what's the go to make Solo able to follow me at 60 kph without losing altitude?

Mr_Chris · Mar 16, 2016

Thanks for any help, I'm sorry keen to do some more following!

erikgraham · Mar 16, 2016

Mr_Chris said:
Thanks for any help, I'm sorry keen to do some more following!

It's going to be a bit tough.

You'll need to adjust the wpnav speed parameter. I would try 1400 or 1500 centimeter per second. That's not quite 60kph, but it should probably work based on my experiments (Solo seems to be able to slightly exceed WPNAV_speed in a follow session).

If you go much higher than that, there is no way to get around the physics of the required angle of attack. You will loose both altitude and stability.

Also, and this is VERY important, if following at high speeds, position the Solo directly behind you, not off to the side. It will be much much more stable that way.

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 16, 2016

Also, that is going to eat up your battery very quickly.

Mr_Chris · Mar 17, 2016

Without Tower, as in just "Solo full Rabbits" speed

, I was losing Solo at ~40 and it was dropping altitude already. I was hoping there was a spot of foam I could place in location X sort of thing, but you guys seem to be saying it's not expected to sink even at 60!

But my 40 "sinker" was attempting to Orbit...

erikgraham · Mar 17, 2016

Mr_Chris said:
Without Tower, as in just "Solo full Rabbits" speed , I was losing Solo at ~40 and it was dropping altitude already. I was hoping there was a spot of foam I could place in location X sort of thing, but you guys seem to be saying it's not expected to sink even at 60!

But my 40 "sinker" was attempting to Orbit...

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

So in the video you posted, the Solo is orbiting while following. If you want to achieve the highest speeds possible, you want the Solo directly behind you so that it can fly straight forward and fully "lean in" to the wind with both front props. If it's orbiting, or even just off to one side, then at any point in time it will always be leading with one arm/prop - at higher speeds this will cause it to lose stability AND altitude.

Full rabbit in the Solo app won't help. You need to use the Tower app or Mission Planner to get at the vehicle parameters. Specifically you'll need to adjust wpnav-speed. But as I wrote above, don't push it too far (don't go above 1500 cm/s). Dedicate some time to experiment to figure it out. Things can get really hairy and unstable at high speeds; you'll want to pick a safe location where you have instant access to your controller so you can hit the FLY or PAUSE button to abort the follow me at the first sign of trouble. It's actually best to have a second person to keep an eye on the Solo.

Mr_Chris · Mar 17, 2016

Yes, good old Tower/ DroidPlanner...

Have been spoiled by making videos with Solo, haven't had to even calibrate Solo compared to IRIS it seems so lazy...

Mr_Chris · Mar 17, 2016

Erik, what is the significance of leading with one prop vs two? Can Solo lead directly in front with the same performance? And second-lastly is there a true follow ie., stay behind me instead of stay at this distance on bearing 160? AMD lastly, can we make follow work in Z axis as well?

Jubalr · Mar 17, 2016

Mr_Chris said:
Erik, what is the significance of leading with one prop vs two? Can Solo lead directly in front with the same performance? And second-lastly is there a true follow ie., stay behind me instead of stay at this distance on bearing 160? AMD lastly, can we make follow work in Z axis as well?

I'm going to split from Erik on this one. On a quadcopter, there is no forward, reverse, or side/diagonal movement. It is all the same to the quad. Orientation is strictly for reference for the humans. As an example, if you take off in manual and press the right stick full forward the speed will be the same in any direction you put the stick. And strictly from a technical standpoint, Solo may be slightly faster (.0?%) flying sideways when allowing for the GoPro profile.

Can Solo lead directly in front with the same performance? Yes
can we make follow work in Z axis as well? No. There is no altitude feed coming from your tablet, so all Solo can do is maintain the altitude it started with.
Just my opinion. YMMV

erikgraham · Mar 17, 2016

Mr_Chris said:
Erik, what is the significance of leading with one prop vs two?

At high speeds when the Solo is at an angle (say following you at 4 o'clock instead of 6 o'clock) then one prop arm leads. At high speeds, this leads to a dipping and swaying motion that gets worse and worse - beyond the ability of the gimbal to cope. You see dipping and swaying in your video and you loose altitude more quickly. This gets really noticeable around 50kph and above. If you watch the Solo in the air, it gets really scary. Like its on the end of a pendulum or something. I wish I could articulate that better.

Can Solo lead directly in front with the same performance?

Yes and no. So in that case the Solo is at 12 o'clock. That works too, but if you catch up with the Solo, or even shoot past and under it, then you can get violent yawing and swaying as it tries to keep you in frame, at which point you better stop immediately and let it catch up, or even just abort the follow. When its following you at 6 o'clock, if you out run it, it may struggle to keep up with you, but it won't need to yaw around to keep you in frame; it just pitches the camera gimbal up.

The logical next question is whether it can follow at high speed at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock. In theory that should work, but in practice, at high speeds, the Solo occasionally falls behind, which causes it to yaw a bit to keep you in frame, which results in one arm leading, which then gets unstable again as it works to get itself back to 3 o'clock. Also the Solo can fly faster forwards (or backwards) without loosing altitude than it can sideways. That surprised me, but that what I've found.

And second-lastly is there a true follow ie., stay behind me instead of stay at this distance on bearing 160?

Sort of. You can use the free look option if you want it to follow you, but maintain a heading.

AMD lastly, can we make follow work in Z axis as well?

No. This feature will probably come along at some point, but not yet. You'd need an accurate barometer in your phone, or 3DR would need to enable terrain hugging based on GPS (but terrain data is not that accurate and not suitable for this).

erikgraham · Mar 17, 2016

Jubalr said:
I'm going to split from Erik on this one. On a quadcopter, there is no forward, reverse, or side/diagonal movement. It is all the same to the quad. Orientation is strictly for reference for the humans. As an example, if you take off in manual and press the right stick full forward the speed will be the same in any direction you put the stick. And strictly from a technical standpoint, Solo may be slightly faster (.0?%) flying sideways when allowing for the GoPro profile.

What you say is normally true. But when the Solo is following at 4 o'clock for example, it is also trying to make micro adjustments to yaw to keep you in frame, while also trying to keep up. The angle of attack gets extreme and the Solo struggles more with one prop leading, than it does with two leading. The effect of trying to adjust yaw to keep you in frame, coupled with one arm forward at higher speed (angle of attack) seems to compound. You get a lot of dipping and swaying. So its not quite the same as flying in manual. Again, we are only talking about high speed following beyond what 3DR thinks is safe. Say 50 kph or faster. It took me awhile, and a lot of experiments to accept this. Initially I was convinced I had a bad motor pod.

Ralph E. Johnson · Mar 20, 2016

I'm having a problem with cable cam. When I set up points A and B at the same height about 10' off the ground and maybe 100 yards apart and move the Solo back and forth between points A and B it keeps losing altitude and getting closer and closer to the ground till I have to stop. Any reason for this?

Jubalr · Mar 20, 2016

I did a long (800') MPCC yesterday at a farm and was only 8-10' off the ground. Ran it both directions and did not appear to lose any. What was the weather like where you were? Did the Solo have time to acclimate to the conditions? If you brought it from inside and then it rode in your car and the weather was much cooler or warmer, the barometer may not have settled yet. Have you tried it in Tower to see if it repeats?

Ralph E. Johnson · Mar 20, 2016

I have never used Tower. I'm not even sure what it is. I have had my Solo since August last year and flown quite a bit. What thread should I check to see how to do it?

Jubalr · Mar 20, 2016

Ralph E. Johnson said:
I have never used Tower. I'm not even sure what it is. I have had my Solo since August last year and flown quite a bit. What thread should I check to see how to do it?

It's for Android and allows for very complex missions to be programmed. Here is a link..

Ralph E. Johnson · Mar 20, 2016

Thanks I'll check it out. I use iPad mini 4

Mr_Chris · Mar 23, 2016

I've moved the stick to full left and watched the altitude reading spike up, though that is not happening in reality.

erikgraham · Mar 23, 2016

Ralph E. Johnson said:
I'm having a problem with cable cam. When I set up points A and B at the same height about 10' off the ground and maybe 100 yards apart and move the Solo back and forth between points A and B it keeps losing altitude and getting closer and closer to the ground till I have to stop. Any reason for this?

Not sure if this is your issue, but its worth noting that if you just have two points on your cable cam it should work fine with no loss of altitude (within 1 meter up or down). However if you have a 3rd point that is up higher in the air, it will create a soft arc connecting all the points. When you have more than two points in a cable cam, it creates a spline curve connecting them all. In some cases, the curve can dip right into the ground if you are not careful.

Ralph E. Johnson · Mar 23, 2016

erikgraham said:
Not sure if this is your issue, but its worth noting that if you just have two points on your cable cam it should work fine with no loss of altitude (within 1 meter up or down). However if you have a 3rd point that is up higher in the air, it will create a soft arc connecting all the points. When you have more than two points in a cable cam, it creates a spline curve connecting them all. In some cases, the curve can dip right into the ground if you are not careful.

Hi Erik
I am going to try it again today after work. But when it happened last time I only had two points A&B. but when I moved it back and forth both right and left it would keep getting lower until it would hit the ground if I let it.

Ralph E. Johnson · Mar 23, 2016

I was wondering if I needed to re-calibrate my compass or something?

Thanks and I will let you know this afternoon when I try again if it does the same thing or not

erikgraham · Mar 23, 2016

Ralph E. Johnson said:
Hi Erik
I am going to try it again today after work. But when it happened last time I only had two points A&B. but when I moved it back and forth both right and left it would keep getting lower until it would hit the ground if I let it.

Well with just 2 cable points, then it shouldn't be doing that. Was the weather changing by any chance? All drones are susceptible to rapid changes in barometric pressure. That can throw off the barometer in the Solo (or any drone). So if pressure is dropping because a storm is rolling in, then the Solo (or any drone) will lose altitude because it uses its barometer to calculate altitude. It thinks its staying at the same altitude, but its not. I've experienced this quite often, but never in the extreme way you describe.