Mission planner

[Bsblhater]

Hi everyone new to forum as of now. I have been flying electric planes for many years and I bought my first drone a year ago and have a question about mission planner. I have a walkera qrx 350 pro with a devo 10 tx. My question is. Can I check in mission planner the return to home function of the pro when it loses signal from the tx. Also where do I find every bit of information on mission planner. Where as I know how to change /modify like rtl speed etc.
Thankyou

 

[nvpowerdoc]

This is probably one of the most comprehensive: Mission Planner Home — Mission Planner documentation

Mission Planner is pretty fun to use, I used it for nearly six months on my Solo, in fact more than free flight, or pre-programmed camera shots.

 

[Bsblhater]

Thanks nv

 

[jetsetwilly]

How do you connect mission planner to 3dr solo?
How do you get maps you have pre fetched using mission planner onto the solo as they are currently in c:/Progtram Data/Mission Planner/gmapcache

How big an area can you select to cache

How much memory is available on the solo for storing maps?

Thanks

 

[andrew.baker.142]

Mission Planner is a open source program that runs on a PC. You first connect your laptop to the Solo WiFi network and with MP open you connect it via udp on port 14550. You might have to specifically allow the port in Windows firewall.
MP will cache maps on your laptop hard drive. It does NOT store any data on board the Solo. It is purely a ground control station interface. You can actually control the vehicle through MP via auto missions.

 

[nvpowerdoc]

Solo only stores the Waypoints associated with a mission, not the maps.

In addition to Mission Planner, there are two Android Apps that work in similar fashion, one is called DroidPlanner 2, and the other is Tower. For my surveys, I found DroidPlanner 2 was almost easier to use than Mission Planner and did not require me to carry around a bulky PC / Laptop.

 

[jetsetwilly]

So if I make a multi waypoint mission as in the tutorial but it was not in my back yard I would need to take a laptop out with me?

Sorry for such noob questions btw

 

[nvpowerdoc]

Actually, if you upload the mission into your Solo, while at home, the mission will stay in the Solo, even after you turn the Solo off. You would not need your laptop at your flying location. HOWEVER, you need a way to START the mission because the 3DR Solo app doesn't have a way to assign "AUTO" mode to a button on the transmitter. I think the Solex app does have AUTO mode as one of the flight modes (but I have not used it that way).

That's why you want to get the DroidPlanner 2 or the Tower App (for Android). These two apps have the additional flight modes not available in the Solo App. I would always download the mission from the Solo into DP or Tower (to confirm what was in the mission), then run the mission from my Android Device (smaller than a laptop) once I got to my flying location.

 

[nvpowerdoc]

In fact, once you start your mission in DP2 or Tower, you can exit either of those apps and continue flying in the Solo App (generally larger video). I believe Kelly is working on an AUTO button assignment in the Solex App which would be the best solution.

 

[nvpowerdoc]

For me, using DroidPlanner 2 was way more intuitive for setting up an initial mission. There are some commands in Mission Planner that do not port over to the Solo. They were really meant for use with a pure PixHawk FC, I'm assuming (though I didn't test that much when I was using my first PixHawk). I just know there were some commands that didn't work with Solo (like change speed at a Waypoint, I could never get that to work). But it did work with my PixHawk hexacopter.

 

[Jubalr]

I use a change speed command in Tower before the start of any survey to slow the mission to 15.5mph

 

[nvpowerdoc]

Also, be really careful setting Altitudes. I believe they are all relative to the take-off point, not relative to the actual ground level (e.g., if you are flying over hills, you have to make sure you have enough space between the Solo and the ground as the surface changes). Also, I never initiated a full AUTO take-off. Rather, I always started my mission with the Solo (or Pixhawk Hex) already in the air. This gave me more time to respond to an improper AUTO waypoint or command. Always be ready with the "FLY" button to take-over the AUTO mission. Its like an ABORT. Lastly, I always manually landed my Solo or Hex. Those commands are available in MP / DP2 and Tower, just that I like to do my own landings.

 

[jetsetwilly]

Many thanks for your help and advice much appreciated

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Once we have Solo working on Arducopter Master, it will even store, report, and utilize terrain data. So if you want to do a mission where the aircraft flies 150ft above terrain rather than 150ft above the home location, it will do that! It will go up and over hills. Down valleys. Etc. It's cool stuff. I crashed into a hillside testing it on Sunday. The warning that it isn't high enough resolution for knap of the earth flying was, apparently, accurate