Greetings from Cape Town, south Africa.
I own a Phantom 1 and Phantom 2.
I have a proposal for a new flight mode that would be quick and easy to implement, and would
deliver a much more useful product and will cost DJI virtually nothing (other than writing some
code to modify the firmware).
I submitted the following to DJI and receive a canned response, "Dear, thanks for sharing your ideas with us..."
I would like to hear your support for this proposal. Maybe if enough Phantom owners ask for this, they may take the proposal more seriously.
The problem:
When flying at a distance, it is often difficult to keep track of the orientation of the
drone, or to aim it accurately for a photo or video. Obviously FOV solves this problem, but not
everyone wants to go that extra expense and complexity.
The Symmetry of the Phantom makes it difficult to discern the front from the back in flight.
The decals on the front arms are not easily seen from the ground, and the LED's under the arms
are not easily seen in broad daylight beyond a few dozen meters.
IOC solves the problem of manoeuvring the drone, but not of aiming the drone for video or
photo.
So here is a simple solution, which I call Intelligent Navigation and Orientation (INO).
On the right shoulder-switch, when you flick it to GO TO HOME, it merely switches off the
transmitter circuit, as if you have switched off your entire RC controller or the batteries
fell out. So that switch position is redundant, as you could simply power down your transmitter
on the main power switch to accomplish the same, and power up again to regain control.
The proposal is to offer an alternate mode INO for that switch position, which the pilot may
select in the PC Assistant, where he normally sets the Failsafe option.
Once INO is enabled in flight, the following happens, depending on the position of the IOC
selector:
Now the Left Stick controls the DIRECTION THE DRONE IS FACING!
The right stick controls the direction it moves, exactly as before.
There are three variations, selected by the IOC switch on the Left shoulder:
1) IOC set to Course Lock (CL):
The Left stick no longer controls throttle/altitude.
Instead, the Phantom will maintain current altitude until the switch is changed to another
position (ATTI or GPS ATTI).
Left Stick controls the direction the drone faces, according to the same CL rules as the right
stick controls motion. Face Forward, Face to the Left, face Backwards, etc.
2) IOC on Home Lock (HL):
The Left stick no longer controls throttle/altitude.
Instead, the Phantom will maintain current altitude until the switch is changed to another
position (ATTI or GPS ATTI).
Left Stick controls the direction the drone faces, according to the
same HL rules as the right stick controls motion. Pushing the left stick forward, turns the
drone to face directly away from the pilot, regardless of which radial it finds itself on.
Think about that... now you can easily fly along any line you want, and at the same time,
control which direction the drone faces and photographs or films, using IOC for both
Navigation, as well as Orientation (hence INO or Intelligent Navigation and Orientation).
3) What about when the IOC is in the OFF position?
This gives us the opportunity to keep the camera facing directly towards a Point Of Interest
(POI) as follows:
With IOC on OFF, when INO is initially enabled, it takes a GPS fix and then from that
moment onwards (until INO is disabled), the camera will always face that point, regardless of
how/where the drone manoeuvres to. This is great for filming a Point of Interest (POI) from all
angles, and to keep the camera locked onto one geographic point while manoeuvring. In this mode
(INO On, IOC Off), the Left Stick controls only the throttle and has
no YAW control, which is ignored.
A much more usable aerial filming platform!
I welcome your comment on this idea.
I own a Phantom 1 and Phantom 2.
I have a proposal for a new flight mode that would be quick and easy to implement, and would
deliver a much more useful product and will cost DJI virtually nothing (other than writing some
code to modify the firmware).
I submitted the following to DJI and receive a canned response, "Dear, thanks for sharing your ideas with us..."
I would like to hear your support for this proposal. Maybe if enough Phantom owners ask for this, they may take the proposal more seriously.
The problem:
When flying at a distance, it is often difficult to keep track of the orientation of the
drone, or to aim it accurately for a photo or video. Obviously FOV solves this problem, but not
everyone wants to go that extra expense and complexity.
The Symmetry of the Phantom makes it difficult to discern the front from the back in flight.
The decals on the front arms are not easily seen from the ground, and the LED's under the arms
are not easily seen in broad daylight beyond a few dozen meters.
IOC solves the problem of manoeuvring the drone, but not of aiming the drone for video or
photo.
So here is a simple solution, which I call Intelligent Navigation and Orientation (INO).
On the right shoulder-switch, when you flick it to GO TO HOME, it merely switches off the
transmitter circuit, as if you have switched off your entire RC controller or the batteries
fell out. So that switch position is redundant, as you could simply power down your transmitter
on the main power switch to accomplish the same, and power up again to regain control.
The proposal is to offer an alternate mode INO for that switch position, which the pilot may
select in the PC Assistant, where he normally sets the Failsafe option.
Once INO is enabled in flight, the following happens, depending on the position of the IOC
selector:
Now the Left Stick controls the DIRECTION THE DRONE IS FACING!
The right stick controls the direction it moves, exactly as before.
There are three variations, selected by the IOC switch on the Left shoulder:
1) IOC set to Course Lock (CL):
The Left stick no longer controls throttle/altitude.
Instead, the Phantom will maintain current altitude until the switch is changed to another
position (ATTI or GPS ATTI).
Left Stick controls the direction the drone faces, according to the same CL rules as the right
stick controls motion. Face Forward, Face to the Left, face Backwards, etc.
2) IOC on Home Lock (HL):
The Left stick no longer controls throttle/altitude.
Instead, the Phantom will maintain current altitude until the switch is changed to another
position (ATTI or GPS ATTI).
Left Stick controls the direction the drone faces, according to the
same HL rules as the right stick controls motion. Pushing the left stick forward, turns the
drone to face directly away from the pilot, regardless of which radial it finds itself on.
Think about that... now you can easily fly along any line you want, and at the same time,
control which direction the drone faces and photographs or films, using IOC for both
Navigation, as well as Orientation (hence INO or Intelligent Navigation and Orientation).
3) What about when the IOC is in the OFF position?
This gives us the opportunity to keep the camera facing directly towards a Point Of Interest
(POI) as follows:
With IOC on OFF, when INO is initially enabled, it takes a GPS fix and then from that
moment onwards (until INO is disabled), the camera will always face that point, regardless of
how/where the drone manoeuvres to. This is great for filming a Point of Interest (POI) from all
angles, and to keep the camera locked onto one geographic point while manoeuvring. In this mode
(INO On, IOC Off), the Left Stick controls only the throttle and has
no YAW control, which is ignored.
A much more usable aerial filming platform!
I welcome your comment on this idea.
