I created my FIRST litchi mission - I used google earth pro to get the things close for the pictures, and then sort of winged it to record video around the site of a new dollar store in my town.
This being the first, I'm a little nervous about the whole autonomous flight thing... would anyone mind looking at my mission and see if you have any concerns??
Mission Hub - Litchi - I'm not getting paid for this - just want to try some time-lapse stuff for fun.
Is there a way to record a mission that you are currently flying, then reload and do it again?
I created my first Litchi mission for my
MP2 about 4 years ago which flew at 165' altitude to my first waypoint of a triangular flight path which is about 1/2 mile, then turns north for about a mile to the site of our former R/C flying field, then returns to home point.
We lost the 26 acre flying site a couple of years ago and now the property has been acquired by a developer who is building new home sites and populated with new construction. I thought that revisiting that flight mission would be interesting to film, then rendered into a split screen video using the recorded video of both missions. FYI I use a dual channel antenna amplifier for control and video to extend range considerably.
When you log on to Litchi and open a previous mission you get a list, so last week I loaded my Mavic
Pro2 with the earlier mission and did an IMU and compass reset, checked the 5-year old battery (one of four that I still have and use!), and launched, flight altitude 165', speed 22 mph. Using my iPad Pro 4 as control and monitoring I could see that all was going well, just as before.
BUT... about halfway between waypoints 1 and 2 I lost connection and got the DISCONNECTED message on my screen. I could see where the bird was when last connected on the compass map/Google Earth screen and prepared myself for a difficult task of trying to find it.
There is an indescribably sickening feeling that overcomes you when you realize you've likely lost a very expensive investment, though this was not my first time with this very bird! That first time about 4 years ago and the amazing 5-minute video that captured the flight and crash will post soon.
So now the present story continues as I'm trying to stop my legs from shaking and heart from thumping through my chest when maybe 10 minutes later I heard the sound of the MPro approaching home point overhead at around 160' and connection reestablished on the iPad. It positioned itself directly overhead and descended slowly as it auto-landed. pausing for a few seconds over the landing pad that I use, then settling down and ending its mission.
I was relieved and astounded, thinking that I had finally lost my beloved pal! But I was curious as to why connection had dropped since I had verified that the antenna booster was fully charged and still showed 92% charge. Since I was showing battery charge at 40% remaining, I switched to Sport mode and flew it around for a couple of minutes to ensure there was nothing obvious or wrong with it operationally.
Not having learned my lesson, I put another fully charged battery in it and tried loading the mission once again in Litchi... then launched.
All seemed good and as I watched the monitor and map I could see that I had passed the point where the previous disconnect occurred. I relaxed and felt the earlier event was just a glitch when... DISCONNECT pops up again! Same feeling of panic and sense of resignation, and prepared for a hike into the woods on private property. But then, after maybe 9 minutes I see the RECONNECTED message pop up and the drone reporting altitude of 155' and 900' away. It was auto landing, but not on the landing pad where it launched from but to where I had moved the controller and antenna about 30' in an attempt to gain connection. I watched cautiously as it descended, wary of it hitting me or the tripod which held the antenna, iPad, and controller. Auto landing was 3' away and picture perfect.
So that is my story and I'm sticking with it. I have no idea as to why my range with the antenna booster failed, but that is a task I'll research and troubleshoot before my next flight, My experience with Litchi has been satisfactory and well worth the less than $30 I paid for it. Of course, I always make sure that I have uploaded the latest versions of software from both Litchi and DJI.
