Autonomous flight plans

[Thrasherg]

Hi everyone, just joined this forum. I have been flying a Parrot Bebop2 for a few years, really like the drone, but it doesn’t really do anything exceptional well, and is very bulky. Just purchased a DJI Mini 3 Pro, very pleased with it and it’s size makes it so easy to carry when I go hiking or on my dirt bike. One feature that I loved on my Parrot was the ability to quickly create a flight plan (list of way points, with altitudes for each leg, directions where the camera should be looking and a list of effects, ie 360 spin, etc) which the Bebop2 would then fly autonomously. This software is 6+ years old and I had assumed all modern drones would have something similar, but I have not found anything in the DJI documentation about flight plans, is there a DJI software or aftermarket software that we can use to create a flight plan and then have the mini 3 pro fly the route by itself?
thanks for all suggestions, really loving the drone and all its tracking capabilities, just a shame that the controller needs an internet connection when you go flying, a bit of an inconvenience but loving the new RC controller.

regard Gary

 

[jimlips]

The Litchi software will do what you want, but unlike older drones like the Mavic Pro, the RC must be in contact with the drone for the whole waypoint mission. On newer drones like the Mavic Mini 2 and the Mini 3 Pro, DJI has changed the hardware so the drone no longer has a large amount of operating memory, and it can only store one waypoint at a time. Once it executes that, it "talks" with the RC and gets the next (one) waypoint, executes that, etc. With the Mavic Pro, it loads the whole mission at once, and once it starts, you can power off the RC, and the drone will still execute the whole mission by itself.

 

[slup]

The Litchi software will do what you want...

Nope ...

 

[Esteve]

Hi everyone, I recently adquired a Mavic 3 and I find myself in the same situation. I need to plan a flight in order to map a large area and I can't find a software compatible with the Mavic 3 (not even the DJI GS Pro app for ipad is compatible). Does someone know when will any of the softwares and apps be compatible with the Mavic 3 (such as Litchi, Dronedeploy, Pix4d, DJI GS Pro...)? Is it a matter of time or is it not expected to be compatible with those apps? Thanks!

 

[slup]

...Does someone know when will any of the softwares and apps be compatible with the Mavic 3...

First off is a released SDK from DJI ... & the latest info for that is according to https://sdk-forum.dji.net/hc/en-us/...-is-the-plan-for-the-consumer-level-aircraft-



... and after the SDK release all 3:rd party app developers needs their time.

 

[Esteve]

First off is a released SDK from DJI ... & the latest info for that is according to https://sdk-forum.dji.net/hc/en-us/...-is-the-plan-for-the-consumer-level-aircraft-
... and after the SDK release all 3:rd party app developers needs their time.

Thanks for the answer Slup! I guess we'll have to wait for third parties to adapt their app to the Mavic 3. Nevertheless, I still don't understand why the DJI GS Pro, which is suposed to be the default app of DJI to be used with their drones, it's not compatible with the latest models. Is there any explanation to this? It's a huge nonsense not to be able to do such a basic task as a flight plan in a latest model like Mavic 3 while prior models can.

 

[Kilrah]

I guess we'll have to wait for third parties to adapt their app to the Mavic 3.

As mentioned this can't happen unless DJI release the SDK, which the quote above shows they aren't planning for anytime soon.

Nevertheless, I still don't understand why the DJI GS Pro, which is suposed to be the default app of DJI to be used with their drones, it's not compatible with the latest models. Is there any explanation to this?

They want people who need these capabilities to buy the Enterprise models.

 

[Cymru]

First off is a released SDK from DJI ... & the latest info for that is according to https://sdk-forum.dji.net/hc/en-us/...-is-the-plan-for-the-consumer-level-aircraft-

View attachment 154059

... and after the SDK release all 3:rd party app developers needs their time.

Not quite that simple. The current SDK is V4 .v5 is new. All existing apps use V4.

A switch to v5 will involve a complete rewrite of software.
The key question is will these drones get V4 support.....

 

[Cymru]

As mentioned this can't happen unless DJI release the SDK, which the quote above shows they aren't planning for anytime soon.


They want people who need these capabilities to buy the Enterprise models.

It's looking like that.
Waypoints removed after the Mavic 2 series, no mavic 3 SDK after nearly a year.

Looks like they're trying market separation via software restrictions as opposed to hardware limitations. A fairly nasty trick Canon was fond of.

My current M2P is far more capable than the newer mavic 3 in terms of what I can do with it.

 

[IronSky1]

Automated Flight Plan was one of the main reasons I still use my Anafi. It loads everything in the drone and as long as it is locked to GPS away it goes (no controller/tablet needed). I use Litchi on my Inspire 1/ 2 however, no solution for Mini 3 Pro. Not sure how good an idea it would be with the weight and wind issues with lite drones. Better to keep in VLOS.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

controller needs an internet connection when you go flying,

There is no need for an internet connection when flying. If you are talking about automated missions, you would just cache the map at home or use your phone as a hotspot for map data.

 

[Cymru]

Automated Flight Plan was one of the main reasons I still use my Anafi. It loads everything in the drone and as long as it is locked to GPS away it goes (no controller/tablet needed). I use Litchi on my Inspire 1/ 2 however, no solution for Mini 3 Pro. Not sure how good an idea it would be with the weight and wind issues with lite drones. Better to keep in VLOS.

Its possible why DJI have dropped automated waypoints - safety and legal issues.
A drone flying a flightplan even after a potential disconnect from controller with no detect and avoid is a safety issue.
By removing it they head off any potential legal action.

(automated flights legally have to be vlos regardless)

 

[RogerDH]

I almost returned my Mini 1 when I discovered it didn't support waypoint missions. My first GPS drone experience was with a borrowed BeBop, and it simply hadn't occurred to me that a new drone from DJI wouldn't have that functionality -- I mean, that's just what GPS drones do, isn't it? Every single one of the review videos I saw mentioned that the Mini didn't support ActiveTrack, which I didn't care about, but none said anything about waypoints. (It seems that many drone pilots just don't care about waypoint missions, although I believe they would if they knew how easy they make getting exactly the shots you want without worrying about your flight path). I didn't return the Mini because of the possibility of using Litchi when the SDK supported it, but that took almost a year. (I actually ended up getting in on the Dronelink beta testing for $20, and now I have almost all its features -- sweet deal! -- and Dronelink is quite a bit more sophisticated than Litchi.)

I am still astonished that you can pay almost $3000 for a Mavic 3 which can't do simple mapping missions, but I'm even more astonished that the user community seems to have accepted it so easily.