Tower or Mission Planner?

[J R]

Folks,

Relatively new to Solo but very familiar with P2V+ and P3P and the Litchi App. I do a lot of Ground Station (waypoint) flying with my P's and the Litchi app provides a wide variety of options regarding waypoint flying.

I did about 6 basic Tower flights yesterday. It worked well but doesn't have the variety of options that Litchi does (yet). I downloaded and connected to the Mission Planner software last night to take a look at that as well.

Before I invest a ton of time in one app or the other, I thought I should check-in with some of you guys "in-the-know". All of my flying is for personal use and just the fun of it but I really like trying to push the envelope a bit.

Can any of you experienced waypoint flyers give your opinions on which app I would be better off trying to master? I'd rather not try "everything" like I did in the P world. I wasted a great deal of time and energy testing a whole bunch of junk in that environment and would like to avoid doing the same in my new Solo endevour.

Any thought or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jerry

 

[Jubalr]

Tower has a lot of powerful options and easier to use at the field. Splines,.surveys, multiple ROIs in a single mission, etc.. What features does Litchi have that you haven't seen in Tower yet?

 

[J R]

Jubalr,

I'm sure that many of the functions that I'm familiar with in Litchi may very well be in Tower somewhere, it may more be my inexperience with Solo, Tower and the different terminology. I'm assuming that ROI is similar to POI and I figured out Spline waypoints. I'm not prepared to fly with some of the other functions until I'm clearer on what exactly they do.

As a for instance, I can't figure out how to change the heading, speed, camera pitch, curve size, rotation or any additional actions that I may want to take per each waypoint. Again, items like that may very well be there and I'll figure them out as I get more experience.

The purpose of my initial post was to try to determine what application(s) I should begin to invest my time in. From what I can determine by your very informative posts, you appear to be very well versed with these applications. Your opinions and advice have been, and will continue to be, taken in very high regard. I am extremely grateful that there are guys like you around that are so willing to share your time, experience and expertise. I'm very willing to invest the time and learn, I just want to try to make sure I'm heading down the right path.

Jerry

 

[Maddog]

I'm not familiar with either one but Tower is the only thing folks talk about here. Very little mention of MP so I guess Tower is what most Solo owners are using.
Hope this helps!

 

[J R]

Thanks Maddog! Every piece of information and experience helps me!

Jerry

 

[Jubalr]

Jubalr,

I'm sure that many of the functions that I'm familiar with in Litchi may very well be in Tower somewhere, it may more be my inexperience with Solo, Tower and the different terminology. I'm assuming that ROI is similar to POI and I figured out Spline waypoints. I'm not prepared to fly with some of the other functions until I'm clearer on what exactly they do.

As a for instance, I can't figure out how to change the heading, speed, camera pitch, curve size, rotation or any additional actions that I may want to take per each waypoint. Again, items like that may very well be there and I'll figure them out as I get more experience.

The purpose of my initial post was to try to determine what application(s) I should begin to invest my time in. From what I can determine by your very informative posts, you appear to be very well versed with these applications. Your opinions and advice have been, and will continue to be, taken in very high regard. I am extremely grateful that there are guys like you around that are so willing to share your time, experience and expertise. I'm very willing to invest the time and learn, I just want to try to make sure I'm heading down the right path.

Jerry

Hey Jerry,

Overall, I would recommend Tower. One reason is they have been very quick to add Solo specific features to it, another would be that if you are using Android, you can actually use Tower and the Solo app at the same time. The MP user interface is not quite as polished and intuitive as Tower, but it has more powerful diagnostics. You can keep MP on your desktop and review the Solo logs and graph different parameters against each other. But going to the field and planning missions is quick on Tower.

Documentation is slim, but it is fairly easy to learn just by playing with it and not uploading a mission until you are ready. When ready, I recommend uploading to Solo and then Downloading the mission back to Solo just as a confirmation that the mission Solo has on board is the same as what you expect. I also will set the mission as I want it without the home point. Then when you go to UL the mission Tower will ask if you want to append it with take off/landing points at it's current location. I say yes and then it uploads. Then get a GPS lock and I like to take off manually. Fly towards the first WP and then Select Auto to start the mission. After it has flown the WPs it will start coming back to you, and then I put it back in manual for landing. Don't have to, but I like being in control anyway.

As you are playing around with Tower at home, just set some WPs and then select them by touching one on the bottom. Then a second screen will come up with type of WPs and options for each.

Have fun..
Jubal

 

[J R]

Jubalr,

Thanks for the recommendation! I just did as you suggested when I did my first Tower missions yesterday!

Jerry

 

[Earldgrayjr]

Both applications are fantatstic, and they do many of the same things. MP has a LOT of diganostic and tweaking functions (as an example you can run one motor at a time, play back telemetry logs, graph the acceleromter values (historically or in real time) etc. etc. etc..)

What Tower lacks in tweaking and diganostic functions, it gains in portability. As was mentioned, you can run it on the same tablet at the same time as tower, and jump between the two. I do this a LOT, as I like the full screen video of the Solo app. FYI, Tower also has awesome verbal updates. I keep those on always.

Tower likely does the things you want it to, including controlling the Solo (pan) and gimbal (tilt) in a "mission" both in the "POI" waypoints as well as being able to control the tilt manually as an angle %. The only thing I don't like about Tower is that it (currently) doesn't do a great job of playing back log files. You can load tham and step through them, but MP plays them back visually, animating the craft on screan to the log values.

Mission Planner is also for a lot more than just Solo (or even quad copters) though, so there are a lot of options you will see that you will never actually touch, and some you could but shouldn't. Where as Tower is focused on Solo, and eliminates everything not needed by it, and takes advantage of things specific to Solo.

My advice is to actually get both (actually all three if you count the Solo app). They seem hard to start, but aren't after you get going. I use MP for flight logs, and testing/tuning, and Tower for creating and flying missions

 

[nexxypoo]

I've been using Tower for all my survey work to date, mainly because I don't have a good portable Windows machine to run MP.
My understanding is that Tower is just a stripped-down version of MP, minus a ton of functionality. And from my mucking around, I think that's correct.
If you need all those bells and whistles you mention, prob best to move over to MP.

That's my 2cents

 

[nexxypoo]

Both applications are fantatstic, and they do many of the same things. MP has a LOT of diganostic and tweaking functions (as an example you can run one motor at a time, play back telemetry logs, graph the acceleromter values (historically or in real time) etc. etc. etc..)

What Tower lacks in tweaking and diganostic functions, it gains in portability. As was mentioned, you can run it on the same tablet at the same time as tower, and jump between the two. I do this a LOT, as I like the full screen video of the Solo app. FYI, Tower also has awesome verbal updates. I keep those on always.

Tower likely does the things you want it to, including controlling the Solo (pan) and gimbal (tilt) in a "mission" both in the "POI" waypoints as well as being able to control the tilt manually as an angle %. The only thing I don't like about Tower is that it (currently) doesn't do a great job of playing back log files. You can load tham and step through them, but MP plays them back visually, animating the craft on screan to the log values.

Mission Planner is also for a lot more than just Solo (or even quad copters) though, so there are a lot of options you will see that you will never actually touch, and some you could but shouldn't. Where as Tower is focused on Solo, and eliminates everything not needed by it, and takes advantage of things specific to Solo.

My advice is to actually get both (actually all three if you count the Solo app). They seem hard to start, but aren't after you get going. I use MP for flight logs, and testing/tuning, and Tower for creating and flying missions

Were you aware that Tower records tLogs as well? Very handy for geotagging post-mission.

 

[Nisouck]

I prefer also to use Tower onto my pad and MP with my PC for logs analyse ... but I think It's a pitty that the mission of tower use a .dpwp instead of a .txt for MP.
Could not understand why they make this difference or don't include the two format.
Somebody know?

 

[Earldgrayjr]

I prefer also to use Tower onto my pad and MP with my PC for logs analyse ... but I think It's a pitty that the mission of tower use a .dpwp instead of a .txt for MP.
Could not understand why they make this difference or don't include the two format.
Somebody know?

I don't know, but had the same question.

I do the same as you with Tower/MP, and so haven't used MP for missions, but as I understand it you can. That means by the time it gets to Solo it should be the same info? I wonder if you could upload to Solo from MP and then download from Solo to Tower. If so, you could save in Tower, edit, etc :

 

[Nisouck]

I don't know, but had the same question.
I wonder if you could upload to Solo from MP and then download from Solo to Tower. If so, you could save in Tower, edit, etc :

Yes, it's possible. Some time I make that but it is not the best way. I think the two appli must have the possibility to save the mission into the two formats; not difficult for the programmers, that will take ..... half a hour!

 

[Earldgrayjr]

Yes, it's possible. Some time I make that but it is not the best way. I think the two appli must have the possibility to save the mission into the two formats; not difficult for the programmers, that will take ..... half a hour!

Another idea (actually submitted) is the ability to take a log file and turn it into an editable mission. You could then Fly, save it, add Orbits, POI, and gimbal control and upload.

 

[J R]

Earl,

Thank you very much for your opinion and recommendation. I think I will take this approach for now. Use Tower as the primary app and use MP for data analysis. Managing the different platforms I'm now using is going to be a bit challenging. I think I can get up to speed on Tower much quicker. Once I've become comfortable with my abilities using Tower it will probably be a bit easier to digest the more extensive MP system.

Thanks again,

Jerry

 

[J R]

Nex,

Thanks for your opinion and thoughts. I think I'll get familiar with Tower and then take a more extensive look at MP.

Thanks again,

Jerry

 

[J R]

Nis,

Thanks for your opinion. I think that's the approach I'll take for now as well.

Thanks again,

Jerry

 

[bheiland]

How do I use Tower to control the camera. I have tried to build a plan with the survey feature and it says it will take x# of images and when the Solo returns and lands the camera has not taken any photos. I don't know how to control the gimbal through Tower either. What am I missing?

 

[Nisouck]

With the camera view, you put your finger on it and move it Up and Down, you will see the gimbal following that move.
Actually, the transmitter knobs don't apply to this for Tower; they works only with the Solo appli.

 

[Earldgrayjr]

How do I use Tower to control the camera. I have tried to build a plan with the survey feature and it says it will take x# of images and when the Solo returns and lands the camera has not taken any photos. I don't know how to control the gimbal through Tower either. What am I missing?

There are a couple ways to control the gimbal. I am using the Beta, so things may be a bit different on the released app until it catches up.

First is the POI waypoint. You place it. And Solo will look there wherever it is. It is intended to be used in a sequence where you have another waypoint before and/or after it. solo will point toward the POI and tilt the gimbal toward the altitude you have set.

Second is the manual control. You place a waypoint, and then select it to edit. Hit the little white triangle and change the waypoint to set angle.

I see camera trigger in there also, but haven't used this yet.

Given you can take pictures manually from within Tower (through the icons on the live view) I assumed it would take pictures while also taking video, but it is possible you need to be in photo mode.