Litchi waypoint speed then losing contact

[jogforfitness]

Interesting thing happened when flying a Litchi waypoint mission today. My default mission speed is set to 30mph. For one of my waypoints I slow the speed to 20mph and drop to a lower altitude. When dropping to the lower altitude I lost my signal for a few seconds. For the remainder of the mission, while in full contact with the drone my speed would not resume to the default mission speed and, the gimbal angle would not change either. It remained set with the settings at the point contact was lost until the mission completed.

I know that speed and gimbal changes have to be in contact with the RC in order for them to change if needed during a mission but, I didn't expect them to stay frozen after losing then re establishing communication with the drone.

I'm flying the latest version of everything on an iPad Air 2

 

[wa5tef]

I rarely fly anything but Litchi waypoint missions and frequently I lose contact with my Phantom 4. The drone continues the mission and adjusts the speed and camera angle to each waypoint regardless on contact with RC or not. I have found at times on a mission, the problem you described but in carefully reviewing the remainder of the mission I found that the remaining waypoints were not programmed as thought. The speed and camera angle of the last "good" waypoint was apparently copied forward to the remaining unflown waypoints. I always review each mission now to be sure this has not happened again. Perhaps this happened to you. Good luck
Jim
WA5TEF

 

[Samuraiz]

I have had the same experience as Jim. I only program missions using the PC based Mission hub since my finger are too fat to do so on he device screen. Often after programming a mission I will review and find that I did not set all the gimbal way points with Interpolate, or I may have missed an altitude or speed setting.

 

[jogforfitness]

Just some snippets taken from the iOS P4 Litchi manual regarding Waypoint missions -

Gimbal Pitch Mode Litchi can control the gimbal pitch (i.e. camera up/down tilt) automatically during a mission as long as the aircraft is within range of the remote controller.

Speed: Set the desired aircraft speed as it passes the waypoint. This parameter defaults to the Cruising Speed set in Mission Settings. For a waypoint-specific speed setting to work, your aircraft must be within range of the DJI controller. If the signal is lost, the aircraft will continue at the speed it was traveling when the signal was lost.

 

[wa5tef]

Jog, I did not know that! I'll have to try it but I believe mine continues the mission regardless of contact the the remote controller. I will try a short mission to see. Thanks for the input.
Jim
WA5TEF

 

[dwallersv]

Jim, you would have quite a unique Phantom if it really does modify speed and tilt when out of contact with the RC.

There's no way to upload those parameters for waypoints in the DJI SDK, IIRC.

 

[ukracer]

Why then when running a Litchi Mission when you select go, the tablet shows uploading mission 0%, 50%, 100% and only when complete does it proceed on its way?

 

[dwallersv]

Why then when running a Litchi Mission when you select go, the tablet shows uploading mission 0%, 50%, 100% and only when complete does it proceed on its way?

Not sure what you're asking.

The automation engine in the aircraft has the capability of being loaded with automated waypoint missions, and executing them autonomously.

However, Litchi support more waypoint parameters than the automation engine does. Among those are gimbal tilt angle, and speed.

So, when Litchi flies a mission, it uploads information for the mission that the aircraft supports, and then controls directly from the app other control parameters in-flight.

 

[wa5tef]

Why then when running a Litchi Mission when you select go, the tablet shows uploading mission 0%, 50%, 100% and only when complete does it proceed on its way?

UKRACER, yes. I just set my Phantom on a clear spot so the camera can go through its self test and stabilize and then click on the mission I want, load it, then click again to start it. It begins loading to the drone and when complete, it takes off by itself and proceeds to the first waypoint. I really enjoy planning these missions and flying them. Then going back and modifying it to get more accurate videos or enclose more area to video. I have two high voltage power lines about 1./4 mile north of my property. I usually go to 400 feet to clear the towers and lines then back down to a cruising altitude of about 200 feet. As I get farther away from the controller, I increase altitude to keep getting a good signal. I have had the drone out to 7,140 feet and still had a 100% signal on both indicators. I do use parabolic reflectors on both antennas and they really do work well!
Thanks,
Jim
WA5TEF

 

[MarcusKeeler]

Not sure what you're asking.

The automation engine in the aircraft has the capability of being loaded with automated waypoint missions, and executing them autonomously.

However, Litchi support more waypoint parameters than the automation engine does. Among those are gimbal tilt angle, and speed.

So, when Litchi flies a mission, it uploads information for the mission that the aircraft supports, and then controls directly from the app other control parameters in-flight.

I did not know that either, I incorrectly assumed it was similar to the P2/Vision series which were able to soak up a fairly extensive series of parameters prior to mission execution.
This could change the game quite significantly... Do we know which mission parameters are uploadable and able to be executed without the APP having connection? A MAJOR omission would be height levels....

 

[jogforfitness]

Waypoint, height, direction and curves are loaded. I'm sure there is plenty more. Dirty Bird (who regrettably is no longer active on this forum), flys missions in Baltimore where a decent portion is not connected with the RC. Take a look at his YouTube channel. You'd be amazed at what Litchi can do even without an RC connection.

 

[Brockrock]

Not sure what you're asking.

The automation engine in the aircraft has the capability of being loaded with automated waypoint missions, and executing them autonomously.

However, Litchi support more waypoint parameters than the automation engine does. Among those are gimbal tilt angle, and speed.

So, when Litchi flies a mission, it uploads information for the mission that the aircraft supports, and then controls directly from the app other control parameters in-flight.

Nicely put!

 

[dwallersv]

I did not know that either, I incorrectly assumed it was similar to the P2/Vision series which were able to soak up a fairly extensive series of parameters prior to mission execution.
This could change the game quite significantly... Do we know which mission parameters are uploadable and able to be executed without the APP having connection? A MAJOR omission would be height levels....

I think you're mistaken about the P2.

Litchi discusses this limitation on their site, and AFAIK the WP parameters that require connection to control in-flight are gimbal tilt angle, speed, and (some?) waypoint actions. I'm sure about the first two, not absolutely certain about the WP actions.

In any case, WP altitude is one of the programmable parameters that do not need a connection.