Flying into valleys

[bjswx]

Hi - perspective Solo owner question...

How would a Solo (or any GPS drone) handle flying into valleys? If I am launching at 500' ASL and designate that my home position, I could of course go up 400', but what if I were to take it down into a valley that goes down to sea level?

I am guessing the solo considers your take off altitude 0'. How will the computer react to flying at an altitude of -500' if I would take it down to the deck?

Thanks for any feedback,
brad

 

[User Name]

Very interested to know this too, as one of my main target areas to fly is a ridge where I'd be hiking to a location on top, taking off, and then filming the ridge below.

 

[SteveReno]

From the way i understand it:
From the point of "take off" when in "Fly" mode. Everything is computed from that point in space. GPS, orientation, lots of other calculation needed for flying Solo with the intent to be helped by all this information to the Pods, GPS, ect.....

So, if you lunch from the bottom of the Grand Canyon, that's where Solo think's it's home to you.
Reaching the top of the Canyon, will produce several warnings from Solo.
Has 3DR contemplated this scenario? I;m sure it came up at some point, but in mass producing this product, They left those options out of the mix.

All this said, just unlimit your altitude settings from controller to reach the top of that valley.

 

[Del]

Hi - perspective Solo owner question...

How would a Solo (or any GPS drone) handle flying into valleys? If I am launching at 500' ASL and designate that my home position, I could of course go up 400', but what if I were to take it down into a valley that goes down to sea level?

I am guessing the solo considers your take off altitude 0'. How will the computer react to flying at an altitude of -500' if I would take it down to the deck?

Thanks for any feedback,
brad

I also wondered about that!! But to scared to try?
Where I live..there is a beautiful gorge that probably drops down about 200 feet with water ..and love to fly DOWN there and me being on top to get some shots Below?? But I don't know what would happen if I hit RTH when Solo is down below in the gorge being in a negative altitude ?
Would this work?? Or will Solo give me warning signals as soon as I start going in the negative altitude ?
Or is Solo design so were able to do fly in a negative altitude and still be able to come home OK ?

 

[SteveReno]

I also wondered about that!! But to scared to try?
Where I live..there is a beautiful gorge that probably drops down about 200 feet with water ..and love to fly DOWN there and me being on top to get some shots Below?? But I don't know what would happen if I hit RTH when Solo is down below in the gorge being in a negative altitude ?
Would this work?? Or will Solo give me warning signals as soon as I start going in the negative altitude ?
Or is Solo design so were able to do fly in a negative altitude and still be able to come home OK ?

All depends where you first get GPS info from "Where ever you turn on Solo from"
I can't tell you what would it be like if you start from top Gorge, then fly below? Good question. guessing, if your at the bottom of the Gorge & press the RTH key, I guess it will, climb & land on top of Gorge? Good questions

 

[Timmytimetravel]

I have given both a rudimentary try. I flew down a hill expecting solo app to display a negative altitude. It didn't. Did not get to check tower. My rth height was 30m which was higher than the drop.
I also flew on the snow with repeated cable cams up the slope.

I flew coastal where there was a big hill well in excess of 400ft where I was at the bottom of the climbing track, the controller started giving me a height warning but continued to climb (i don't recall if this was before or after a higher height limit poke it tower to deal with it).

I rthed due to lost comma whilst trying to execute a cable cam from the back of the ridge (only just Los) to do a revea, it definetly flew up some before rth or it would have hit the ridge. So I am thinking it rises the rth set altitude relative to where it is at that minute and returns. It certainly did not dive 300ft into the ridge (hmm, probably should have tested that possibilty).

Take that with a grain of salt. I'm thinking a gradual incline hill with your finger on the pause button is the best test before chancing anything crazy.

Come to think of it. I've also done an rth crazy high, somehow thinking it would return to a reasonable height and noted it came and stayed crazy high right above me. Took much more battery than I thought to come down (very windy). So also allow battery for the vertical climb especially in wind. I wonder if it accelerates the landing based on low battery. I switched to fly and hit down throttle which seemed to descend faster

 

[circuitmike]

TL;DR: it works fine

I wondered this exact thing and I wrote 3DR support about it. They said it would be no problem, so I tried it. I took off from a ridge that's about 200 - 300 feet above the surrounding terrain and flew down to a big, open field below. If I remember correctly the altitude displayed was indeed negative, but that didn't seem to confuse the Solo at all. I flew around for a bit, then brought the Solo back and landed it. I did not, however, test the return-home function, so I'm not exactly sure how that would behave. I'll give it a try next time I get a chance.

 

[Del]

TL;DR: it works fine

I wondered this exact thing and I wrote 3DR support about it. They said it would be no problem, so I tried it. I took off from a ridge that's about 200 - 300 feet above the surrounding terrain and flew down to a big, open field below. If I remember correctly the altitude displayed was indeed negative, but that didn't seem to confuse the Solo at all. I flew around for a bit, then brought the Solo back and landed it. I did not, however, test the return-home function, so I'm not exactly sure how that would behave. I'll give it a try next time I get a chance.

Thanks for the info...good to know that the solo can fly in negative altitude !! To bad you didint try it with the RTL ...because that's the real question..to see how the Solo will react and if the Solo will go up to the positive RTL altitude and safely land itself ?

Please keep us update

 

[Jubalr]

Remember, the height numbers you are seeing and setting are AGL (Above Ground Level) and are only for your reference. Solo does not know where the 'ground' around you is. Internally, it only knows Sea Level. When you take off from 1000' above sea level and that is your home point, and you have 100' (1100 ASL) as your RTL height, for you that is ground level, for Solo it is 1000'. Fly into a canyon 500' below and Solo is at 500' internally, but -500' for your reference. Trigger a RTH and Solo will climb to 1,100' above Sea Level to begin RTL (100' over your initial home point).

If you fly over a hill that is 150' over your home point and drop below 100' on the back side and loose signal, Solo is going to climb to 1100' above Sea Level for RTH and crash into the hill on the way home since it is higher than the RTL height you set. If you fly over the hill and stay at that height, the Solo will return at that height. Remember, Solo will RTL at the greater of either current height at trigger or pre-set RTL, which ever is higher.

 

[Timmytimetravel]

Perfect answer jubalr thank you ! it mirrors experiences so far. I haven't had the issue from the top of a hill down but I've come so close to rtl into earth trying to get a reveal shot by flying over a ridge just a touch and descending just a little. If I'm at the bottom of the hill, perfect recipie for rtl into hill.

Need dynamic rtl ridge mode, resets rtl to the highest height you've flown in that mission even with directional antennas I've had this happen when I can still see solo... Just..

Note the height of the ridge, hover, use tower to reset rtl in flight to that height plus a bit, send parameter. Sounds dicey but would probably work.

Or maybe face facts I have to climb the ridge if I want to do that

 

[Jubalr]

Perfect answer jubalr thank you ! it mirrors experiences so far. I haven't had the issue from the top of a hill down but I've come so close to rtl into earth trying to get a reveal shot by flying over a ridge just a touch and descending just a little. If I'm at the bottom of the hill, perfect recipie for rtl into hill.

Need dynamic rtl ridge mode, resets rtl to the highest height you've flown in that mission even with directional antennas I've had this happen when I can still see solo... Just..

Note the height of the ridge, hover, use tower to reset rtl in flight to that height plus a bit, send parameter. Sounds dicey but would probably work.

Or maybe face facts I have to climb the ridge if I want to do that

Yeah, dynamic RTL would be cool. Hadn't thought of that. Course they at least made it easier now to change the RTL height, so you could do it before flying if you knew the area you were going to fly.

 

[bjswx]

Remember, the height numbers you are seeing and setting are AGL (Above Ground Level) and are only for your reference. Solo does not know where the 'ground' around you is. Internally, it only knows Sea Level. When you take off from 1000' above sea level and that is your home point, and you have 100' (1100 ASL) as your RTL height, for you that is ground level, for Solo it is 1000'. Fly into a canyon 500' below and Solo is at 500' internally, but -500' for your reference. Trigger a RTH and Solo will climb to 1,100' above Sea Level to begin RTL (100' over your initial home point).

If you fly over a hill that is 150' over your home point and drop below 100' on the back side and loose signal, Solo is going to climb to 1100' above Sea Level for RTH and crash into the hill on the way home since it is higher than the RTL height you set. If you fly over the hill and stay at that height, the Solo will return at that height. Remember, Solo will RTL at the greater of either current height at trigger or pre-set RTL, which ever is higher.

Thanks Jubair all everyone else for the info!

 

[z-axis]

Jublar is correct. With my RTH altitude at 75', I flew into a 100' valley from above and initiated RTH to test. It climbed out of the valley 100' and 75' higher, flew back overhead, and came down 75' to the top of the valley where I was.