How to gain trust of Litchi Waypoints?

[Yaros]

I have bought Litchi a while ago, not using it often because there aren't many benefits compared to DJI Fly with Mavic Air 2, however I'm planning of using Litchi Waypoints for a project soon, I have tested the feature a couple of times, and I'm scared, for no reason.

One of the reasons why I'm scared is just the way that the drone flies, and the fact that it flies by itself. Another reason is that DJI Care Refresh is probably not valid if a crash occurs. But most of all, is the interface of the app, it looks very sketchy and unreliable, I know that it's not true, but just looking at it makes me skeptical.

How to overcome this? Anyone feeling the same way?

 

[old man mavic]

@Yaros no matter whether its the propriety auto flight modes ,in the Fly App ,or a third party App such as Litchi ,you have to put your trust in those flight modes,,to do what you expect them to do,
regardless of whether you are flying in an auto mode ,or manually flying your drone ,an
unexpected event can end in disaster, if something goes wrong ,every flight you undertake ,has the potential to end badly ,no matter how careful or experienced you are

 

[Lasidora]

I've used Litchi Waypoints with my Mavic 2 Pro hundreds of times now, & as long as you are ultra careful with your planning - then it should be fine, my Mavic 2 Pro has the option to upload the Mission to the drone so in the event of loss of RC connection, it will either RTH or continue the mission until finished, you choose, I plan my missions via the Litchi Mission Hub on my PC with the big screen, I check EVERY waypoint for Height, Speed, distance between the prior & next waypoint, & then check again, always add plenty of extra height to your Mission & it will go fine, if you use the Elevation data from Google be prepared for drops in altitude & plan for any pylons of tall building on route, use the curved turns between waypoint so as not to have it stop at every one, also watch out for any no fly zones such as football stadiums/prisons etc as these will act as invisible walls causing the drone to stop dead, other than that enjoy.

 

[MS Coast]

I have bought Litchi a while ago, not using it often because there aren't many benefits compared to DJI Fly with Mavic Air 2, however I'm planning of using Litchi Waypoints for a project soon, I have tested the feature a couple of times, and I'm scared, for no reason.

One of the reasons why I'm scared is just the way that the drone flies, and the fact that it flies by itself. Another reason is that DJI Care Refresh is probably not valid if a crash occurs. But most of all, is the interface of the app, it looks very sketchy and unreliable, I know that it's not true, but just looking at it makes me skeptical.

How to overcome this? Anyone feeling the same way?

I initially had the same concerns about letting Litchi take control of the drone. But, I soon convinced myself that Litchi works just fine. If something goes wrong or looks suspicious during an automated mission, just cancel it. You can terminate the mission and resume manual control of the drone any time you want.

Set up a few simple waypoint missions (like a rectangle with four waypoints) with short flight legs in a clear area with no obstructions. Learn how to interrupt automated missions. Then make a few flights. You'll gain confidence in the software quickly.

 

[SatansApprentice]

Litchi runs great for me. A few things to think about:
1. Use the waypoint map feature on the Litchi website on a PC. It’s a lot easier to use and more precise. Make sure to save it, and it will upload to your phone automagically.
2. make sure you’re relatively close to the first waypoint. I had a waypoint flight set up to start a mile away, and I had to fly it to the waypoint by hand before waypoints would engage.
3. if the battery goes low or it flies out of range, it’s coming home, and will bail on the waypoint flight.
4. be aware of flying behind buildings and other obstacles. If the drone loses signal, it will come home and potentially fly into the building. Set your RTH altitude HIGH.

i think the app is great. I’ve had about 8 or 9 flights and my Mini 2 performed as expected. You may not get the video results you want on the first flight or 2. Setting up waypoints with POI is tricky from a cinematic perspective.

 

[vindibona1]

A couple things to add to the replies above.

1) Check Google Earth Pro, zoomed in to check the altitude of the buildings, trees obstacles along your flight path or during the RTH function. I made a mistake, using a building's posted altitude, but it was off by 40' and fortunately the sensors on my M2P saved me. Note that Google Earth measures things at Mean Sea Level, so you must know the MSL altitude of your launch point/home point and do the math to know where your drone is AGL above launch point and set the altitude parameters correctly.

2) Make sure your RTH altitude is set above everything around the mission. If RTH kicks in during or after the mission it will make a bee-line to homepoint, but at whatever altitude you set.

3) If a bee-line RTH could pose a problem, add some waypoints reverse of where you flew until the drone is clear to make a bee-line to homepoint.

4) Do some testing in an open area.

5) Try to do only VLOS missions, especially at first (though you are obligated by rule to stick to those anyway).

 

[NewbyNZ]

My first litchi flight was just a small rectangle at a nearby park, no issues and all went to plan.
A week later I was at a beautiful lake and decided on the fly to setup a mission on the smart controller, just picked some random points around the lake. Litchi showed the flight at 18 min and 20m and I had a full battery so off she went.
What I did not realize at the time was that the third waypoint was behind a hill from my location.

Well the inevitable happened and the controller lost connection and I lost sight of the drone. Quickly checked the RTH and realized it was set to complete the mission. I had no idea where my drone was, just had to wait, 5 min and nothing, 10 min and nothing. I moved to a better vantage point and still nothing, then finally I heard the drone, could not spot it and the controller was still saying disconnected. Then finally spotted it almost above me and the controller connected again.

I just watched the screen and as it finished the mission, turned and zoomed off to the home point and made a perfect landing

Since that day I have full trust in the app

 

[AZDave]

My first litchi flight was just a small rectangle at a nearby park, no issues and all went to plan.
A week later I was at a beautiful lake and decided on the fly to setup a mission on the smart controller, just picked some random points around the lake. Litchi showed the flight at 18 min and 20m and I had a full battery so off she went.
What I did not realize at the time was that the third waypoint was behind a hill from my location.

Well the inevitable happened and the controller lost connection and I lost sight of the drone. Quickly checked the RTH and realized it was set to complete the mission. I had no idea where my drone was, just had to wait, 5 min and nothing, 10 min and nothing. I moved to a better vantage point and still nothing, then finally I heard the drone, could not spot it and the controller was still saying disconnected. Then finally spotted it almost above me and the controller connected again.

I just watched the screen and as it finished the mission, turned and zoomed off to the home point and made a perfect landing

Since that day I have full trust in the app

Honest question ... once RTH is triggered is Litchi operating the drone or is the drone operating on its own core software? I suspect the latter.

 

[NewbyNZ]

Honest question ... once RTH is triggered is Litchi operating the drone or is the drone operating on its own core software? I suspect the latter.

Neither really, Litchi downloads the mission to the drone and once done the drone takes off

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

I’ve been using Litchi for years recreationally and commercially with increasing levels of complexity in the missions from wide open flat terrain to flights in mountain valleys with many obstacles and great height variations. The scope of what can be achieved is amazing with some know how and lateral thinking.

Doubt your own planning abilities before you doubt Litchi’s ability to fly the mission you have planned. You are the weak link here. If it goes pear shaped it’ll be because you missed something during planning.

There’s lots of great advice here I’ll reinforce some with bullet points so to speak.

1. Plan your missions on the Litchi mission hub. You just can’t match the precision on your mobile device.

2. Start small and simple with only a few waypoints in an open flat area.

3. Always plan “round trips” from take off to landing don’t just plan the outward leg and rely on it returning home safely.

4. Install Virtual Litchi Mission (VLM) add on to your browser and Google Earth Pro and virtually fly the mission on your P.C. Before doing it for real.

5. Closely inspect the location via satellite imaging for terrain and obstacles.

6. Remembering that satellite imaging is only updated periodically and there are often obstacles and changes since the last image do a personal inspection of the location before planning the mission.

7. Where possible in difficult terrain initially set the speed of your waypoint mission to 3km/h and walk the course with the drone. Make any tweaks obviously needed and then up the speed and fly the mission in earnest.

8. Always use the “online elevation database” in the Litchi mission hub and tick the “above ground” box for each waypoint but remember while it will often do much better your drone can only be *relied* on to position itself within around 2-3m accuracy in the x-y (horizontal) axis and 5m in the z (vertical) axis via gps so it is essential to closely supervise waypoint missions flown in close proximity. Another reason to walk the course with the drone the first time.

9. Remember to get your settings right in Litchi and understand exactly what each means.

10. Remember that when setting “signal lost behaviour” a drone that runs on the Fly app has the options “Hover, Land or Return to home” only (always choose RTH). They can not continue the mission without a connection. Drones running on the Go4 app will have the extra option of “continue mission” and can continue autonomously. Your mission planning needs to be top notch for this.

11. Remember to set your RTH height to well above the tallest obstacle in case of a disconnection and return to home and remember when setting your maximum height in the app that if you are in terrain with large height variance that you may need to set maximum height and RTH well above 400 feet if you are taking off from a low point with high terrain around you.

12. If but ONLY IF you have a drone that runs on Go4 and you are planning a mission that may result in a disconnection which you wish to continue while disconnected turn off “smart return to home” as the drone is not smart enough to understand that a head wind out bound means a tail wind inbound and will decide on the outward leg it has insufficient battery and abort. Also in this situation turn off “obstacle avoidance” as it is known to false trigger under certain light conditions and your drone can be out of connection some distance away repeatedly trying to climb over a non existent obstacle until it reaches critical battery and emergency lands in place. Once again, your mission planning needs to be top notch for these type of missions for obvious reasons.

I’m sure there’s plenty more other will add but that’s enough to give you a good head start.

All that said, don’t let it overwhelm you. Take it as a step by step process walking before your run. It’s very rewarding and enjoyable.

Regards
Ari

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

I knew I’d forget something lol

Although this has been argued till the cows come home it has been established and stated by their own representatives on the DJI forums that while they do not recommend using other than DJI’s apps it does not invalidate Care and Refresh …. Warranty may be another issue but DJI Care and Refresh is essentially their own in house insurance which *you paid for* over the top of the drone. They ask for no logs and no details. As long as you have a broken drone to return and pay the fee they will honour the replacement policy.

One of the well known drone YouTubers did a full series on this detailing all his contacts and dealings which he had while getting a replacement after an incident while using Litchi also.

 

[rexster1505]

Believe me that you're not alone. First several times I actually waved at it as it disappeared, but it always came back

 

[AZDave]

Neither really, Litchi downloads the mission to the drone and once done the drone takes off

No, that's not what I meant at all. Of course I know that Litchi uploads IT'S program to the drone. For some older DJI drones that program is autonomous in the drone and executes by itself. For the newer DJI prosumer drones Litchi controls the drone from the controller and uses virtual sticks to control the drone ... the mission is not autonomous.

But if I manually override Litchi (in either case, I believe) while it is performing the mission the drone reverts to the DJI control app and Litchi no longer controls the drone. My question was whether or not a RTH due to signal loss similarly disables Litchi. I assume that to be the case, and once RTH has been triggered the drone's internal software ... not Litchi ... sends the drone back home and lands it.

In the case of a RTH due to signal loss on one of the newer DJI drones ... the ones that use virtual sticks ... I don't know if a subsequent re-acquisition of the control signal automatically re-initiates Litchi or not. Again, I suspect not.

 

[rexster1505]

Honest question ... once RTH is triggered is Litchi operating the drone or is the drone operating on its own core software? I suspect the latter.

Once RTH is triggered, DJI is operating the drone

 

[Yaros]

Neither really, Litchi downloads the mission to the drone and once done the drone takes off

That's only the case if the drone's default app is DJI Go, because if the drone's native app is DJI Fly, it has no integrated waypoints, so Litchi needs to simulate the behavior throughout the flight, that's why on the top bar during Waypoints on newer drones it says Joystick, and not Waypoints.

 

[AZDave]

Once RTH is triggered, DJI is operating the drone

Once RTH is triggered, DJI is operating the drone

That's exactly what I thought. And which means the "trust in Litchi" NewbyNZ stated in post #7 above had nothing to do with Litchi. It was purely the DJI firmware in the drone itself that brought his drone back home and landed it via RTH. The fact that he recovered signal is irrelevant. I'm not criticizing Litchi ... it's a fine app ... only pointing out that in this case it was the DJI firmware that did the job and the RTH setting in the drone itself is what we want to make sure does what we want it to.

 

[snowghost]

No, that's not what I meant at all. Of course I know that Litchi uploads IT'S program to the drone. For some older DJI drones that program is autonomous in the drone and executes by itself. For the newer DJI prosumer drones Litchi controls the drone from the controller and uses virtual sticks to control the drone ... the mission is not autonomous.

But if I manually override Litchi (in either case, I believe) while it is performing the mission the drone reverts to the DJI control app and Litchi no longer controls the drone. My question was whether or not a RTH due to signal loss similarly disables Litchi. I assume that to be the case, and once RTH has been triggered the drone's internal software ... not Litchi ... sends the drone back home and lands it.

In the case of a RTH due to signal loss on one of the newer DJI drones ... the ones that use virtual sticks ... I don't know if a subsequent re-acquisition of the control signal automatically re-initiates Litchi or not. Again, I suspect not.

You shouldn't have anything DJI running while using Litchi.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

It was purely the DJI firmware in the drone itself that brought his drone back home

This is mostly correct but even the RTH function hard baked into the firmware is dependent in some ways on the settings in your control software be it Litchi or otherwise.

If you’re set your RTH height to 20m which is always seen as relative to takeoff point by the aircraft and there is a a 100m high obstacle between your home point and the aircraft that you flew over manually and descended behind and then lost connection for example then it’s not coming home, at least not in one piece or under it’s own power.

Or another example might be where you are flying in hilly terrain but taking off from a low point with say 130m hills around you. Even if you set RTH to 150m which is once again measured above take off point but should clear those 130m hills but as you usually fly in flat terrain you’ve left your maximum altitude set to 121m to comply with the 400’ rule once again you’re in trouble as it won’t climb to the required 150m to clear the hills.

So, a reasonable confidence in your control software and more importantly how you set it to interact with the aircraft’s autonomous functions is still nice.

 

[AZDave]

This is mostly correct but even the RTH function hard baked into the firmware is dependent in some ways on the settings in your control software be it Litchi or otherwise.

If you’re set your RTH height to 20m which is always seen as relative to takeoff point by the aircraft and there is a a 100m high obstacle between your home point and the aircraft that you flew over manually and descended behind and then lost connection for example then it’s not coming home, at least not in one piece or under it’s own power.

Or another example might be where you are flying in hilly terrain but taking off from a low point with say 130m hills around you. Even if you set RTH to 150m which is once again measured above take off point but should clear those 130m hills but as you usually fly in flat terrain you’ve left your maximum altitude set to 121m to comply with the 400’ rule once again you’re in trouble as it won’t climb to the required 150m to clear the hills.

So, a reasonable confidence in your control software and more importantly how you set it to interact with the aircraft’s autonomous functions is still nice.

I agree with all of that, but once you set those RTH parameters they are loaded into the drone and don't require connection to the controller anymore ... and that's the case whether to controller is using Litchi or DJI Fly or any other app. You do, of course, have to have confidence that the controller app is reliably uploading those settings to the drone, which I guess is what you're saying.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

I agree with all of that, but once you set those RTH parameters they are loaded into the drone and don't require connection to the controller anymore ... and that's the case whether to controller is using Litchi or DJI Fly or any other app. You do, of course, have to have confidence that the controller app is reliably uploading those settings to the drone, which I guess is what you're saying.

I think the most confidence you require is in your own ability to use the controller, app and drone in conjunction in the correct manner and of course that comes down to time, research in all aspects and practice.

We hear about “fly aways” or stories where “this or that caused my drone to crash” but in reality I have never personally seen or experienced a problem that was caused by anything other than the operator. Yes, it does happen but it’s so incredibly rare.

I do understand people getting freaked out at the though of letting Litchi do the work. Even to this day I feel a slight tingle of apprehension watching the aircraft set off to do the job controlled by “the ghost in the machine” but a little apprehension can be a good thing if it keeps you on your toes and checking and double checking. The truth is, doubt yourself way before the hardware or the software.

Regards
Ari