Tower app general help

[KukenanWarrior]

Hi my name is andreas, and i´ve trying the last couple of days the tower in general way. Its different missions and capabilities. One of the main goal is to conclude the workflow for survey and cartographic missions, in this context i´ve stumple upon a couple of doubts.

1.- What happen if the aircraft (3DR Solo in this case) doesnt end the mission, lets say, because of the battery. The mission is replayed or continued from the last point of the route.

2.- I have a modified gopro, the lens is not the stock lens. Is a 4.35 mm undistorted lens. How can i input that value into the cameera options in the survey mission options. That is important to do because it affect the image foot print.

In this video you can see that they have their cameras in the survey mission menu, how can that be done?

Thats all for the moment, i will be doing further testing and hopefully generating further doubts.

Also i am documenting the whole process, so when i make conclusions i´ll share it with you guys

 

[LarryF]

1 - In Tower, if you stop a mission before it completes, the mission won't resume where you left off. The next time you take off, the mission will start from the beginning again. You can fly the first part of a mission, land and change batteries, but then you'll need to modify the mission (deleting the first half) before continuing with the next portion. If you haven't yet, I suggest you look at "Mission Planner" (MP) for Windows. MP is a bit more powerful on planning missions and will allow you to break your mission into multiple segments. With MP, you can fly part 1, land and change batteries, take off and fly part 2 of the mission, part 3, part 4, etc. I understand the newest version of MP now has a "resume" command for a mission, but I haven't tested this new feature out yet.
2 - Here's instructions on how to modify the camera configuration in Tower and in Mission Planner to add a custom profile:
Adding GoPro Camera Profiles to Tower & Mission Planner – Peau Productions

 

[Ed Beck]

Hi Andreas, welcome to the forum.

I've done quite a few surveys and will let you know what I've learned.

First, to watch this video to see what Tower can do. It's long but it's worth it.

Next let's handle a couple questions.

1.- What happen if the aircraft (3DR Solo in this case) doesnt end the mission, lets say, because of the battery. The mission is replayed or continued from the last point of the route.

So this is one thing that disappoints me about Tower. Unlike DroneDeploy it won't start up where it left off. If anyone knows how to make Tower start up where it left off please chime in.

So the answer here is: don't plan any surveys over 15 minutes. This will allow for return to home and a safety buffer for your battery.

2.- I have a modified gopro, the lens is not the stock lens. Is a 4.35 mm undistorted lens. How can i input that value into the cameera options in the survey mission options. That is important to do because it affect the image foot print.

I have a Peau Productions lens, I just select the GoPro 4 Black Wide angle lens from the list of cameras. This works fine. If you don't have a wide angle lens select the GoPro 3 Medium lens.

In this video you can see that they have their cameras in the survey mission menu, how can that be done?

Not sure how the cameras are added. I've always been happy to find one that provides good results.

Next, when it comes to geotagging there are a couple of methods, either sync your Android's time with the camera before you take off then use Mission Planer to geotag. I prefer using Geosetter to tag them, I find Geosetter is more accurate and it's free. Watch this video to figure out how to use it. The first part of the video talks about using Mission Planner to geotag, and then goes into how to use Geosetter instead. I mostly use Mission Planner to identify the tracks, and sometimes I'll use it to geotag the photos before redoing them in Geosetter.

My end process for geotagging always used Geosetter.

 

[Ed Beck]

With MP, you can fly part 1, land and change batteries, take off and fly part 2 of the mission, part 3, part 4, etc. I understand the newest version of MP now has a "resume" command for a mission, but I haven't tested this new feature out yet.

ooooooooooo

 

[Bill c]

Andreas,
Here's how to setup your camera profile.


Tower Instructions:

1. Stop both Tower and 3DRServices apps
2. Using a file browser application create a new folder on your Android device at same level in file directory as Tower: /storage/emulated/0/3DRServices/CameraInfo/ or /sdcard/3DRServices/CameraInfo.
3. Create an XML per camera setup and save them in the CameraInfo folder, open text editor (Notepad), copy text below exactly, save as something descriptive such as “GoPro4_3.97mm.xml” making sure extension is “.xml”.
4. Restart Tower and 3DR Services app.

Here is the text to put into the xml documents:
GoPro + 3.97mm Lens:

<cameraInfo>
<Name>GoPro 3.97mm 12MP</Name>
<SensorWidth>6.284</SensorWidth>
<SensorHeight>4.686</SensorHeight>
<SensorResolution>12</SensorResolution>
<FocalLength>3.97</FocalLength>
</cameraInfo>

You can create as many custom camera profiles as needed.
Cameras will appear in drop down menu when you have set your survey polygon, then select your custom profile.

 

[KukenanWarrior]

Ed thank you very much for the info, so far i´ve try geotagging with the MP, now i will try the geosettr option. Although with MP i´ve geotagged the images ok.

As for the mission, if you interrupt a ongoing mission the aircraft will continue from the last point, but if you land and power cycle the aircraft the mission will start all over as you said.

I checked that in MP you can split a mission into smaller segments but i dont know how to upload those mission to the solo.The mission file that creates the tower app is different than the one created from Mission Planner.

And Bill C, thanks for the info it worked flawlessly

 

[mecummings.cr]

1 - In Tower, if you stop a mission before it completes, the mission won't resume where you left off. The next time you take off, the mission will start from the beginning again. You can fly the first part of a mission, land and change batteries, but then you'll need to modify the mission (deleting the first half) before continuing with the next portion. If you haven't yet, I suggest you look at "Mission Planner" (MP) for Windows. MP is a bit more powerful on planning missions and will allow you to break your mission into multiple segments. With MP, you can fly part 1, land and change batteries, take off and fly part 2 of the mission, part 3, part 4, etc. I understand the newest version of MP now has a "resume" command for a mission, but I haven't tested this new feature out yet.
2 - Here's instructions on how to modify the camera configuration in Tower and in Mission Planner to add a custom profile:
Adding GoPro Camera Profiles to Tower & Mission Planner – Peau Productions

Has anybody tried the new version of Mission Planner that allows for a resume after doing a battery change?

 

[KukenanWarrior]

Has anybody tried the new version of Mission Planner that allows for a resume after doing a battery change?

Not yet!

 

[Deleted member 12003]

Andreas,
Here's how to setup your camera profile.


Tower Instructions:

1. Stop both Tower and 3DRServices apps
2. Using a file browser application create a new folder on your Android device at same level in file directory as Tower: /storage/emulated/0/3DRServices/CameraInfo/ or /sdcard/3DRServices/CameraInfo.
3. Create an XML per camera setup and save them in the CameraInfo folder, open text editor (Notepad), copy text below exactly, save as something descriptive such as “GoPro4_3.97mm.xml” making sure extension is “.xml”.
4. Restart Tower and 3DR Services app.

Here is the text to put into the xml documents:
GoPro + 3.97mm Lens:

<cameraInfo>
<Name>GoPro 3.97mm 12MP</Name>
<SensorWidth>6.284</SensorWidth>
<SensorHeight>4.686</SensorHeight>
<SensorResolution>12</SensorResolution>
<FocalLength>3.97</FocalLength>
</cameraInfo>

You can create as many custom camera profiles as needed.
Cameras will appear in drop down menu when you have set your survey polygon, then select your custom profile.

This looks like a great solution, but maybe the software has changed because I can't find these folders or files using my ASUS File Manager app on my Nexus 5x (Android 7.1.1). Am I missing something?

I'm hoping to build a cameraInfo file for the Micasense RedEdge. There's a choice for the Parrot Sequoia, but not the RedEdge, and they are different. The RedEdge has a focal length of 5.5 mm, FOV of 47.2 deg, 4.8x3.6 mm imager size, 1280 x 960 pixels. The Parrot Sequoia is 70.6 deg FOV.