Post

2 followers Follow
0
Avatar

Windspeed considerations?

I'm wondering about how to handle windy situations when doing a mapping run. Is there a way to determine windspeed aloft? Would setting the mode switch to A and watching the horizontal velocity give me this info? Does the DJI consider windspeed when calculating the RTH time and energy needs? How can I tell how hard the aircraft is struggling against the wind?

It would be cool to have a windspeed profile that could be calculated during the ascent to the cruising altitude.

Tom

Official comment

Avatar

The switching to A trick probably shows you 80% of what the actual windspeed is.

Map Pilot will trigger the camera based on the overlap and altitude settings that are specified. If it is going up wind and slower, no problem. If it is going down wind and faster, the aircraft could be outrunning the speed that allows us to take the images at the camera's maximum frame rate and images will be missed.

It is always best if you are mapping in a strong wind ( >12 mph) to align your passes to be perpendicular to the predominant wind direction.

The aircraft does not know if it is downwind for the sake of RTH for battery so it is always best to fly your mission into the wind direction so you will be downwind on the way home.

Map Pilot sets a fixed speed of travel which seems be airspeed. In the presence of a strong wind and a commanded flight speed of 20 m/s, it will do 15 m/s into the wind and 25 m/s downwind. In both of these cases it is working equally hard since it is only maintaining an airspeed.

There is no battery load measurement or equivalent that gives and ideal of the relative effort involved in any maneuver. That would be a good feature for DJI to add.

Tudor
Comment actions Permalink

Please sign in to leave a comment.

3 comments

0
Avatar

If A mode is altitude control only, why wouldn't it show the full wind velocity? I could see it reacting to gusts for stabilization, but it seems to me that it would otherwise just drift with the wind. And yes, load measurement would be great. I'm wondering if just monitoring the maximum rate of climb would give some indication of this.

Tom 0 votes
Comment actions Permalink
0
Avatar

A is NOT altitude only. A mode is no-GPS-training-wheels-mode. 90% of the crashes we get in the shop occur during flight in A mode.

It might eventually get up to the actual windspeed eventually but if you are in A mode you are probably going to want to keep it closer than that would require taking it out.

Please refer to this link for more about the various flight modes:
http://support.dronesmadeeasy.com/hc/en-us/articles/206034873-Setting-up-your-Drone-for-use-with-Map-Pilot

Tudor 0 votes
Comment actions Permalink