MP_cam_ctrl.md

Mission Planner survey flight plan using camera control

What is camera control?

Camera control is the Trigger Method selected in Mission Planner. This creates a waypoint for each image to be taken. The camera control waypoints are calculated based on the camera, the flight height and the overlap. The camera control waypoints can be configured to have a delay. The delay stops the aircraft for the configured time, captures the image after that delay and continues with the flight-plan afterwards. The delay is meant to stabilize the aircraft and to capture the image without any blur due to movement. That way the flight speed can be much higher than in the trigger distance mode.

Example

The camera control waypoints are configured to have a delay time of 1 second. The aircraft will travel to the next camera control waypoint, wait for 1 second, capture an image and continue to the next waypoint.

What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Pro

• Avoids image blur
  • at low altitudes
  • during high exposure time / low light conditions
  • flight speed is 0 while capturing the image
• Altitude above ground remains constant between images (each waypoint is set to AGL)

Con

• Lots of waypoints
• Longer mission duration

Workflow

To create a flight-plan in Mission Planner and import it into Litchi Mission Hub, follow these steps.

Mission Planner

Start Mission Planner and select Plan in the top left corner.

Set Home Point

Right-click on the location you want to set the home point and select Set Home Here.

Draw polygon

Left-click on the polygon icon in the top left corner and select Draw Polygon. Then draw the polygon area by left-clicking on the map.

Start survey tool

Right-click on the map and select Auto WP -> Survey (Grid).

Settings for Simple tab

Select the Camera, set the Altitude and Flying Speed. Make sure to set Use speed for this mission and Advanced Options.

If your camera is not in the list, then you can load an image in the Camera Config tab. The camera settings will be set automatically using the metadata in the image.

Settings for Grid Options tab

Set the Overlap (front-overlap) and the Sidelap (side-overlap) to your needs. Make sure to set Delay at WP to at least the time that the aircraft needs to stabilize. This depends on the aircraft, wind conditions and flight speed.

Also, if you need a cross-grid (e.g. 3D models or better DEMs), then set Cross Grid as well.

Settings for Camera Config tab

Make sure to select DO_DIGICAM_CONTROL as the Trigger Method.

Also, you can click Load Sample Photo if your camera was not listed. You can then click Save to add it to the list of cameras.

Save Grid

Navigate back to the Simple tab and click Accept in the bottom right corner.

Export flight-plan as .waypoints file

Press ctrl + s to export the flight-plan.

MissionPlanner-to-Litchi

Open MissionPlanner-to-litchi and click Select files to convert.

Select File or Files

Select the file you exported from Mission Planner and click Open. MissionPlanner-to-Litchi will create a .csv file in the same directory.

In this example the file is named diamonhead.waypoints so the converted file will be diamonhead.waypoints.csv.

Litchi Mission Hub

Go to the Litchi Mission Hub and log in to your account (top right corner).

Set global settings

Click on SETTINGS in the bottom left corner. Make sure that the marked settings are set as shown in the image then click Close.

Import file

Click on MISSIONS in the bottom left corner.

Then select Import....

Select the .csv file. In this example it is the diamonhead.waypoints.csv.

Click Import to new Mission to import the flight-plan to the Litchi Mission Hub.

Imported flight-plan

Save the mission

You need to save the mission to be able to sync it to your control device (mobile phone / tablet).

To do this you click on Missions in the bottom left corner and select Save....

Enter a name for your mission and click on Save.