Drone capture: software for flight plan

[sTcA]

good morning everybody,

new to this planet, I would like to know which software do you guys out there use to plan your flight to capture the images to later process in PhotoScan.

thanks in advance

[Ramps]

Depends on your hardware

I mostly use DJI Phantom 4 Pro and ipad
Although I have used various other DJI drones and android devices

For aerial survey type missions (3d point coud/ortho mosaics my go to is the ground station pro (GSP) by DJI

Pro's"
it's made by DJI (one stop shop is sometimes easier)
it's good value (ie Free)
all waypoints are uploaded onto UAV at start of mission (so will continue to end if you lose comms)
easy to operate and flexible

Cons:
can only handle 100 waypoints
can't plan your mission at you desktop
can't import shape files or kml's (or anything)

Haven't had any glitches at all ... currently why I'm sticking to it

I have also used Autoflight AutoPilot which can import kml's but that was for waypoint type image collection (rather than a polygon) ... fantastically powerful if you're into videeography ... not so much for our work ... DJI & IOS only

I have used Pix 4d capture (free)
prob as good as GPS on IOS but no better
Couldn't do polys on Android, only rectangles ... but I think that's changed with the latest
Could save transfer plans on Android but not IOS

That's my experience but things are changing daily

[TXPE]

For Ardupilot/Pixhawk based flight controllers, I use Mission Planner.
http://ardupilot.org/planner/

[Yoann Courtois]

Hi !

According to my experience, DJI GSPro is the best you can use.
All others (I've tested around 10 apps) present problems at some points.

Cons:
can only handle 100 waypoints
can't plan your mission at you desktop

Ramps:
You can go above the limit of 100 waypoints by flying without stop at each picture. If you plan your flight nicely, your UAV can take pictures while moving. (I handled an survey with 1200 pictures yesterday)
About planning mission at home, indeed you can do it !

[cadm8]

mission planner (pixhawk) and DJI ultimate flight

[Yoann Courtois]

Pros and Cons of Mission Planner and DJI Ultimate Flight ?

[sTcA]

Thanks everybody,

For the little I ve seen, Mission Planner is for Windows only (and I m on mac) and DJI GSPro for ipad only (and I'm on Nexus)... I guess I've to switch to ipad then...

[mobilexcopter]

Hello all,

it depends which drones you are using and what you want the software to do, so for me Mission Planner is good option as we are using Mikrokopter and Pixhawk based drones. For Mikrokopter we use our waypoint conversion tool to convert waypoint list from Mission Planner. Don't use DJI, but is well covered  here

You could also check out UgCS which offers support for most drones and devices.

Best regards,

Alex

[SAV]

Hi sTcA,

In case you are using a DJI drone then have a look at these:

MapPilot: http://www.dronesmadeeasy.com/Articles.asp?ID=254
FlyLitchi: https://flylitchi.com/

Regards
SAV

[Ramps]

Ramps:
You can go above the limit of 100 waypoints by flying without stop at each picture. If you plan your flight nicely, your UAV can take pictures while moving. (I handled an survey with 1200 pictures yesterday)
About planning mission at home, indeed you can do it !

Thanks Yoann
Good idea but when you're taking images on the move do you get any blur on your images?
when I said desktop ... I meant desktop computer ... do you have a solution for that?
I realise I can drag up the area on the device (ipad) that I'll be using in the field and tap on the screen for the area of the mission.

Cheers
Ramps

[Yoann Courtois]

Thanks Yoann
Good idea but when you're taking images on the move do you get any blur on your images?
when I said desktop ... I meant desktop computer ... do you have a solution for that?
I realise I can drag up the area on the device (ipad) that I'll be using in the field and tap on the screen for the area of the mission.

Cheers
Ramps

Hi Ramps,

I was scared about that too...  But as I needed to handle 1500 pictures' survey, I had no other choice than try a "non-stop" flight.
There is actually only one thing you've to careful about: The flight speed is automatically calculated based on your flight parameters in order the drone take a picture every 2 seconds. (No difference between the two types of "non-stop" flight available). So I suggest you to keep a high longitudinal overlap (80% minimum), it will slow down the flight speed 
Some more test would be needed about that, but it depend on many things, such as the weather.
From my experience, since I use that kind of flight, I didn't have any blured pictures, at 30m height as well as at 70m height.

Well you right, no possibility to plan your flights outside from the tablet...
But you can do it... even some parameters are a bit sensitive and you become some times upset when it don't stop at the exact value you need 

Regards

[mobilexcopter]

  Yoann : Don't use DJI, so I have a question : You can not manually set the camera shutter time on DJI drones??

[Yoann Courtois]

Hi !

You* don't use DJI UAVs right ?

Actually you can set camera shutter time.
The really good advantage of DJI GSPro app is that it includes a copy of DJI Go app which is the basic to control DJI UAVs.
So, in DJI GSPro, you can switch from "flight plan" to "UAV Control" and so set all parameters you want, then back to "flight plan" (without quit/change app) and start you flight.

Most of flight plan apps don't give confidence about camera parameters (or even don't give the possibility to set them)  ...
That's why we mostly use GSPro which give you:
- Possibility to set all what you want on your camera
- Large choice about flight plan setting
- Easy possibility to switch from "flight plan" panel to "DJI Go control" panel and get back the manual control in case of emergency !

[mobilexcopter]

Hello, no don't use them that's why I asked why you would not just change the shutter speed to avoid blur regardless of flight speed.

We normally fly from 6  to 10 m/s with multirotors and take pictures ( based on distance flown ) on the go without any blur using appropriate shutter times.

[Yoann Courtois]

Ok I understand.

Well, it could be a possibility. But regarding our drone is not a fully professional one (DJI Phantom 4 Pro), I decided to keep focus on ISO value which I fix at 100. I'm satisfied with automatic adjustment of shutter speed and aperture to keep a stable exposure and a good depth of field.

6 to 10 m/s looks a bit fast, but it really depends on your flight heigh, the resolution and the accuracy aimed.