Safety settings/Object avoidance detection/Manual landings

[Matrix64]

Hello drone pilots. I’m piloting the Mini 3 Pro. I made myself a takeoff/landing platform that is attached to my deck. I have it on large hinges so that it can swing out and away from the deck, and then back in and under the deck roof during inclement weather and winds. See attached picture. I always make sure my home point is updated while the drone is sitting on the platform and before takeoff. My experience continues to show that while using automatic landing, the drone always misses the target by ~1’ or so. If I was landing on the ground, it wouldn’t be an issue at all, but I’m not. My question is: I have to turn OFF the object detection sensors in order to land on this platform which I’m perfectly fine with and understandably so. The issue for me is that when I turn the sensors OFF, it does not disable the underbelly sensor, so when I get close the platform, it does not want to smoothly touch down. So I have to struggle with when to MAKE it land and I have been close to the edge of the platform every time.
Is there a way to temporarily disable the underbelly sensor during manual landings?

The platform extends 6-1/2’ and the landing spot is 17”x17”.

 

[GFields]

Greetings from Birmingham Alabama USA, welcome to the forum! We look forward to hearing from you!


According to this Thread, there is no way to disable them

 

[old man mavic]

@Matrix64 unfortunately the Mini 3 pro does not at this time have precision landing ,and it therefore will land anywhere in an up to 10ft circle around its take off point ,due to the GPS ,what you need to do is to cancel the RTH when the drone is about 20ft up and then take control and land it yourself ,also the proximity of the landing pad to the structure will cause an issue with the sensors as the see it as an obstacle and try to avoid it ,i notice from your pics that the landing pad appears to be just plain white ,it would improve matters if you added some contrasting colour ,in the form of alternating red black squares or circles ,and maybe make the pad larger say 4ft by 4 ft as you have plenty of room

 

[SethB]

A couple of thoughts…

17*17” seems smallish. One of my landing pads might only be 16-ish, but that’s on the ground. It’s not uncommon at all for some prop backwash to move the drone around at altitudes under one foot from the pad, sometimes a leg might therefore end up off the pad.

Is there any reason you couldn’t make your pad 28”? It looks like your setup would accommodate a larger pad.

That looks like an off-white carpet scrap on the pad? It may be that with some higher contrast graphic on the pad that optical stabilization would help, too.

Edit:
Cross-posted with OMM, tickled that we have similar ideas!

 

[old man mavic]

@SethB guess we were both on the same wavelength nice one

 

[Matrix64]

@Matrix64 unfortunately the Mini 3 pro does not at this time have precision landing ,and it therefore will land anywhere in an up to 10ft circle around its take off point ,due to the GPS ,what you need to do is to cancel the RTH when the drone is about 20ft up and then take control and land it yourself ,also the proximity of the landing pad to the structure will cause an issue with the sensors as the see it as an obstacle and try to avoid it ,i notice from your pics that the landing pad appears to be just plain white ,it would improve matters if you added some contrasting colour ,in the form of alternating red black squares or circles ,and maybe make the pad larger say 4ft by 4 ft as you have plenty of room

Thanks for the suggestions. The landing pad is actually a brownish/tan carpet. And I may try to construct a larger pad once I can find suitable materials. I wish it could land more precise but it’s pretty **** close already.

 

[Matrix64]

I’m

A couple of thoughts…

17*17” seems smallish. One of my landing pads might only be 16-ish, but that’s on the ground. It’s not uncommon at all for some prop backwash to move the drone around at altitudes under one foot from the pad, sometimes a leg might therefore end up off the pad.

Is there any reason you couldn’t make your pad 28”? It looks like your setup would accommodate a larger pad.

That looks like an off-white carpet scrap on the pad? It may be that with some higher contrast graphic on the pad that optical stabilization would help, too.

Edit:
Cross-posted with OMM, tickled that we have similar ideas!

I’m going to try and find materials to make it considerably larger. The landing pad is actually a brownish/tan carpet.

 

[old man mavic]

@Matrix64 a piece of marine grade eighth inch thick ply would be ok and easy to paint and would weather well

 

[shawgod]

I would suggest trying to put a landing pad like the ones you see on Amazon on it to see if that helps. It may not see the carpet at all because there is no pattern for it to see.

 

[Matrix64]

@Matrix64 a piece of marine grade eighth inch thick ply would be ok and easy to paint and would weather well

LOL

 

[Matrix64]

I would suggest trying to put a landing pad like the ones you see on Amazon on it to see if that helps. It may not see the carpet at all because there is no pattern for it to see.

Interesting thought

 

[EyesWideShut]

There's some good suggestions there about a larger pad with more contrast. I know many would disagree but I personally would bring it down to around eye level about 10 feet out, then back it in towards you. You can then reach out over the railing, bring it down and let it sense your hand and then continue to land on your palm. Lots of videos to show you how to safely do it.

 

[a2tomm]

So far there is not a drone available that will ALWAYS land on your pad .The Mavic Pro 2 is the best accuracy to date ,even the Autel eve Pro 2 series is not all that .Close but not always

 

[Dbez1]

I agree with the others but adding to the OMM post #3 above, have the crosshairs on your screen turned on. At about 20-30’ up, that will show you exactly where the bird will land and give you time to adjust (go light with the sticks at this point). You can make stick adjustments during RTH. I land on my deck as well with my Air2S, but land sideways as there are no sensors there. That way I don’t have to listen to the annoying beeping and don’t have to turn off the sensors. Best wishes.

 

[Matrix64]

There's some good suggestions there about a larger pad with more contrast. I know many would disagree but I personally would bring it down to around eye level about 10 feet out, then back it in towards you. You can then reach out over the railing, bring it down and let it sense your hand and then continue to land on your palm. Lots of videos to show you how to safely do it.

I agree with the others but adding to the OMM post #3 above, have the crosshairs on your screen turned on. At about 20-30’ up, that will show you exactly where the bird will land and give you time to adjust (go light with the sticks at this point). You can make stick adjustments during RTH. I land on my deck as well with my Air2S, but land sideways as there are no sensors there. That way I don’t have to listen to the annoying beeping and don’t have to turn off the sensors. Best wishes.

Agree… lightly on the sticks!

 

[old man mavic]

@a2tomm that statement in your post #13above ,was i am sure a reasonable assumption ,and based on your own experience
all i know is as far as my MPP is concerned after over 4 years of flying ,if i use the precision landing ,tick box during the auto take off procedure ,and let the drone rise to its preset height of 21ft and then proceed to begin my flight ,then in all those times i have used the auto RTH ,it has always landed on the pad right where it took off from within a couple of inches ,if on the other hand, i decide not to tick the box ,then it just rises up about 4 ft from the pad ,and in those instances it will land anywhere up to a couple of feet from the pad ,the same thing if i do a manual take off ,coming right up to date with my Mini 3 pro that does not have precision landing and the distance from the take off point will vary considerably during a RTH