Route/Mission Planning Advice From the Experts

[BeeRAD56]

Background:

I’m a civil engineer with a firm that has a relatively large and accomplished survey department. Our survey group is interested in evaluating the use of UAV’s to assist with certain aspects of their survey field work.

We have done a small-scale experiment on a ¼ acre mountain site using my H to develop topography and boundary information which was then compared to GPS based ground shots and the comparative results were impressive.

I now have an opportunity to do a much larger scale experiment on a full section of vacant farmland (640 acres, one square mile) and need to get well organized to have a chance at success in promoting the use of UAV technology to the firm.

Questions:

I have the 640-acre section laid out on Google Earth which provides a KMZ file format. What apps accept that format? I have UAV toolbox but don’t see the ability to import an external file of that type to create my mission. Admittedly, I am rookie with UAV toolbox and the mission function.

I plan to shoot in 4k and curious to better understand the sweet spot for altitude (400' AGL and below) vs speed. Any experienced advice in this regard is appreciated.

A mission of this magnitude will require several battery changes. I’ll have to abort the mission at some point along the route to return to base for more juice. In addition, my base location will be changing to maintain VLOS. Can a way point mission be restarted at a select point along the route or do I have to create a new mission?

Thanks to all in advance. This forum and its members have been a wealth of knowledge through my UAV educational journey and I’m very appreciative.

 

[kd4pbs]

Sounds more like a job for the H520, but I'm interested to see if there is a way to import a KMZ to the Typhoon H. Best wishes!

 

[BeeRAD56]

Sounds more like a job for the H520, but I'm interested to see if there is a way to import a KMZ to the Typhoon H. Best wishes!

If I can produce reasonable results, the firm is prepared to buy a H520. But for now it's just me and my trusty H.

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

I will wait for other experts to chime in... I am by no means... finally got a couple of CCC routes run without incident. To answer one question, I do not think it is possible to start a CCC route from a mid route waypoint. So you would have to map out several missions. I'm sure Tuna will answer some more on specifics of using UAV toolbox to your best advantage. I know that this kind of programmed mapping is a definite feature to be incorporated in a future release.

 

[NorWiscPilot]

Background:

I’m a civil engineer with a firm that has a relatively large and accomplished survey department. Our survey group is interested in evaluating the use of UAV’s to assist with certain aspects of their survey field work.

We have done a small-scale experiment on a ¼ acre mountain site using my H to develop topography and boundary information which was then compared to GPS based ground shots and the comparative results were impressive.

I now have an opportunity to do a much larger scale experiment on a full section of vacant farmland (640 acres, one square mile) and need to get well organized to have a chance at success in promoting the use of UAV technology to the firm.

Questions:

I have the 640-acre section laid out on Google Earth which provides a KMZ file format. What apps accept that format? I have UAV toolbox but don’t see the ability to import an external file of that type to create my mission. Admittedly, I am rookie with UAV toolbox and the mission function.

I plan to shoot in 4k and curious to better understand the sweet spot for altitude (400' AGL and below) vs speed. Any experienced advice in this regard is appreciated.

A mission of this magnitude will require several battery changes. I’ll have to abort the mission at some point along the route to return to base for more juice. In addition, my base location will be changing to maintain VLOS. Can a way point mission be restarted at a select point along the route or do I have to create a new mission?

Thanks to all in advance. This forum and its members have been a wealth of knowledge through my UAV educational journey and I’m very appreciative.

Bee,

I will be following this conversation very closely, as I have had similar questions as well as opportunities. What I can contribute is this:

I did a 900+ image composite using my H and Tuna's UAV Toolbox. I did not figure out a way to interrupt mid-mission and pick up where I left off. Here is what I did:

1. Created a master mission covering the full area to be recorded.
2. Used the estimated field of view to approximate the overlap I needed; the distance between passes (grid lines).
3. Based on estimated duration of the total mission, I created three copies of the master mission.
4. Edited each copy, removing segments from each until I had three distinct missions.
5. Flew each mission separately, with the camera on 1 second time lapse, starting the recording once the craft approached the first waypoint.

Using the time and distance estimate while creating the master mission helped me determine how many legs to include in each segment. If I needed to reduce the duration of each segment, I had the master from which to create additional segments*.

What really helps is to have several batteries with like durations. As has been mentioned in other posts, not all batteries age the same!

Hope this helps. Will be watching this thread for updates.

Jeff

*Individual results may vary

 

[BeeRAD56]

Bee,

I will be following this conversation very closely, as I have had similar questions as well as opportunities. What I can contribute is this:

I did a 900+ image composite using my H and Tuna's UAV Toolbox. I did not figure out a way to interrupt mid-mission and pick up where I left off. Here is what I did:

1. Created a master mission covering the full area to be recorded.
2. Used the estimated field of view to approximate the overlap I needed; the distance between passes (grid lines).
3. Based on estimated duration of the total mission, I created three copies of the master mission.
4. Edited each copy, removing segments from each until I had three distinct missions.
5. Flew each mission separately, with the camera on 1 second time lapse, starting the recording once the craft approached the first waypoint.

Using the time and distance estimate while creating the master mission helped me determine how many legs to include in each segment. If I needed to reduce the duration of each segment, I had the master from which to create additional segments*.

What really helps is to have several batteries with like durations. As has been mentioned in other posts, not all batteries age the same!

Hope this helps. Will be watching this thread for updates.

Jeff

*Individual results may vary

Thank you Jeff! This is very helpful!

I wondered about the master mission, copy, rename, delete, approach as well and glad to hear you were able to make it work.

Regarding batteries, unfortunately my stable is a 6 pack mix of 4 heavily used OEMs on their last legs and two new Ultrax 6300 mA. I plan to have my generator and 4 port charger with me and keep charging and rotating them in. With breaks to let everything cool (including me), I should be ok. It will likely be time to replace the 4 OEM's after this exercise, however.

 

[Steve Carr]

Perhaps @Tuna can help with this question later this evening.

 

[Tuna]

At the moment, UAV Toolbox doesn't import KMZ files - but if you want to send me an example and tell me what it describes, I can see if I can do something. I'm working on a new release at the moment, but there's a lot of other work going on in the background, so progress is slow.

For CCC missions, from the top of my head the speed is around 11m/s. If you're doing a photogrammetry mission you want to be reasonably close in to get the detail resolved, whilst still getting decent overlap between photos. For the Typhoon, 50 - 60 feet above ground level seems to work pretty well, using the timelapse function on the camera to take shots as you fly a CCC route. Obviously you need to change that if the ground elevation changes, or you're shooting buildings or other structures that could cause a collision.

Remember also that the barometer used to calculate altitude tends to drift, so height can change quite a bit during a mission. The two ways to combat that (and the inaccuracies it introduces to any 3D models) is to separate large areas into squares (rather than long strips) and to fly two successive grids over each area, at 90 degrees to each other. 640 acres is a large plot though - you may be able to do up to 32 acres with a single battery (at a guess), so you're looking at at least 20 flights, and possibly double that. That will generate a LOT of photos, or video - so the trick will be to devise a strategy to subdivide the area and manage all of the data in batches.

There is no resume option on CCC routes for the H, so you're limited to splitting up missions before you fly them I'm afraid.

In most respects, the H520 will be better for you - it has longer flight times, smart mission planning and things like battery resume. However, your first job is to demonstrate you can get worthwhile information from a drone before you start throwing money at a bigger machine.

Drop me a message if you want to discuss things in more detail - I'm always happy to answer questions.

 

[BeeRAD56]

At the moment, UAV Toolbox doesn't import KMZ files - but if you want to send me an example and tell me what it describes, I can see if I can do something. I'm working on a new release at the moment, but there's a lot of other work going on in the background, so progress is slow.

For CCC missions, from the top of my head the speed is around 11m/s. If you're doing a photogrammetry mission you want to be reasonably close in to get the detail resolved, whilst still getting decent overlap between photos. For the Typhoon, 50 - 60 feet above ground level seems to work pretty well, using the timelapse function on the camera to take shots as you fly a CCC route. Obviously you need to change that if the ground elevation changes, or you're shooting buildings or other structures that could cause a collision.

Remember also that the barometer used to calculate altitude tends to drift, so height can change quite a bit during a mission. The two ways to combat that (and the inaccuracies it introduces to any 3D models) is to separate large areas into squares (rather than long strips) and to fly two successive grids over each area, at 90 degrees to each other. 640 acres is a large plot though - you may be able to do up to 32 acres with a single battery (at a guess), so you're looking at at least 20 flights, and possibly double that. That will generate a LOT of photos, or video - so the trick will be to devise a strategy to subdivide the area and manage all of the data in batches.

There is no resume option on CCC routes for the H, so you're limited to splitting up missions before you fly them I'm afraid.

In most respects, the H520 will be better for you - it has longer flight times, smart mission planning and things like battery resume. However, your first job is to demonstrate you can get worthwhile information from a drone before you start throwing money at a bigger machine.

Drop me a message if you want to discuss things in more detail - I'm always happy to answer questions.

Thank you sir! This is a tremendous help and greatly appreciated! What is the best way to share my KMZ file with you?

 

[Tuna]

Thank you sir! This is a tremendous help and greatly appreciated! What is the best way to share my KMZ file with you?

No problem!

 

[Eagle's Eye Video]

Bee, please let us know the methodology you end up using to complete this demo... If I am to go the
107 route and start doing commercial work, this is one of the areas I want to focus on. The same method
could also be used for example, for roofing inspections. I too will be keeping an eye on this thread.

If the collective intelligence of this forum is harnessed we can all benefit. Current educational opportunities
for learning how to do specific jobs with the H are non existent. All current weekend or one day seminars
on piloting UAV are DJI based, which does not address questions specific to Yuneec hardware. (How do
I do "x" with the ST-16, with what settings?)

I would love to see specific threads on different areas, like this one for aerial mapping, one for specifics
on shooting for realtors, etc.

 

[BeeRAD56]

Bee, please let us know the methodology you end up using to complete this demo... If I am to go the
107 route and start doing commercial work, this is one of the areas I want to focus on. The same method
could also be used for example, for roofing inspections. I too will be keeping an eye on this thread.

If the collective intelligence of this forum is harnessed we can all benefit. Current educational opportunities
for learning how to do specific jobs with the H are non existent. All current weekend or one day seminars
on piloting UAV are DJI based, which does not address questions specific to Yuneec hardware. (How do
I do "x" with the ST-16, with what settings?)

I would love to see specific threads on different areas, like this one for aerial mapping, one for specifics
on shooting for realtors, etc.

Yes sir, I will certainly share with all, what we end up with regarding methodology along with the results, good or bad. This task will likely involve a fair amount of trial and error as we attempt to develop a best practice and I'm very appreciative of all the great input so far.

One thing I can share now is that we are going to use an Autodesk product known as ReCap Pro for our data analysis and mapping development. Our choice was primarily driven by our current use of a number of other Autodesk products such as Civil 3D in our other work.