Autonomous Flight Possible With Mini 3 Pro

[Skybuyer]

Anything running Go or Go4 can continue 'contact lost' Litchi missions. Last Go4 drone was the Mavic pro (I think).

Mavic2 pro

 

[brunoaduarte]

Would it be possible to hack the firmware or the dji sdk and disable the "virtual stick" so the newer drones like the AIR 2S can also finish autonomous mission even in a loss of signal?

 

[Cymru]

No. They dont have the code for waypoint missions at all. Someone would need to literally rewrite an entire DJI firmware and nobody has ever got close to that.

 

[RogerDH]

Well, actually, the Mini 3 Pro and Air 2S do have on-board programming to carry out autonomous waypoint missions, but it's only used for hyperlapse paths. All DJI drones can do return-to-home, of course, which is essentially a 1-waypoint mission, so the autonomous navigation software has always been there.

There are a few theories about why DJI management is not supporting waypoint missions in their latest drones (the most obvious being that they want you to spend more than $3000 if you want to do "pro" things like mapping), but it does seem they were correct in assuming that the user community would accept a GPS drone without waypoints, with only minor whimpering. I bought a Mini 1 assuming that all GPS drones supported waypoints, and none of the review videos I saw mentioned that the Mini didn't. On this forum, I found that most Mini buyers didn't know that, either, but they also didn't care.

 

[brunoaduarte]

That sucks, this is an awesome feature. So I'm going to trade my AIR 2S for the MAVIC 2 PRO. Thank you both @Cymru and @RogerDH

 

[MavicMover]

Apologies for digging up an old thread.... newbie here... I am aware of a Mavic 3 user who was able to do 10 waypoints on the DJI RC, shut the controller off after it reached the first WP and it continued the mission and came back with no issues.

With that said, are there any updates on being able to the same with the Mini 3 Pro whether the mission be set with the DJI RC or Litchi on a smartphone with the RC-N1 ?

 

[old man mavic]

@MavicMover ,at this moment in time there is no SDK available for the Mini 3 pro to use third party apps ,whether or not DJI add their own version of waypoints ,as they did with the Mavic 3 stable ,that will work with the DJI RC only time will tell

 

[RogerDH]

I'm still predicting that DJI will release a Mini 3 Enterprise with waypoints and SDK support, and that it will cost in the neighborhood of $1500.

 

[MavicMover]

I'm still predicting that DJI will release a Mini 3 Enterprise with waypoints and SDK support, and that it will cost in the neighborhood of $1500.

Nice. Literally just got my Mini 3 Pro delivered today, lol.

 

[RUFFSTUFF]

I'm still predicting that DJI will release a Mini 3 Enterprise with waypoints and SDK support, and that it will cost in the neighborhood of $1500.

Yeah... and no they won't.

 

[RogerDH]

Yeah... and no they won't.

In the EU and UK, sub-250g drones have fewer restrictions, and one huge advantage over a Mavic 3 is that Class 0 drones are allowed to fly over people. If DJI doesn't make a Mini 3 Enterprise for that market, then their enterprise-focused strategy doesn't really make much sense.

 

[RUFFSTUFF]

Where there's a will, there's a waiver.

 

[Droning on and on...]

In the EU and UK, sub-250g drones have fewer restrictions, and one huge advantage over a Mavic 3 is that Class 0 drones are allowed to fly over people. If DJI doesn't make a Mini 3 Enterprise for that market, then their enterprise-focused strategy doesn't really make much sense.

Hit the brakes there bucko!

No where in the developed world are drones allowed to fly over people under autonomous control. So this is a moot point, no matter the class.

Regardless, not going to happen. The M3P is not an Enterprise-class product. It's a toy. High-end, but toy nonetheless.

The hard place to be with any technology is the "prosumer". Some Enterprise class needs, but not really making money with the drone to justify the cost of a real Enterprise class product.

 

[RogerDH]

Hit the brakes there bucko!

No where in the developed world are drones allowed to fly over people under autonomous control. So this is a moot point, no matter the class.

Are you talking about the distinction between "autonomous" and "automated?" A waypoint mission, presumably monitored by a human pilot, is "automated," not making independent decisions, and I've never seen any suggestion that you can't fly a waypoint mission over people. Got a reference?

Anyway, EU regulations say that Class 0 drones are allowed to fly over uninvolved people, whereas Class 1 and above require a waiver. For that reason alone, I expect DJI to sell a lot of Mini 3s to EU customers, especially photographers, and I believe there are many who would pay a premium to be able to fly DroneDeploy or even Litchi missions, if that's what DJI has decided is the definition of "enterprise."

As for any predictions, we'll see. So far, DJI's strategy seems a little ad hoc anyway.

 

[codex22]

Anyway, EU regulations say that Class 0 drones are allowed to fly over uninvolved people, whereas Class 1 and above require a waiver. For that reason alone, I expect DJI to sell a lot of Mini 3s to EU customers, especially photographers, and I believe there are many who would pay a premium to be able to fly DroneDeploy or even Litchi missions, if that's what DJI has decided is the definition of "enterprise."

Just to be precise, as of today, there is no Class 0 drone. We will see whether the Mini 3 Pro will get Class 0 certification or not, afaik no such announcement has been made by DJI.

 

[RogerDH]

Just to be precise, as of today, there is no Class 0 drone. We will see whether the Mini 3 Pro will get Class 0 certification or not, afaik no such announcement has been made by DJI.

Yeah, it seems the date has been pushed back another year, to January 1, 2024. But in the meantime, by being under 250g, the Mini series qualifies for the A1 class in the Open Limited category. That class is equivalent to C0 and does allow flying over uninvolved people, whereas A2 and A3 classes do not.

 

[Droning on and on...]

In the US, there is no distinction between "autonomous" and "automated". The distinction is whether an aircraft is under direct pilot control or not.

Automated flight over people is not allowed for recreational use. For what I hope are obvious reasons.

I'm surprised EU regulations are less careful about this, and am skeptical.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Yeah, it seems the date has been pushed back another year, to January 1, 2024. But in the meantime, by being under 250g, the Mini series qualifies for the A1 class in the Open Limited category. That class is equivalent to C0 and does allow flying over uninvolved people, whereas A2 and A3 classes do not.

Does this include automated flight? Is it directly addressed in the reg?

 

[codex22]

Yeah, it seems the date has been pushed back another year, to January 1, 2024. But in the meantime, by being under 250g, the Mini series qualifies for the A1 class in the Open Limited category. That class is equivalent to C0 and does allow flying over uninvolved people, whereas A2 and A3 classes do not.

The devil is in the details. For example, what you can do in the A1 category is slightly different whether you use a C0 or a C1 drone (especially when it comes to flying over people).

For uncertified drones (e.g. the Mini 3 Pro) some regulations are more fuzzy and left to the individual countries. So you can't be sure whether what is allowed in one country also works in another.

That said, getting the Mini 3 (Pro) certified as C0 would be a bonus - after all, we're now already in 2023 and we don't know if the temporary rules for uncertified drones will be extended again after the year is over.

 

[codex22]

Does this include automated flight? Is it directly addressed in the reg?

Has been a while I have read the official documents, but as far as I remember there was no mentioning of anything automated at all. I could be wrong about that though.