getting started with Litchi

[cinclodes]

In February, I am planning to use a P3 Pro to do some habitat surveys over a swampland forest in Louisiana. The area is flat, and there are no trees much over 100 feet tall. I have already done some testing in this environment:

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Habitat from a Drone - YouTube

In the past, I had to fly at max altitude in order to maintain a connection and get out to ranges of several hundred meters. I would like to use Litchi to make it possible to fly at a lower altitude (around 40 to 50 meters) out to ranges of 1 or 2 miles. I want to do something very simple. Fly in a straight line to the first waypoint (located on the order of a mile or two away), make a 90 degree turn, fly a much shorter distance to the second waypoint, and then return to home.

I have been looking for information on Litchi in other posts. I will also get started doing some testing with Litchi (but this is complicated since I live in the middle of the huge D.C. area no fly zone). In the meantime, I would welcome help and suggestions. I have been using an iPad 2. Is Litchi compatible with that device, and is it the way to go for what I want to do? Will I be able to manually launch it and then let Litchi take over? As it approaches on the return, will I be able to take back control to land it? How will I enter the cruising altitude, speed, and GPS coordinates for the waypoints? Will I be able to start it recording and aim the gimbal before letting Litchi take over? Sorry for all of the questions, which are probably obvious to experienced users, but I'm always a slow learner with this kind of thing, and I have a short time to learn before starting the surveys.

Thanks in advance to all!

 

[Fly Dawg]

Its difficult to answer all of your questions at once....What you could do, is go out to the mission hub and "play around" with a few mission plans just to get your feet wet. You can plan missions there and download to your device, or you can do them on the device as well. At least playing with the hub is a bit easier such that you know what will be required in the settings for autonomous flights.

Here is a link if you have not taken a look: Mission Hub - Litchi

 

[JazzAir]

In February, I am planning to use a P3 Pro to do some habitat surveys over a swampland forest in Louisiana. The area is flat, and there are no trees much over 100 feet tall. I have already done some testing in this environment:

Ivory-billed Woodpecker Habitat from a Drone - YouTube

In the past, I had to fly at max altitude in order to maintain a connection and get out to ranges of several hundred meters. I would like to use Litchi to make it possible to fly at a lower altitude (around 40 to 50 meters) out to ranges of 1 or 2 miles. I want to do something very simple. Fly in a straight line to the first waypoint (located on the order of a mile or two away), make a 90 degree turn, fly a much shorter distance to the second waypoint, and then return to home.

I have been looking for information on Litchi in other posts. I will also get started doing some testing with Litchi (but this is complicated since I live in the middle of the huge D.C. area no fly zone). In the meantime, I would welcome help and suggestions. I have been using an iPad 2. Is Litchi compatible with that device, and is it the way to go for what I want to do? Will I be able to manually launch it and then let Litchi take over? As it approaches on the return, will I be able to take back control to land it? How will I enter the cruising altitude, speed, and GPS coordinates for the waypoints? Will I be able to start it recording and aim the gimbal before letting Litchi take over? Sorry for all of the questions, which are probably obvious to experienced users, but I'm always a slow learner with this kind of thing, and I have a short time to learn before starting the surveys.

Thanks in advance to all!

Oh man. Been at this Litchi thing now for two weeks. Lawrence has been indispensable. I
This WILL help ya.

Phantom Filmschool Intro Course - Free Training: Learn the basics of Litchi

 

[RodPad]

@cinclodes
Here is a mission you can play with, you think you will be messing it up because you can make change, but the won't effect my original, because it saved under my account.

Mission Hub - Litchi

The first thing that really sucked for me was setting up certain activates at specific way points, and changing the gimbal angel in flight, etc.

Yes all can be done but not when you don't have a connection with the Phantom.

In the mission hub pick missions open, and there is a tab called discover, take a look at those.

Rod

 

[WV. Rootman]

I guess you think it is possible to spot an ivory billed woodpecker or identify a likely habitat amongst older dead trees? Of course a video of the flight pattern would be good evidence. I wish you the best!

 

[RodPad]

I watched part of that, but had to leave me desk.

That is not a place I would want to look for a lost Phantom.

I would have a tracker, if there is no cell service, then a Marco Polo.

Rod

 

[cinclodes]

I guess you think it is possible to spot an ivory billed woodpecker or identify a likely habitat amongst older dead trees? Of course a video of the flight pattern would be good evidence. I wish you the best!

I have already obtained and published such evidence...

Heliyon

Periodic and transient motions of large woodpeckers

http://asa.scitation.org/doi/10.1121/1.3544370

 

[cinclodes]

I watched part of that, but had to leave me desk.

That is not a place I would want to look for a lost Phantom.

I would have a tracker, if there is no cell service, then a Marco Polo.

Rod

I would probably just go buy a replacement. It is a huge area and difficult to move through due to flooded areas and thick vegetation. Thanks to everyone for the inputs!

 

[cinclodes]

I would like to apologize to the admins for initially posting this in the wrong forum.

 

[cinclodes]

I am getting up to speed with Litchi, and I am very excited about how this software has the potential to impact my application. In setting up a few test missions, I wasn't able to figure out how to set up the camera to be aligned with the direction of flight. Actually, I see how to do this by adjusting it for each leg of the flight (between each pair of waypoints). Is there a way to set it to do this for the entire mission? In some cases, I might set the camera to look in the direction opposite the sun for the entire flight. This could prove to be a good choice for my application.

 

[RodPad]

Hello All, If you get to this post and wan't to continue following his adventure and of coarse learning, I always learn a lot from this forum. Here is his newer thread.

questions before first Litchi test

Rod

 

[RodPad]

I am getting up to speed with Litchi, and I am very excited about how this software has the potential to impact my application. In setting up a few test missions, I wasn't able to figure out how to set up the camera to be aligned with the direction of flight. Actually, I see how to do this by adjusting it for each leg of the flight (between each pair of waypoints). Is there a way to set it to do this for the entire mission? In some cases, I might set the camera to look in the direction opposite the sun for the entire flight. This could prove to be a good choice for my application.

Sorry if I chased you off.

So yeah adjusting the direction of the camera is just pointing the direction of the phantom, so you would have the back off the phantom at each waypoint towards the sun.

Kind of a duh now that I think about, this time of the year the sun is so low in the sky, 1/4 of flight on Saturday looked like crap because I was flying toward the sun, but then I would have re-plot new mission just for these winter days when the sun is actually out. New thought though.

"I see how to do this by adjusting it for each leg of the flight (between each pair of waypoints)."
I would reword this I think,
Between the way points the Phantom evenly makes its turn?

I'm confused have you made a flight yet?
Throw some more questions at us.

Rod

 

[cinclodes]

I live in the D.C. area, where there is a huge no-fly zone. Between that factor and the recent frigid weather, I have not yet had a chance to try Litchi. I might not get a chance until arriving at the site in Louisiana where I want to apply it in February. I have set up a bunch of missions, and, based on my experience flying with DJI GO, I feel that it should go well. I am very excited about the capabilities that Litchi offers. With DJI GO, I was able to obtain some fascinating footage. With Litchi, I will be able to do exactly what I had initially hoped with the P3 -- fly it just over the treetops out to long ranges and over large areas.

 

[RodPad]

Seeing your other footage and I know you are going to loose signal unless your in a tree, Since you can't program the gimbal or use POI for your gimbal angles.
Are you going to set it and go, and you must be going to do what I would call a grid search?

Rod

 

[cinclodes]

Seeing your other footage and I know you are going to loose signal unless your in a tree, Since you can't program the gimbal or use POI for your gimbal angles.
Are you going to set it and go, and you must be going to do what I would call a grid search?

Rod

I am planning to start off with the camera aimed so that the top edge of the picture sees the horizon. Most of the picture will provide a look downward. With this approach, the video will pick anything that flies just over the treetops or flushes just ahead, and it will provide a view looking down on birds that are nearby (should be close enough to ID in the 4K video from altitudes of about 50 meters. I might make adjustments after the first few flights.