Trying to understand waypoint missions

[motopokep]

Been flying for couple of years, but never done any intelligent mode flying. Trying to understand waypoint missions. My friend's house is exactly 3 miles away from mine if you fly in a straight line. I've flown 3 miles out before in rural areas, where signal is good, but because we are in a residential area, I won't have an RC signal all the way to my friend's house if I fly the MP manually, unless I get up to a very high altitude, but my goal is to fly to his house just above houses and trees, and either land in his back yard or hover above his house.

Is there an option, through either DJI GO or Litchi (never flown Litchi), to select precise coordinates on the map and have the MP fly there at selected height and either hover or land? I'd want the MP to fly there at about 20 mph, while I drive there at 40 mph, so I can be there first with the RC to ensure safe landing.

 

[iaincaradoc]

I can’t help with the waypoints, but I’m curious as how this happens without losing VLOS - and getting around the “sparsely populated area” bit in piloting from a moving vehicle.

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

If you setup waypoints via litchi (recommended) the plan is uploaded to the aircaft and it continues to execute the mission regardless of signal. You need to be meticulous in your planning to avoid any problems. Recommend you setup a mini mission within VLOS, turn off your RC, and see what happens to make sure no weird behavior is observed. I've used both dronedeploy and Litchi for Waypoint missions. Takes practice to make it work right and iron out the bugs associated with each app.

Also, litchi allows Waypoint planning from a PC and is much better than what DJI has, worth the cost.

 

[motopokep]

I think I found the answer to my question, I just found a Litchi waypoint video that describes how to do this, I'm going to try small missions with Litchi before I get into something like this.

 

[motopokep]

If you setup waypoints via litchi (recommended) the plan is uploaded to the aircaft and it continues to execute the mission regardless of signal. You need to be meticulous in your planning to avoid any problems. Recommend you setup a mini mission within VLOS, turn off your RC, and see what happens to make sure no weird behavior is observed. I've used both dronedeploy and Litchi for Waypoint missions. Takes practice to make it work right and iron out the bugs associated with each app.

Also, litchi allows Waypoint planning from a PC and is much better than what DJI has, worth the cost.

just saw your post after I found a Litchi video on youtube, thanks, exactly my thoughts. Gonna give it a try with small missions in an open field, with VLOS, and then do what I planned.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Been flying for couple of years, but never done any intelligent mode flying. Trying to understand waypoint missions. My friend's house is exactly 3 miles away from mine if you fly in a straight line. I've flown 3 miles out before in rural areas, where signal is good, but because we are in a residential area, I won't have an RC signal all the way to my friend's house if I fly the MP manually, unless I get up to a very high altitude, but my goal is to fly to his house just above houses and trees, and either land in his back yard or hover above his house.

Is there an option, through either DJI GO or Litchi (never flown Litchi), to select precise coordinates on the map and have the MP fly there at selected height and either hover or land? I'd want the MP to fly there at about 20 mph, while I drive there at 40 mph, so I can be there first with the RC to ensure safe landing.

You’re on the right track with Litchi.

A couple of thoughts regarding Go 4.
Go 4 will not allow a flight more than 1500 feet from home point. (MPP) That can be overcome through hacks, and setting a new home point along the way (risky)! Go 4 will also continue the complete flight even if the signal is lost. There is no functionality in Go 4 to land automatically without pilot intervention. You cannot set a waypoint at ground level. Finally, Go 4 waypoints are not necessarily repeatable during execution to within inches of the planning point; sometimes they are, sometimes not. And there is directional variation for a route linked flight.

 

[dirkclod]

just saw your post after I found a Litchi video on youtube,

That’s the way it works. You ask then search YouTube then there it is.?
Happens to me a lot.?‍

 

[charliej]

My only comment, and this is from UK, is that flying waypoints or not - you still need to keep the drone in line of sight.

 

[motopokep]

My only comment, and this is from UK, is that flying waypoints or not - you still need to keep the drone in line of sight.

Oh no, not the VLOS drone police again. ? They are the kind of members who always drive at the speed limit, only cross the street at marked pedestrian crossings, don't spit their gum out on the ground, and dont curse. we don't need the $1,000 Mavic to fly VLOS and under 400 feet. we can do that with a $50 drone from banggood.

It's like having members on a sportbike forum reminding others to always ride at the speed limit.

Is obstacle avoidance active on litchi missions? if yes, does the drone just stop in mid-air and hover if there is an obstacle or does it increase altitude to go over it?

 

[charliej]

Oh no, not the VLOS drone police again. ? They are the kind of members who always drive at the speed limit, only cross the street at marked pedestrian crossings, don't spit their gum out on the ground, and dont curse. we don't need the $1,000 Mavic to fly VLOS and under 400 feet. we can do that with a $50 drone from banggood.

It's like having members on a sportbike forum reminding others to always ride at the speed limit.

Is obstacle avoidance active on litchi missions? if yes, does the drone just stop in mid-air and hover if there is an obstacle or does it increase altitude to go over it?

 

[charliej]

Dear @motopokep

You know me too well. As a youngster I roared around on a motor bike until I crashed and broke a few things. Then moved onto Motocross and a fast cars until my licence was suspended for 12 months! Now in my dotage I fly drones and my latest project (I am a bit of a gadgets man) is to fly my drone around 2.5 UK miles from my house into the village and deliver a morning egg to my mother-in-law. I pick up the drone again when I go around to tea. Its not that successful and she has grown to like scrambled eggs.

None of this makes me a VLOS policeman. From my experience at the local drone club many newbie’s think that automated flying exempts you from the drone rules – it does not. BUT if you want to ignore them as I do from time to time then that’s sort of OK but at least you should know the rules before you break them and you say yourself that you have ‘never done any intelligent mode flying. Trying to understand waypoint missions’.

I wish your mission well and fly as you wish but do not ruin it for others.

I hope you do not know any more about me – the story of the power boat and waypoints is another matter.

 

[motopokep]

Hello Charlie, so how do you tell others to fly VLOS when you yourself fly 2.5 miles out? Did I say I was a newbie? I've been flying the MP for over 2.5 years, look in my avatar section. I've flown 3 miles out one way...and I'm not going to say how high I've flown Before that, I flew 6 channel collective pitch 3-d helicopters. I've never done a waypoint mission, but I watched a few videos, and figured it out already. Gonna start with a few small VLOS waypoint missions before I get into long distance ones.

Hey, none of my business, but if your age is truly 75 like it says in your avatar section, your mother in law gotta be 100, or your wife is a lot younger than you. Either way, wishing you luck and plenty of health Sir. I hope I'll still be flying drones at 75 if I get to live that long. My dad is nearing that age, and just watches TV on the couch nowadays

 

[motopokep]

update:

after a few VLOS missions, I did manage to do what I always wanted, that is, fly 3 miles to my friend's house. via Litchi waypoints, and drove there, but I didn't want to take the chances of having the MP land on the grass or in bushes, by chance if it would miss the small open patio and for some reason I would get stuck in traffic, train, or accident, so I programmed the MP to hover upon completion, I drove there and got there 5 minutes before the MP, and it was great to have my Mavic meet me over there. good thing I didn't program it to land, as it flew a little past the patio i had as the last waypoint, and hovered over the roof, it would have landed on the roof. it's not the first time i see Mavic do this in Litchi...maybe the map is not very precise, not sure if i needed to place the tip of the arrow over the center of patio, or the center of the arrow over center of patio. a few yards make the difference between safe landing and a crash. i had about 60% of battery left, I'm sure I could have had it return home safely, but didn't want to take my chances as 3 miles one way is pushing it. i did a few more long missions with a loss of signal and RTH upon completion. it was a little nerve wrecking doing my first no signal mission, wasn't sure if I'm ever gonna see the MP again. on the very long mission, when it hit about 65% battery, the smart RTH kicked in (I didn't turn it off on purpose) and asked me if I wanted it to return home, which I cancelled. overall, very impressed with Litchi and Mavic's performance. (the reason I had signal that far out is because I was waiting for it on the last waypoint, so actually I was very close to it)

one thing i don't like is the obstacle avoidance response. I had it fly about eye level in a waypoint "mission", and I stood in front of the MP, and it just stopped, but it wouldn't try to go either around or above, so my concern is, if it finds and obstacle during a mission, it's just going to hover there until the battery tells it to go home...so I've been setting my mission height at 200 ft (average suburban area), to be just above a few cell phone towers we have.