AutoPilot and the Spark

Tom Croley · Mar 25, 2018

I flew 3 more flights today with no problems. 1st I tried some more experiments with the Zipline mode. I placed point A about 30 feet out into the field and point B about 600 feet down the road in front of our house. I used Subject focus with the target set on the operator (me.) After engaging the mission, I walked down the road as the AC flew on ahead. It kept the camera focused on me pretty good considering the heavy cloud cover and poor gps reception today. Then I walked back...repeated twice. So the Zipline follow works pretty good. On the 2nd walk, I left the AC down the road while I walked back. The camera focused on me the whole time. Then I told the AC to return to point A and it did all while focusing on me. Pretty good!

Next I tried the same thing with the Orbit mode but chickened out due to the poor conditions.

Lastly I flew a whole flight using the cruise mode which is getting to be one of my favorites. The camera follows the subject while you fly the drone around using the sticks. Stick directions are oriented to the operator in the mode I chose so Forward stick always moves the AC away and Back always moves the AC toward you, not matter which way the AC happens to be rotated. Left goes left, right goes right. When you disengage, stick movement is returned to normal.

Loudn · Mar 26, 2018

Thank you, Tom. I am impressed with your thoroughness! There is nothing compared a tried and true experience. You saved me 20 bucks, lol.

I”ll hone my manual skills until I invest in better equipment or Autopilot is released for Android.

DJI could make a few bucks if they released a paid version that features waypoints, zip line, focal point, etc..

Thanks again, my friend.

Lou

Tom Croley · Mar 26, 2018

Ahhh!!! The lack of precise accuracy on my last zipline experiment is probably related to the fact that my Ipad Mini 4 does NOT have gps. So when I asked the app to track my device and then started walking down the road, it could only take its best guess.... still it did pretty good. I'm going to try the same mission using my Iphone SE as soon as the weather clears and see how well it fairs. I'm predicting that it will do well.

I use the Mini 4 because I just don't see that good anymore and it is difficult for me to manipulate options on my phone which has a rather small screen.

If you are going to purchase a device to use with this app, I recommend getting a model that has GPS, A digital compass, and a barometer.

One option for me where accuracy is necessary would be to sit in my living room and plan my missions on the Mini 4 with the bigger screen and then go fly them using the phone. When you save a mission on the Mini 4, it appears in the list on the phone as long as you have wifi internet for the Mini.

If you take the Mini out in the field where there is no wifi available and you want to plan a mission, you may be out of luck because there is no map on which to plan. If you plan ahead and download the map first, maybe. You could plan the mission using the camera.... I'll have to experiment some more.

Tom Croley · Mar 26, 2018

PANO..... I finally got around to experimenting with the pano mode and I'm not impressed. It has more options than the DJI app for sure but since there is no instant way to stitch your pano together and download it to your device, it is not very convenient. For a quick and easy pano, you just can't beat the DJI app. I see no point to the AP pano mode unless you really want to tweak the parameters of your pano beyond what is possible with DJI. When you take a pano using AP and then stick your SD Micro card into your computer, you will find the pictures in the main folder, not in a special pano fold. You will then have to copy them to your computer and import them into whatever program you use to stitch them together.

It would be nice to import them right into your Iphone or device but so far I see no way to do that using AP.

You could use the Hangar 360 app for 360 pictures....but I really don't see much point to it either for the same reasons. They provide a way to upload the pictures to their website where they will stitch them together and send you back the photo.... but again...what is the point in that. Just use DJI app for your 360 and be happy. It takes more time to upload to their server than it does to stitch a 360 sphere using DJI and then transfer it to your device. I confess, I downloaded the Hangar 360 app but after looking it over, I did not even try it. I shrugged and thought, so what? Am I missing something?

Tom Croley · Mar 28, 2018

HEAD TO HEAD TEST - DJI ACTIVE TRACT vs AUTOPILOT

AUTOPILOT - I set up a waypoint course that lead in a large arc down the street and behind some trees that line the street. Altitude was set to 110 feet to avoid the tree tops. I set the focus to "Subject" and the focus mode to "Operator" (that's me.) I was using my Iphone SE for a device. I engaged the mission and watched as the AC ascended to 110 feet and moved to the 1st point at the tip of the arc in the field. The AC started making its arc behind the trees and I started walking to the end of the street. The AC passed me up but I kept walking. When the AC reached the end of the arc, it started back and away on a larger arc and I kept walking another 50 feet or so. The AC moved away from me but kept the focus of the camera on me. I turned and walked back to the end of the street. By the time I arrived the AC was hovering in the final point with the camera on me all the time. RESULTS - The mission was completed as planned and the camera never failed to be focused on me.

DJI - I started the mission at the same point but since the DJI Go app has no waypoint mode, I chose Active Track, then Follow. I was hovering at 110 feet and carefully highlighted the green focus box on ME. I hit the go button and started walking down the street as before. The AC started to follow me but it was right behind me, not of to the side. I moved the "swing" button to the right so that the AC would swing over past the trees and view me from the side, the AC responded in that direction keeping the camera on me.....for a while. I kept walking. As soon a one of the tall trees was between me and the AC, the AC stopped tracking and just hovered in place. The camera focused on a seemingly random spot closer to the AC. I moved out into the open and refocused the target box on me and hit GO again. I started walking again and all was well for about 20 feet until another tree came in between and the AC stopped tracking. I aborted the mission and used the sticks to fly back to the start. Disappointed. A Fail.

Conclusion... in this test Autopilot wins hands down! The trees were the big factor. Since DJI seems to track based on a visual image it could not manage flying behind the trees. These trees are tall, but you can see through them....they are not thick, dense trees.

Tom Croley · Mar 28, 2018

Follow Mode - I went out this evening and tried a couple of "follow" techniques. Using the SE instead of the IM4, I set up a basic follow mission myself as the leader. I walked back and forth down the length of our dead end street and tried all the basic options. The AC followed me perfectly, keeping the camera on me at all times even though at times there were trees in the way. Next I tried the intermediate and advanced modes of operation and tried almost all of the various options. The AC followed every scenario that I changed to on the fly. That's right. You can change the flight parameters during your mission and the AC will respond. I got it to follow on the left, follow on the right, follow in front and follow from various angles. I also tried adjusting the AC speed and that went well too.

I have noticed that all this stuff really drains the battery of your phone....but I was able to fly 3 AC batteries with lots of juice to spare on the SE.

Here is a long boring video that demonstrates how well this works.

Tom Croley · Mar 28, 2018

It would be nice to have better warning messages like: "Low Battery!!" or "Home Point Recorded." You sort of take the home point by faith from what I can tell. Just watch the number of Sats. that you have and don't take off without a bunch of them. There is a Low Battery warning but it is easy to overlook.

Tom Croley · Mar 28, 2018

Orbit Follow - Wow! This is really cool. I tried this the other day with no joy but today was a different story. I started from scratch and set up a mission on my SE for a basic orbit. BUT I selected the Moving Subject option and then fired it up. The AC rose to 120' (I selected that altitude to clear the trees) and then began to circle me obediently. I started walking down the street, clear to the end and around the corner. The AC followed me all the while keeping the camera on me as it circled. To make the circling more effective I increased the drone speed a little. I tried clockwise and counterclockwise. All the available options can be changed on the fly during the mission.

Here is a long boring video that demonstrates how well this works.

Tom Croley · Mar 28, 2018

Complicated Waypoint Mission - I still have a lot to learn about the waypoint mode. It has so many options! I set up a square pattern with 6 waypoints. At each corner of the pattern, I had the drone stop and hover and take some still pictures of 4 different targets, each a different direction. I also had the AC take a short video all along the back leg of the journey. The 1st and last waypoints were both right in front of me at a low altitude. The rest were at 120' I ended up getting some error messages that I did not understand along the way. The pictures came out correctly as did the video and the AC flew the correct course the whole way. More practice and study is needed. I wish the flight school instructions were even more detailed with more examples.

AndyN · Mar 29, 2018

I'm just thinking, Will the FCC regulatory limitations be in effect when using Autopilot, since they are using their own software of sorts? Or is the FCC built into RC and AC?

Vadda · Mar 29, 2018

This is a great question !

AndyN · Mar 29, 2018

@Tom Croley in good wind conditions, Well below threshold stated in the manual for wind speed. Have you found an ultimate speed the Spark behaves smooth in?

Btw. The tip you mentioned for hardware disengage button (F1 for example) is a good setup!

Tom Croley · Mar 29, 2018

AndyN said:
I'm just thinking, Will the FCC regulatory limitations be in effect when using Autopilot, since they are using their own software of sorts? Or is the FCC built into RC and AC?

I think they will be in effect since you do get a proximity warning. I have not actually tried flying in a NO zone but we live near a NO zone so I do get a warning.

Tom Croley · Mar 29, 2018

AndyN said:
@Tom Croley in good wind conditions, Well below threshold stated in the manual for wind speed. Have you found an ultimate speed the Spark behaves smooth in?

Btw. The tip you mentioned for hardware disengage button (F1 for example) is a good setup!

I have not tried setting up a max speed run. I'll do that when I get a chance. The speed defaults to 8.2 MPH for some reason. I aways set it down to 4 MPH. There is a individual slider bar that you can use to set the speed for each leg of a waypoint mission. I did change the speed of my orbit mission during the mission. It too has a slider but I only increased it a little. I imagine there is a point at which the video will begin to suffer.

AndyN · Mar 29, 2018

Tom Croley said:
I think they will be in effect since you do get a proximity warning. I have not actually tried flying in a NO zone but we live near a NO zone so I do get a warning.

I was thinking FCC/CE operating range. In Sweden after 500 meters the AC looses contact with RC!

AndyN · Mar 29, 2018

Tom Croley said:
I have not tried setting up a max speed run. I'll do that when I get a chance. The speed defaults to 8.2 MPH for some reason. I aways set it down to 4 MPH. There is a individual slider bar that you can use to set the speed for each leg of a waypoint mission. I did change the speed of my orbit mission during the mission. It too has a slider but I only increased it a little. I imagine there is a point at which the video will begin to suffer.

I was trying out different Zipline setups today to see how the AC behaves. One option I was looking for and that could help a little would be separate gimbal speed. But then again. If you drop the speed of the mission then everything soothes out nicely. What I want to achieve is with this test is more softer shots, Autopilot tends to (in my basic testing scenarios) jerk around a little to make the image “mechanical” looking with some AC manovers if you know what I mean! Some shots in my opinion doesn’t need to be dead target on subject as long as the movement is smooth. If the movement is not “natural” then it would ruin the feel of the shot. I also tried waypoint with Bézier curves. Thumbs up for that!

Also I’m going to test out Droneblocks (DroneBlocks av Dennis Baldwin DroneBlocks i App Store) I’m teaching my 6 year old daughter programming!

Tom Croley · Mar 29, 2018

AndyN said:
@Tom Croley in good wind conditions, Well below threshold stated in the manual for wind speed. Have you found an ultimate speed the Spark behaves smooth in?

Btw. The tip you mentioned for hardware disengage button (F1 for example) is a good setup!

Speed vs Camera Stability Test - using waypoints.
Today I set up a 12 waypoint zig zag mission in the field with a cross wind of 4-6 mph. Each leg of the mission increases the speed 2 MPH and I started at 14 mph. The camera stays focused on a house in the center of the run. In another run, I noticed that at 8 mph or below it was nice a smooth all the way.... and pretty good up to about 16. In this run the max mph that I hit was a short burst of 26 mph. Here is the video...although I stripped the quality to make it easier to post to the tube. The last leg I jumped 4 mph instead of 2.

AndyN · Mar 30, 2018

Tom Croley said:
Today I set up a 12 waypoint zig zag mission in the field with a cross wind of 4-6 mph. Each leg of the mission increases the speed 2 MPH and I started at 14 mph. The camera stays focused on a house in the center of the run. In another run, I noticed that at 8 mph or below it was nice a smooth all the way.... and pretty good up to about 16. In this run the max mph that I hit was a short burst of 26 mph. Here is the video...although I stripped the quality to make it easier to post to the tube. The last leg I jumped 4 mph instead of 2.

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Nice shot, it's very obvious the small drone suffers without a third axis gimbal movement, but then again impressive you can do these movements autonomously! I have further tested waypoints to and are very impressed by the AC!! definately worth the money.

mywalter · Apr 2, 2018

Thanks to Tom and his cool posting here! Yesterday I got Autopilot and today I flew my first flight with Spark & Autopilot. Really amazing! I created a test waypoint flight plan with 10 waypoints, several focus points and overall flight length of 800m. Everything worked well even when I couldn't hear or see the spark for a longer time, which felt quite strange.

Tom Croley · Apr 2, 2018

mywalter said:
Thanks to Tom and his cool posting here! Yesterday I got Autopilot and today I flew my first flight with Spark & Autopilot. Really amazing! I created a test waypoint flight plan with 10 waypoints, several focus points and overall flight length of 800m. Everything worked well even when I couldn't hear or see the spark for a longer time, which felt quite strange.

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.