Large Mission Tips

JDS · Jun 26, 2020

Hello all!

I have a Golf Course to map and conduct turf analysis on in the very near future. Due to it being a Zero grid, I have submitted and was given an approval for 100'.

Looking over the mission for 160 Acres with a 70/70 overlap, it's going to take over 5 hours to complete and 15 batteries, if memory serves me.

I have not done a mission so far that will take this amount of time. Do you guys have any tips? I have 8 batteries at my disposal for rotation.

Thanks!

TreeLineView · Jun 26, 2020

what mission app are you using? I fly large solar farms using Mission planner and Crystal sky. I have flown up to 9 missions, 28 acres in one mission. Setup in a central position and just pause the mission in between battery swaps. Keep in mind if the temp is above 80 degrees, you might have issues with your screen. iPads will surely overheat. I just did a 30 acre farm and took a 15 minute pause with the drone and controller in an air conditioned car to cool things down. No issues. It was 89 degrees

JDS · Jun 26, 2020

I'll be using Drone deploy for this one. I was looking for a new platform, but the alternative didn't work in time to switch.

I'll be high 90's when I fly this mission. I'll have a cooler and/or a truck to put the batteries in to cool down prior to charging them up.

That hardest part of this one is to ensure I don't break the 100' level and that Myself and the FO's can keep track of the drone through the trees. Probably going to be stuck in a bucket truck!

It'll be a long day for sure!

R Martin · Jun 26, 2020

JDS said:
Hello all!

I have a Golf Course to map and conduct turf analysis on in the very near future. Due to it being a Zero grid, I have submitted and was given an approval for 100'.

Looking over the mission for 160 Acres with a 70/70 overlap, it's going to take over 5 hours to complete and 15 batteries, if memory serves me.

I have not done a mission so far that will take this amount of time. Do you guys have any tips? I have 8 batteries at my disposal for rotation.

Thanks!

I've flown a few larger jobs with the Inspire I owned and I think you estimate of the amount of time that it is going to take is grossly under budget. I flew a 38 acre job on six TB48 batteries at 120' AGL in roughly three and a half hours hot swapping batteries and no field charging. You didn't mention the aircraft you plan on using for this so it's hard to really formulate an intelligent estimate.

The 100' cap on your ceiling is going to be a problem though. If I were to WAG this based upon what I have to work with I would guess at a minimum 12-14 hours of flight assuming that your charger can keep up with the aircraft, and if you are mapping there is control to set and retrieve as well.

JDS · Jun 26, 2020

R Martin said:
I've flown a few larger jobs with the Inspire I owned and I think you estimate of the amount of time that it is going to take is grossly under budget. I flew a 38 acre job on six TB48 batteries at 120' AGL in roughly three and a half hours hot swapping batteries and no field charging. You didn't mention the aircraft you plan on using for this so it's hard to really formulate an intelligent estimate.

The 100' cap on your ceiling is going to be a problem though. If I were to WAG this based upon what I have to work with I would guess at a minimum 12-14 hours of flight assuming that your charger can keep up with the aircraft, and if you are mapping there is control to set and retrieve as well.

I'll be flying a P3P for the first mission and a P3A with an NIR/G/B camera for the next mission for turf analysis.

What did you have your overlap set to?

What program were you using?

R Martin · Jun 26, 2020

JDS said:
I'll be flying a P3P for the first mission and a P3A with an NIR/G/B camera for the next mission for turf analysis.

What did you have your overlap set to?

What program were you using?

At the time we were using Pix4D Capture as the flight software with a 75/75 overlap, again at 120' AGL which barely got me over the top f the field lighting. All of those flights were single grid with the aircraft speed slaved to slow and no stops for triggering. You can probably bump the speed up a bit but I wouldn't (and never did fly a mapping flight above the mentioned settings to ensure that the shutter could keep up with the aircraft speed.)

I know my Sony RX1RII will snap every 7/10ths of a second if pushed but I still dial back and snap 1 frame a second. The image does have to be written to the memory card too and that is a 16-18MB image. I've long since switched to a commercial aircraft that can handle larger acreage in a lot less time but my standard flight altitude is 330 feet AGL in terrain following mode.

I do wish you luck and hope I am wrong on the WAG. I would prepare for a worse-case and hope for the best.

MapMaker53 · Jun 28, 2020

Mapping the golf course would probably be a lot more manageable if you break it up into sections and fly multiple missions. I agree with R Martin that to do this properly and at an altitude of no higher than 100 ft will take a significant amount of time, probably multiple days of flying, to map an 18 fairway area. Just make sure nothing in your flight areas are taller than 100 ft, such as trees, lighting poles, cell towers, etc.

R.Perry · Jun 28, 2020

Can't you get a clearance for a higher flight? Also do you really need a 70/70 overlap?

TKFlips · Jun 29, 2020

I'm in the process of doing similar work and found just planning each hole as a separate mission in DroneDeploy under a single project will allow you to queue up as many missions as you want to tackle when flying. I would at least break it into front and back nine then see what it takes battery / flight time wise.

JDS · Jun 29, 2020

R.Perry said:
Can't you get a clearance for a higher flight? Also do you really need a 70/70 overlap?

R.Perry,

It took me 9 months to get an approval and 4 denials above 100' in a 0 grid. It has proven difficult. The green area is where the Golf Course is.

JDS · Jun 29, 2020

TKFlips said:
I'm in the process of doing similar work and found just planning each hole as a separate mission in DroneDeploy under a single project will allow you to queue up as many missions as you want to tackle when flying. I would at least break it into front and back nine then see what it takes battery / flight time wise.

TK,

I just got myself familiar with the DD Queue this past weekend while flying some AG ops for a local grower. That may be the way to go.

R.Perry · Jun 29, 2020

JDS said:
R.Perry,

It took me 9 months to get an approval and 4 denials above 100' in a 0 grid. It has proven difficult. The green area is where the Golf Course is.

View attachment 2465

I can see why, I'm surprised you got an approval, that is really close to the approach or departure flight path.

Superwake · Jun 29, 2020

Have you considered using fixed wing UAVs or is quad the way to go for this type of mission?

JDS · Jun 30, 2020

R.Perry said:
I can see why, I'm surprised you got an approval, that is really close to the approach or departure flight path.

It was a difficult one for sure!

JDS · Jun 30, 2020

Superwake said:
Have you considered using fixed wing UAVs or is quad the way to go for this type of mission?

I have looked in to buying a fixed wing as my primary business model is AG. They can cover a mess of land in one flight. My two issues for pulling the trigger is that most farms in my area are in 160 AC parcels and most are not side by side. The other is cost--I just don't have the base clientele to justify the fixed wing--yet!

dempseycreekkid · Jul 6, 2020

I have mapped a 9 hole golf course (95 acres) breaking it down to ~45 acres cross hatch grid, basically 4 missions. 75/75, 197' using Inspire 2 with an 4xs payload (20 mp). 100' probably 3-4X more missions? I have also broken it down by hole using a matrice 100 with x3 payload (12 mp) @ 125' two years ago. I am using MapPilot and Pix4d.

Superwake · Jul 6, 2020

dempseycreekkid said:
I have mapped a 9 hole golf course (95 acres) breaking it down to ~45 acres cross hatch grid, basically 4 missions. 75/75, 197' using Inspire 2 with an 4xs payload (20 mp). 100' probably 3-4X more missions? I have also broken it down by hole using a matrice 100 with x3 payload (12 mp) @ 125' two years ago. I am using MapPilot and Pix4d.

We are building larger UAVs that can cover 1000 acres - 50,000 acres in 6 hours. Would something like that benefit these types of projects? We have been mainly focusing on government work thinking private stuff might be too small.