Litchi question

[The Springs]

I have bought the Litchi app for android and have been learning about waypoint missions .I have saved about 5 but it has been too wet to fly .My question is how do you get the waypoint height and poi height to show above each point on your mission plan.You can see the details when you tap on a waypoint but not as it is on the you tube examples .have I downloaded an older version or something ?

 

[Mark The Droner]

You might try planning your mission on a desktop and then moving the file to your app. That makes it so much easier.

www.flylitchi.com

 

[The Springs]

I cant seem to get the app onto my laptop Ill have to get my son to try .Computers were steam powered when I was young these new electric ones are just too hard to understand.

 

[OrlyP]

You don't need an app on the PC. It runs on your web browser. Perhaps you may want to click on the actual link to the Mission Hub here: Mission Hub - Litchi

Transferring your missions from the PC to your mobile device is easiest if you have a Facebook account. You just login on both Litchi Mission Hub and on the Litchi app on your mobile device using the same FB account and it will sync your missions.

 

[The Springs]

Thanks I'm not on FB but I am playing with missions on Mission Hub its set up a bit differently to the tablet app but looks promising .I am on a 700ha farm (2000acre) farm very hilly .I have a Garmin bike computer/gps thinking of using it to scope out my missions It gives you elevation and distance.Not sure how accurate it is though Im looking at checking the water level in three tanks at different locations that form a triangle about 4.5 km total distance but will try something simpler first.

 

[OrlyP]

Just a heads up... the altitude you set in Litchi waypoints are relative to your take-off position or homepoint. Your homepoint is always at 0 ft (or 0 meters). If one of the water tank is 100 ft high from the ground but sits on a hill that's 50 ft higher than your homepoint, that would put it about 150 ft above homepoint. So to task your aircraft to check out this tank, you would have to setup a waypoint that is above 150 ft.

 

[The Springs]

Thanks that the first thing I realized about missions that's why I was going to travel the mission first with the Garmin to get relative elevation and distance.I know from our Trimble GPS guidance in the tractor that the biggest hill rises 70 odd meters in the first Km .Some one was saying the camera will not tilt to a POI once you lose RC connection but this would only be for manual tilting wouldn't it otherwise whats the point ?

 

[With The Birds]

To avoid disappointment set your altitude 30ft higher than you think the tanks are....

 

[OrlyP]

You heard right. I haven't tested it myself but a number of people swear that the camera pitch doesn't follow the preset angles nor track the POI when the signal is lost. I believe that this due to the fact that the camera pitch is controlled by the Litchi app in realtime. The only data stored on the aircraft during a mission are the GPS coordinates + altitude, and yaw heading for all waypoints, among a few others. That's to say that during a mission, if the signal drops, the camera pitch will stay where it was before the signal got lost. The good news is, the aircraft will still complete the mission as long as it doesn't run into a mechanical problem or an obstruction.

 

[The Springs]

You heard right. I haven't tested it myself but a number of people swear that the camera pitch doesn't follow the preset angles nor track the POI when the signal is lost. I believe that this due to the fact that the camera pitch is controlled by the Litchi app in realtime. The only data stored on the aircraft during a mission are the GPS coordinates + altitude, and yaw heading for all waypoints, among a few others. That's to say that during a mission, if the signal drops, the camera pitch will stay where it was before the signal got lost. The good news is, the aircraft will still complete the mission as long as it doesn't run into a mechanical problem or an obstruction.

So in my case I will have to work out what angle I need and set a POI within my RC range (which on the Standard is about the standard distance you can throw a house brick) and keep my WP and POI (at the tanks ) at the same relative height and distance or I will miss what I want to see. Also I couldn't work out why the heading kept tracking the first POI on the whole planned mission and didn't track added ones .It wont if you have curved turns apparently but you can manually set the heading at each WP by the look of it

 

[OrlyP]

I don't know how you check the water level on those tanks but depending on what you want to see, you can just have a fixed camera pitch angle (something like -90 degrees or looking straight down), then task the drone to fly to all the water tanks. You can also make the aircraft stay put on a waypoint (ie. directly above a water tank) for x number of seconds, even taking a picture, before moving off to the next one.

Seeing the flight distance involved to go around your field, I think you would have to do some trial and error runs to match up the POI/WP on the map with the actual POIs. Just watch your aircraft altitude vs the actual terrain elevation.

If you're fine with other people seeing your Litchi mission, you can share it here so we can take a look at it.

 

[The Springs]

I'm still working on it and the internet is rubbish tonight ,wont load Google earth properly Have a look at this one for crop inspections

 

[With The Birds]

27 minutes (mission time) is almost certainly on the over enthusiastic side.

 

[OrlyP]

Holy crop! Respect to you for having a real practical use of your drone.

Though, I'd try cutting down the mission time to about 20 minutes or less initially. You'd want some battery headroom for the flight back and in case the wind picks up (makes the drone use more power to fight it).

You can also use curves on the edges of the field. A 90 degree corner will cause the drone to stop, rotate, accelerate, stop, rotate, etc.... It simply uses more power. Curves allows the aircraft to turn more fluidly, using much less power.

 

[The Springs]

Just checking you were paying attention.Its just a first draft I will probably make two missions of it and close up the runs . Can you make a curved turn too tight for the Phantom or does the app account for this ? Initially I thought of increasing the speed to complete it in time but does the time shown include slowing down for the turns which would be tighter the faster you go .Does it work that way ? See below I'm thinking big (might have to stop off at my cousin in Maui for a recharge though)

 

[OrlyP]

lol.. You'll need the help of "The Copperheads" down at Phoenix AZ for refueling.

Not sure if Litchi takes into account deceleration/acceleration in computing the mission time. I'd bet it's just using the mission speed and distance to calculate the approx. mission time. The more reason to leave some wiggle room for the trip home.

As for tight curves, the few times my P3S flew a tight one, the drone was flying at such an angle that the bottom left landing skid popped up in the camera frame for a few seconds. I really don't know if that has any adverse effect, but I'd keep the curves a little loose if it can be helped.

 

[With The Birds]

I would also design the mission to fly to and start from the most distant waypoint. Better to be closer to home and on the way back if an issue presents.

Even 20 mins is pushing it re mission duration. You nay well make it back but your battery lifetime will suffer and you have little margin to recover from a problem.

 

[The Springs]

I see what you mean .So even 20 minutes is pushing it . I haven't really taken too much notice of flight times as yet just battery level.I suppose if it does run low it isn't too far away .It is fairly straight forward task just looking for a weed that sits above the wheat in spring pale yellow flower really stands out but not so easy to cover the whole area on foot. The accountant says its tax deductible so no rest for my P3 he has to be put to work to earn his keep.See our country ,in spring a few years ago (not as flat as google earth makes it look)found one of the actual paddock taken from about WP1

paddock as well

 

[RodPad]

Glad your getting your help, quit saying Paddock (That happens to be my name)


Actually I have never done what your doing, but are you using Google Earth or Google Earth Pro. Pro is free now. Or do you have to use browser via Litchi?

I am going to have to get brave, I only tried it once on the P2V+, a year ago.

My dad always said, the park race cars in a Paddock.

 

[The Springs]

I new a girl called Sue Heifer ,unfortunate name but never seemed to worry her ,she was stunning so that probably helped.
Or place is divide into paddocks Hill Paddock,****'s Paddock ( where my father Richard died) Panic Paddock ( very steep) Stoneless Paddock ( very rocky) You need to be able to someone where to go to do what job .Call it a field or ranch in Australia and you'll be tarred feathered run out of town and maybe burnt at the stake on the way just for good measure .So you would fit right in !