Complex Tower Mission (Beta)-Flawless!!

David Weston · Aug 20, 2015

Wanted to flight test the new Beta Tower with a bunch of new features. Cant wait to see what the new app/gimbal/firmware has for us but,,,. Also just did the M8N mod, have the DBS MOD for a while now. Got 18 sat's almost instantaneously, took off with 20.

Here's the flight plan:
1: Auto take-off

2. WP1 40’ alt.
3. WP2 increase Alt 10’
4. WP3 POI Increase Alt 10’
5. WP4 POI Increase Alt 10’ (Should be at 70’)

6. WP 5 Structure Scan Radius 100’, circle 2 times, increase alt 20’ each circle (It’s a big pile of dirt) Should be at 110’
7. WP6 POI, decrease alt 10’
8. WP7 POI decrease alt 10’
9. WP8 Circle (radius 50’)
10. WP9 Hold for 10 seconds

Auto Land (Landed within 2' of where it took off! WOW)

I'm not an expert, lot's of stuff I don't know. Created my mission at home. Went to my safe flight test area. Uploaded the mission as above. Hit AUTO and watched SOLO hit every mark on the button, POI's Structure Scan, Circle,,just awesome. As for me this thing absolutely rocks and as for TOWER, in my opinion, it's a rock too. It's an offshoot of MP and there's loads of experience with that. Not like this is a brand new experiment and we're feeling our way along. Anyway, I am totally impressed, confident, and ready to fly (with a smile).

kneel23 · Aug 20, 2015

Very nice! i also did this with Tower several times just to get familiar with it, and it worked flawlessly with the Solo. I think the apps like this and APM Planner for OSX make Solo stand out from many other models, and the open source idea of allowing people to create their own apps is what made me purchase a Solo in the first place.

What makes Solo so great is you can arm it with these missions from Tower or APM Planner, making it a bit easier to focus on the camera shots

VideoArch · Aug 20, 2015

David Weston said:
Wanted to flight test the new Beta Tower with a bunch of new features. Cant wait to see what the new app/gimbal/firmware has for us but,,,. Also just did the M8N mod, have the DBS MOD for a while now. Got 18 sat's almost instantaneously, took off with 20.

Here's the flight plan:
1: Auto take-off

2. WP1 40’ alt.
3. WP2 increase Alt 10’
4. WP3 POI Increase Alt 10’
5. WP4 POI Increase Alt 10’ (Should be at 70’)

6. WP 5 Structure Scan Radius 100’, circle 2 times, increase alt 20’ each circle (It’s a big pile of dirt) Should be at 110’
7. WP6 POI, decrease alt 10’
8. WP7 POI decrease alt 10’
9. WP8 Circle (radius 50’)
10. WP9 Hold for 10 seconds

Auto Land (Landed within 2' of where it took off! WOW)

I'm not an expert, lot's of stuff I don't know. Created my mission at home. Went to my safe flight test area. Uploaded the mission as above. Hit AUTO and watched SOLO hit every mark on the button, POI's Structure Scan, Circle,,just awesome. As for me this thing absolutely rocks and as for TOWER, in my opinion, it's a rock too. It's an offshoot of MP and there's loads of experience with that. Not like this is a brand new experiment and we're feeling our way along. Anyway, I am totally impressed, confident, and ready to fly (with a smile).

Nice to hear. What was the flight time approximately and did you have a video feed from the GoPro recording during flight?

rrmccabe · Aug 20, 2015

Very Cool David. Tower looks amazing. Sky is the limit with that.

DodgeP · Aug 20, 2015

Nice..

David Weston · Aug 20, 2015

Yes, video also. The flight test area is, well a lot of dirt. Just a precaution, as I said, it was a test and at turtle speed. Nevertheless, I was impressed. Aslo, in the app, you can change speeds between WP's which I didn't try so you could boogie to a POI, Structure, whatever, slow to turtle, get your shot, and boogie to the next spot. I will do that next time and find something interesting to watch as SOLO performs.

DodgeP · Aug 20, 2015

I am kind of refusing to fly Solo before the gimbal gets delivered. It's not so much about flying for me as it is capturing great video. Just finished up some stuff with the I1 that I'm excited about.

Earldgrayjr · Aug 20, 2015

David Weston said:
Wanted to flight test the new Beta Tower with a bunch of new features. Cant wait to see what the new app/gimbal/firmware has for us but,,,. Also just did the M8N mod, have the DBS MOD for a while now. Got 18 sat's almost instantaneously, took off with 20.

Here's the flight plan:
1: Auto take-off

2. WP1 40’ alt.
3. WP2 increase Alt 10’
4. WP3 POI Increase Alt 10’
5. WP4 POI Increase Alt 10’ (Should be at 70’)

6. WP 5 Structure Scan Radius 100’, circle 2 times, increase alt 20’ each circle (It’s a big pile of dirt) Should be at 110’
7. WP6 POI, decrease alt 10’
8. WP7 POI decrease alt 10’
9. WP8 Circle (radius 50’)
10. WP9 Hold for 10 seconds

Auto Land (Landed within 2' of where it took off! WOW)

I'm not an expert, lot's of stuff I don't know. Created my mission at home. Went to my safe flight test area. Uploaded the mission as above. Hit AUTO and watched SOLO hit every mark on the button, POI's Structure Scan, Circle,,just awesome. As for me this thing absolutely rocks and as for TOWER, in my opinion, it's a rock too. It's an offshoot of MP and there's loads of experience with that. Not like this is a brand new experiment and we're feeling our way along. Anyway, I am totally impressed, confident, and ready to fly (with a smile).

Same experience. I am waiting like everyone for the gimbal, but I am going to use the "heck" out of Tower... Still on the released version, but been practicing for weeks... Feeling pretty confident with it now..

z3r01 · Aug 20, 2015

I'm debating on which mod to do first. ...I'm looking towards WiFi card and DBS mod

Jubalr · Aug 20, 2015

David Weston said:
Wanted to flight test the new Beta Tower with a bunch of new features. Cant wait to see what the new app/gimbal/firmware has for us but,,,. Also just did the M8N mod, have the DBS MOD for a while now. Got 18 sat's almost instantaneously, took off with 20.

Here's the flight plan:
1: Auto take-off

2. WP1 40’ alt.
3. WP2 increase Alt 10’
4. WP3 POI Increase Alt 10’
5. WP4 POI Increase Alt 10’ (Should be at 70’)

6. WP 5 Structure Scan Radius 100’, circle 2 times, increase alt 20’ each circle (It’s a big pile of dirt) Should be at 110’
7. WP6 POI, decrease alt 10’
8. WP7 POI decrease alt 10’
9. WP8 Circle (radius 50’)
10. WP9 Hold for 10 seconds

Auto Land (Landed within 2' of where it took off! WOW)

I'm not an expert, lot's of stuff I don't know. Created my mission at home. Went to my safe flight test area. Uploaded the mission as above. Hit AUTO and watched SOLO hit every mark on the button, POI's Structure Scan, Circle,,just awesome. As for me this thing absolutely rocks and as for TOWER, in my opinion, it's a rock too. It's an offshoot of MP and there's loads of experience with that. Not like this is a brand new experiment and we're feeling our way along. Anyway, I am totally impressed, confident, and ready to fly (with a smile).

Well Done David! I was wondering how it went. I am using Tower now more than the Solo app. I'm sure it will even out more when the Gimbal comes though..

rrmccabe · Aug 20, 2015

David, are you going to do any hurricane flying this weekend? You know testing for the good of the community ?

Retired2Fly · Aug 20, 2015

Congrats David on your successful solo Tower mission.

Tower, now with the integrated FPV video, is the perfect companion to the solo app.
If you are new to Tower and MP don't forget to clear out your completed MP or Tower mission from solo's FC once you have completed it as the mission will stay in solo's FC until cleared even with the battery removed. This will prevent you from accidentally re-executing a stored mission you forgot about on a later date and then watching your solo fly off. Clearing a stored mission in solo's FC is as easy as creating a new mission with no waypoints and uploading it to solo.. You can verify the empty mission upload by downloading again to MP or tower and verifying no waypoints show. If you want to save a mission already in solo's FC simply download it to MP to Tower and click save from the file menu.

David Weston · Aug 21, 2015

R2F, Excellent advice and just as soon as I posted that, thought of that little nuance (which could become a very BIG nuance) and was going to add this morning. BIG DEAL y'all!! I always delete the mission but as you said, it's not gone until it's over-written. Here's what happened:

The beta has a little different look to it than the previous. I have a pre-flight checklist for Tower printed out and I go through step by step. After I imported my new mission I inadvertently (didn't follow my checklist) did not upload the new mission. Armed, Auto, and SOLO took off like a rabbit headed for my home (last Tower mission) about 3 miles away..lol. Fortunately I was ready for anything unexpected, knew we weren't on flight plan as I had set speed to turtle. Hit PAUSE ( I LOVE that button!), returned to home. Re-booted, this time followed my checklist and uploaded new mission which overwrites the previous mission, and 100% success.

So my friends, words to heed: Make absolutely certain you know which mission you are flying and MAKE SURE you upload it and the new WP's have been received! That P-button can be a SOLO saver!

Thanks R2F

Oh Rich, think I'll skip a Hurricane Hunter role. Had enough experience on the ground, don't need to go looking for them in the air. Besides, those guys are all crazy !!

Jubalr · Aug 21, 2015

Retired2Fly said:
Congrats David on your successful solo Tower mission. Tower, now with the integrated FPV video, is the perfect companion to the solo app.
If you are new to Tower and MP don't forget to clear out your completed MP or Tower mission from solo's FC once you have completed it as the mission will stay in solo's FC until cleared even with the battery removed. This will prevent you from accidentally re-executing a stored mission you forgot about on a later date and then watching your solo fly off. Clearing a stored mission in solo's FC is as easy as creating a new mission with no waypoints and uploading it to solo.. You can verify the empty mission upload by downloading again to MP or tower and verifying no waypoints show. If you want to save a mission already in solo's FC simply download it to MP to Tower and click save from the file menu.

Yep, Good advice to avoid a programmed fly-away! One thing I do on Tower is before I arm I will Download the mission from Solo to tower before I fly, then execute the downloaded mission.

rrmccabe · Aug 21, 2015

Would be cool if tower had an option that said mission complete would you like to clear from memory.

Raybro · Sep 29, 2015

This latest Tower beta update 3.2.0 beta 4 states it added support for Return to Me and manual update of vehicle home location.
That sounds like dynamic home point to me? Have not had a chance to check it out.

Jubalr · Sep 29, 2015

Raybro said:
This latest Tower beta update 3.2.0 beta 4 states it added support for Return to Me and manual update of vehicle home location.
That sounds like dynamic home point to me? Have not had a chance to check it out.

Hey Ray, Just checked and was able to find the setting. While in the Tower home screen (not edit) tap the home icon at the top of the page. That will show a choice of Return To Launch or Return To Me. When selected it will initiate the return and the home icon will change to a upper torso. Pretty cool. Looks like we now have that dynamic home point!

David Weston · Sep 29, 2015

I think you mean Beta 6, rght? I can't seem to find anything that would change the "Home" position but haven't connected SOLO as I have been offline several weeks waiting on a RMA #3 motor pod. Also checked Ardupilot COPTER and didn't see any params that would suggest a change in Home other than Rally. Interested to see if someone else discovers a "nugget".

Jubalr · Sep 29, 2015

David Weston said:
I think you mean Beta 6, rght? I can't seem to find anything that would change the "Home" position but haven't connected SOLO as I have been offline several weeks waiting on a RMA #3 motor pod. Also checked Ardupilot COPTER and didn't see any params that would suggest a change in Home other than Rally. Interested to see if someone else discovers a "nugget".

Could be. It says it was added in 4, but I DL'd 6 this morning. Didn't look in 4 to verify.

David Weston · Sep 29, 2015

Looks like it and that IS cool! Have to be connected to SOLO via TOWER. Suppose you can change while in flight?

Just as an added thought since not many of us have been able to Launch and move to a different location and Recover, at least not with SOLO I would think there are a few things to keep in mind. Such as GEO_Fence. What would happen if the geo fence param is in effect and you move outside the geo fence. Does the geo fence move with the Return to Me? Also, I would think disabling RTL (true autonomous flight) while performing a TOWER mission would also be a good thing to do considering that moving to a new location with an obstacle between you and SOLO possibly cause a problem?

Maybe something like this if RTL/RTM is triggered?