Few newbie questions

Flight - Discussion and Q&A
1

Hi all,

I been looking for a new imagery capture app for mapping as DJI Pilot is missing a few key features. I haven’t actually flown with DroneDeploy yet but I have a few questions that I was hoping those with experience could help with.

I’ll be mostly 2D mapping areas in open fields, on uneven terrain.

  1. Most apps allow you to add a “margin” to ensure you cover the entire area. I can’t seem to find this option on DD. Is there a workaround? I prefer not to just “drag the corners out” as I import a kml which is the exact area I need.

  2. The “Low Light” toggle: Is that for generally overcast days or only when it’s really dark and gloomy?

  3. It bothers me a bit that I can’t see the camera settings. I have selected the camera I’m using so I presume it’s all pre-programmed but it estimates it can do my mission about 25% faster than DJI pilot and I think that’s generally because it’s chosen 3m/s instead of DJIs 2.2m/s. Can I trust that? Have these settings been tested with this camera?

  4. How does it work out batteries? For this same mission it’s suggesting 5 whereas the mission in DJI Pilot (that took an extra 20 minutes) used 3.

  5. Terrain awareness: Is this applied from the takeoff point or the actual area of the mission? I know some apps apply it from where you take off, meaning that if my take off point is lower than the actual flight area, the altitude won’t be correct when it gets there.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks :slight_smile:

2
  1. Margin or some call it flyover distance. DroneDeploy does not have this so your perimeter will need to be offset before importing the KML.
  2. Low-light is typically within and hour of sunrise/sunset and completely overcast days. If the overcast is pretty thin then it’s just a judgement call. Another reason to use it would be for a dark subject like asphalt.
  3. I don’t know what drone you are using but the durations are pretty spot-on with the Phantom 4 Pro. Make sure to take into account time from home to the first waypoint and back.
  4. It will automatically return to the spot that it stopped at. The precise point not the previous waypoint. I do not like to let any program completely control battery life so I always hit RTH at a place that makes sense as close to the home position as possible. Even if I am wasting 5% I would rather keep it close.
  5. Terrain awareness is AGL to the surface model and you will see intermediate waypoints added according to the grade breaks.
2 Likes
3

Thanks for the detailed response!

Okay so “low light” is pretty much everything that I wouldn’t consider “bright and sunny”?

Sorry I should have mentioned drone, its the Matrice 210 v2 with Zenmuse X5s camera. Which is why I was a little skeptical of how accurate the calculations were as DD seems to think I can fly a bit faster than anything else. I guess I’ll just have to test it, and taking the low light into consideration, that should slow it down a bit.

Final question I forgot to ask. Are camera settings all set automatically? There doesn’t appear to be a way to adjust them manually within DD?

4

Low-light actually raises the ISO from 100 to 400 which should allow you to run faster but the intention being that it will not have to fly any slower so I have never seen my speed increase. The settings used in DroneDeploy are all-auto per DJI. If you want to manually set them in DJI you need to check the toggles for camera control.

5

Thanks for the response.

I’m trying to experiment with it today but I’m having some issues connecting to the Matrice 210 V2. It says drone connected in the app but no GPS lock. Then when I go into fly manual there’s no camera feed and no other information being displayed.

Any obvious reasons why this might be happening?