customized flight planning for video UAV technology in difficult environments
With the release of the latest software versions for the flight plans of DJI PH4 UAVs and the new planning version for the M300, a number of possibilities were added. In principle, a number of restrictions have been stored at DJI for years, which must be observed for every flight plan. So you can't climb in the vicinity of NoFlyZones or you are asked to be "unlocked" for professional use. In addition to the flight altitude, speed and of course the zones in which you are not allowed to fly are monitored. Basically, the flight is logged exactly. This practically replaces the previously used flight log.
Of course, this leads to dissatisfaction with some users, as they feel monitored. However, we consider this specification to be useful as it serves to differentiate between professional and non-professional users and is therefore a sensible restriction. It can also be revoked upon request, with two levels. At the first level, you confirm the sensible use and compliance with the requirements; at the highest level, written confirmation must be requested from DJI.
In order to facilitate the scope and thus the ability to be approved, further new flight plans such as inclined and vertical flight planning for complicated structures or the inclusion of our own surface models for terrain-sensitive flight profiles and the additions and refinements to the existing flight arrangements such as cross and parallel flight with different recording directions have been added.
Different tasks require a different approach to flight planning. Flights in sloping terrain or even in mountainous regions with steep valleys require a completely different flight planning than a gravel quarry or a golf course in flat terrain. Together with the support and software engineers from DJI, but also 3Dsurvey, our preferred evaluation system, the engineers and trainers of the CADdy Academy pointed out these tasks in many rounds of discussions and these scenarios were incorporated step by step into the professional flight planning.
These scenarios are dealt with in detail in the Flying Surveyor training course. The possibility to fly for complex terrain structures such as in the mountains with sloping and sloping surfaces should be mentioned here as an example. This means that a hillside or high, steep buildings can be mapped well and the evaluation also delivers good results because a constant flight altitude is maintained. It gets even more complex in the mountains. A good surface model is required here as a basis for altitude-sensitive flight planning. For this one can fall back on the usual worldwide model of NASA, which we strongly advise against because locally too imprecise or for the area of the Federal Republic of Germany on official data or on the height server of the Wenninger Geodatenpools. This is freely accessible from WebCADdy and provides a 25 m grid that is then used by DJI flight planning for profiling the trajectories.
Of course, this model is also risky in steep terrain. We have therefore created the possibility of creating a current local elevation model via a quick pre-flight and converting it into the UAV format and reading it in. This gives us very precise flight profiles and this generates uniform flight altitudes for the final flight and thus clean, uniformly accurate terrain heights from the point cloud.
Another word on DJI – the world's most successful UAV manufacturer (87% market share)
We are always asked why we support a Chinese manufacturer and why we prefer simpler drones from the consumer world. The question is absolutely valid. There are good reasons for this and for the most part no commercial reasons. On the one hand, our engineers were impressed by DJI's willingness, how professionally the company dealt with our suggestions and how quickly requests were implemented. For the CADdy Academy as a training company, technical sophistication, ease of use and reliability are the most important components, in addition to risk assessment (air risk, ground risk). But of course also how to deal with our suggestions and whether we are heard in order to implement our philosophy - "easier, faster, cheaper to measure".
After many tests and several thousand flights and evaluations with different drone systems, we have come to the conclusion that we are dealing with excellent products that are accurate and mature for optics, image recording (global shutter), gimbal control and flight stabilization, but set-up times and "value-in-the-air", i.e. the money that is moved in the air and is exposed to the flight risk, has no current counterpart. When that is coupled with the ability to listen to practitioners and improve what is needed, you have made a good choice.
