Spark and Litchi - not quite same experience

[Brojon]

So I have been familiarizing myself with Litchi on the Spark. Been using it quite some time on the Phantom 4 Pro and Mavic - just making sure stuff works the same. Got rid of teh beta and loaded the new release which supports Spark waypoints.
First thing I notice is that I get the pause at most waypoints in spite of the fact I use curved lines and make sure the curvature is such that it "misses" the waypoint. For those who are unfamiliar with Litchi it will pause for each waypoint when you use straight lines to see if there's any actions that need to be executed. Curved lines should miss the waypoint and not trigger this behavior.
Second thing is it appears to set the Spark collision sensors to off - and the reason I say this is because it hauls booty on the mission - 14.5 mph on the last one even when I had it set to 10 mph. When obstacle sensors are active it should limit the speed to around 6 mph or so. This is concerning to me because dramatic shots are usually close shots and if I misjudge I want the bird to help me out by missing the object. That's why I always set a new mission so each waypoint the bird is looking straight ahead and change after it has been vetted by flight. (yes I know about VLM)
Third - and this is likely the Spark - it seems the GPS is off even when I have > 12 satellites. I set missions to look straight down when finished and executing RTH and it's quite a bit different from where it took off. Given it doesn't have the precision take off the Mavic and Phantom have - what does the Spark use for a home location? Given the locations I take off from some times this is a concern on where it thinks home is.

 

[crumbsPenfold]

Thanks for letting us know.
One question I have is: were these problems in the beta too?
Thanks

 

[Brojon]

I didn't really get to play with the beta that much unfortunately - had a string of problems with my first two Sparks and didn't want to risk it. Finally got a good Spark and finally got the time to play. The first time I fired up the beta I couldn't connect with OTG to the Spark remote. Worked flawlessly today after I remembered to log back in.

 

[Haggi]

I've also noticed the HP is slightly off..maybe as much as 10 meter.
I don't get the pause at the waypoints. I set mission to curved, then go at individual wp's and say 3m curve or whatever. The rest of the wp's I just leave. Or batch edit all to my taste.
I do not set actions on wp's. Only video.
I "always" set first wp on ground (close as possible to my position) if close to water. Return to first wp as final action.

I'll let others chime in with some experience..

 

[LDsteve]

I have had many of the same problems. Particularly with repeatability for waypoints because I also noticed that the GPS doesn’t line up correctly.

I reported all of this while using the beta but never heard back from Litchi.

One thing I considered was that I was running the beta on my Sparks that I hadn’t updated yet to the newest operating system.

I updates one of my Sparks and have tried it recently on Litchi newest release and it seems the GPS issue was cleared up. My repeatability seemed much better. I have not flown with it enough yet though to be sure the issue was resolved.

So the question is, did you update your Spark to the newest OS? If not that may be the issue.

 

[Jc_87]

So I have been familiarizing myself with Litchi on the Spark. Been using it quite some time on the Phantom 4 Pro and Mavic - just making sure stuff works the same. Got rid of teh beta and loaded the new release which supports Spark waypoints.
First thing I notice is that I get the pause at most waypoints in spite of the fact I use curved lines and make sure the curvature is such that it "misses" the waypoint. For those who are unfamiliar with Litchi it will pause for each waypoint when you use straight lines to see if there's any actions that need to be executed. Curved lines should miss the waypoint and not trigger this behavior.
Second thing is it appears to set the Spark collision sensors to off - and the reason I say this is because it hauls booty on the mission - 14.5 mph on the last one even when I had it set to 10 mph. When obstacle sensors are active it should limit the speed to around 6 mph or so. This is concerning to me because dramatic shots are usually close shots and if I misjudge I want the bird to help me out by missing the object. That's why I always set a new mission so each waypoint the bird is looking straight ahead and change after it has been vetted by flight. (yes I know about VLM)
Third - and this is likely the Spark - it seems the GPS is off even when I have > 12 satellites. I set missions to look straight down when finished and executing RTH and it's quite a bit different from where it took off. Given it doesn't have the precision take off the Mavic and Phantom have - what does the Spark use for a home location? Given the locations I take off from some times this is a concern on where it thinks home is.

Yes i noticed same issue with the RTH as well usually 2 meters away from real start
Also, one interesting new feature with the Spark in addition to Waypoints, is that you can fly above the range of your RC since the path is loaded into the SPark when taking off. I tried it several times (keeping an eye on it) worked perfectly // Congrat to Litchi as this feature was so expected / When small bugs will be fixed that will be wonderful

 

[Jc_87]

Hello I have a Spark, love it, simple and light, but I regret that many softwares out of DJI are rarely supporting Spark (usually stop at Mavic).

Does anybody knows a cool solution to make map of an area (either horizontal pictures or vertical / building). (I tried already Hangar thats works well for 360°) most of solutions I found as either pro & very expensive, or do not support Spark

Thanks for your help!

 

[Brojon]

Hello I have a Spark, love it, simple and light, but I regret that many softwares out of DJI are rarely supporting Spark (usually stop at Mavic).

Does anybody knows a cool solution to make map of an area (either horizontal pictures or vertical / building). (I tried already Hangar thats works well for 360°) most of solutions I found as either pro & very expensive, or do not support Spark

Thanks for your help!

You probably should start a new thread on that topic since it will be easier for folks to find and comment on.

 

[Brojon]

I have had many of the same problems. Particularly with repeatability for waypoints because I also noticed that the GPS doesn’t line up correctly.

I reported all of this while using the beta but never heard back from Litchi.

One thing I considered was that I was running the beta on my Sparks that I hadn’t updated yet to the newest operating system.

I updates one of my Sparks and have tried it recently on Litchi newest release and it seems the GPS issue was cleared up. My repeatability seemed much better. I have not flown with it enough yet though to be sure the issue was resolved.

So the question is, did you update your Spark to the newest OS? If not that may be the issue.

Yup - everything is up to date - except maybe the no-fly database which I tend to ignore. I'll double-check though...
The one that gave me the willies was how sloppy the waypoints are - there was one that was supposed to be around 60 feet away from a building under construction and it got darned close. I paused the mission and rotated the gimbal down and I was over the street - so easy around 30 feet farther than it should have been - and that's only because I paused it! Interestingly the Airdata map showed exactly on target. So it seems the Spark reported the correct coordinates - they just weren't accurate in the real world.
Makes me wonder if Dji somehow borked the GPS code in the SDK.

 

[Haggi]

Yup - everything is up to date - except maybe the no-fly database which I tend to ignore. I'll double-check though...
The one that gave me the willies was how sloppy the waypoints are - there was one that was supposed to be around 60 feet away from a building under construction and it got darned close. I paused the mission and rotated the gimbal down and I was over the street - so easy around 30 feet farther than it should have been - and that's only because I paused it! Interestingly the Airdata map showed exactly on target. So it seems the Spark reported the correct coordinates - they just weren't accurate in the real world.
Makes me wonder if Dji somehow borked the GPS code in the SDK.

There is a setting in litchi app regarding gps accuracy/deviation.. I think its 15 meter by default.
By this I think drone is allowed to go 15 m away from planned mission path.
Maybe lower it a bit and test in open field for real world behaviour.

 

[Brojon]

I'm quite sure I've not seen any setting like that - you have a screen shot?

 

[Haggi]

There you go...

 

[Haggi]

Well, i've checked the help pages.
It's not related to the issue here.
Sorry about that..

 

[Brojon]

View attachment 6453

There you go...

That screen does not exist for the Spark.

 

[Haggi]

That screen does not exist for the Spark.

Android only.

"Maximum Location Accuracy: This setting defines the maximum location accuracy required for Follow mode to work. If the mobile device GPS shows a higher accuracy than this value, Follow sessions will fail to start. Additionally, if during a Follow session the mobile device GPS accuracy jumps to a value that is higher than this setting, the aircraft will stop moving until the accuracy comes back to a healthy level. As a result, it is important to set this value correctly. It defaults to 15 meters, but if you are having issues with GPS accuracy and depending on your environment, you may want to increase the default value. Android only."

 

[Brojon]

Ah! But as you say - not applicable to the issue at hand.
It would in fact be handy if the app could report on current accuracy. I know my geocaching apps give me an estimate.

 

[Haggi]

Ah! But as you say - not applicable to the issue at hand.
It would in fact be handy if the app could report on current accuracy. I know my geocaching apps give me an estimate.

Really off topic, but I've got 1250 logged..

BTW, my litchi missons (curved) set at 30 kmh, brake to approx 10 kmh in the corners.
Do you observe this?

 

[Brojon]

Yes it tends to noticeably slow down. I experimented today with reduced waypoints and curves adjusted to be far away from waypoints and it seemed to fly much smoother.
I noticed something else - it seems to calculate airspeed - not ground speed because when I had a waypoint that climbed 200 feet in about the same distance it reported the set speed but it was obviously moving much slower horizontally.
I doubt this is new I just noticed it today.
GPS seemed to be tracking very well today - no idea what the deal was yesterday. The only difference in missions was I told it to return to 1st point - not home. So I do in fact think that it has a different notion of home than I do.
It still flies faster than the set speed. I had teh mission set for 6.5 mph cruising speed and recorded 9-11 mph speed in the app. I'm going to have to contact Litchi support and ask them about the obstacle avoidance since I double checked to make sure it was on in Dji GO 4 - to my knowledge this is a value stored in the aircraft so Litchi should honor it.

 

[Haggi]

Oh well, I have nothing to add here.. but please report back.

 

[Stanlee]

I definitely know obstacle avoidance isn't working with litchi, I tested it for first time last night and it flew directly into tree without an audible alarm even. I'm new to this while litchi thing but hopefully get some more testing this weekend.