Solex for Solo

Zee Three · Dec 14, 2016

Chardia said:
Since buying this, I have not wanted to use the 3DR app at all, I needed to for a few times as outlined in earlier posts on here with the smart shots not being reponsive, but that issue appears so far to have been solved. For the additional features it gives for us Android users, its likely the best alternative app to use. very easy to navigate.

Does it have an option to calibrate sensors? This is my problem really. I don't care for smart shots as much as just being able to use tower.

Pushjerk · Dec 16, 2016

Sup guys and gals. First couple flights with Solex yesterday. Right from the get go was impressed, as the App did not crash multiple times during flight as does the stock Solo app on my Samsung Galaxy Tab A.

A few questions for the crowd. While using Orbit, I found that I lost altitude rather quickly while going around the orbit clockwise - didn't even try it counter clockwise, as I was out over water and time was not quite on my side. Any other with a similar experience?

Selfie mode - the Play button was not responsive, nor was the right stick. Any tips? Might it be my Tablet?

Will give this all a go in a nice practice environment (not over water) and see what is what.

So far all looks great.

Marich · Dec 16, 2016

Pushjerk said:
Sup guys and gals. First couple flights with Solex yesterday. Right from the get go was impressed, as the App did not crash multiple times during flight as does the stock Solo app on my Samsung Galaxy Tab A.

A few questions for the crowd. While using Orbit, I found that I lost altitude rather quickly while going around the orbit clockwise - didn't even try it counter clockwise, as I was out over water and time was not quite on my side. Any other with a similar experience?

Selfie mode - the Play button was not responsive, nor was the right stick. Any tips? Might it be my Tablet?

Will give this all a go in a nice practice environment (not over water) and see what is what.

So far all looks great.

A bit off topic I guess, but I've noted that quite a few folks have been having glitches with the stock Solo app on Android. I haven't used it much at all since I've always used Tower and now prefer Solex for most flying.
Anyhow, I wonder if it's because 3DR hasn't been updating the app? Or have they (maybe behind the scenes) and I've missed it?

Don H. · Dec 16, 2016

I'm wondering if Solo Services and the Solo app are taxing the processor to much. I returned my Tab A after it wouldn't run the Solo app for more than a couple of minutes. Didn't try it on Solex.

SARDG · Dec 16, 2016

Don H. said:
I'm wondering if Solo Services and the Solo app are taxing the processor to much. I returned my Tab A after it wouldn't run the Solo app for more than a couple of minutes. Didn't try it on Solex.

Latest Solo App and Tower App (of a month or 2 ago) no longer require 3DR Services. I've uninstalled it from my devices.

nomad33fw · Dec 17, 2016

Kelly Schrock said:
Yes, definitely on the ground. Just park the Solo somewhere with the camera on and facing straight ahead, carry the controller/tablet with you, walk out in front of it, and mark a spot on the ground where you appear in the right marker. Then walk to the left marker (the same distance in front of the Solo both times), mark the ground there, and measure between them. Then walk to the middle point between points A/B and measure the distance from that spot to the camera. Then put those values in, and it will calculate the viewing angle.

Tried to do this today and can not see the markers because the overlay is on the way.

SteveReno · Dec 18, 2016

Kelly Schrock
21 hrs
1.2.6: The Christmas Giving edition

A little light on updates this week. I'm working on something pretty huge (or, as it's required to be spelled after the presidential transition, "yuuuuuuge"), so the majority of efforts this week have gone toward that. It's going to be pretty cool, I think.

Here's what this update contains:

. MPCC layout fix

The UI on the Cable Cam was a bit crowded, so that's been addressed.

. Adjustable max Guidance distance

The Guidance UI (when you hit "Fly me there") used to have a hard limit of 1000 meters, and would refuse to fly to anything farther away than that. You can adjust that now, up to 5000 meters, and down to 500.

. Heading on home pointer

The home pointer now displays the heading in degrees in the flight screen.

. A present for Mbaya K Moses

This is the season of giving, and Mbaya K Moses is apparently passing around a pirated copy of Solex. So if you're looking for a free copy of Solex, he's your guy. In honor of his contributions to the Christmas spirit of giving, this release contains a special present just for him. Happy Holidays, Mbaya.

:-D

I'm off to a Christmas get-together.

nomad33fw · Dec 18, 2016

ok created a FB account just for this app lol and asked this there also. Bought an android tablet just for this app too. Couple of things. When I try an open any of the files saved in the Solex folder, the tablet tries to open them as a PDF and fails. I don't see a way to tell the android tab to 'open as' or 'open with' like i can with iOS. Second problem is saving to the eternal SD card. I have actually deleted Solex and all it's associated folders to try and fix this. When I check the box to 'Store Files Externally' it says that it is copying the files to external device, but when I check using the file manager it actually hasn't. When I flew yesterday it saved everything internally.
Last thing. On the solo app it will save pictures and things to my device, I know the ones stored on the SD in the GoPro are higher quality but I liked this feature. Does or can Solex do this? If it does I don't seem to be able to get this to work either.

I am using a LG G Pad x 8.0 (LG-V520) with Android 6.0.1 32Gb of internal memory and a 64 Gb Samsung EVO+ external card. The GoPro is a 4 Silver with the latest firmware.

Played with the Optical tracking a little yesterday and it seemed to work well, but I still have some fiddling to do to get the settings right. Cable Cab and zipline worked great.

PS what are you using for screen recording

Kelly your app is the best. I had actually returned the solo I bought after hearing 3DR was getting out of the consumer drone business. When I saw everything you have done and with 3DR releasing the source code I went out and bought it again... It can only get better.

mattshup · Dec 21, 2016

So, quick question as i'm new to Solex and just played around with it for a bit this evening. When I tried to put it in follow me (optical) mode, it asked for parameters for FOV? What are those parameters and how do I find them? I know it's probably something super simple but I must be overlooking them. Thanks!

SkyDoctor · Dec 22, 2016

Calibrated the FOV. Tried the Optical Follow. The Solo tracks me with the camera. The Solo moves side to side. however, when I walk forward, the Solo will not follow.

SteveReno · Dec 22, 2016

@Kelly Schrock "I'm off to a Christmas get-together."
He will answer you questions better then i can,
Be patient, I'm sure he'll pop in soon,

Happy Holidays

mikeo · Dec 22, 2016

SkyDoctor said:
Calibrated the FOV. Tried the Optical Follow. The Solo tracks me with the camera. The Solo moves side to side. however, when I walk forward, the Solo will not follow.

I'm in the same position, but I think I figured out the problem. Take a look at the video Kelly posted on youtube:
It appears that he turns *off* "Look at Target" at 00:23 and then solo starts following him. I'm going outside to try this in a few minutes when my batteries finish charging.

mikeo · Dec 22, 2016

@Kelly Schrock
First: thank you for an awesome app for Solo! My primary use case is action sports (over water) so the optical tracking mode is unbelieveably helpful.

I'm not good with writing code, but I've started poking around based on some of the information on the forum; have you seen this post?
Success! Reading smart battery data

I'm curious if it would be possible to have Solex query the SMBus (i2c data) to pull the battery serial numbers like PdxSteve figured out with MP and then battery data can be auto-populated in Solex. Thoughts? I'm going to hack around and see if I can find a command line query to execute from ssh that would display the data. If so, I have to assume it would be fairly simple to parse and utilize in Solex.

Don H. · Dec 22, 2016

Something else interesting though it doesn't effect the follow me. He has both Bluetooth and wifi running concurrently. In the 3 DR manual it states that running Bluetooth and wifi can cause interference and reduce the range of the Solo. I'm now curious if this really is an issue?

mikeo · Dec 22, 2016

Well, no luck. I tried a few options both with "Look at Target" selected and without it selected and I get the same behavior. I guess we'll just have to wait for Kelly.

As far as bluetooth causing problems, I believe that statement is because both bluetooth and WiFi exist in the same spectrum and could interfere with channel availability in a crowded-spectrum space. If you're out flying away from any infrastructure then most 2.4GHz channels should be available, but if you're in an urban or suburban location there might be more limitations on available spectrum/channels.

My record distance is ~6200 ft. but I was in a rural area with the Alfa 7 dBi antennas and I know there wasn't any interference. When I use the 3DR app on my iPad I've never shut off the bluetooth.

Don H. · Dec 22, 2016

mikeo said:
Well, no luck. I tried a few options both with "Look at Target" selected and without it selected and I get the same behavior. I guess we'll just have to wait for Kelly.

As far as bluetooth causing problems, I believe that statement is because both bluetooth and WiFi exist in the same spectrum and could interfere with channel availability in a crowded-spectrum space. If you're out flying away from any infrastructure then most 2.4GHz channels should be available, but if you're in an urban or suburban location there might be more limitations on available spectrum/channels.

My record distance is ~6200 ft. but I was in a rural area with the Alfa 7 dBi antennas and I know there wasn't any interference. When I use the 3DR app on my iPad I've never shut off the bluetooth.

Interesting..what altitude were you at when you hit 6200 feet?
With the alphas on mine I could get abt 3600 feet. With the REXUAV antenna I got 4200'
With the alphas I was 44' up and 85' with the REXUAV antenna. Both of those tests were in the desert. Very little wifi.

mikeo · Dec 22, 2016

@Don H. We're off in serious thread-jack territory here, and since I'm a noob on this board I don't want to aggravate the mods right away. I'm sure there's a thread for distance records, etc. but here's a screenshot to wrap of this part of the conversation:

It shows 6100' since that's when I recovered control and stopped to take the screenshot; I had to align the antennas just right to get signal at 6200'. You can see I was 122' above launch which is at sea level, the rivers in the picture are slightly below sea level. This flight was with an iPad that had bluetooth turned on.

Don H. · Dec 23, 2016

mikeo said:
@Don H. We're off in serious thread-jack territory here, and since I'm a noob on this board I don't want to aggravate the mods right away. I'm sure there's a thread for distance records, etc. but here's a screenshot to wrap of this part of the conversation:
View attachment 4794
It shows 6100' since that's when I recovered control and stopped to take the screenshot; I had to align the antennas just right to get signal at 6200'. You can see I was 122' above launch which is at sea level, the rivers in the picture are slightly below sea level. This flight was with an iPad that had bluetooth turned on.

That's a great shot. Thanks.

nomad33fw · Dec 23, 2016

Still having a problem with Solex and saving files. I have checked the Store Files Externally but Solex never made any folders there. I have checked the app permissions and it has permission to read, modify and delete the contents of my SD card. Solex is also not saving anything to the movie stream folder that it did create in my internal memory.

The other little thing is a feature...When recording your are recording in a 'shot' like a zipline, then hit the fly button solex stops recording. It would be nice if it just continued recording until I hit the button to stop it.

I am running solex on an LG G Pad X 8 on Android 6.0.1

Kelly Schrock · Dec 23, 2016

mikeo said:
@Kelly Schrock
First: thank you for an awesome app for Solo! My primary use case is action sports (over water) so the optical tracking mode is unbelieveably helpful.

I'm not good with writing code, but I've started poking around based on some of the information on the forum; have you seen this post?
Success! Reading smart battery data

I'm curious if it would be possible to have Solex query the SMBus (i2c data) to pull the battery serial numbers like PdxSteve figured out with MP and then battery data can be auto-populated in Solex. Thoughts? I'm going to hack around and see if I can find a command line query to execute from ssh that would display the data. If so, I have to assume it would be fairly simple to parse and utilize in Solex.

Hi Mike,

Cool that you're using optical tracking over water! That's one thing I haven't had occasion to test, over water. Hopefully it's working well there. It's definitely possible to query the SMBus, but the problem is doing it from an app. I'm staying away at this point from app features that require modifications to the solo at this point, and I haven't found a command that can be run from the app (or combinations thereof) that can get that information. If you do find something out, definitely let me know. I'm putting the ability to upload/download files in the app at some point, and it's possible I could put something in place to A) check for the command that gets battery info and either B) run it to get the battery info or B) install it on the Solo and then run it.