Latest Litchi Update with Speed by Waypoints

[Larry Bond]

I like and use Litchi's waypoint missions a lot. The idea now that you can use separate speeds between waypoints, which I understand was strongly requested, only makes this program more powerful. However, it appears that you must have signal control for the different speeds to work. That I feel may be very limiting as one of the appeals for Litchi is that you can lose signal and still complete the mission. If the entire mission is first uploaded to the drone first I'm not sure why RC is needed.

Has anyone else have any thoughts or experience on this?

For example, when I flew the below flight along the US-Canada border in Sault Ste. Marie last week I sure could have used different speeds between waypoints, especially the far out, out of RC signal ones. I would prefer the drone change speeds rather than I do it the hokey way in post-processing. I could only speed it up after there were no more cars on the bridge. People and cars give it away

Thanks,

Larry

 

[jogforfitness]

Nice to see the option added. I wonder when contact is lost if the mission default speed would kick in? Or, would it be the speed from the last waypoint? The feature is a step in a good direction.


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[Larry Bond]

Nice to see the option added. I wonder when contact is lost if the mission default speed would kick in? Or, would it be the speed from the last waypoint? The feature is a step in a good direction.


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The Litchi "Help" unfortunately has not been updated to explain exacly how this change is implemented. So I guess it's up to us by "guess or golly" to figure it out.

 

[jlindh]

Tried out the new "speed at waypoint" feature yesterday. I was hoping that the feature would be useful in slowing the drone down for turns and help eliminate the shudder associated with turns at high speed. Unfortunately, the drone accelerates and decelerates rapidly, and while the feature does slow the drone for turns, it does so in such a rapid manner that the speed change is far too obvious in the resulting video.

Hopefully, Litchi will change the algorithm to allow smoother speed changes. The interpolate feature on the gimbal tilt might be a good starting point for the algorithm.

 

[Larry Bond]

Tried out the new "speed at waypoint" feature yesterday. I was hoping that the feature would be useful in slowing the drone down for turns and help eliminate the shudder associated with turns at high speed. Unfortunately, the drone accelerates and decelerates rapidly, and while the feature does slow the drone for turns, it does so in such a rapid manner that the speed change is far too obvious in the resulting video.

Hopefully, Litchi will change the algorithm to allow smoother speed changes. The interpolate feature on the gimbal tilt might be a good starting point for the algorithm.

Good observation. I've noticed that shudder too but I didn't think it necessarily was related to speed or waypoint changes as I've noticed them, such as in this flight, when I least expected them. I hope you're right and Litchi can smooth this out.

 

[jlindh]

Good observation. I've noticed that shudder too but I didn't think it necessarily was related to speed or waypoint changes as I've noticed them, such as in this flight, when I least expected them. I hope you're right and Litchi can smooth this out.

Larry,

I think you misunderstood my comment about shudder. I believe the shudder caused when the aircraft turns rapidly is caused by an inability of the Phantom processor to handle the massive amount of data that's being generated during the high speed turns.

The SOLUTION to the problem is to slow the rate of turn and, therefore, the amount of data being generated. If you have a turn with a fixed radius, the rate of turn will depend on the horizontal speed of the aircraft during the turn. The problem I'm describing relates to the present inability of the app to moderate the speed changes associated with the latest version of the app.

 

[Steve_in_DE]

Here's a related question: Lets say my cruising speed is 25mph, but there's one area where I want the Phantom to go slower, say 10mph.
If waypoint 1 & 2 are set to cruising speed, waypoint 3 is at 10mph, and waypoint 4 is back to cruising speed, WHEN do the speed changes take place? Will the Phantom fly at 10mph between 2 & 3, or 3 & 4, or something different?

Another thought: If it is true that the Phantom speeds up and slows down abruptly as the waypoint settings dictate, perhaps set up a series of closely-packed waypoints wherein the speed changes a little bit for each one? I would rather see the Phantom gain or lose speed gradually after one speed-change, but for now...

 

[ussvertigo]

Good work around!


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[CCrew]

Another thought: If it is true that the Phantom speeds up and slows down abruptly as the waypoint settings dictate, perhaps set up a series of closely-packed waypoints wherein the speed changes a little bit for each one? I would rather see the Phantom gain or lose speed gradually after one speed-change, but for now...

Speed changes take place at the waypoint. A way around this is to add an additional waypoint before and after to stop the change from being so drastic as you've suggested.

I can't really fault Litchi too much for it, it really is doing exactly what it's told.

 

[ehspro]

I like and use Litchi's waypoint missions a lot. The idea now that you can use separate speeds between waypoints, which I understand was strongly requested, only makes this program more powerful. However, it appears that you must have signal control for the different speeds to work. That I feel may be very limiting as one of the appeals for Litchi is that you can lose signal and still complete the mission. If the entire mission is first uploaded to the drone first I'm not sure why RC is needed.

Has anyone else have any thoughts or experience on this?

For example, when I flew the below flight along the US-Canada border in Sault Ste. Marie last week I sure could have used different speeds between waypoints, especially the far out, out of RC signal ones. I would prefer the drone change speeds rather than I do it the hokey way in post-processing. I could only speed it up after there were no more cars on the bridge. People and cars give it away

Thanks,

Larry

Hi Larry,

Great looking video, I enjoyed watching it. I can't seem to get any of the speed related features to work at all. I've set the speed settings in several test waypoint missions and no matter how I set it up, I fly at 4.1 MPH at all times.

 

[ftttu]

Hi Larry,

Great looking video, I enjoyed watching it. I can't seem to get any of the speed related features to work at all. I've set the speed settings in several test waypoint missions and no matter how I set it up, I fly at 4.1 MPH at all times.

I plan my missions on the Hub at flylitchi.com and not on my tablet so it may be different. On the hub, you click on a waypoint you want to set a custom speed for, and when the waypoint settings box pops up, you change the speed with the slider or direct input to you desired speed. After you do that, then you click on the actual waypoint on the map to set that speed.

 

[ehspro]

I've done what your explaining, however, I have a question? Once you open the waypoint settings box, make the changes you have described, don't you have to close the settings box by clicking the "X" in the corner?


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[John Locke]

I've done what your explaining, however, I have a question? Once you open the waypoint settings box, make the changes you have described, don't you have to close the settings box by clicking the "X" in the corner?


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You have to save the mission to save the speed changes. The craft speed will default to your "settings cruise speed" if you don't change the "cruise" settings specifically to another speed between waypoints. Go to "settings" to adjust the default cruising speed.

 

[ehspro]

If you don't mind, I'm going to try to send you a mission I created. I've saved all the missions once I created them


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[ehspro]

John, take a look at this screen capture video from the Mission Hub I just uploaded to Youtube, I've used the cursor to point out the speed settings for each waypoint.

 

[John Locke]

John, take a look at this screen capture video from the Mission Hub I just uploaded to Youtube, I've used the cursor to point out the speed settings for each waypoint.

Are you trying to have different speeds at each waypoint? Or are you trying to change the cruise speed so the whole flight flies at a high speed?

 

[ehspro]

I usually set the speed for each point based on what I'm trying to capture. However, it has not mattered what I set it at for any mission as it seems to just default to 4.1 MPH regardless.

I've created missions in the hub, opened and launched them at my local flying place and had the same result for speed no matter what?

 

[rocketflyer]

It's possible this feature is not in the API released by DJI and if so the only way it can be done is from the app - hence the need to have radio contact.

 

[ftttu]

I've done what your explaining, however, I have a question? Once you open the waypoint settings box, make the changes you have described, don't you have to close the settings box by clicking the "X" in the corner?


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I only click on the X when those boxes are in the way. I pretty much move from waypoint to waypoint with the forward and back arrows. I set my custom speed, click on the actual waypoint on the map to set that speed. After I'm finished with my mission planning, I click "save" in the blue "missions" button in the lower left of the mission hub screen. If this is working for you, I can't imagine any setting in the apps mission settings would cause your problem since it deals with speed.

 

[AIRSPACE]

I use litchi for commercial golf flyovers and the only way to get around this currently is to have wheels, so they give me a golf cart.

Other thing to note guys is if litchi detects any object and you have OA on it won't go sport mode speeds until the object clears..