread them out slightly and place the at a 90 degrees angle.

And if you are schooled in navigation on the sea its a mortal sin to ever turn the "chart". Imo the chart should always e facing north when you plan routes.

Perfect, when the flight school is updated i will look into this. I tried to figure out what interpolation actually did but i didnt work it out.

Excellent change to add in the focus strategy letter in the trigger point.
 
So I did a waypoint mission today (Version 3.0 (61)) my second, this one a bit longer than the first. I did the first on the 13th of Dec and the other today the 15th. I had not tried uploading the logs to Healthy Drones yet so just tried that aspect of the app. But I only have one zip file the one for the 13th not today's (15th) What are the conditions were a log file is not saved? I did not land the device after the mission was over I closed the app and opened another app, was there something I should have done to insure the log was saved? The mission (Waypoint) was completed and it was hovering at the time I closed the app.

Thanks
 
What are the conditions were a log file is not saved? I did not land the device after the mission was over I closed the app and opened another app, was there something I should have done to insure the log was saved? The mission (Waypoint) was completed and it was hovering at the time I closed the app.
The flight logs are saved continuously while the props are on. If you kill the app mid-flight and orphan a TSV file, the app should detect it on next start up and zip it up for you.
 
Ok so I hooked the Ipad back up, started the bird back up and the app waited for a bit and then shut everything down and still no log. Do I actually have to fly another mission before it saves it?

Here is a screen shot of the file listing you can see the flight folder date, I exported the folder again and same thing only the 1 flight on the 13th. You can see the other folder dates are from today....Did I miss something?
Screen Shot 2015-12-15 at 5.53.24 PM.png
 
You can see the other folder dates are from today....Did I miss something?
I suppose it is possible that since you terminated the app while it was writing the file, that the file somehow got corrupted/orphaned and iOS cleaned it up automatically. We have never seen this happen in testing, even when the app crashes, but that is really the only thing I can think of.
 
I suppose it is possible that since you terminated the app while it was writing the file, that the file somehow got corrupted/orphaned and iOS cleaned it up automatically. We have never seen this happen in testing, even when the app crashes, but that is really the only thing I can think of.


Ok maybe it should be obvious but what steps should I take to insure the log is given the proper opportunity to save?
 
Ok maybe it should be obvious but what steps should I take to insure the log is given the proper opportunity to save?
The app flushes the file all the time so you really shouldn't have to go out of your way to do anything to make it happen. Not terminating mid-flight is probably a good idea though.
 
The app flushes the file all the time so you really shouldn't have to go out of your way to do anything to make it happen. Not terminating mid-flight is probably a good idea though.


Ok went out and flew the same flight plan as last time this time I did not use another app during takeoff nor landing and things worked as planned. I see my log file was uploaded to Healthy Drones apparently automatically from the Ipad, or was it done once the Ipad was plugged into the computer? Also I don't think I hit disengage last time prior to closing the app, I did that this time in case that would also have affected the app not saving the flight data before....
 

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