DJI Matrice 210 RTK

PIX4Dcapture PIX4Dcapture Questions/Troubleshooting
1

I am curious if the Matrice 210 RTK is going to be compatible with pix4d? if so will it be compatible on release? if not what kind of delay should be expected?

Thank you,

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2

I too would like to know this information. Hopefully there will be no delay.

3

Fully loaded with 2 cams, looking at 30-35,000 USD. I have heard the base unit starts at 15K USD, RTK is 18,000 plus cams…

 

 

4

Our developers are not working on the integration of the Matrice 210 RTK and have not made any tests.

In the meantime, we reported your need so that it will be considered in the future development of Pix4Dcapture.

Best regards,

5

We are going to be updated our fleet of UAVs to the DJI M200/210 series and this will be a need for us as well.

thanks,

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6

The Matrice 210 RTK version may be very very interesting.

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7

I have not seen any updates in this post about the m210 RTK. Any news?

8

Our developers do not have in the current pipeline to integrate the DJI Matrice 200 and 210 (RTK) and these drones were not tested with Pix4Dcapture. We have however reported you need to the Product team who will consider it for future development.

If you want to give it a try, we would recommend to perhaps select DJI Matrice 100 in the list of drones to fly a mission. We will be glad to read your feedback.

If you have any doubts on the optimal workflow to follow with the app, you can refer to our getting started:

 

To track the interest of users and better understand the need, please add a thumb up at the top this post. To be notified about any updates, click the Follow button.

9

Actually Julie, I believe we’re interested in updating our drones to the M210 RTK because it means we might not have to set up GCPs with GNSS RTK base stations. Our company is looking into upgrading our fleet to M210 RTKs as well, and we are paying customers of Pix4D. Also, the only drones that can fly high end radiometric cameras are the Inspire 1 and the Matrice 200 series, and the Matrice 200 series gets over doubles the battery life, handles interference better, etc.

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10

There is very little information from DJI on this.  From what I can see, the RTK is for hovering accuracy.  The higher precision is obtained by resolving inherent gps errors with a fixed position base.  However the base is still autonomous and you will need to do a coordinate shift to get it on your local system.  You will still need ground control on at least a 1000’ grid.  The promise of no ground control points is still a ways off.  I’ve done studies between the Sensefly eBee standard and eBee RTK and the eBee standard has out performed the eBee RTK every time in accuracy and processing speed.  I know this is counter intuitive.  With RTK,  you are asking for real time corrections of which DJI will need to take into account latency of the base radio as well as vector and velocity of the aircraft.  If true xyz geotagging is the goal, perhaps PPK (post process kinematics) would be the better way to go.  That way you use the asynchronous gps clocks of the base and the drone to post process and exact position in time.  In addition, the base would have to sit on a known ground control point that is part of a defined coordinate system.

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11

Hi Matt

The whole subject comes under DGPS. Differential GPS. The purpose of DGPS is to resolve the ambiguity of position that is inherent within any positioning system. After Bill Clinton switched off Selective Availability during his presidency, standalone GPS accuracy went from plus/minus 10m to plus/minus 1m. This then spurned a whole industry…

That being said, what do you mean by the following statement:

 I’ve done studies between the Sensefly eBee standard and eBee RTK and the eBee standard has out performed the eBee RTK every time in accuracy and processing speed.

eBee and eBee RTK both collect the same data (images). The difference between the RTK and non RTK models is the post processing and resolving of the ambiguity of position. Post processing an RTK dataset results in centimetric level accuracy whereas a standalone (non RTK) will result in sub meter accuracy.

I own the standard eBee, RTK model and the new eBee Plus. From my experience, there are no differences in processing speed, just the workflow involved in geotagging the images.

 

12

So, with an RTK UAV, it is still necessary to set GCP’s?  Even if you set up the base station on a known control point?  

My interest is the same as Matthew Stephenson’s, we are dealing with a lot of magnetic interference, and are hoping that the RTK set up on the 210 RTK will remove the problems of flying in a magnetic field, as well as removing the GCP requirement.  If it is not going to remove the GCP needs, that is OK, as long as it removes the magnetic interference. 

 

I spoke with a technician that works with the m210 rtk, and he said that the unit does collect EXIF data for each picture, but from the IMU, not the RTK system, so that should mean the photos that you take with the m210 rtk are compatible with pix4d processing, it may just not be any more accurate then using a phantom 4 or the like.

13

With the eBee RTK that is the case exactly.

 

With the DJI RTK system - as far as I know its not a survey grade RTK system in the way that we would expect it to be. Its using RTK (the technique) to resolve the standalone ambiguity of the aircraft and prevent drift during flight. I don’t think the DJI RTK provides the ability for precise geo-tags as the DJI base station does not appear to be a survey grade GNSS receiver with tribrach etc. Therefore you can’t sent it up over a known point and inject the corrections (as you do with Sensefly) into a computer, as DJI don’t use that workflow method.

Conclusion: If you are going to be working with large areas and need centimetric results without GCP’s, you need a proper survey grade drone i.e. Sensefly or Event 38 with RTK or PPK.

If you working in close proximity to infrastructure with a multi rotor and any drift could be catastrophic, then the DJI RTK system could be the way to go.

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14

Ok.  Then the question becomes what is the best platform to use for aerial mapping utilizing a DJI quad copter for small areas?  Phantom 4 Pro - Inspire 2 with X5S - Matrice 200 w/X5S?  Or- something else.  Drone processing service companies and drone leasing companies, please don’t hijack this thread.

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15

Cheap option: Phantom 4 Pro with Pix4D Capture app BUT you will need someone to survey in some control points if you want to output centimetric level deliverables.

Expensive option: eBee Plus with RTK or PPK.

I have both and to be honest with you, reliability and repeatability are important to me.

I wouldn’t go for an M200 yet, too new. Let someone else beta test them!

Depends on client budget as well…

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16

And I would definitely use only the desktop version of Pix4D rather than any cloud provider. If you serious about what you do, use the right tools that offer most flexibility. Remember, clients don’t give two hoots about the drone, they are purchasers of aerial data. Save the drone discussions for people like us!!!

17

My recent interview: http://waypoint.sensefly.com/dronepreneur-philip-angell-vps-dubai/

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18

Yes.  I’ve been using an eBee standard for about a year along with Pix4D.  I recently upgraded to the S.O.D.A. camera with very good results.  We use GPS on all of our sites and laying down GCPs are easy for us.  I’ve demo’ed both the eBee RTK and the eBee Plus RTK and haven’t been able to prove that the RTK option preforms any better.  Without GPCs on at least a 1000’ grid, I get too much warping in the point cloud surface when compared with actual RTK ground shots.  We also have a Phantom 4 pro (mostly used for video), but I’ve gotten good results using the Pix4D capture app.  I guess I just can’t come to terms with the fact that one cost $30k and the other costs $1500 and they yield pretty much the same accuracy.

19

On small projects I can appreciate it’s hard to see the benefit. But on huge surveys where you are imaging 10-15 Sq KM abd the eBee Plus is 3.5km from you with RTK Fixed, you wil realise that no multirotor can match that. Especiakky with a 1 hour flight time per battery…and when the start elevation is 700m above take off point in a mountainous area.

20

One thing is certain: drones will get more powerful and cheaper. Drone makers will need to adjust to the new reality.