Litchi vs. Auto-Pilot

Joined
Jan 29, 2017
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Age
37
Hello everyone, I am new here and looking for some help on a particular matter.

As I understand it, with the Litchi app during a waypoint mission, there is no way to automate the Gimbal control once connection with the RC has been lost. I tried both interpolation and POI focus, but I've read that due to the SDK from DJI, 3rd party apps have no gimbal control once disconnected from the RC.

Is this true for both Litchi and Autopilot? I assume yes, but I wanted to know if anyone has had any luck with making the gimbal move when disconnected from the RC.

I really hope DJI is planning to release an SDK where gimbal control and speed can be adjusted as a part of the mission planning, because it really limits the kind of flights you can make if the bird gets even a little bit further than normal RC connection distance.

Thank you for any and all help!
 
I tried both interpolation and POI focus, but I've read that due to the SDK from DJI, 3rd party apps have no gimbal control once disconnected from the RC.
I believe that is correct. I'm not aware of any way to control gimbal elevation when disconnected and behavior in that state is undefined, some report that gimbal elevation persists at whatever it was just before LOS and others have reported uncommanded movement.
 
Yes you are correct,on Autopilot you can now set it to complete the mission on loss of connection but you lose any further gimbal control. Autopilot used to enter RTH on loss of connection, but they have changed this to allow you to complete, or RTH. Many people who fly in poor areas for signal like this feature.
 
I believe that is correct. I'm not aware of any way to control gimbal elevation when disconnected and behavior in that state is undefined, some report that gimbal elevation persists at whatever it was just before LOS and others have reported uncommanded movement.

Hey smiller, thanks for the reply. I can confirm from my experience that whatever the speed and gimbal angle was at LOS is what remains for the remainder of the flight, even when connection is reestablished the gimbal and speed remain.
 
Yes you are correct,on Autopilot you can now set it to complete the mission on loss of connection but you lose any further gimbal control. Autopilot used to enter RTH on loss of connection, but they have changed this to allow you to complete, or RTH. Many people who fly in poor areas for signal like this feature.

Hey Jayfdee, thanks for the reply. I do love the waypoint mission because I lose signal usually at around 100m - 200m. It's such a shame about gimbal and speed control. I had a Parrot Bebop and while the recordings were usually very choppy (why I switched to DJI) the FlightPlan option allowed waypoint options with automated camera and speed control even with LOS.

I hope DJI adds this option soon. The killer thing about the speed control especially is that if the waypoints have a slightly tight turn, the "last speed" after LOS could hit that turn too hard. Safety would dictate a slow speed before LOS in order to maintain safe turning speeds.

For the moment I am setting a good speed and gimbal angle that over the course of the entire flight mostly works, it's a compromise for sure.

Take it easy!
 
The killer thing about the speed control especially is that if the waypoints have a slightly tight turn, the "last speed" after LOS could hit that turn too hard. Safety would dictate a slow speed before LOS in order to maintain safe turning speeds.
I don't believe that the built-in flight control program aboard the aircraft would allow it to turn too fast (such it could be unsafe or cause loss of the control of aircraft) even if commanded under manual or auto control. It might mess up your shot though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Derekeys
I don't believe that the built-in flight control program aboard the aircraft would allow it to turn too fast (such it could be unsafe or cause loss of the control of aircraft) even if commanded under manual or auto control. It might mess up your shot though.

That is reassuring. I bet you're right, but I think until I do further testing I'll try not to do a hairpin turn with last speed having been 33mph :)
 
I don't believe that the built-in flight control program aboard the aircraft would allow it to turn too fast (such it could be unsafe or cause loss of the control of aircraft) even if commanded under manual or auto control. It might mess up your shot though.
A potential problem is that many people like to fly out fast on a mission. and then slow down for the interesting bits, and speed up on the way back. If you LOS then I think,(could be wrong), that the quad completes the mission at its last speed, and this may be too slow to get you back.
You can always RTH as soon as you get signal back.
Happy flying.
 
A potential problem is that many people like to fly out fast on a mission. and then slow down for the interesting bits, and speed up on the way back. If you LOS then I think,(could be wrong), that the quad completes the mission at its last speed, and this may be too slow to get you back.
You can always RTH as soon as you get signal back.
Happy flying.

That was(is) my worry as well, but I think smiller was saying that even with tight turns at speeds that are potentially too fast, that the drone's onboard safety precautions won't allow it to do something overly crazy. Granted, it's a risk I don't want to take so I continue to have a safe speed at a point where I have a good guess where LOS occurs.
 
A potential problem is that many people like to fly out fast on a mission. and then slow down for the interesting bits, and speed up on the way back. If you LOS then I think,(could be wrong), that the quad completes the mission at its last speed, and this may be too slow to get you back.
You are correct in that if you are flying a waypoint mission and lose signal the aircraft will continue at its current speed when signal was lost, but unless you have failsafe RTH disabled the aircraft will RTH at 30% battery (or whatever you have it set for) at normal RTH speed, so you should not have to worry about getting back. IOW, LOS RTH is disabled during a waypoint mission but low battery RTH is not, and once in failsafe RTH mode the Litchi mission settings are no longer observed.
 
Last edited:
You are correct in that if you are flying a waypoint mission and lose signal the aircraft will continue at its current speed when signal was lost, but unless you have failsafe RTH disabled the aircraft will RTH at 30% battery (or whatever you have it set for) at normal RTH speed, so you should not have to worry about getting back. IOW, LOS RTH is disabled during a waypoint mission but low battery RTH is not.
Thanks,I do not worry too much about this aspect, the only times I fly long distance are out over the mud flats of the bay where I live, very safe as no-one can go there because of the sinking sands, but dangerous for me as an enforced landing out there means game over.
Fortunately for me my signal strength always exceeds my nervous strength, and I turn back. Been out about 9000 feet with no problems, but that is it,I have got my adrenaline rush for the day.
Who would have failsafe RTH disabled?
Enjoy your flying.
 
There is no way to control the gimbal once disconnected but you can pre-program a flight and all the gimbal angles and speeds needed to keep the focus on a POI. My app, Flight Plan, has 2 POI gimbal algorithms, one will work when disconnected. The algorithm calculates the gimbal angle needed at each waypoint and sets the speed to keep the POI in focus, this feature is provided by the DJI SDK. I have a second gimbal algorithm that calculates the gimbal angles on the fly from the app, it will not work when disconnected. The second gimbal algorithm is better for POI targets that are close to the camera or flybys. The DJI algorithm is nice and smooth and better at POI targets that are mid - long range.

Flight Plan for DJI
 
Many times such settings occur unintentionally (and usually Litchi is blamed ;) )
Yes indeed, Litchi is always blamed for pilot error.
Shameless posting of one of my long distance flights over the bay using Litchi.
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Derekeys

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,358
Members
104,935
Latest member
Pauos31