Fixed drone orientation during mapping

Hello Map Pilot Pro team,

I am flying a DJI M600 with a FLIR T1010 thermal camera payload. The camera does not have a time lapse photo option, so missions are flown with the camera taking a video and then frames are extracted from the video for data processing. It greatly improves the data processing if the camera can be flown in a consistent orientation for the whole mission. Currently I am using DJI's Ground Station Pro flight planning software to fly all missions with this camera as it allows the user to set a fixed drone orientation for the mission. However, I am a fan of Map Pilot Pro and would really like the ability to set a fixed drone orientation for some of my missions so I can use Map Pilot Pro for all of my missions.

I found an old question from 3 years ago were someone wanted the same option and it was not something you guys were planning to offer at that stage but I wanted to see if your stance had changed on this subject?

Thanks,
Hamish

Hamish Sutton September 29, 2021 01:09

Official comment

We jump through all sorts of hoops to detect when people do this when collecting their images so we can reject them. In our Data Collection guidelines we state:

Never Fly Backwards or Sideways - Collect all of your data while traveling forward. Most aerial cameras have rolling shutters and mixing forward and backward flight ruins the chances of the job turning out well.

We will not likely add a feature that people could use to create data that will not go through our system well.

If it is something you really need we can give you a quote on adding it especially for your account.

Zane September 29, 2021 02:26

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4 comments

Thanks Zane,

I don't fly enough missions with this camera to warrant a custom option on my Map Pilot Pro account, it would be just a "nice to have" option coupled with all of the other great features of Map Pilot Pro.

Thanks,

Hamish

Hamish Sutton September 29, 2021 02:50 0 votes

I am not sure if this is the same type of issue but have been requested to fly a mission with same orientation of camera (Thermal and RGB) XT2 with DJIM210. The drone can fly forward the entire time on a normal mission e.g. on a bearing of 30° along a track and then returning on a bearing of 210° on the next track but photos captured are to be just on a bearing of 30° (therefore the camera would need to rotate 180° to maintain the same orientation every send track line) - I can't see how to set up in MapPilot - is it possible?

J Taylor February 28, 2022 06:19 0 votes

J Taylor: We specifically do not want this to happen for photogrammetry data collection because of the limitations of the camera sensors noted above. The DJI app has a fixed heading mode (we know because it messes things up regularly).

If you are using a LiDAR sensor you should talk to whoever made your system and have them contact us to be supported.

Zane February 28, 2022 15:30 0 votes