Litchi now supports Mavic Air 2!

[AZDave]

Unfortunately, there is no Android version of Maven yet. A search of mavenpilots.com found this:

A:Currently the Android version is not available, we assure you that we want an Android version more than anyone else but unfortunately there is no shortcut to bring an app from iOS to Android, every little part has to be totally rewritten and tested. To date, unfortunately, we still don’t have an expected date.

It sounds interesting and I'd like to try it but don't have access to any iOS devices.

It's understandable, though. Michelle (the author of Maven) is a solo programmer and has spent a long time writing the iOS version. He says he still has other ideas for the iOS version, so he can only do so much.

 

[Mavic-Master88]

It's understandable, though. Michelle (the author of Maven) is a solo programmer and has spent a long time writing the iOS version. He says he still has other ideas for the iOS version, so he can only do so much.

Is there any way to get in touch with Michelle?

I'd like to lobby him to add some code to over-ride the Smart RTH function during waypoint missions. Yes, it bothers me that much and I really want this fixed LOL

 

[AZDave]

Is there any way to get in touch with Michelle?

I'd like to lobby him to add some code to over-ride the Smart RTH function during waypoint missions. Yes, it bothers me that much and I really want this fixed LOL

Michelle has his email address on the contact tab of his web site, and in the past he responded to an email that I sent him. However, I think that the Smart RTH is hard coded by DJI into the drone itself.

 

[Bussty]

One thing I didn't expect to like about Maven is the ability to manually fly to your waypoints and log them into the mission, which gives fairly precise control over the actual location of the waypoints. You can then edit each waylpoint to specify height, radius of curvature, direction of the camera, etc. I don't know if Litchi offers that or not, but where I fly the terrain and vegetation changes dramatically over very short distances (canyons and hillsides), and the terrain data in either Litchi or Maven cannot be trusted for precision positioning. The Elevation.api used by Google Earth, for instance (which is one of the terrain data sources for these apps) is almost 40 feet off in elevation just crossing a large ravine that runs across my own property. Flying to a waypoint and actually knowing your position from the video feed is a huge plus for accuracy and safety. If I remember correctly, Maven allows up to 99 different waypoints to be locked in this way.

Litchi let's you manually fly to a point and mark waypoint(s) also. You just use your control button to record the waypoint but I agree this functionality really let's you precisely fly a mission...

 

[Korrd]

Yup. And you can also record points of interest as well in the same way. You can configure C1/C2 (which on an MA2 would be single/double tap) to perform such actions.

There is something cool as well, which is that it allows you to completely turn forward LED off too. Great for stealth night missions.

 

[maelstrom]

I just wish there was a way to disable the Smart RTH feature for waypoint missions. There are some long-range missions I'd like to run with my M2Z and it's frustrating when RTH kicks in and I can't stop it once it's out of signal range.

Flying it out of signal range, such that you can’t manually control the drone, is illegal without a special waiver. Just because some drones are capable of doing this, it doesn’t mean it’s allowed.

 

[maelstrom]

On the App Store DroneDeploy Flight App gets slightly better ratings.

But doesn’t support the MA2. Also, my understanding is that it relies on the drone having a native waypoint capability which none of the recent DJI drones have.

 

[Jamm1975]

i saw a video on youtube last week where a guy was having trouble with his mavic pro 2 using an ipad 4 mini in where the cpu was struggling to cache the video feed or something.i immediately sold my ipad 4 mini and grabbed this ipad 6 mini which has only just released.it has an a15 bionic processor.the liquid retina display is awesome,and it fits no problem at all

I saw that too. iPad mini 4 is not powerful enough for an easy and unfettered connection. I have the mini 6 and it works flawlessly on the DJI fly app

 

[JetM]

ANY application that controls an MA2 must use virtual stick control. DJI has made it so that the MA2 cannot accept autonomous control commands. If the signal goes away the MA2 will execute whatever failsafe routine you have programmed it to do ... i.e., return to home, land, or hover in place. It will not continue the mission.

True but just to add more context DJI used to offer a proper SDK (instead of this crappy "virtual sticks API) for 3rd Party Mission Planning ISVs to use that would allow things like Missions to complete even on loss of signal, smooth turns at waypoints, etc.)...These things aren't possible with the new crippled "virtual sticks" api that they are now delivering on the newer drones (e.g., Mini and Air 2). But I guess something is better than nothing. Maybe DJI has plans to release Waypoints functionality in the future and this is their way to get an unfair advantage over 3rd party software vendors or maybe they've abandoned Waypoint functionality all together or maybe they will make Waypoints a "Pro only" solution (eg., M3 for those willing to pay +2K for their drones). Only time will tell but it appears that 3rd Party ISVs (and we as a DJI drone owners as a result) are stuck with the crappy virtual sticks API for now as DJI slow rolls that SDK out over their new platforms. Supposedly Mini 2 & Air 2S will be added for Android on 12/31 and later (1H22) for iOS.

 

[Korrd]

It smells like they are saving the more advanced API for Mavic III

 

[AZDave]

True but just to add more context DJI used to offer a proper SDK (instead of this crappy "virtual sticks API) for 3rd Party Mission Planning ISVs to use that would allow things like Missions to complete even on loss of signal, smooth turns at waypoints, etc.)...These things aren't possible with the new crippled "virtual sticks" api that they are now delivering on the newer drones (e.g., Mini and Air 2). But I guess something is better than nothing. Maybe DJI has plans to release Waypoints functionality in the future and this is their way to get an unfair advantage over 3rd party software vendors or maybe they've abandoned Waypoint functionality all together or maybe they will make Waypoints a "Pro only" solution (eg., M3 for those willing to pay +2K for their drones). Only time will tell but it appears that 3rd Party ISVs (and we as a DJI drone owners as a result) are stuck with the crappy virtual sticks API for now as DJI slow rolls that SDK out over their new platforms. Supposedly Mini 2 & Air 2S will be added for Android on 12/31 and later (1H22) for iOS.

I believe (without any proof, of course) that DJI has consciously decided to make autonomous waypoints available only on their enterprise-level drones ... and I believe they made that decision in order to defuse some of the adverse legislative attention they had been getting in the U.S. and other countries. I don't believe that DJI will ever again allow autonomous waypoints for their recreational-class drones. In the U.S. at least, and I believe in several countries in Europe, it isn't legal to for recreational users be operating a drone beyond signal range ... and in almost all cases if you're beyond signal range you're also beyond VLOS anyway. I think DJI is simply trying to avoid an obvious circumvention of the legal limits, with more jerky turns being an unfortunate casualty.

That being said, I'm still not convinced that smooth turns are completely unachievable with virtual sticks. The jerky turns are most likely a function of the need for the controller to send more commands to the drone instead of the drone being able to handle it all itself, the same way your desktop computer is slower talking to the internet than it is processing the same thing internally. It seems to me that adding multiple waypoints closer together through turns along with larger radii and slower speeds through the turns should mitigate most of the problem. In essence, you'd be preloading the individual piecewise commands that the drone would otherwise have to get from the controller. Yes, that's an additional programming nuisance, but I bet it makes a difference.

 

[maelstrom]

I'm still not convinced that smooth turns are completely unachievable with virtual sticks.

I posted this in another thread as an example of what could be achieved using virtual sticks (Maven, in this case):

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It uses the Mini which is probably the most difficult to fly smoothly because of its low inertia.

 

[Korrd]

Of course smooth turns are achievable. Anything a pilot can do with its hands, a machine can do as well.

 

[jucha30]

Hello . Does the Maven app work with mavic air 2s?

 

[AZDave]

Hello . Does the Maven app work with mavic air 2s?

No. Nothing currently works with the Air 2s because DJI has not yet released a software development kit (SDK) that would allow third party app developers to access the drone's internal code. Supposedly, though, DJI is going to release and SDK for the Air 2s and for the Mini2 "fairly soon" ... before the end of the year according to some folks. When DJI released the SDK for the Air 2 (non-s version) the guy who writes Maven put out an update that handled the Air 2 within less than a month, so keep your fingers crossed.

 

[TnDronePilot]

Unfortunately, there is no Android version of Maven yet. A search of mavenpilots.com found this:

A:Currently the Android version is not available, we assure you that we want an Android version more than anyone else but unfortunately there is no shortcut to bring an app from iOS to Android, every little part has to be totally rewritten and tested. To date, unfortunately, we still don’t have an expected date.

It sounds interesting and I'd like to try it but don't have access to any iOS devices.

I liked your comment but not the results. Boooooo!

 

[TnDronePilot]

Outside of waypoints and planning, are either of these apps worth using over the stock DJI Fly app? Are the on-screen features and sub-menus anymore user friendly? I bought Drone-Link some months back and planned some test missions around my house but got too scared to send my MA2 off autonomously.

 

[Alex Baxter]

True but just to add more context DJI used to offer a proper SDK (instead of this crappy "virtual sticks API) for 3rd Party Mission Planning ISVs to use that would allow things like Missions to complete even on loss of signal, smooth turns at waypoints, etc.)...These things aren't possible with the new crippled "virtual sticks" api that they are now delivering on the newer drones (e.g., Mini and Air 2). But I guess something is better than nothing. Maybe DJI has plans to release Waypoints functionality in the future and this is their way to get an unfair advantage over 3rd party software vendors or maybe they've abandoned Waypoint functionality all together or maybe they will make Waypoints a "Pro only" solution (eg., M3 for those willing to pay +2K for their drones). Only time will tell but it appears that 3rd Party ISVs (and we as a DJI drone owners as a result) are stuck with the crappy virtual sticks API for now as DJI slow rolls that SDK out over their new platforms. Supposedly Mini 2 & Air 2S will be added for Android on 12/31 and later (1H22) for iOS.

Which is why I've kept my Mavic Pro in the air.. Mission impossible with virtual sticks!

 

[maelstrom]

True but just to add more context DJI used to offer a proper SDK (instead of this crappy "virtual sticks API) for 3rd Party Mission Planning ISVs to use that would allow things like Missions to complete even on loss of signal, smooth turns at waypoints, etc.)...These things aren't possible with the new crippled "virtual sticks" api that they are now delivering on the newer drones (e.g., Mini and Air 2).

You can get smooth turns at waypoints with virtual sticks. As far as missions completing following loss of signal, this is illegal in many countries without a special waiver so the virtual sticks requirement to maintain a signal is not a drawback in those places.

 

[buzz96]

Decided to give Litchi a try now that it supports MA2, and I'm cautiously optimistic! Here's a comparison of the mission I programmed (left) versus the flight track (right). For such a clearly scientific and highly precise laboratory test, I'd say it did quite well. That said, I did see the pauses at each waypoint that have been mentioned. Is there truly no way with the current setup to avoid that and have a smooth transition from one to the next?