Mapping/survey grid tool

If anyone could advise on a simpler way to design a mission while also having specific overlap values etc, please share it. I’m happy to help explain my method in further details

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I would LOVE an “area scan” feature like in UgCS. This is where drone( in my case a M600) is not carrying a camera payload. I want to be able to fly a standard grid and manually specify the distance between rows and altitude without reference to any camera FOV or image overlap.

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Hi James1, I tried to use Flight planner, without success. Do you know exists a tutorial?
Thanks!

Hi Fabio,

I’m considering making a video tutorial for the whole process of designing a flight and converting it into a litchi mission. For now it requires understanding the instructions on github and a little bit of experimenting.

I’m going to test my mission today in the field and if it’s all smooth I’ll start to make a tutorial tonight.

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The script I made for translating Mission Planner to Litchi. It requires some setup, it is a python script.
I was planning to compile this script for Windows and making a tutorial. Who would want to see it? If you want to, then like this message.

For now the ones who have Python installed and know how to use Mission Planner, here is the script:

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Hi James,

perfect.
Thank you very much!

I pre-release my script for converting Mission Planner Surveys to Litchi. It has been successfully tested multiple times with the Air 2 and Air 2S, however you use it at your own risk, I’m not responsible for any damage of your equipment.

YarostheLaunchpadder/MissionPlanner-to-Litchi: Convert Mission Planner (ArduCopter) Waypoint Missions to Litchi CSV Format to execute on DJI Drones (github.com)

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Please vote if you would like to have a mapping/survey grid tool added to Litchi

Yes please.
I Vote yes.
Thanks

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Tried several times to download you file from Github and it keeps failing to download.

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Now it should be fixed! Try again :slight_smile:

Nice work! Do you have the parameters for dji mini 2 camera to put in Mission planner?

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as per:

4.49 MM focal length
1.55um pixel size(square)
4024 x 3036 pixels, 4000 x 3000 used by camera

sensor is a 1/2.3 CMOS so i think it’s
6.17mm width by 4.55 mm height

maybe someone will correct me but you should validate these numbers yourself somewhere else to be sure

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Adittionally in Advanced Settings in the Survey tool (inside Mission Planner) you can select overlapping and sidelapping. It is not covered in the step-by-step tutorial on GitHub but I guess you can find that option pretty easily, there is also cross-grid which is pretty useful.

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Yes i have selected desired overlap but i want to be sure the camera settings is correct so i get the correct GSD. Another question, do i have to set action in litchi to tilt the camera 90 degree?

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I do not know the settings for the mini 2 as I don’t own one.
But I think they are the following:
4000 x 3000 image (in 4:3 mode, select before flight)
Sensor size: 6.17mm width by 4.55 mm height.
Focal length I don’t know, you need to measure. Take a photo with gimbal straight down from 50 meters height, then measure in google maps how many meters are seen in the photo horizontally. Then go to mission planner, set the survey height to 50 meters and then adjust the focal length until the number in the Field of View Horizontal (m) matches with the one measured.

About the gimbal: You don’t need to set any action in Litchi, in mission settings in litchi, before importing the mission, set the gimbal mode to disabled, as seen in step 14 in my github tutorial, then before starting the mission on your drone, just set the gimbal tilt manually to 90 degrees, using the gimbal wheel on the controller, then during the whole mission the gimbal position should stay as it was set before the misison.

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Great! Thanks for the help :slight_smile:

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Yaroslav,
I wanted to thank you personally.
your tutorial, time, and python are awesome.
I am working with your data now. I too am currently using a Mini 2.
Thanks again.

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The tutorial was very easy to follow even for this old guy. Now where can I find my camera specs for the Air 2S? Or does someone already have them that could post them here.
It would be nice to have a sticky with all the different camera specs for us to reference.
Thanks for the great work.

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hi

best i can do for you is link to this thread for discussions:
https://mavicpilots.com/threads/anybody-know-mavic-air-2s-camera-specs.121280/

the big thing to remember is that the focal length isn’t the “35mm equivalent”. When in doubt, take a photo with your drone and examine the EXIF data with a proper EXIF viewer. Focal length (and dozens of other pieces of data) is stored within the photos taken so you can obtain objective (well, DJI is notorious for having inaccurate info in EXIF) information about your drone there.

this is the focal length reported by photos in my mavic mini2

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My friend has the Air 2S camera specs and I will ask him to send them to me as soon as possible, then I will post them here on the forum.