Phantom 3 Pro Rotates around it's yaw axis during flight

[meysam_esfandiarfar]

Hello,

I use Pix4d android Application for photogrammetry with Phantom 3 Pro.

     The problem that I recently encountered is rotating the drone around it’s yaw axis during the straight forward motion. it yaws gently and takes pictures until it reaches end of the flight line. I’ve uploaded some photos of flight operations to express this issue better.

The flight details are as follows:

1- Pix4d and Ctrl+DJI application has been updated.(I performed these tests with Previous update and this update version(4.4.1) of Pix4d capture, and both have given one result.)

2- Drone and Radio Control firmware has been updated.

2- DJI GO has been updated.

3- Compass has been calibrated before flight.

4- IMU has been calibrated and it is in good condition.

5- DJI GO doesn’t show any error on screen and every thing is in good condition.

6- Drone does “return to home” operation well. 

One of the assumptions may be that, there is a problem with the compass, and if the Pix4d uses data combination of GPS and Compass Simultaneously, then the compass error may have caused this problem.

I would appreciate if you can help me to solve this problem. Thanks

 

[Gael]

Hi Meysem,

Thank for the details and the screenshots provided.

As you checked already a lot of things, my guess is that you set the face option to center in the flight settings. (the flight settings are accessible when you plan your flight on the top right corner of the screen)
Indeed the screenshot you provided highly suggest that you set this option as the drone camera seems to look at the same point all along its flight path which is the goal of the center option. It is useful for 3D reconstruction for example.
You have to set the face parameter to forward so that the camera does not get any yaw angle anytime.

If it is not the case I would suggest you to clear Cache and DATA following the procedure below:

Caution

The procedure below may imply data loss so we recommend to make a backup if there are important data saved. Connect the mobile device and copy the Pix4D folder (Local Storage > Device storage > Pix4D) to your computer.

1. Clear data and clear cache memory of the application

1. Open the Settings application on the Android device.
2. Scroll the list and tap Apps, Applications or Manage apps.
3. (optional) On certain devices like Samsung, tap Application Manager.
4. Scroll the list to find the application.
5. From the list, tap Storage.
6. Tap CLEAR DATA and CLEAR CACHE.

Tell me if it works for you.

Best,

[meysam_esfandiarfar]

Hi Gaël,

I really appreciate for your detailed response.

In all of these tests, I thought the camera was on forward face. Now that I’ve checked in flight logs, and in all the troubled flights, the camera face is in the center mode. So this problem will surely be resolved with this correction in flight settings.

It’s so cool … the same thing that caused the error, I was skipped over and thought It was in forward mode!

Anyway, I’m very grateful for your advice and I am glad that this question that has struck my mind was fixed.

In the following, with respect, I have a suggestion for you that may be good if you are paying attention:

The software does not have option to change the side overlap and the front overlap separately. In some projects, it is necessary to set these two items individually. Possibly, with this feature, we will see better performance from the Pix4dcapture software.

 

best regards

[Gael]

Hi Meysam,

Glad that the root cause has most probably been found in your case.

Thank you also for your suggestion about the side overlap. I will share it with the developer’s team so that they consider to add a feature to set both frontal and side overlap individually. 
On Android, at the moment, the side overlap is calculated automatically so that it is as close as possible with the frontal overlap.

Note that on the iOS version of Pix4Dcapture, you have the possibility to set the frontal and side overlap individually.

Best,

[meysam_esfandiarfar]

Hi Gaël,

Thank you very much for answering and tracking the cases.

it’s very good that the iOS version of Pix4Dcapture has the possibility to set the frontal and side overlap individually. Given that a significant number of users use the Android version, adding this option to Android application will increase the performance of the software.

with respect
Good luck