Hi,
When I plan a polygon flight, my inspire flies backward. I have a Micasense Rededge on a fixed mount, tilted for forward flight. When the drone flies backwards, my images aren’t taken nadir anymore. I looked in the settings, but no option to disable it. If this can’t be fixed then Pix4D is a no-go for me. Can this be fixed?
Thanks in advance
Hi Frank, my understanding is that you would like your drone to fly so that the nose is always pointing in the direction that drone is flying. I will share additional information as soon as possible.
We have received similar reports from a few others, so you are not alone. I hope that they will join this conversation as well at some point to share their experience.
Thank you for your patience.
Same again yesterday for me, as requested by Pix4D support I made sure I was running the latest firmware for aircraft, controller and app.
when the drone starts a mission, once it reaches the correct altitude it then proceededs to fly backwards to the start point, but with that said the drone then is in the correct orientation to start the grid run without having to turn.
again once it comes to the end of one run and moves to the next, as it approaches the next run it starts to rotate and backs it’s self into position, again this puts the drone in the correct orientation to start its next run without having to turn. To be honest it’s quite gracefull and reminds me of Torvil & Dean doing the Bolero, All that’s missing is the music.
but on a serious note, if this is meant to be then fine, it does the job perfectly. But I could imagine if it creates a problem as Frank Staats has posted then it could be very annoying and make Pix4D a no go.
I’m running a P3P and have the same issue
@Gary, thank you very much for joining the conversation and for sharing more detailed information about your experience. My understanding is that your drone may fly backward, sideways, and may even rotate while transitioning from one flight line to another flight line but that your drone flies so that its nose is pointed in the same direction that it is flying. Is that correct?
@Jorge, thank you for joining the conversation. Is your DJI Phantom 3 Professional flying backward, sideways, or rotating while flying a flight line where it is capturing images or is the drone flying backward, sideways, or rotating while transitioning from one flight line to another flight line?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
My P3P drone only in the polygonal mission flies backwards to the flying line. It does everything ok just flies the line backwards, and turns normally in the end of the line so it continues to fly backwards. It doesn’t affect model but it’s just a little strange and as I’ve got a camera protection, when the flight its over 5m/s the protection can appear in the picture, which just cuts a little of area of visibility.
It does everything ok except after battery change, but thats another topic
Hi Jorge,
Under normal circumstances, we expect your drone’s nose:
Will point in the direction that the drone is flying while the drone is on a capture line. A mission’s capture line is typically represented by a solid white line.
Will not always point in the direction that drone is flying while the drone is on a transition line. A mission’s transition line is typically represented by a dashed white line.
You can see an example of the two types of flight lines in the image below.
Does your drone fly backward during on capture line, transition line, or both the transition line and capture line?
Image 1: Transition lines are represented by dashed lines and capture lines are represented by solid white lines.
When flying in the capture line, it goes backwards
In the transitions line he turns so it goes backwards in the capture line
@Jorge, thank you very much for confirming that you saw your drone flying backward while it was on a capture line. My understanding is that you saw your drone fly backward while flying a Polygon Mission and that you have not seen the same behavior while flying a Grid Mission or a Double Grid Mission_._ Is that correct?
I trust your drone and controller had the latest firmware and that your mobile iOS device had the latest version of Pix4Dcapture when you witnessed the behavior. Please let me know if this is not the case.
@Matthew, Gary, Frank, to ensure that we are on the same page, have you seen your drone fly backward while on a capture line, transition line, or both the transition line and capture line? Any additional information you can share is greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
It was definitely flying backwards on the capture line for me. Probably on the transition line too. I believe it also flew backwards, or whatever direction it was originally facing, to go to the start point. Only appeared to do it in polygon mode, not grid mode. I am using a DJI P3P.
@Jorge, thank you very much for confirming that you saw your drone flying backward while it was on a capture line. My understanding is that you saw your drone fly backward while flying a Polygon Mission and that you have not seen the same behavior while flying a Grid Mission or a Double Grid Mission. Is that correct?
Yes that’s it. In the grid or double grid the behavior its normal. And yes the firmware all up-to-date
@Matthew, Jorge, thank you for confirming that your drone was flying backward on the capture line while flying a Polygon Mission.
I want to ensure that we leave no stone unturned, so my understanding is that you have seen your drone fly backward on the capture line while flying:
Please let me know if my understanding is incorrect.
I cannot guarantee if the behavior will be addressed in a future version of Pix4Dcapture for iOS and cannot provide an estimate of when a patch may be available but assure you that the behavior will be considered as part of the ongoing development of Pix4Dcapture.
Hi all,
If your drone is flying backward while on a capture line and your camera is not actively stabilized by your drone’s gimbal, you can ensure that your drone is always facing in the direction it is flying so that your camera is pointing down by planning a Grid Mission or Double Grid Mission.
I cannot guarantee if the behavior will be addressed in a future version of Pix4Dcapture for iOS and cannot provide an estimate of when a patch may be available but assure you that the behavior will be considered as part of the ongoing development of Pix4Dcapture.
Please consider that, if your camera is actively stabilized, your camera should point in the correct direction regardless of whether the drone is flying forward or backward on a capture line, so you should not see any degradation in the quality of your results.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to share your experience with us if you see a degradation in the quality of your reconstruction because your drone flew backward on a capture line.
Thank you for your understanding.
That is correct for me. Flying backwards really wouldn’t be an issue for me if I’m using the DJI camera on the gimbal. I’ve tried the look at center mode for a mission and that gave pretty good results. It flies backwards and sideways then. The issue is when I mount an aftermarket camera that doesn’t have a gimbal that can’t adjust itself mid flight to point straight down no matter which way the drone is tilting when flying at higher speeds. If all-time forward facing flight in polygon mode was an option, that would work for me. I could see a use for allowing the drone to fly multi-directional in some cases to save some time.
Hey Matthew, thanks for the quick confirmation.
My drone (a DJI P3P) only flies backwards in Polygon missions.
I use a IOS Ipad Air 2
Thanks
Hey Jorge, thank you very much for confirming your drone’s behavior.
You’re welcome
The flying backward issue seems to have been fixed for my P3P. I flew a polygon mission yesterday and it flew forward on all of the mission lines. I would prefer it to fly forward for the whole mission (to start point and between rows), but that’s not critical for me. Thanks for working on it!
Hi all,
yesterday was my first flight with my brand new Rededge-m and Pix4d.
First - Pix4d mapper worked great!
But - I fly a Matrice 210 with an adapter powering the sensor in gimbal 2 with an X4s for hi res in gimbal 1.
I use Pix4d capture for mission planning, polygonal.
The drone was not pointing nose forward after the first long run. It was flying at a 45 degree or so angle to forward - so it was not nadir.
When approaching to land it did a 60 or so degree turn and did not land square.
Just confirming I too had issues maintaining nose pointing on path using Capture for mission planning.
thank you
sean