GlassKnees
Well-Known Member
For those of you who create way point missions for your multi copter, I just learned a lesson that I thought I'd share. I have three aircraft that all use the APM 2.6 flight controller/autopilot and I use Mission Planner for creating missions, mainly for shooting videos.
Recently, I planned and flew a mission around a local water tower. I simply wanted to fly to the tower, circle around it once and return. In Mission Planner, I'm using a Google Satellite view of the area. I placed the way point directly over the center of the tower. But when I flew the mission, the circle that the aircraft flew was off center:
It wasn't until I re-examined the view in Mission Planner that I realized the nature of the problem: The water tower was not directly below the satellite when the picture was taken:
As you can see, the camera is offset a tad to the right - I needed to position the way point to the left and perhaps slightly downward a tad. As it was, I took care to set the altitude high enough so that I orbited above the tower; had I chosen a lower altitude my quad would have collided with the structure.
So, if you're using an application for creating mission way points that relies on satellite imagery, take care that you might have to make some offset adjustments.
Recently, I planned and flew a mission around a local water tower. I simply wanted to fly to the tower, circle around it once and return. In Mission Planner, I'm using a Google Satellite view of the area. I placed the way point directly over the center of the tower. But when I flew the mission, the circle that the aircraft flew was off center:
It wasn't until I re-examined the view in Mission Planner that I realized the nature of the problem: The water tower was not directly below the satellite when the picture was taken:
As you can see, the camera is offset a tad to the right - I needed to position the way point to the left and perhaps slightly downward a tad. As it was, I took care to set the altitude high enough so that I orbited above the tower; had I chosen a lower altitude my quad would have collided with the structure.
So, if you're using an application for creating mission way points that relies on satellite imagery, take care that you might have to make some offset adjustments.
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