Advanced Drone Mission Flight Planning

Why I use Litchi for all my flight mission planning.

Apps that do automated flight planning are nice for a quick and easy flight. I have experienced non-uniform distance (gaps) between images when using these automated solutions which affects the desired front overlap. It will also affect the image alignment creating holes in the solution.

I use Litchi to get a uniform distance between image captures. Creating a flight plan in Litchi is not a one button approach. There are several steps needed to create a flight plan.

First I define the limits of the flight areas in Google Earth then export a KML file.

Next I import the KML into Global Mapper (GM) and set the locations for the ground control points (GCPs).

Note : The position and number of GCPs will vary depending upon the camera/sensor being used which is critical to getting a solid aerial triangulation result that meets the ASPRS mapping standards. A training video is being planned that will show how to determine good mission planning for the GCPs.

Next I determine which drone I am going to use, the AGL and review the neat area. There is an free online web app for multiple drones. A link is provided below.

I add grid patterns in GM using the neat area dimensions for the mapping limits to determine the number of image models that will be needed.

Next I add feature lines in GM for the flight path and export a KML.

I import the KML into the Litchi online portal to set the flight parameters and flight time for battery management.

I export a 3D KML and import into Google Earth to view the flight path for obstructions such as mountains and tall towers.

I also plan the video flight path in GM and export the KML them import into Litchi.

Conclusion

It does take more work to plan flight missions using Litchi. The reward of having full control over every aspect of the flight makes it worth it, at least for me.

A training video is being developed for the step-by-step process outlined above.

A book is also available on my website.

www.cc4w.net

"I fly Drones for a living mapping the earth one (1) acre at a time and write DIY surveying math/mapping books/videos for fun!"

Check out the New video series on " Survey Mapping Made Simple ".

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/smms/

An online " Flight Parameter " web app for multiple drone platforms is now available:

Click here to open.

If you like the information provided above and would like to see more in future email posts, then consider purchasing some of my books and videos to help support the effort. As all of you know, computer hardware, software and drones costs money. I put 100% of my book/video sales back into the business to write more books, produce videos, buy drones to test and so forth.

Thank you all that have supported this effort. It is greatly appreciated.

www.cc4w.net

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