[Android Beta] - Phantom 3 Professional / Advanced and Inspire 1

PIX4Dcapture PIX4Dcapture Questions/Troubleshooting
461

@Jason and @Jonas

Jason, I am having the same experience as you are with my Samsung 6 edge. It won’t connect via the USB cable, however when I connect my Samsung Tab S, it works fine. The big difference is the operating system between the two devices.

 

Which leads me to my second observation on the Tab S, when I plug in the USB cable, I see the pop up with capture on it. That’s great, and it has a just once or always button that I can hit. On the S6 Edge, it does not have the Just Once or always

 It seems to default to always without giving you the option of just once, which means I have to clear the default settings each time. So I was wondering, can the app have a button that trys to force capture the USB? Or the app is smart enough to know if it has the USB properly captured?

462

@Jason: Thanks for the review, I’ll have a detailed look at that.

About connecting directly to the Mapper, here are some points:

  • First, the SDK is really bad at telling us the name of the pictures we take. That is why we have to write hacks in Capture in order to try to synchronize that. 
  • One goal with the sync with Capture is to connect to our Cloud from the field, and quickly give a preview of the results. And you could synchronize the Mapper with the Cloud later.
  • Connecting the computer directly to the drone would require some SDK from DJI. And the current version of the SDK is still not stable, so…
  • When the p4d is generated correctly (it is with the P2V, but not yet for the P3/I1), then you can directly mount the SD card of the drone in your computer and open the project using the p4d file. That is faster than a WiFi transfer anyway.

@Keenan: I am not completely sure to understand your point. I’ll try to answer anyway, let me know if I am off topic =). “Capturing the USB” is actually made by the SDK. Right now, if another App using the SDK got access to the USB, then any other App will either crash or won’t connect anyway. That is an issue that has to be fixed in the SDK.

463

I just updated everything and it all seems to work fine. I have not taken off yet because it I raining but I have all green checks right from the start. There is the option now to connect with Pix4D.

Some things still not included -

The sliders in the top right are too small. It would be much better if the Speed, camera orientation, and overlap sliders were like the Altitude slider or even a field input.

The camera orientation thing bugs me. It says it is set to nadir (90) but the camera isn’t, not till it starts flying, or you hope it will adjust automatically. This worked for me twice but one time it didn’t and I didn’t check the camera view so I wasted a mission. I wish that the camera was always in the position indicated by the slider and the slider always indicated the actual orientation of the camera. So if I accidently touch the gimbal wheel on the RC the camera angle will update on the map screen.

Maps for my location are so low that I am not able to adjust the grid while viewing the map. This is really frustrating. When I zoom in close enough to adjust the grid I have no map, just black Xs. When I zoom out far enough to see the map there is no way to adjust the grid. Add more detail for Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada please.

The mission grid is still limited to a square. That means that in order to capture my target area (which is usually not a square) I need to cover a lot of extra area which is a waste. Also I had a tall tower in the corner of the site I wanted to avoid and also fly below the top of it. That is very difficult when limited to a square grid.

For starters go to Settings right from the first screen then General and turn off “Sync automatically when mission ends”. So far I have ONLY used the images straight out of the P3P as geotagged by the P3P without adding the mission geotags and I have not had any problem generating the maps. I think the P3P geotags are good enough.

Then go to Setting and then Advanced and check “Enable advanced mode” so that you can override some warning if you have to. I did not need to. Also check “Enable hardware acceleration”.

I am able to switch between camera view and map view (for now) we will see if this crashes again while in flight.

Equipment and firmware -

Phantom 3 Pro - V.01.05.0011 (BETA) (link here - http://download.dji-innovations.com/downloads/dev/MobileSDK/P3X_FW_V01.05.0011.bin)

Samsung Tab S (SM T700) Android 5.0.2

DJI V.2.4.0 (uninstall and then install new, do not upgrade)

Pix4D Mapper V.2.0.7 (uninstall and then install new, do not upgrade)

In case it helps anyone -

DJI Inspire 1 BETA is here - http://download.dji-innovations.com/downloads/dev/MobileSDK/P3S_FW_V01.05.0011.bin

Phantom 3 Advanced BETA is here - http://download.dji-innovations.com/downloads/dev/MobileSDK/P3S_FW_V01.05.0011.bin

 

 

464

@Jonas

My Galaxy Tab S which has Android OS version 5.0.2 prompts me for which app I would like to start when I plug in the USB controller. When the prompt at the bottom of the screen opens up I see the app icons as well as two button (they look like links actually).  They say either “Just Once” or “Always”.  If I select “Always” the app I had chosen will always open unless I clear the default settings for that app.  If I select “Just Once” the next time I plug in the controller, I get to choose which app I want to start

On my Galaxy S6 Edge+ Which as Android OS version 5.1.1 is a different experience. When I plug in the USB cable into my S6, I see the icons of “DJI Go” and “Capture”, however there isn’t a “Just Once” or “Always” anymore.  Now if I select an app, it becomes the default app.  So the next time I plug in the USB cable the app I selected early will open automatically. I am now forced to clear the DJI Go app and Capture App default application settings as well as force stop the DJI Go App before plugging in the USB cable.

With all this said, I can’t get the Capture App to connect to the controller on my S6 Edge.  The Tab S works fine. In version 2.0.5, you some how had the app try and connect when you went into the Mission screen. Now in 2.0.7, if I ignore the Capture App icon at the bottom of the screen and just open the Capture App manually, I no longer see that prompt when I go into the Mission screen.  I assume that is something you had controlled.

465

Hello,

I’m having some trouble connecting my Phantom 3 to the Beta application after an upgrade of the firmware (last version). The Phantom dosen’t connect or appear at all. Does anyone has a solution ?

Thanks

466

OK, sorry, two more things to mention.

  1. I calibrate my compass (do the DJI dance) every day that I fly and every new location that I fly for obvious safety reasons. This means that I have to start with the DJI Go app first and calibrate and then restart everything and then launch Pix4D. A calibration feature in Pix4D app would be nice.

  2. Regarding the low battery return to home - This Is obviously great but I would love some customization options. For example, last time it started the mission at the point furthest away from my location (home) and worked its way back to home, which is perfect. However, when it was almost complete the battery reached about 25% and it aborted the mission and returned to home which was almost exactly where it was located at the time. Being so close to home means it could have easily finished the mission first and then returned to home. There did not seem to be any override option or setting to lower the return to home low battery point.

Thanks.

467

Hi Erwan. Did you upgrade or did you uninstall and then install the new version? I found that upgrading is not as good as uninstalling and then clean install of the new version. Fixed a lot of issues for me.

468

I upgraded and seemed to work without problems. Not sure p4d file is correct. Plan on testing more tomorrow. I think we need to start a new thread. This one if quite long. 

469

Ok, everything seemed to be working so I went out yesterday to field test. It still crached - the app, not the drone. Everything seemed to boot up fine but when I selected the Pix4D app from the pop-up it still allowed DJI Go to try to start in the background behind the Pix4D screen. I had to tile open windows and close the DJI app. Then when I started the Pix4D app it warned me that DJI app was still running so I forced close the DJI app.  Then it seemed to work fine. Loaded the mission (still cannot see the map and the grid at the same time because the map resolution is too low) and took off. Mission was going fine but then I tried switching between camera view and map view and again it starting taking lots and lots of pictures very fast for about one row. Then later it started skipping two pictures every row. The display was frozen and I could not see anything but it continued the mission to the end and then landed.

I switched batteries and then the app was frozen so I had to restart everything. Now it gave me that warning again to connect to the drone wifi extender. This time I just waited about a minute and then it went away and continued as normal. The grid from the last mission was still visible as the default so I could just move it over and continue. The new grid and previous grid were both visible at the same time which is perfect for alignment. 

Then something interesting happened. Before pressing the launch button I flew the drone manually close to the start point of the grid on the far side. I did this because I can fly much faster manually than the set 2ms and get there really quick. However, when I then pressed Launch when it was near the start point, the drone flew slowly (2ms) back toward me (home point). I just let it go to see what it was doing. It came all the way home, turned, and then went slowly to the grid start point. So it seems that the drone needs to start the mission from the home point.

My request, can you increase the speed of the drone between the home point and the start point and the end point and the home point?

Otherwise the results are looking very promising.

Thanks!

 

470

Byt till svenskaAvsluta fullskärmsläge
Have tested the beta android app . 8 flights works well. Starts fly up to 10 - 15 m loads the route, press start. Machine fly the route perfectly, then comes home and lands . Photo absolutely perfect shot with the right overlaps .
What I do not have an eye on is if the app sets the ISO and shutter absolutely right . Some images are a bit too light some dark ! The flight of these images provide a perfect volume calculation .

471

Chani,

Nice job!!!

If you look closely…there are three people on that site not wearing their hard hats. Big safety violation.

Just kidding.

472

The p4d file is still not recording all the shots. It always is one off on the number of photos. I fly other drones and the blue and green balls are always closer together after initial processing. 

473

@Jonas

So I just tried my Tab S 8.4 tablet and I had some serious issues compared to version 2.0.5. For reference the OS version is 5.0.2, I have all the latest firmwares and latest DJI Go App.

The Capture App would crash about 3 to 4 minutes into flight.  I got the fun, your app has stopped message from Android. I think it has something to do with the picture taking, as it was skipping all over the place and it seemed like the app had a very high CPU utilization. I noticed when I tried pinch and zooming that the app stuttered while the mission was taking place.  The app never did that prior to 2.0.7. For me the Capture app, is completely unusable now. I assume you tried to change how the pictures were being taken. The old method was better.

So here is my 2 cents, it seems from what you told me the command to send a picture and the response are async. The app has an idea where each picture should be taken, right?  I would consider a “clean up” mission that could be launched right after the main mission is completed that would go fill in the “gaps”.  This mission would have the “take picture” command already programmed.

Again separating the front to back and side to side overlap, would allow you to be more conservative with the front to back overlap… Something where you can say the front to back is a minimum of whatever the user selected and you add 5 or 10% to that value to accommodate the capture command async issues.

Just some thoughts…

I look forward to the next update as I am basically dead in the water right now

474

@ Chani Johnsson

What type of device are you using?

475

@Keenan

I am using 2.07 with a Tab S2 without any problems. While the P# is flying I do not touch the screen. I havskipped pictures and other issue if I mess with the screen while the P3 is flying. I still have the issue with the p4d file being one image off. It seems to always have one less photo thn was actually taken. The p4d file is nice in that it has the correct elipsoid height vs the above ground height which allows using the ray cloud editor for GCPs vs. the basic editor. Just wish it would sync with the pictures correctly.  

@@Jonas

Something is not quite right with the positions as well, but it may be the sync issue.  I have flown hundreds of flights with the senseFly products and the before and after locations of the image positions are almost identical. This is not the case with the DJI products.

476

Hello, 

I am sorry for the inconvenience with 2.0.7. I don’t really get why it is not working anymore, since we did not change that much, actually. Anyway, you can still access 2.0.5 here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18350968/index.html#

I hope 2.0.8 will improve that, and I can’t wait for the update of the SDK =/.

477

@Jonas,

I have some good news. I Uninstalled and reinstalled both capture 2.0.7 and the latest dji go app and it worked without crashing on my Galaxy Tab S. It still skipped the occasional picture but overall much better than before we’re it would only take 1 or 2 pictures on an entire leg of the grid. I also had an app running that monitored the CPU. Sure enough there were spikes to 99% occurring, however I could not corelate those spikes with gaps in the pictures.

As for the Galaxy 6S edge, I can’t get it to work with version 2.0.7 or 2.0.5. It just is not communicating with the controller. I am going to look at the log file, if I see something I will share it

478

@Keenan,

Are you on a Tab S, or S2? I have a couple sites that I need to map, and it would be really helpful if this app was working & stable. I have an S2 (9.7") though, so I’m not sure where the reliability is at on that model, and I haven’t had a chance to vet it yet.

479

@Mark. I have the Tab S not S2. My suspicion is you will have the same issue as I do wit my S6 edge. It would be good if you can test it and report back to the community. 

480

@Keenan

Not sure exactly what you are referring to in your post. The  S2 is working fine with 2.07. There is still the issue with the P4d file not being in sync.