Advice on Video Inspections - 4k60 + Pipeline ROW Overview

[JesseLaw]

Good morning,
I'm looking for advice on which drone to use for a large video inspection job.
Specs:
- Video inspection of an 80 km long pipeline Right of Way / Corridor
- Video specs: 4k 60fps
- I need a real-time map overview of the drone position and the corridor boundaries
- I'll be flying this manually so that i can fly down and inspect any potential issues - so i need to be able to see where i am in relation to the corridor boundaries.

- My current drone is Mavic3M - i've done video inspections of long pipeline corridors, but the M3M only allows for 1080p30 or 4k30 video - no 4k60 option available.
- My phantom 4 proV2 can do this, but its an older platform and batteries are not lasting quite as long, and i'll need to upgrade sometime

- I would probably look at the Mavic3 Classic or Pro because i can share batteries with my M3M, and they both have 4k60 video, but I don't know if its possible to add a KML boundary of the pipeline ROW.
- I know there is no SDK / 3rd party apps for the Mavic3 consumer drones.
- I'm open to non-DJI / mavic options here if there is no other solution.
- For reference i'm experienced with GIS software so can convert my pipeline corridor boundaries between kml/shp/gpkg/csv etc.

 

[GFields]

Have you looked at the DJI Air 3? It may be a good fit.

 

[JesseLaw]

Have you looked at the DJI Air 3? It may be a good fit.

Does the air 3 allow for adding a kml map overview? Or does the mavic 3 classic / pro? That's really all I care about. 4k60 and ability to make sure I'm videoing and following the correct path

 

[GFields]

Does the air 3 allow for adding a kml map overview? Or does the mavic 3 classic / pro? That's really all I care about. 4k60 and ability to make sure I'm videoing and following the correct path

I'm not sure about the KML question. I'll research that. However, if you want 4k60 yes

 

[JesseLaw]

I'm not sure about the KML question. I'll research that. However, if you want 4k60 yes

Thanks, yes it's easy to see the video quality, but dji software is so closed it's hard to know if the kml / map overview is possible. Or a custom mapbox base map would work. Kml works with the mavic 3 enterprise series but 4k60 is not possible.

 

[AMann]

Wow 80km! Now that’s going to be a lot of work. Just how wide on average is the ROW, and what is the total area in hectares you going to have to cover? So it’s just not 4K 60/FPS video, what ground resolution (scale) do they want the video to cover? Are you going to have to do several low overlapping passes to meet their resolution requirements? Is it just a visual inspection or are they going to be using these images for mapping? Knowing this is important for calculating the amount of flying work you are going to have to do and to know what would be the best sUAV to use for it.

I am not familiar with Canadian sUAV regulation requirements, so can you get a BVLOS waiver? If so, I’d consider a VTOL fixed wing drone for doing linear projects like this. Maybe rent one? If not, you’re going be spending a lot of time on the project if you have to fly low and slow to cover the entire ROW with good resolution.

 

[Meta4]

dji software is so closed it's hard to know if the kml / map overview is possible. Or a custom mapbox base map would work. Kml works with the mavic 3 enterprise series but 4k60 is not possible.

No .. you cannot add a kml file to the map display to the DJI Fly app which is used by all current DJI consumer drones.

 

[AMann]

No .. you cannot add a kml file to the map display to the DJI Fly app which is used by all current DJI consumer drones.

Ardupilot’s Mission Planner can use user modified base maps with KML’s added to them. One way to do it is by using QGIS.

Another workaround may be to go ahead and use DJI fly to control the drone, but use a separate RID-based tracking program running on a separate iPad or laptop that plots the position of the drone on a Georeferenced base map that also contains lines from the KML files. Too bad my current RID detection apps don’t allow for user customized base maps.

Some nav apps for iPhones and Android can use Bluetooth GPS dongles for off-grid navigation on downloaded USGS topographical maps. Having these programs track RID may work too but a bit of programming will be needed to do it though.