Precision Point Return

Flight - Discussion and Q&A
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I’ve mentioned this a few other times in other threads not specifically focused on this issue so I thought I would start a thread so we have a better nail to hammer. Precision Point Return multibattery flights was one of the biggest improvements to flight in the last year. Obviously it has a lot to do with battery efficiency, but the more important factors are better logistics for flight plan setup, home base location efficiency, VLOS compliance and overall safety due to the fact that you can run the batteries down to a specific level which in turn over time protects them.

I really hope the 2021 wish list gets some good hits on this and someone will realize how important it is.

@Anjanette_Hill

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Hi @MichaelL. Precision Resume will be resolved in the upcoming 4.31 iOS release. We appreciate you highlighting the importance of this issue!

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What would also be good, is if the Resume could bypass the commuting between points. Quite often when wanting to do a perimeter route after the mission, it will introduce an extra pass from one side of the site to the other, to start the perimeter from the other side for whatever reason.

It’s bad enough having to allow for this, but if during the pass it needs a battery swap, it would be good if it could bypass the remainder of this unnecessary pass and go straight to the next scheduled waypoint.

Thank you.

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So when you say perimeter flight are you talking about a progress photo flight after the map flight?

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No. In a standard ortho mission, you can check the box so that it flies a circuit of the mission, to face inwards and take a series of oblique images. I use this to help reduce the bowling effect by tying in a wider area.

Unfortunately, and it’s been like this since the perimeter was introduced, it is usually the case that the perimeter flight won’t start from the nearest part of the perimeter, or even the nearest corner of mission, but instead will draw a route to the complete opposite side of the mission. Can sometimes use up 10% of the battery in needlessly treking across the width of the site, only to then pass over where it could have started halfway round.

What makes matters worse, is that if during that lengthy pass it needs a battery change, it doesn’t return to the next waypoint at the end of the pass, but instead returns to precisely where it left off - even when that pass was only commuting.

Keep in mind that I’m still working with V4.2, which still allows me to utilise the Precision Return today. Luck for me. I’m hoping when it does return to the next version, they either fix the map, insofar that it won’t needlessly need to trek across the entire site to start the perimeter from there or if they can’t, the Return will go straight to the next waypoint and ignore the unnecessary commute.

A quick mark-up.

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The mission starts at ‘START’ and travels north to Waypont 1. It slowly flies up and down to finish the standard mission at Waypoint 15. From ‘15’, it would be sensible to start the perimeter flight by going to Waypoint 16 in BLUE, making its way around, but instead it needlessly flies across the site to 16 RED. Have no idea why but it has been discussed in the forum previously.

The added problem, is that if a battery change is needed between 15 and 16 RED and I might be stood say at the northern end of the mission, it will fly all the way back to me, have the change and then fly all the way back south to where I interrupted the commute between 15 and 16 RED, before then commuting north again to 16 RED!?

On sizeable sites, this can be a massive chunk of battery consumption.

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Good news! Precision Point Return is working again in iOS v4.31 and the time counter is working! It has never been very reliable in the past, but now correctly shows the duration of the flight and the length of time that the first battery was flown on the restart.