Fly unattended continuously in a circle

[muabg]

Thanks for the information but I am concerned that by using cruse control it would be hard to exactly set the center of rotation and the aircraft would wander from the center point.

The Mavic 2 uses a GPS point for the center of rotation so this would be more accurate for my use.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Here is the answer you were looking for. This is using the M3. You can use a combination of stick movements then initiate cruise control and it will maintain those stick movements. See at 3:00 minutes. You can put the drone in an Orbit the set cruise control.

Sorry I did not put this up earlier, I was on the road and did not have access to it.

Exactly as I had recommended earlier, in post #5, for those paying attention, instead of hijacking the thread. For all those complaining about "unattended," Cruise Control is not an autonomous Waypoint Mission. It requires active pilot initiation and continuous monitoring. QED.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Thanks for the information but I am concerned that by using cruse control it would be hard to exactly set the center of rotation and the aircraft would wander from the center point.

The Mavic 2 uses a GPS point for the center of rotation so this would be more accurate for my use.

If the camera is continuously centered on your subject and you manually set the orbit, make a few orbits to monitor the Cruise Control settings, tweaking as necessary to keep it centered. The monitoring is your responsibility anyway, as the PIC. Just make sure the orbits are overlapping. GPS points "wander," too, as the GPS is only as good as the GNSS reception, and it has a variance of up to 15 feet.

As long as there is no wind, If you set the orbit properly before activating Cruise Control, it will maintain a perfect circle because the stick inputs are locked, until you unlock them.

 

[AnzacJack]

First of all, thanks to everyone who provided useful information.

It seems that the Drone Police are everywhere now, what the hell is wrong with you. Take a look at the video, I was flying in a very remote place, and I had my controller around my neck in case there were any issues. It you do not want to provide any useful info just stay out of my thread…. this is exactly what is ruining these sort of message boards.

I was among the first to be 107 certified way back in 2016 and I currently am a professional remote pilot flying in a MOA working on NASA and DARPA funded UAVs and I have thousands of hours and all sorts of very large and exotic aircraft. So, I know all about safety.

At this point I am just going to use my old Mavic 2 Pro as it seems to be the simplest solution

Sorry about my rant

Only one knucklehead playing drone police, and doesnt look like he has been around for more than 5 min. Just ignore posts like that. Its only an issue if a group all jump on the band wagon. Seems like most here understood what you want

 

[pnovotny]

Drone Link allows as many rotations as you want (may have to purchase higher level version though, but overall inexpensive)

 

[jephoto]

Check this video out. Its an Active Track hack that converts a spotlight to a GPS POI , therefore taking the visuals out of the drone's way to hold a circle.

 

[AirStag]

I am looking for a simple way to have my Mavic 3 fly unattended continuously in a circle.

I will be in Texas for the Eclipse next year and I want to be able to launch my Mavic 3 about 10 minutes before the eclipse and have it simply fly in circles taking video of the event unattended.

I have tried using the new way point function but after it completes a mission there is apparently no option for it to continuously repeat the mission.

If I use the POI function, the drone will lose the POI in the complete darkness of totality which will last 4minutes.

I would like to stay within the DJI app, and I am trying to find a simple way to do this…any suggestions?

Such a great idea! And I'm stealing it, hope you don't mind lol.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Such a great idea! And I'm stealing it, hope you don't mind lol.

Can't really understand the goal of flying in an orbit during an eclipse. What would be the "point of interest" on the ground? The solar eclipse is happening in the sky. Even at the totality of the solar eclipse, there is still plenty of sunlight available. It just gets relatively darker. It's not dark like in the middle of the night.

 

[AirStag]

Can't really understand the goal of flying in an orbit during an eclipse. What would be the "point of interest" on the ground? The solar eclipse is happening in the sky. Even at the totality of the solar eclipse, there is still plenty of sunlight available. It just gets relatively darker. It's not dark like in the middle of the night.

I'm searching for a good place to do it. The subject is yet TBD. I think just the view of how the eclipse affects the landscape will be interesting, but it will help to have a good subject. I was on the centerline in Nebraska for the 2017 eclipse and setup a gopro to film the surroundings. It was the first time in many years of using micro sd cards that I had a failure and lost the footage. Bummer.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I'm searching for a good place to do it. The subject is yet TBD. I think just the view of how the eclipse affects the landscape will be interesting, but it will help to have a good subject. I was on the centerline in Nebraska for the 2017 eclipse and setup a gopro to film the surroundings. It was the first time in many years of using micro sd cards that I had a failure and lost the footage. Bummer.

That I can understand. The POI part is the confounding part to me. Bummer about your microSD failure. It would have been interesting to share for reference.
Here is my photo from the last solar eclipse. The Pink Panther's shadow! HAH!

 

[AirStag]

That I can understand. The POI part is the confounding part to me. Bummer about your microSD failure. It would have been interesting to share for reference.
Here is my photo from the last solar eclipse:

View attachment 166006

Nice

 

[GadgetGuy]

If I use the POI function, the drone will lose the POI in the complete darkness of totality which will last 4minutes.

Just use the POI function. You'll be fine. There is no complete darkness at totality. It's just darker. Otherwise, there would be nothing to see on the video anyway!