Autopilot app, autoflight logic

[Jack Ley]

20 mph wind is strong. Please email the flight logs to [email protected] so we can take a look.

Here are 3 DAT files (flight logs) I am pretty sure at least 2 of them (30&31) are the two flights I posted as a video, I hope you are able to access Dropbox.

Dropbox - FLY029.DAT
Dropbox - FLY030.DAT
Dropbox - FLY031.DAT

 

[shockwave199]

Yeager, here is the video of both my missions using waypoints.....

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Wow! That was really erratic. Hope it gets sorted.

 

[dixter]

If you have to fly in stronger winds its best to get an app that not only shows the wind speed but more important is an app that shows " winds aloft " if you have a ground speed of 20 mph you will have much stronger winds aloft in the higher altitudes... depending on the altitude you can have winds on the ground of 20mph and say a couple hundred feet up the wind is at 35mph... you can also have winds on the ground blowing in one direction... get up to altitude and the winds there are going in the opposite direction...

 

[shockwave199]

It didn't look that windy on the ground in that video. Even the flag wasn't going full out. I'm not saying it wasn't windy, but 20mph is strong and it should show on the trees and flag in that video. I'm not exactly seeing that. Looks like maybe a 10mph breeze. If it was super windy, it was a bad choice to fly at all. 20mph winds should be avoided and certainly avoided if you're trying autonomous flight apps for the first time.

 

[Yeager74]

Actually, it could be auto-land or RTH, depending on the distance to the home point

I did some more testing with Autopilot today. With the plane 20+M away from the home point during the mission, and the drone battery level at 20%, I switched off the RC transmitter. When the RC signal was lost, the drone stopped and hovered at its current position, as expected. When the drone battery level reached approximately 16% it executed failsafe RTH and landed. This was a close in test, with the drone between 25-35 meters away from the home point, at mission 30M and Failsafe 40M altitude. This obviously reconfirms @autoflightlogic 's testing.
Now, long distance flying obviously remains a no go, until DJI corrects the issue, with the next Firmware update - hopefully this will be sooner rather than later.

 

[With The Birds]

Its not "obviously a no go" for me. While ever video is solid and signal quality looks good im comfortable. I am paying attention though and making sure i have a clean signal path, flying higher than i may have without the sdk issue. First sign of a glitch and im going be swutching out of F mode.

 

[Yeager74]

Its not "obviously a no go" for me. While ever video is solid and signal quality looks good im comfortable. I am paying attention though and making sure i have a clean signal path, flying higher than i may have without the sdk issue. First sign of a glitch and im going be swutching out of F mode.

Switching to F mode is not going to do anything, with a lost RC signal. Only IF you regain RC signal with the drone will you be able to make any changes (including switching to F-mode). There can be many reasons for loss of RC signal, it's not limited to lateral or vertical distance. Like everything else, when flying drones, it's a calculated risk to operated the drone in waypoint mode (in Autopilot), until DJI has updated the Firmware.

 

[With The Birds]

I have no expectation that switching out of F mode would allow regained control or the possibility of executing a user commanded RTH with signal loss in the current SDK running an AP waypoint mission.

What i said was I am aware of the issue and continuing to use autopilot cautiously. That includes flying in areas where an autoland will result in aircraft loss with negligible risk of causing damage or injury (ie over water or unpopulated areas).

I know what the worst case scenario of signal loss mught be and, for me, its an acceptable risk.

 

[Yeager74]

I have no expectation that switching out of F mode would allow regained control or the possibility of executing a user commanded RTH with signal loss in the current SDK running an AP waypoint mission.

What i said was I am aware of the issue and continuing to use autopilot cautiously. That includes flying in areas where an autoland will result in aircraft loss with negligible risk of causing damage or injury (ie over water or unpopulated areas).

I know what the worst case scenario of signal loss mught be and, for me, its an acceptable risk.

Good stuff, that would be the way to operate, under the current circumstances. Happy flying.

 

[shockwave199]

I have no expectation that switching out of F mode would allow regained control or the possibility of executing a user commanded RTH with signal loss in the current SDK running an AP waypoint mission.

What i said was I am aware of the issue and continuing to use autopilot cautiously. That includes flying in areas where an autoland will result in aircraft loss with negligible risk of causing damage or injury (ie over water or unpopulated areas).

I know what the worst case scenario of signal loss mught be and, for me, its an acceptable risk.

It wouldn't be an acceptable risk for me. Only if my missions stayed within a few hundred feet out and less would I consider it, at the moment. That's just too limited for me. I generally push 1-1.5k' out. I'm on edge enough doing that with litchi. I'd be a wreck with AP. And that range is short enough to have complete faith to us AP, but there's always a chance. I look forward to the time when it's a non issue but until that time I'm not flying with AP and I'll avoid the flight modes that are effected in litchi too. To each their own. Happy and safe flying!

 

[Hangar]

Here are 3 DAT files (flight logs) I am pretty sure at least 2 of them (30&31) are the two flights I posted as a video, I hope you are able to access Dropbox.

Apologies for not being more specific. Please email the Autopilot flight logs to [email protected]. They can be accessed by these instructions.

 

[Jack Ley]

It didn't look that windy on the ground in that video. Even the flag wasn't going full out. I'm not saying it wasn't windy, but 20mph is strong and it should show on the trees and flag in that video. I'm not exactly seeing that. Looks like maybe a 10mph breeze. If it was super windy, it was a bad choice to fly at all. 20mph winds should be avoided and certainly avoided if you're trying autonomous flight apps for the first time.

You are probably correct shockwave, I took a total guess. I figured 5-10mph was a light breeze, so I thought 20mph was just a tad more. I think it was more like 10mph maybe 15mph at the most.

 

[Jack Ley]

Apologies for not being more specific. Please email the Autopilot flight logs to [email protected]. They can be accessed by these instructions.

Ok, just sent them to you, my email is sunshynff@yahoo. I sent the whole folders because I don't know exactly what you're looking for, but the flight in question with the waypoints was on 02/22/2016.

 

[GadgetGuy]

It wouldn't be an acceptable risk for me. Only if my missions stayed within a few hundred feet out and less would I consider it, at the moment. That's just too limited for me. I generally push 1-1.5k' out. I'm on edge enough doing that with litchi. I'd be a wreck with AP. And that range is short enough to have complete faith to us AP, but there's always a chance. I look forward to the time when it's a non issue but until that time I'm not flying with AP and I'll avoid the flight modes that are effected in litchi too. To each their own. Happy and safe flying!

Yeah, for those of us flying "illegally"/inconsistent with FAA Safety Guidelines, it's a real problem!

 

[Aquarius4058]

I have the Autopilot 3.1.78 version. I have not use it yet since weather has been very uncooperative at the moment which is fine. It will give me time to review, review and review until I am a little familiar with it. So far I like what I see especially the follow me.. There is only one thing that caught my attention at the beginning. It doesn't support the "resume mission when RC and craft connection is lost". I really hope
they will incorporate that function down the road.

 

[With The Birds]

Yeah, for those of us flying "illegally"/inconsistent with FAA Safety Guidelines, it's a real problem!

The magnitide of the problem might be significantly diminished by flying past the furthest propsed waypoint manually to asses signal quality prior to running the mission. I ran a faurly ambitious mission this morning (having regard to the current SDK issue), furthest waypoint was over 1km from home. I flew it manually first, right outside all distant waypoints referenced from home. The AP mission ran perfectly.

 

[2nd2non]

You can run the waypoint missing in joystick mode. This allows you to control the path progression manually. Just did this out 2 miles in Puget sound to capture Seattle skyline. Only issue was there was tons of 2.4ghz interference. I couldn't use my 32channel hack and had to settle for channel 20. Also, RC signal dropped before video- this never happens except with strong interference. Joystick mode made it easy to meander along the path even when signal started dropping 1.5+ miles out with windsurfer.

 

[Jack Ley]

You can run the waypoint missing in joystick mode. This allows you to control the path progression manually. Just did this out 2 miles in Puget sound to capture Seattle skyline. Joystick mode made it easy to meander along the path even when signal started dropping 1.5+ miles out with windsurfer.

I was curious about joystick mode, how do you know which way to go, just follow the path lines between waypoints? Are you flying line of site or FPV? Also, in joystick mode, do you control the copter forward, backward, left and right. Or does the joystick mode just advance it along the already set path?

 

[2nd2non]

I was curious about joystick mode, how do you know which way to go, just follow the path lines between waypoints? Are you flying line of site or FPV? Also, in joystick mode, do you control the copter forward, backward, left and right. Or does the joystick mode just advance it along the already set path?

You can only control its progression forward and backwards along the path. So if you push the forward stick (right stick up) it moves forward along the flight path. The direction of the bird is based on the focus points. Same for backwards except it goes in opposite direction.
When I'm 2 miles out over water, I'm FPV, I'm not superman [emoji6]. Give it a try!

 

[Jack Ley]

You can only control its progression forward and backwards along the path. So if you push the forward stick (right stick up) it moves forward along the flight path. The direction of the bird is based on the focus points. Same for backwards except it goes in opposite direction.
When I'm 2 miles out over water, I'm FPV, I'm not superman [emoji6]. Give it a try!

Thanks 2nd2non, that's awesome!!! I'll definitely try it, maybe that will fix some of my issues from my last mission.