Another interesting Tower run (Better screen record)

J R · Oct 25, 2015

Too much wind today. Got one shot early this evening. The video preview gets a bit dark in places. Was waiting to give this one a go. I didn't flip between the Solo and Tower apps as much. I wanted to follow things a little closer in Tower. I bumped up the preview quality for those interested. The only thing I wasn't as thrilled about was the battery life. A little shorter than I would have liked but a great test run for me.

I wanted to run a fairly long (3.2 mile) Tower mission using nothing but spline waypoints. Adjusting the altitude from 60 to 350'. I wanted to see how well the Solo would perform and how smooth the splines would be. I was quite impressed with the smooth transitions through the splines and the overall performance of the bird.

Jerry

Maddog · Oct 25, 2015

Nice Jerry!
My battery life is much worse- I'm hitting 25% with only 7 minutes of flight time.

J R · Oct 26, 2015

Maddog,

It was a fun run. Wish I could have blown a few more batteries. Wind has sucked the past few days. I can get a good 18 minutes on my "white" on and come in at just about 30% depending on wind speed.

Jerry

erikgraham · Oct 26, 2015

Once again, super great stuff.

Now if you really want to take it up a notch, combine ROI waypoints with spline waypoints to get "Orbits" on steroids. Anything from eliptical orbits to crazy twisted overlapping cork screws with altitude changes while always keeping one target in frame (I suggest that beautiful big tree from your previous video).

If you do multiple ROIs in one mission (eg that tree and the irrigation pond), just make sure as you transition from the first ROI to the second ROI, that you set up your final waypoints before the switch over such that the Solo is already looking in the direction of the second ROI. This gives you a smoother transition without a sudden jerk when it switches to the next ROI. Conversely, if you want it whip around to lock into the second ROI, do the opposite.

Another thing you can do is set ROI waypoints far in the distance, way off your map. This has a lot of applications, like keeping the camera tilted up as you do a complex mission that combines flying low and high while doing a fly thru/over. Distant ROIs also let you do gradual pans, for example as you cruise down a valley between mountains and want to do a slow reveal on an intersecting valley, without changing your flight path, if that makes sense.

J R · Oct 26, 2015

erikgraham said:
Now if you really want to take it up a notch, combine ROI waypoints with spline waypoints to get "Orbits" on steroids.

Erik,

Funny you should bring that up! Laying in bed last night I thought the same thing. How would the bird do while rotating itself along the path by injected ROI's into the scenario?

I also wondered if the aerodynamics of the bird would have a different effect and would transition as nicely as the "white" one in this type of flight. The "white" guy is square with the camera centered, while the Solo is rectangular with the camera towards the front of the bird.

I think I'll take that existing mission and just insert ROI's, see what happens. Based on your thoughts, have you done some of this kind of stuff with your Solo? If so, I'd love to see some of your flights.

Obviously, I'm not concerned about the quality of my videos at this point. I'd like to get a really comfortable with how the bird performs in various scenarios. I will say, having great success with Litchi and the "white" one, the Solo performed yesterday's test much better than I anticipated. I haven't studied the actual video yet but it didn't seem to be as rigid as I expected. The transitions and splined turns appeared to be pretty darn fluid.

Thanks for the note and sharing your thoughts!

Jerry

erikgraham · Oct 26, 2015

J R said:
Erik,

Funny you should bring that up! Laying in bed last night I thought the same thing. How would the bird do while rotating itself along the path by injected ROI's into the scenario?

I also wondered if the aerodynamics of the bird would have a different effect and would transition as nicely as the "white" one in this type of flight. The "white" guy is square with the camera centered, while the Solo is rectangular with the camera towards the front of the bird.

I think I'll take that existing mission and just insert ROI's, see what happens. Based on your thoughts, have you done some of this kind of stuff with your Solo? If so, I'd love to see some of your flights.

Obviously, I'm not concerned about the quality of my videos at this point. I'd like to get a really comfortable with how the bird performs in various scenarios. I will say, having great success with Litchi and the "white" one, the Solo performed yesterday's test much better than I anticipated. I haven't studied the actual video yet but it didn't seem to be as rigid as I expected. The transitions and splined turns appeared to be pretty darn fluid.

Thanks for the note and sharing your thoughts!

Jerry

No. I've barely done any auto missions with the Solo. But I've done countless missions on the Iris+ and other APM/PixHawk based custom built drones.

Not sure I follow your question, but aerodynamics won't have any impact on smoothness of transitions. Your just not going fast enough for that to be a factor. The Solo and pretty much any quad is capable of nice soft transitions. It comes down to how they are programmed, how Params are set, and how you build your missions.

I'd keep it simple at first. Put in just one ROI on something interesting and then a bunch of spline waypoints at varying altitudes. That would be a valuable mission for people to see all by themselves. Then do a separate mission where you add multiple ROIs. Get a feel for how the Solo transitions in different scenarios. You could also try the distant, miles off the map ROI to see the effect it has. It can be subtle but effective.

Of course you probably have your own plans. These are just suggestions. It will be a few weeks before I have the time. (Busy at work)

Shawn Mehlert · Oct 26, 2015

What is your speed setting on the video above?

J R · Oct 26, 2015

erikgraham said:
No. I've barely done any auto missions with the Solo. But I've done countless missions on the Iris+ and other APM/PixHawk based custom built drones.

Erik,

Got it! Thanks for all of your input. I haven't messed with the params at all. Probably should study that before I go messing with things there. Remember, I'm a layman when it comes to this stuff. I thought the shape and the camera placement may play a role in how the bird transitions, I guess not.

I think I'll try putting a few ROI's in yesterdays mission first. I want to get a feel for how the work in this scenario.

Jerry

J R · Oct 26, 2015

Shawn Mehlert said:
What is your speed setting on the video above?

Shawn,

The change speed is set after between waypoint 1 and 3 at 20.

Jerry

Shawn Mehlert · Oct 26, 2015

Thanks Jerry! So the speed setting is based on miles per hour.

Shawn

J R · Oct 26, 2015

Shawn Mehlert said:
Thanks Jerry! So the speed setting is based on miles per hour.

Shawn

Correct.

J R · Oct 26, 2015

Shawn,

I got an email showing that you replied to this thread with a video, however, I don't see it here?

"This video was shot all with tower. Then I cut it up with GoPro Studio…

Embedded Media

Put ROI on the house and used different elevations/angles/paths around the house. Always get nervous about having the correct altitude around power lines and trees, yet staying as close to the focal point as possible."

Shawn Mehlert · Oct 26, 2015

J R · Oct 26, 2015

Shawn,

That was a great example! Pretty smooth!

Jerry

pyrate · Oct 26, 2015

Alright that is it, tower this weekend these great shots are amazing
3dR needs to integrate all that tower goodness into solo app

erikgraham · Oct 26, 2015

Shawn Mehlert said:
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Awesome. I always think it's cool when you do near pass flyover like you did and the camera tilts down, then whips around (but still in a smooth way).

erikgraham · Oct 26, 2015

J R said:
Erik,

Got it! Thanks for all of your input. I haven't messed with the params at all. Probably should study that before I go messing with things there. Remember, I'm a layman when it comes to this stuff. I thought the shape and the camera placement may play a role in how the bird transitions, I guess not.

I think I'll try putting a few ROI's in yesterdays mission first. I want to get a feel for how the work in this scenario.

Jerry

Your a layman? Could have fooled me. ;-)

The only thing about inserting ROIs into an existing mission is that in my experience you can get some unexpected behavior. I'm sure 3DR has cleaned all that up by now, but I still like to delete all waypoints after the point where I want to insert an ROI, and then rebuild mission after that. It's a hassle. I'll be interested to hear whether you experience any problems inserting ROIs. Anyway, you've got me inspired to get out there and do some Solo tower missions. I've been leaning on CableCam too heavily.