Boat Mode

Nick F · Jun 4, 2016

Any news on this Boat Mode?

erikgraham · Jul 4, 2016

Nick F said:
Any news on this Boat Mode?

It's not looking good. At least for this summer. As someone else mentioned, it will probably end up being released just as boating season winds down.

Personally I'm assuming that it will never be released, however the rumors and scattered reports say it's still in the roadmap. Essentially the issue boils down to this: To add a "boat mode" the way 3DR would like to implement it, the EKF code needs to be upgraded (to EKF 2). This has already been done in Arducopterter 3.4, but it introduced some drifting, so 3DR kept the Solo on 3.3. If 3DR rebases the Solo code to match arducopter 3.4, we will get boat mode. This may happen this summer.

The reason I'm assuming this will never happen pretty much boils down to me not wanting to get my hopes up again.

Meantime I've gone back to building my own quads. I still enjoy the Solo, but this has been too long of a wait. 2 summers missed.

Ian [P13] · Jul 4, 2016

Jason has said this will happen on ne f the Solo FB groups so I'd be very surprised if EKF 2 never came to Solo.

fpvsteve · Jul 4, 2016

To put you in the right perspective @erikgraham , EKF2 is currently available with AC3.4 RC 1.
https://.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/blob/master/ArduCopter/ReleaseNotes.txt

It usually takes up to 10 release candidates to get production ready. Which is typically a 6-12 months timeframe just based on the experience with the previous AC releases over the past years.

No reason to blame anyone. If you found another flight controller software which can do reliably boat mode just go for it and save your summer time

Ryan35 · Jul 4, 2016

RTM seems like a great start thinking they are in the works still. I am more of a fan of not having to deal with a pre release and have it drift at what i paid for it (when it first came out) and lose it because of the code not being up to par with features. The sad thing is the compatibility which would be the more open score PC based devices and more proprietary devices Apples devices which i wish were more united as far because as a filmmaker this mode will be insane for shots

erikgraham · Jul 9, 2016

fpvsteve said:
To put you in the right perspective @erikgraham , EKF2 is currently available with AC3.4 RC 1.
https://.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/blob/master/ArduCopter/ReleaseNotes.txt

It usually takes up to 10 release candidates to get production ready. Which is typically a 6-12 months timeframe just based on the experience with the previous AC releases over the past years.

No reason to blame anyone. If you found another flight controller software which can do reliably boat mode just go for it and save your summer time

No reason to blame anyone, but there is no reason to have faith that it will come this summer either. Just look at the history that's played out since this thread started. At one point back in March Chris Andreson himself announced over at DIYDrones that it was coming in the next major release. That was shortly before Chris got demoted though.

Bottom line, if your a Solo owner whose interested in Boat Mode, and you've found your way to this thread, then you should manage your expectations. You still have a great camera drone, but Boat Mode probably isn't coming for this summer. It might, but don't plan any shoots assuming it will.

erikgraham · Jul 22, 2016

Well I managed to take off from a boat yesterday! I was able to catch some shots of my kids jumping off what we call "jump rock" around here. Lots of fun.

Granted, the lake was extremely calm, so I probably got lucky, but for what it's worth I've never been able to take off from the same boat in the same place before. Tried numerous times last summer.

Maybe they eased up on the pre-arm checks in the last update??

pyrate · Jul 22, 2016

I think Boat Mode is slipping into the never to be delivered category.
rebase is looking doubtful, EKF 2 looking doubtful

erikgraham · Jul 22, 2016

pyrate said:
I think Boat Mode is slipping into the never to be delivered category.
rebase is looking doubtful, EKF 2 looking doubtful

Agreed.

BUT, I think the prearm checks must have been loosened up (or made a bit more intelligent) since last summer. It ain't "boat mode" but it seems a lot more forgiving.

pyrate · Jul 22, 2016

I think so

SARDG · Jul 22, 2016

Very interested in Boat Mode. Coast Guard Auxiliary (of which I am a member) now investigating use of drones for their various missions. If I get ambitious I'll post a recent article about this over in "News", sometime tomorrow.

So Erik, as we like to say.. 'without video it didn't happen'. Can you post your Boat Mode success?

erikgraham · Jul 22, 2016

SARDG said:
Very interested in Boat Mode. Coast Guard Auxiliary (of which I am a member) now investigating use of drones for their various missions. If I get ambitious I'll post a recent article about this over in "News", sometime tomorrow.

So Erik, as we like to say.. 'without video it didn't happen'. Can you post your Boat Mode success?

LOL. Not sure I want to post video of my kids (10 and 8 years old) on the Internet, but I could probably post something temporarily. It'll have to wait until Monday when we get home.

SARDG · Jul 22, 2016

erikgraham said:
LOL. Not sure I want to post video of my kids (10 and 8 years old) on the Internet, but I could probably post something temporarily. It'll have to wait until Monday when we get home.

Blur their faces and your state numbers - you have the technology. I would understand though, if not. Be very sad, but understand...

erikgraham · Jul 25, 2016

SARDG said:
Blur their faces and your state numbers - you have the technology. I would understand though, if not. Be very sad, but understand...

Well I shot in low resolution anyway so here you go...

Not much to see. Just a quick cable cam... but I did take off from a boat, which is a first (and probably last).

SARDG · Jul 25, 2016

erikgraham said:
Well I shot in low resolution anyway so here you go...

Thanks, Erik... does look pretty calm. I was hoping to see the TO and Landing - and then you could point the naysayers to your video as well.

I'll assume your LZ was the boat as well.?! We really just don't get that calm around here unless it is after twilight, back in the canal system. At that point, I can take off from land. I'd like to use the boat to get on-station to launch without the need to go ashore.

erikgraham · Jul 25, 2016

SARDG said:
Thanks, Erik... does look pretty calm. I was hoping to see the TO and Landing - and then you could point the naysayers to your video as well.

I'll assume your LZ was the boat as well.?! We really just don't get that calm around here unless it is after twilight, back in the canal system. At that point, I can take off from land. I'd like to use the boat to get on-station to launch without the need to go ashore.

Yes. The boat was the LZ. I almost never film takeoffs and landings. Just what I actually want on video. But I think you can see there was no where else to takeoff from.

I feel safe in saying that you can write off the Solo for boat launches. If it comes at all, it will be long after most of us have moved on to newer drones.

smicklesmockle · Jul 25, 2016

Erik thank you for that lovely video. How many way points were used to get the arc around the trees? And did you use freelook?

erikgraham · Jul 25, 2016

smicklesmockle said:
Erik thank you for that lovely video. How many way points were used to get the arc around the trees? And did you use freelook?

Just a couple. No free look.

Here is another one. Super windy (watch the trees blow!). Way out of spec for a Solo:

But to get things back on topic, I did notice some horizon tilt after the boat launch. Although that could be coincidence.

DannyG · Aug 18, 2016

Im a new solo owner and actually purchased this drone with the intent of using the follow me mode while the boat was under way. Are we saying that this is an impossibility now? Also been looking into floatation, adding foam floats or what not to the legs. This could give the ability to take off from the water rather than the boat itself but obviously I'm assuming the water would have to be dead calm?
Sucks since I go to Bimini often now and would love to film the boat underway around the islands and get aerial shots while anchored. Any suggestions? Manual take off and landing possible at least? Going back in two weeks to Bimini and would love to use the drone.

SARDG · Aug 18, 2016

Technically, it is an apparent impossibility to even ARM Solo if it isn't level OR if it is moving. However, a search of this forum will show you that a few people (like Erik, above) have been successful launching from a boat without any mods to the code. It's a mystery, an enigma wrapped in a conundrum... and generally a boat launch won't happen.

Magnetic fields in some areas on a boat could be another problem, but it seems that the unlevel rocking trumps magnetism for boat launching issues.

If you search this forum AND YouTube, you will find many retrofitted drones with foam floats. (I posted one of a Phantom yesterday or the day before) Because Solo doesn't have a logical and easy place to affix foam floats, and especially because launching Solo directly from water where rocking is likely worse than ON a boat, most examples are on DJIs.