Returning Home - Breadcrumbs Suggestion

[garygid]

Apparently the Return-Home function is relatively simple:

1. Ascend to about 60 feet (higher than the home spot?)
2. Travel level, an a straight line, back to "Home"
3. Descend and land.

As long as the intended flight path is clear,
that would seem to work rather well.

Complications:
1. Accuracy of the altitude measurements via GPS
2. Vertical obstacles, hills, trees, and buildings
3. Straight-line path obstacles, same types.

Questions:
1. Can one set the "60-foot" value to another value, like 100 feet?
2. Can the P2V fly a preset GPS course?

Suggestion:
1. While flying, using DJI-Vision, one could tell the P2V to "remember"
a GPS location and altitude, like dropping a breadcrumb at a point
in the air. Perhaps the P2V could remember up to a half-dozen or so,
and they could be erased individually, if the pilot desired.

2. Then, in the event of control signal loss, like when accidently
flying behind a large building, the P2V could go to each of the
breadcrumb positions, in reverse order of course, to make it
safely home (or back into control range), instead of flying "splat"
right into the side of the big building, hill, or trees.

With the software functions already implemented, I believe that
this feature would be relatively easy to implement. It is not
much different than flying any preset GPS course.

Any comments or suggestions?
Cheers, Gary

 

[Pull_Up]

Correction to Return-To-Home algorithm explanation:

1. Ascend to about 60ft above ground level of take-off spot or maintain current height if greater

Answers to questions:

1. No.
2. No. BUT in a few weeks time DJI have announced they will be releasing a firmware and app update which will enable you to set a series of GPS waypoints and your Vision can then fly between them autonomously. See here

At the moment we have no information beyond that so don't know how exactly the ground station-like functions will be implemented.

It will be fun and interesting to find out, though!

 

[BenDronePilot]

No there currently no way to change the default height that your vision will ascend to if you're flying below 66 feet when RTH fail safe is activated. On the other hand if RTH activates when you're above that altitude your phantom will stay at that altitude and only begin its descent once it had reached your Home point, by traveling in a straight line. Until there are collision avoidance technology available you're **** out of luck if there's something in your path higher than 66 feet or your current altitude should you hit fail safe.

No there also currently isn't a function to reset your marked home point to a different one tho in theory it could be done with additional technology added. Or maybe by adding a firmware update that can let you use your left toggle switch to force the phantom to record its current position in flight as the new "home" point tho only problem with that is it would have no way of knowing what ground level is which could make descent speed a problem.

 

[gpauk]

1. Accuracy of the altitude measurements via GPS

The altitude is measured via a barometric altimeter, not gps, so should be quite accurate.

 

[Pull_Up]

1. Accuracy of the altitude measurements via GPS

The altitude is measured via a barometric altimeter, not gps, so should be quite accurate.

DJI specs state accuracy for altitude hold is within 0.6m (about 2ft). My experience is that this is about right, or even a little bit more accurate than that.

 

[LeoS]

There is beauty in simplicity.
The current algorithm is simple and practical enough for phantom's limited range anyway.

Having to drop breadcrumbs home sound like it's something required for non-LOS (line of sight) flying, which the phantom is not designed for with its default configuration. Perhaps if you're Batman and you're bored with navigating the entry\exit pathway. Then again, maybe you should talk to Lucius for upgrades.

 

[kloader]

I'm hopeful the RTH height will be adjustable in the future. I have some 75 to 85 foot oak trees very close to my house. In the mean time, when I fly in my neighborhood I'll have to make sure I stay above the tree tops to keep the RTH from taking my PV into the trees.

 

[iDrone]

No worries, over 60' the PV maintains it's current altitude if RTH is activated. It's only when below that ceiling that it ascends to 60' to get clear of "most" obstacles (people, trees, houses).

iDrone