My first Flight with Ground Station

[MStacey]

no point of interest, but you can tell it which way to point while going to each waypoint

Thanks. I would be interested to see how the direction is set.

When you are setting the waypoint, there is an option for Orientation. Basically, you can direct your Phantom to point N-S-E-W. GS shows orientation in 90 degree increments.

Indeed it does show orientation but this is the direction in degrees that the nose points when at the waypoint NOT the direction the nose points whilst flying between the waypoints. Try it in simulator mode if you like.

Plot 4 waypoints in a straight line. For waypoint one I set the orientation at 90, at two 180 at three 270 at four 22. Hit the GO on the groundstation and watch the aircraft flies with its nose pointing to the first waypoint, at waypoint one it hovers and turns the nose to point to 90 degrees, then it turns and points in the direction of the next waypoint before moving on, etc.

 

[Fdnyfish]

Then I misunderstood what it was used for

 

[MStacey]

Then I misunderstood what it was used for

No worries, I wish it did work the way you initially thought.

 

[Fdnyfish]

I will be running a few test with that today. I normally leave the heading field empty and the camera is always facing forward.
Today I will program to fly a square and for each waypoint I will enter 180 degree. I want to see if the camera faces backwards during the entire flight or if it faces South the entire way (as it says on the screenshot)

I will let you know.

 

[Fdnyfish]

I did a test this morning (see below image).

The Phantom flew to each waypoint nose first. Once it got to the waypoint it turned South (180 deg.) and hovered for 10 seconds before going to the next waypoint.

So I do not believe there is any way right now to have the Phantom fly one direction while pointing in another direction.

 

[ElGuano]

Thanks for the report. I agree it would be a great feature to set the nose direction independent of the flight direction.

 

[Fdnyfish]

here is video from my test
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGiNCfrqWHU[/youtube]

 

[GearLoose]

Fdnyfish, I am following your tests with great interest. I have the GS on my table so all I need now is some free time from spring chores and gardening to put it (with my P1.5 transition) together.

You fly in a beautiful area -- is the large expanse of forest that we see in the distance a park or reserve?

I was thinking about your waypoint tests today while staring at the mountains that surround our small valley. How will I program a waypoint flight that ascends a mountainside, yet maintains a reasonably steady elevation above tree level?

And speaking of trees, it suddenly occurred to me that Google Earth's elevations don't take into account the heighth of our forests. Around here, a tree of less than 150' is still just a sprout or a bush. 200' is common.

Keep doing the good research and videos!

 

[Fdnyfish]

We have some state parks near by, but mostly just farmland and mountains.

Well before I did my 1.4 mile GS flight (see below) I took my handheld GPS and drove to the roads where I knew the Phantom would be crossing. I took GPS altitude readings at each point and realized that the highest point was 150 feet higher than my takeoff location. The trees at that location were also about 150 feet tall. So I needed to be at least 300 feet altitude. So I set my altitude at 400 feet for the flight and all went well. You can see me passing this point at the 3:45 mark in the video.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzXrmLT0h5s[/youtube]

 

[Fdnyfish]

Another note about altitude and waypoints.

If you set Height for waypoint 1 to 100FT and waypoint 2 to 300FT.

The Phantom will get to waypoint 1 and will be at 100ft, but then will start to travel to waypoint 2 and will GRADUALLY climb during the flight to waypoint 2. It will not hit 300FT until it almost reaches waypoint 2.

So on the flight I mentioned above, I made the first waypoint directly above my house at 400ft, insuring I had the altitude I needed to clear the trees on the way to waypoint #2.

Hope this helps.