Active track and second aircraft

[Rchawks]

Looking at my rc planes on a shelf made me wonder if anyone has used active track to follow a second drone or rc plane?

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Recent and past threads indicates it's not possible in general.
Most of the tracked items are just too small, not contrasting enough for constant lock, moves to agile / fast, etc.

Try it by all means, big gliders etc might work ok.

I've had limited luck with tracking vehicles on the ground.
Where a white 4WD on dark terrain exists, it works fantastically.

Tracking can certainly follow me on the ground when trying that a few times in the past, but in general it's just not something I would ever use a lot, maybe vehicle tracking on trips out bush.

 

[Rchawks]

Thank you for the response. Your answer makes perfect sense. A friend of mine from work has a MA2. He was disappointed that when on vac using a four wheeler (looks like a golf cart) in the bluffs as he went higher in altitude the drone would bottom out and he would have to stop and reset the active track. Not a happy camper (pun intended).

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Looking at my rc planes on a shelf made me wonder if anyone has used active track to follow a second drone or rc plane?

Yes, it is entirely possible. I've been doing it over the last several weeks to make a video. I've got about 30 fights so far, and no crashes! My experience is with an MPP and a M2P. The MPP is the subject drone and the M2P is doing the filming.

Warning:
- It is extremely challenging and, at times, downright terrifying.
My advice is...
- this is not for beginners. you must be an experienced pilot and know your aircraft.
- perform this where there are no people. I do my flights over my 15 acre homestead.
- always maintain VLOS.
- always have an observer with you.
- drones drift relative to each other notwithstanding GPS, etc. Wind must be calm, don't even try it on a windy day. Even 5 mph makes me nervous

Here's what I've found so far...
1) If you plan on getting close, within 4 to 6 feet, you should calibrate your First Person View using the center box grid. I have a table of values below. I advise using HQ and not Full FOV. The field of view for FOV will give a false sense of distance between the drones.
2) Active Track will work, but ONLY for Spotlight. The other modes have too much gain and are designed for larger objects farther away than a few feet. They just don't work. A mid-air is very possible using the other modes.
3) It is possible to fly both drones in a manual, formation maneuver, but it takes an incredible amount of practice. I've done it, but typically it results in poor framing.
4) The easiest shot with the best framing is obtained with the filming drone hovering in Spotlight mode, then fly the subject drone.
5) Alternatively, you can put the subject drone into a autonomous flight mode such as POI or Tapfly, then manually chase it with the filming drone. You can get some good shots with practice.
6) The most interesting method I've used is putting both drones in a concentric POI. I've tried a radius of 150 to 250 feet at 200 ft altitude. The larger the radius, the more stable the formation. With the filming drone at a slightly larger radius, it will have to travel faster than the subject drone, but it has the ability to rotate around to the side of the subject drone. Also you can change altitude during the flight.
7) Another thing I've done is place the filming drone in hovering, Spotlight mode, and have the subject drone circle around it in a short radius POI, at about 15 feet radius. Then you can yaw the subject drone for different shots. Also you can increase or decrease its radius using the controls to get closer to the filming drone, as well as change the altitude of either drone.

I've done a lot more, but I'll showcase my flights in my video, which should be done in a couple weeks if the weather improves.

Here are some pics of my First Person View grid calibration:




Here's my single pilot controller mount:

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

... additional info for my last post.
Due to the wide field of view, you need to use a standard way of locating the drones in close proximity. I generally pick a point over my garage, bring the subject drone to that point at a given altitude, the bring in the filming drone to that same point (gimbal down, cross hairs on) at a higher altitude of at least 20 feet more. Then once in sight, locate one drone off the point a few feet. Then change the altitude until they are "facing" each other. It can be scary, but if you do your close proximity FPV calibrations correctly, everything will be fine.
In HQ mode, I never get close enough such that any part of the subject drone is anywhere outside of the center grid box. Then I know there is at least 4 feet between them. DO NOT USE FULL FOV.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Surely if doing this / trying it, you will need a second drone pilot ?

It'd be a moderately difficult task to fly a drone or other aircraft and watch tracking effectively on a second drone.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Here’s an example. It was flown mostly manually. But since then I have refined my techniques (my previous post).

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Surely if doing this / trying it, you will need a second drone pilot ?

It'd be a moderately difficult task to fly a drone or other aircraft and watch tracking effectively on a second drone.

I tried it with @Made2Phly. It was not successful because we couldn’t accurately predict each other’s moves. I found a single pilot with a co-located controller mount and a calibrated view can result in better framing. Close proximity flying requires careful and precise control inputs.
And yes, you should use an observer.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Here is an audition draft of the video I’m working on. Lots of changes are being made to it along with new flight episodes. Episode 1 was largely using Active Track. Episode 2 was with both drones autonomous, flying a concentric POI.

The whole purpose of this exercise is to provide contextual cut away shots to generate drama. It’s just a draft, but you get the idea.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Here is an audition draft of the video I’m working on. Lots of changes are being made to it along with new flight episodes. Episode 1 was largely using Active Track. Episode 2 was with both drones autonomous, flying a concentric POI.

The whole purpose of this exercise is to provide contextual cut away shots to generate drama. It’s just a draft, but you get the idea.

Nicely done, I know you must have been close together there as you have to be pretty close to a drone subject to make it worthwhile viewing.
Otherwise the drone in shot is too tiny in screen.
Or did you do a combination of close and also crop 4K to get it bigger in the video ?

 

[MAVE (Little bird)]

Here’s an example. It was flown mostly manually. But since then I have refined my techniques (my previous post).

Very ,very cool video too watch.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Nicely done, I know you must have been close together there as you have to be pretty close to a drone subject to make it worthwhile viewing.
Otherwise the drone in shot is too tiny in screen.
Or did you do a combination of close and also crop 4K to get it bigger in the video ?

Thanks. In my first try at this, I did zoom in on some of the 4K shots. But my recent attempt is natural 4K. And that brings up my issues with the POI maneuver… a lot of the sequences are too far away for my liking. I should have reduced the altitude of the M2P to get closer. I was manually using the sticks to constantly adjust the speed of the M2 to keep up. I may reshoot that whole sequence to get closer, and maybe use a larger radius. Also, the sequence needs to be more varied.

One more thought on the observer… I recommend it’s needs to be someone that can grab one of the controllers and land the drone in the event of a low flying AC. Not just someone providing situational awareness.