iPad Ground Station nose direction - camera direction

[jguerriere]

I am planning to video a few light houses. My plan includes a 360 fly around showing the subject from all angles. Obviously as the the quad does the 360 it needs to rotate to keep the subject in the shot.

Does anyone know if this can be accomplished with the iPad ground station?

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[Ksc]

when you set a way put their is an option for direction. I can't remember what it is called now but you set the degree.

 

[Pacman]

You would need to create a series of waypoints around the building. It is possible to set the height and speed between each waypoint as well as the 'Heading'. This is set as 0 or 360 degrees for a heading of 'straight ahead' between way points (facing the next waypoint), so you could set a heading of 90 degrees between lots of waypoints to keep the quad facing the building. You can also set a method of turning into each waypoint: 'Stop and Turn' (means what it says), 'Bank Turn' (Turn at a constant speed), or 'Adaptive Turn' (slow down into each waypoint before turning).

The iPad GS User Guide is very basic, but the PC guide is much more informative. Ignore that fact this guide is for the Ace/WKM, the NAZA software is the same. Download from here:

http://download.dji-innovations.com/dow ... 2.5_en.pdf

 

[Guondersub]

Is it an Android version of the GS available?

Thanks,

Alberto

 

[Pacman]

Is it an Android version of the GS available?

Thanks,

Alberto

No. There is no Android GS app available, only iPad. You could run the PC software on a cheap laptop although it is not so easy to use.

 

[Guondersub]

Thanks Pacman!

Do you mean that the PC software is not easy to use by itself, or it is due to any other factor (configuration, connection)?

I was also seeking for a simulator that may help me to gain confidence with phantom, any suggestion?

Alberto

 

[Pacman]

The PC software is not as intuitive as the iPad app. With the iPad you can just touch the screen and the quad will fly to that point and it is simple to create waypoints. However, with the PC software you can fly manually with a joystick or Xbox 360 controller connected to the PC.

 

[Pacman]

Both the PC software and iPAd app are free to download and play with.

 

[Guondersub]

Thanks again. I'm going to try the PC version.

Alberto

 

[jguerriere]

Thank you for the responses. In reading the manual I noticed there always needs to be direct line of sight between antennas. If I want to 360 a lighthouse, I will be spending some time on the dark side of the moon so to speak. It is my understaning that this will cause fail safe 1 to kick in which is to hover. Then return home. If the return home does not climb high enough it could lead to a catastrophic crash into the light house.

So, is there a way around this problem? I was hoping I could load in a set of waypoints with alt, speed, heading, et al and then have the drone fly the course without any dependencies apart from the flight path.

I have used auto pilots on boats that worked this way. Set the course and the Ap does the rest.

Does anything like this exist for a drone? Any drone, not just the phantom.

Thanks in advance.

John

 

[Ksc]

most of my flights with the ground station has been done without being able to see my 450. I hit go and eventually it comes back. I watch it on my iPad and see that it is going where I told it. I haven't gone around any solid objects though. Trees are the reason I can't see it. Perhaps the trees don't block as much.

 

[miskatonic]

Yikes! If it has to maintain line of sight then that means that there is constant communication and that the iPad is giving flight commands to the Naza during flight. I would hate for the iPad app to crash.

 

[Pacman]

Using the iPad app you can fly manually using the screen control sticks, or by plotting single waypoints. However if you plot a series of waypoints these are uploaded to the quad and when you press Go the quad just flies on auto. Yes, you need comms from the iPad through the base transmitter to the quad receiver to make adjustments to the flight plan but if you lose comms the quad will continue to fly each waypoint. Also,the Ground Station overrides the normal transmitter (stock or otherwise) so losing connection to this does not initiate failsafe, and any flight limits set by the Naza Assistant are ignored. This is the whole point of the Ground Station - to create a series of waypoints for the quad to fly on auto without comms from the ground.

 

[Ksc]

I jailbroke my iPad mini and in doing that the battery life is horrible. Drains twice as fast as normal and when running the app, its even faster. I had the iPad die in the middle of a route, I flipped the gps switch on my TX twice and that put control back into my hands then shut the controller off and it came back like normal.

 

[Ksc]

I think the reason it doesn't store on the naza is because the naza doesn't have any sort of memory device. They should make a little MicroSD card adapter that you could preload the waypoints on it for true ground station flights.

 

[jguerriere]

Thanks for the replies. I think I might have read the wrong manual. Link up a few in this thread.

Will try a test. take off with simple circle flight plan then put iPad in car and keep tx in hand.

 

[thegrons]

I am planning to video a few light houses. My plan includes a 360 fly around showing the subject from all angles. Obviously as the the quad does the 360 it needs to rotate to keep the subject in the shot.

Does anyone know if this can be accomplished with the iPad ground station?

Thanks in advance.

John

Great question John I have the same need, to shoot a home and circle it with a 360 with the camera facing the home at all times. I think the best work around is to do 4 fly-byes going sideways to capture the building. I know that using the ground station we can adjust the up and down feature, I'm going to try turning the nose or as everyone said plot a square of waypoints, and pause at each one to turn the camera 90 degrees. I'm more interested in good photos in RAW and then tweaking them in photoshop.

Has anyone come up with a solution since this thread was posted?