Defining a New Mission

To begin planning a new mission tap the ( ) icon on the Main screen, which will open the “Mission Requirements” screen (Figure 29).

Figure 29: Mission Requirements Screen

Complete all options as described below.

Info

Specify the name of the mission, the ultimate product you wish to produce, and the type of landscape in the area.

Figure 30: Mission Requirements – Info

o   Name – Give the mission a descriptive name associated with the project.

o   Product – Tap the type of the product you want to produce from the images taken by this mission. Your selection here will determine how images will be taken.

1. Grid – Vertical  – Images will be taken of a defined area in vertical mode and used for 2D map, 2.5D map, quantity computation, Orthophoto, and As-Built plans
   

1. Oblique– Images will be taken in circular mode and used for 3D model, 3D model for inspection, Façade, and Orthophoto Façade
   

1. Corridor – Images will be taken in vertical mode of elongated areas such are streets and railways and used also for generating orthophoto, quantity computation, and AS-Built plans
   

o   Area – Tap the type of area you are photographing: Rural or Urban. This is for documentation purposes only.

Flight

Select parameters that will influence the flight flow, including scale, which will have an effect on the pixel footprint and flight altitude, height limitations, return to home height, and finally overlap requirements for vertical imagery.

Figure 31: Mission Requirements – Flight

o   Scale – Select the required scale of the output. Your selection here has a direct effect on the pixel foot print size, which is shown on top of the scale, and this in turn has an effect on the flight altitude. The pixel foot print size is calculated for the center of the image. For oblique images, this figure is lower at the bottom of the image and higher at the top of the image.

o   Min and Max Height – Select the minimum and maximum drone flight height your plan will permit. Setting these limits is related to safety, and DatuFly will display a message if you try to set a flight plan that would extend beyond these limits.

o   Return to Home Height – This parameter limits the drone to a particular height for its return flight. This parameter is extremely important if you are doing a circular oblique mission for an area with a high structure in the middle. When the drone finishes its mission or need to return home because of a low charge level on one of the devices, it will return in a straight line. Make sure to specify a height that is greater than any structure in the area of interest.

o   Overlap – This option appears only when the flight mission is vertical. Using these two parameters, you can specify the percentage of overlap when vertical images are taken. When taking images in vertical mode of a large area, images are taken in rows going back and forth. The first parameter specifies the overlap between images within the same row, while the second one specifies the overlap between rows of images. In other words, front overlap and side overlap respectively.

o   Drone while taking images – This option will appear only when the flight mission is vertical, and if a camera with a mechanical shutter is to be used. Here you can specify how the drone will behave when taking vertical images. Two options are available; either “Stationary”, which means that the drone will stop at every image-taking point and take the image, or “In Motion”. When “In Motion” is selected, a speed setting scale appears (Figure 32) allowing the user to set the speed of the drone.

Figure 32: Status of Drone while Taking Images

Equipment

Select the drone bundle you will be using. In certain bundles where several cameras may be used you will also need to select the camera and the lens.

Figure 33: Mission Requirements – Equipment

1.       Tap Change to display available bundles.

2.       Set the “White balance” accordingly to existing weather conditions.

3.       Tap “Done”. This will take you to the map view which marks the current location with a blue dot surrounded by a light blue shaded area. The location is based on the tablet’s GPS location.  The map view that appears after tapping the “Done” button will be different based on the type of mission to be defined. 

 Defining a Circular Area of Interest (Oblique)

In circular areas, image taking is always in oblique mode where the camera is pointing to a central point of interest at a specified height.

Figure 34: Circular Mission Map View

As shown below the map view has an upper status banner that shows statuses of all batteries, status of WiFi connection, status of the drone, and satellite reception. This banner is most important at execution time.

To define the area of interest, perform the following steps:

1.       Zoom and/or pan the map view to select the area for which you want to plan a mission and tap Done Setting Map. At this time the button changes to Tap Point of Interest.

Figure 35: Tap Point of Interest Button

2.       Tap any point on the screen to position the point of interest with two blue solid dots, one at the center and one at the circumference.

Figure 36: Defining the Point of Interest

3.       Adjust the circle to the exact location by touching and dragging the center point.

4.       Adjust the circle diameter by touching and dragging the point on the circumference, or by using the sliders on the left side. Note that changing the diameter also changes the height. The pixel resolution as the gimbal angle for oblique images is by default locked to 45 degrees.

5.       If required, unlock the gimbal angle and lock either the radius or the drone elevation by clicking the lock icon ( ) next to either one. Both the inclusive height and the pixel resolution are shown in the top left corner under “Requirements”.

6.       Adjust the “Height of POI” using the slider bar. This also changes the flight altitude.

7.       Set the number of images you would like to take.

8.       Tap Create Flight Plan to save the flight mission. The Create Flight Plan button now becomes Connect Drone.

9.       Either exit or continue to execute your mission by turning on the drone and remote control and tapping Connect Drone.

Defining a Polygonal Area of Interest (Grid – Vertical)

In polygonal areas, image taking is always done in vertical mode where the camera is pointing vertically down to the earth. 

Figure 37-Vertical Mission Map View

Defining polygonal areas can be done in one of two ways as follows:

a.       Defining a polygon on the map view from scratch,

b.       Importing a predefined KMZ/KML polygon from Datumate servers that was previously defined on Google Earth and uploaded there.

Defining a Polygonal Area of Interest from Scratch

To define the area of interest from scratch perform the following steps:

1.       Tap Done Setting Map, to start defining the polygon.  This changes the button to say Tap Annotations.

2.       Start taping polygon points Annotations.

Figure 38: Polygonal Flight Plan Image

3.       Single tapping any point on the screen will place a solid dot on the map. Tapping three points or more will generate an area with a trajectory on it as shown belowError! Reference source not found.. Additionally, once you have an area marked you can also see, on the left side of the screen, information on the flight plan, including time, distance, number of images, and number of needed batteries.

Figure 39: Preparing a Polygonal Flight Plan

4.       Adjust the altitude or the pixel footprint size using the available sliders.

5.       Adjust the location of any point by touching and dragging it.

6.       To delete a point, touch and hold it until the delete option appears on it, and then tap it.

7.       Tap Create Flight Plan to save your flight mission. The Create Flight Plan button now becomes Connect Drone.

8.       Either exit or continue to execute your mission by turning on the drone and remote control and tapping Connect Drone.

Defining a Polygonal Area of Interest by importing a KMZ/KML file

To be able to import missions from Datumate servers, you must first define and upload mission there.   For detailed explanation on how to do so, refer to section ‎5.5 below.

To define the area of interest from a predefined KMZ/KML file perform the following steps:

1.       Tap “Import Mission” button, Figure 37-Vertical Mission Map View to show the list of available polygons.   Only relevant missions will be shown here based on the flight type you are using. 

Figure 40-List of Downloadable Polygons

2.       Tap Select on the polygon you would like to download.  When done it will notify you that the Mission was imported successfully and you can now press Back   to return to the map screen.

Figure 41-Polygon Successful Import 

3.       The application will now show you the imported polygon with the default setting and you may continue working with it and make adjustments as needed as a regular mission.

Figure 42-Imported Polygon

4.       Adjust the altitude or the pixel footprint size using the available sliders.

5.       Adjust the overlap and other requirements parameters by tapping Requirement in the upper left corner.

6.       Adjust the location of any point by touching and dragging it.

7.       To delete a point, touch and hold it until the delete option appears on it, and then tap it.

8.       Tap Create Flight Plan to save your flight mission. The Create Flight Plan button now becomes Connect Drone.

9.       Either exit or continue to execute your mission by turning on the drone and remote control and tapping Connect Drone.

 Defining a Corridor Area of Interest (Corridor)

In Corridor areas, image taking is always done in vertical mode where the camera is pointing vertically down to the earth. 

Defining corridor areas can also be done in one of two ways as follows:

c.       Defining a corridor on the map view from scratch,

d.       Importing a predefined KMZ/KML corridor from Datumate servers that was previously defined on Google Earth and uploaded there.

Defining a Corridor Area of Interest from Scratch

To define the area of interest from scratch perform the following steps:

1.       Tap Done Setting Map, to start defining the corridor.  This changes the button to say Tap Annotations.

2.       Start taping corridor points Annotations.

Figure 44: Corridor Flight Plan Image

3.       Single tapping any point on the screen will place a solid dot on the map. Tapping two points or more will generate a corridor.  Pay attention to tap very carefully as it is not possible to make changes once you tap.

Figure 45: Preparing a Corridor Flight Plan

4.       Set the width of the corridor using the slider on the right side.  This will show the flight area with a trajectory on it as shown below. Additionally, once you have an area marked you can also see, on the left side of the screen, information on the flight plan, including time, distance, number of images, and number of needed batteries.

Figure 46 - Corridor mission trajectory 

5.       Adjust the altitude or the pixel footprint size using the available sliders.

6.       To delete a point, touch and hold it until the delete option appears on it, and then tap it.

7.       Tap Create Flight Plan to save your flight mission. The Create Flight Plan button now becomes Connect Drone.

8.       Either exit or continue to execute your mission by turning on the drone and remote control and tapping Connect Drone.

Defining a Corridor Area of Interest by importing a KMZ/KML file

Importing a path from a predefined KMZ/KML file is done exactly like the polygon.  Once the path is imported and shown you will only need to set the corridor width using the slider bar on the right side of the screen as described above. 

 Opening an Existing Mission

To open an existing mission:

1.       Start the DatuFly application.

2.       From the list of available missions on the Main screen tap on the mission you would like to open.

3.       The mission will open with the Connect Drone button available for you to start execution of the mission.

4.       Alternatively, you may make changes to the circle or polygon. Tap Update Flight Plan and then execute the plan as described in the next section.