Using Litchi for Waypoint mission beyond RC signal-Advice please.

[Jordan-Drones]

Hello guys
I'm going to be flying a waypoint mission with litchi app, but it is going to be out of my RC signal range.
Litchi estimates the mission time to be 8mins at cruise speed, so shouldn't have any issues on battery length.
Just curious as to weather I can trust the app, abit weary of loosing my drone, so would be good to hear from some of you who have done this your selfs before and any advice you have for me?
Mainly looking for more confidence in my drone, any advice is welcome.
Cheers guys
(Obviously I know to make the final waypoint on me so the bird comes back.)
-Edit. I will be using the P3A.

 

[athearnsd45]

The standard VLOS considerations apply, but Litchi does a fine job continuing missions with lost signal. The biggest risk is losing GPS or otherwise switch to ATTI mode - if for some reason this were to happen during the lost signal period, chances of losing your drone are very high.

 

[LarBear360]

Hello guys
I'm going to be flying a waypoint mission with litchi app, but it is going to be out of my RC signal range.
Litchi estimates the mission time to be 8mins at cruise speed, so shouldn't have any issues on battery length.
Just curious as to weather I can trust the app, abit weary of loosing my drone, so would be good to hear from some of you who have done this your selfs before and any advice you have for me?
Mainly looking for more confidence in my drone, any advice is welcome.
Cheers guys
(Obviously I know to make the final waypoint on me so the bird comes back.)
-Edit. I will be using the P3A.

It is a bit scary, but there are thousands of successful autonomous flights completed using Litchi.

If you have never flown a waypoint mission, start out with a small one. Find an open field and set up a few waypoints to test it out. Stay within radio range and line of sight. That way if it looks like something is going awry, you can abort the mission and retake control.

My first mission went great until the final waypoint when the AC made a hairpin turn and headed off in another direction. I took control and brought it back safely and to this dy have no idea what happened. Most likely I had something programmed incorrectly.

Most of the crashes and losses using Litchi are pilot error. Be sure you really understand how it works.

 

[bsartist]

You can trust the app, but you have to trust your programmming just as much. There are a number of ways you can shoot yourself in the foot. One way is not programming enough height into your waypoint. Or not having enough waypoints over terrain of varying heights esp if using the AGL option. Remember to take into account trees. And altimeter variability. Give yourself plenty of extra height as you build confidence.

Another potential issue with flying out of signal range is to understand which actions will not work without RC connectivity (since those commands are sent in real-time from the RC to the AC). One of those is speed change. If you lower your speed down and then it flies beyond signal range, any speed increases programmed for waypoints out of signal range will not occur. So it continues to fly at the low speed until the next speed change is received from the RC when back in range. This can unexpectedly lengthen your mission beyond what you programmed. (Also, gimbal pitch changes won’t happen out of range. This isn’t a safety issue though.)

Be mindful of wind. A headwind will chew up battery and/or slow you down and lengthen your flight. A very stiff headwind and it may never make it back. Winds aloft may be higher. While it’s out of contact, you won’t have a clue as to how it’s behaving. On some longer flights I got concerned about making it back so I aborted the mission, switched to sport mode and bee-lined for the home point. This option is taken away from you if you have no telemetry.

 

[rexster314]

Find and download Virtual Litchi Mission. It's for Windows. You plan the mission like Litchi Hub, but this allows you to export the mission to Google Earth to play it on your computer. My first mission I flew, I probably tweaked it for 2 days before actually saving it and flying it.