Lost Connection Mission Continuation = LCMC
In plain language, if/when you loose RC signal connection with your "drone" the pre-uploaded mission will continue according to the upload.
In plain language, if/when you loose RC signal connection with your "drone" the pre-uploaded mission will continue according to the upload.
Lost Connection Mission Continuation = LCMC
In plain language; the mission data is uploaded to the drone and in case of RC signal loss, the drone will continue the mission, irrespective of not have a valid RC signal to the "drone".
Ive been reading through the flight school stuff and came across it just now. This is a different world compared to phantom 1. Love it!
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If the SDK issue has not been fixed, that would certainly be a huge disappointment. I've got no more patience.
P3P W323B GL300C, APP V.2.6.0, AIRCRAFT V.1.6.40, RC V.1.5.70, AUTOPILOT V3.1A.
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I agree. This is quite a disappointment. Maybe Autopilot can build in LCMC as a workaround since it doesn't appear you can count on DJI's SDK.
If indeed the SDK issue (that in reality prohibits the use of waypoint mode in Autopilot) has not been resolved by the latest Firmware update, there is only one way for the current Autopilot application to go, and that's into the trash bin.
P3P W323B GL300C, APP V.2.6.0, AIRCRAFT V.1.6.40, RC V.1.5.70, AUTOPILOT V3.1A.
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I bought both Autopilot and Litchi on the same day....never even used Autopilot once I found out it would return directly to home if it lost RC signal. For me this weakness was a major matter of safety. If my bird loses signal on a mission I want it to fly back home the way I programmed it to fly home. Specifically, to avoid flying over concentrations of people, busy intersections, cell towers, power lines, schools, play grounds, etc. As others have said, LTCHI completes the mission regardless of RC signal. Litchi does have one serious flaw....especially for people in a hurry or those who don't do their preflight or desk check their mission before takeoff. In LITCHI, you can easily "fat finger" an accidental extra waypoint into your mission without even knowing that you did it. This can cause your phantom to fly off into the wild blue yonder towards the extra waypoint rather than simply stopping and hovering at the last waypoint. LITCHI would do well to put in a "lock mission" feature that prevents you from accidentally creating another waypoint simply by inadvertently touching the screen. Other than this single flaw, and perhaps some photographic limitations, I love LITCI.......well over 100 missions so far.
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@AdvRider Unfortunately, it looks more and more likely that we'll have to start looking towards the Litchi application for comfort, unless Autoflight Logic changes their opinion on LCMC operations (though I do understand their arguments for going against this). I'd like to see a quick response from the Autopilot developers on this matter.
Depending upon where you fly, when the Phantom initiates RTH, it's just on a rouge beeline mission...whilst climbing to an altitude which probably guarantees the greatest impact velocity. In the country side, RTH is not so bad, but in other settings, it's risky. Fly these things long enough and they will come down unexpectedly. Planning a mission properly in Litchi can really help minimize the likelihood of an unfortunate outcome other than a wrinkled Phantom. I also always try to consider how far the bird will go and where it might impact if it suddenly quits flying while cruising at 30mph. I do the same thing while flying real aircraft...at least they have a glide ratio. Sure would be nice if the Phantom could autorotate wouldn't it?
I think you guys are missing the point on why Autopilot does not have LCMC. The unique features in the flight controller are what differentiates autopilot from the masses. If you don't have a need for these unique features, then by all means buy something else. For me, I must have the ability to change speed between waypoints, change flight plan on the fly, etc.. When running these missions for cinematic motion events, I'm always within VLOS. So it's a none issue. This is their target consumer, so they have a niche with their product. When I want to hot dog it out a couple miles over the ocean or somewhere safe? Beyond VLOS, then I use Litchi. Simple enough.
Good point....two different tools entirely. Changing speed is not a big deal for me, but I am not a pro-grade video guy either. The granularity of control in AutoPilot certainly eclipses LITCHI.
@2nd2non Autoflight Logic originally (at least when I bought the product!) promoted the Autopilot application as having a functional failsafe RTH (as successfully tested on the older SDK). I'm not sure who their target customer is, but I would say that a lot of their customers bought their application explicit because of the waypoint mode, AND including using this mode beyond LOS (outside of the USA or against FAA recommendations within the USA). I, like you, also appreciate the unique programming features that Autopilot gives me, and would like to use these, but at the same time fly beyond LOS (which is just not comfortable with uncertain failsafe RTH actions by the drone). Even within LOS, your drone would possibly go into the lake or the trees (or the building) if you have RC signal loss - which is no good.
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It's not just about WAY out beyond VLOS. A random connection failure can occur at any time, even within LOS at some distance. I like what AP has to offer but this DJI bug is terrible and it effects not just AP, btw. Even litchi in follow and focus mode is susceptible to the problem. I only need waypoints and orbit but my missions frequently send the bird out around 1,300' to cover an area fully. Now, that's completely within a confident connection distance and if you're watching the bird closely it's LOS too. But one drop and it can be a real problem. I'm just too uncomfortable chancing it. I really, really hope for everyone's sake in this that DJI fixes this problem. Here's my recent litchi mission with the bird out at 1,300' at one point. I would be too nervous with AP for such a flight at the moment, even though I'm sure it would do a fantastic job of it as well.
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Please excuse my ignorance, still learning. First, what does SDK stand for and what is it, and second, what exactly are you all disappointed about with Autopilot. I know I tried to plot waypoints in Autopilot and it was a pain in the _ _ _! Too much crap all over the screen. I could be doing something wrong. Please school me. I was so excited to use Autopilot.
Software development kit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia = easiest to read that, I'd think
The problem is that while using Autopilot, in waypoint mode (not limited to this mode), if you experience a Radio Control (RC) Signal loss (for whatever reason, eg. long distance) the plane will not initiate failsafe Return to Home (RTH), as originally planned. Instead the plane will hover at its current position (at time of RC signal loss), until it reaches a critical low level warning, after which it will initiate the RTH, but it may or may not successfully make it all the way back to the home point. Originally the Autopilot was designed on a previous DJI SDK version, where the plane would execute the DJI native designed failsafe RTH in the event of RC signal loss (it would wait 3 seconds and then execute failsafe RTH).
I fly 2+ miles out with autopilot all the time. If I lose connection, it's always intermittent (ie. Less than full strength but not zero). I just press the RTH button and hold the controller up a little until it registers. It always makes the connection. RC signals don't just go from 100-0 strength if you are within LOS (ie. Not blocked by a mountain or something). Video downlink usually drops before the uplink. It's really not that risky. I guess I have a different comfort factor given my experience with networking and wifi signals and from flying the P3 with autopilot.
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Many of the videos posted here were with beta versions of the app. If anyone can produce discrepancies like this with the production version (available since January), please send them to us.
The issue is actually present in all Modes in Autopilot not just Waypoint, and several Modes in other software packages as others have pointed out.
At any rate, your conclusion seems a bit extreme. Obviously you are entitled to you own opinion, but as we stated previously, we have never actually experienced the RTH issue in real world testing (thousands of flights) unless we intentionally made it happen (by turning off the RC). Even in the face of this data, it is completely understandable why you don't want to risk it, but it seems like just using the other options in the meantime is your best bet*. Not entirely sure why Autopilot has to be forever written-off.
DJI may be slow to produce an update, but they will produce an update if they say so. This has always been our experience with them in the past and we have no reason to believe this time is different. Even still, we do have another inquiry into them as to when the fix is schedule (i.e. which firmware version).
*On using the other options - I assume the reason you are so adamant about this issue and active in this thread is because you would actually prefer to use Autopilot. What is it about Autopilot that appeals to you over the other options? In other words, is it one or more of the unique features that we offer because we don't support LCMC, or is it something else?
Exactly, and as we have stated many times, LCMC isn't out of the question, it is just a lower priority on the feature list because most of our users actually don't care about it, present company excluded of course.
You might want to consider turning off various layers on the map during mission planning. This is covered in the tutorial video.
Exactly.
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