Waypoint Feature - why the limit?

[SteveNunez]

Excellent- waiting in anticipation of this!

 

[Freedom1955]

Here is what I have been told from a Autel rep:

"In the current released version of the App, we have a limiter set up at 500m. That changes in the Beta app to 3 KM, the Beta app should be fully released in a couple of days.
We have in the roadmap to have a switch to allow the limits to be turned off. This will enable our commercial users to not be bothered by the limits. I do not have a timeline on this change, but it is part of the plan in the near future."

 

[Agabus]

Here is what I have been told from a Autel rep:

"In the current released version of the App, we have a limiter set up at 500m. That changes in the Beta app to 3 KM, the Beta app should be fully released in a couple of days.
We have in the roadmap to have a switch to allow the limits to be turned off. This will enable our commercial users to not be bothered by the limits. I do not have a timeline on this change, but it is part of the plan in the near future."

So that explains why our firmware does not allow access to the 3KM.... we are not commercial users. It sounded too good to be true. I guess the Texas Rangers will be happy with their EVO's however.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Getting a waiver for BLOS and flying over people even for the biggests commercial users like CNN is very hard. They are the only ones that have that option as far as I know and they would not be using a toy drone like the EVO LOL . If you think some realestate dude is going to get that waiver good luck.

 

[Agabus]

As I reported elsewhere they seem to have opened up the Waypoints to 3 KM for everyone. I flew today without the Circle Of Doom showing up. The update was in the Autel Explorer App. I was using waypoints around 600 meters... previous limit was 500 meters, so it seems to be across the board for all users.

 

[Freedom1955]

I am being told that in the future there will be a switch to turn off the limiter. And this will be in effect to all customers!

 

[Agabus]

I would think that at a limit of 1.86 miles.... the current limit as I understand it...we are limited by the battery charge already.

 

[Freedom1955]

I prefer no limits although you are correct we are limited to battery charge. Thats one thing I like about my BeBop 2 Power and the Freeflight Pro App. The Bebop 2 Power has longer flight times than the EVO and when I do a Waypoint route as I map it out there is a button you can push that will tell you how long the flight will take. If you change speeds, shorten or lengthen route it will adjust the time the flight will take. It does not take into consideration the wind factor which is how I lost one of my Bebop 2's. I also very much light the POI feature also in the Freeflight Pro app.

 

[GLEvideo]

Am I alone with this idea?? It would be most useful to be able to program an action to happen at or between certain waypoints. Such as, shoot several frames or begin video recording or fly with 15 degrees yaw to the right for the purpose of shooting video as it flies by an object such as a cliff or shoreline rather than just aiming straight ahead. Just flying from one waypoint to another doesn't seem terribly useful to me unless you just want to see or hear your quad buzz around without having to control it.

 

[YuKay]

Since the law requires you to be present and awake, it doesn't seem like too much of a stretch to change the yaw or press the Record button when you want to film. You certainly don't have to film straight ahead: check out Dustin Dunnill's smart modes fly-through:

 

[fly186]

I setup and flew a waypoint mission that had a max distance of just under 2500 ft. That's about 760 meters so I don't think the earlier post about a 500m limit is correct.This is using the latest firmware (1.3.3.17).
What I don't like about the waypoint mode is that it *appears* that the waypoints are sent to the Evo one at a time. So it arrives at waypoint X and then it appears the RC sends waypoint X+1. This is instead of all waypoints being loaded when the flight is started. It would be good to get confirmation on how this really works.

 

[GLEvideo]

it *appears* that the waypoints are sent to the Evo one at a time

I'll try to experiment with this a little. In the APP I see that you can program a different altitude and heading at each waypoint. I'm looking for ways to set waypoints on a map ahead of a flight and have the camera (aircraft) stay pointed toward an object as it flies by rather than trying to use the twitchy joystick to try and aim the camera with manual yaw adjustments. I've also noticed that the APP seems to have some waypoint editing function but I have not yet been successful in getting that to work. There is a left and right arrow to page through the list of waypoints so edits can be made but pressing the arrows doesn't do anything, it's always stuck on the last waypoint. Getting into the edit mode is kind of hit and miss and I can't always get that to happen but I guess that doesn't matter because, as I said, I can't seem to be able to make edits anyway. It looks like the APP itself needs some work or perhaps I need a little more information and instruction.

In addition, with the controller serially sending each waypoint one at a time means there must always be strong connection between aircraft and controller. I know that the RTH is initiated once that connection is degraded or lost. I'm really wanting to find a way for more autonomous waypoint missions where there may be short possible loss of signal but the mission can continue. EX: there is a specific canyon I would like to fly through just as the sun angle is right for magic light and part of the flight would be just barley beyond the horizon until the aircraft comes through the other side of the canyon. I can't find a position where I can control the aircraft and always have line of sight as it flies the route so it needs to be autonomous. I know there are fixed wing models that can do that but with a fast moving fixed wing that likely has no collision avoidance there is certainly higher risk involved.

 

[GLEvideo]

Did a few flights the other day and tried a few options with orbit and waypoints. The orbit distance seems rather limited. I think it was something like 300 feet out from the center. Beyond that it will not do anything but sit there and hover. Tried some waypoint programmed flights such as flying in close from a distant high position, swooping down in close for a close up view. It won't do it. Can't give it a waypoint of much more than a couple hundred feet and it won't take a waypoint in close and down low. Probably because of collision avoidance overrides. Can't change the screen to zoom out so I can see where I wan't to set a waypoint. Doesn't allow two finger pinch to zoom in or out. Touching the screen just plants another waypoint. But each time I set a waypoint and pressed START then some message pops up on the screen. While trying to squint and read the message it disappears. It doesn't stay on near long enough to get my eyes focused on it so I've never been able to see what it's trying to tell me. What are the possible messages and how do you get them to stay on the screen long enough to read?

 

[GLEvideo]

Just attempted another waypoint programmed flight today and it refused to fly it saying that the waypoint was too much distance. This is with the fresh firmware downloaded and installed late February 2019. Running iOS Explorer Application. So the waypoint limit has NOT been fixed in this firmware release as many of us thought was going to happen. At least it did not happen for iOS connections. Wondering about those of you who use Android. I also built a waypoint mission with many several (probably about 10) waypoints with some stretches of distance between them but never putting the aircraft more than about 1,200 feet away from me at any time. It refused to fly that too saying there was too much distance. This limitation is rather frustrating as I have missions where I need it to fly straight out to certain waypoints, shoot a few photos and video and then come straight back. These are waypoints I can set on the mapping software ahead of time but cannot fly it manually because I can't see enough fine detail in my phone screen to know if I've arrived at the point of interest. Sure need these waypoints to work with more distance.

 

[Apollo11capcom]

The waypoint system needs attention in a number of places. I wasn't aware of this limitation as I don't do autonomous flights much, and when I do they're not usually out of my line of sight... that being said, I still vote strongly to get rid of the limitation. For petes sake, get rid of all of the limitations, we're all adults here. Or should be anyway. I don't usually go over 200 feet in altitude, still, the altitude limitation bothers the heck out of me!

Just add an on/off switch for any limitation, have the user click a box stating they understand the risks absolving Autel of any liability, and be done with it.

 

[SteveNunez]

I’m using an iPhone 6S with the Autel app and I did not encounter the distance limit and programmed a flight of about a mile and half (or so) and it went perfectly. I still think they need to remove the pause at each waypoint as default and allow the user to set delays if desired at each waypoint. Other than that- the flight mission went perfectly.

 

[G_G]

Current limit for total Waypoint mission length is 5 km. That prevents programming a roundtrip Waypoint mission to 3 miles away and returning, which is well within the battery capacity to return safely. Currently, the only way to do that is with two separate missions, one for the outleg, and one for the return leg. No limit, or at least a 10 km limit would be far better. I suppose their thinking is that if you created a 10 km mission of two waypoints, RTH would not make it back, but maybe you want to create a one way mission 10km away so you can extend the range beyond the battery's capacity to return home, as you follow along behind.

We also certainly need a lost signal mission continues capabilty like Litchi offers for all DJI aircraft. However, that requires the entire mission be loaded at the beginning, instead of serially loading waypoints one at a time, after each successive waypoint is reached! RTH initiation from signal loss during a waypoint mission defeats one of the main purposes of using autonomous flight, which is where you know signal will be lost out of LOS, such as missions behind nearby buildings or behind a nearby hill at low altitude.

There is no maximum waypoint altitude limit other than the one set by the user up to 2624 feet for all flights, although the default value is 197 feet for each waypoint and there is a minimum altitude of 33 feet.

 

[Bulldoggboyz]

I tried several times to lower the waypoint altitude from 197 feet and while it allowed me to change the value in the setting, it did not actually accept my new request and it stayed running my missions at 197 feet. I tried this a few times with no luck. Not sure why it does this, as I can see it says a minimum of 33 feet.

 

[Freedom1955]

Current limit for total Waypoint mission length is 5 km. That prevents programming a roundtrip Waypoint mission to 3 miles away and returning, which is well within the battery capacity to return safely. Currently, the only way to do that is with two separate missions, one for the outleg, and one for the return leg. No limit, or at least a 10 km limit would be far better. I suppose their thinking is that if you created a 10 km mission of two waypoints, RTH would not make it back, but maybe you want to create a one way mission 10km away so you can extend the range beyond the battery's capacity to return home, as you follow along behind.

We also certainly need a lost signal mission continues capabilty like Litchi offers for all DJI aircraft. However, that requires the entire mission be loaded at the beginning, instead of serially loading waypoints one at a time, after each successive waypoint is reached! RTH initiation from signal loss during a waypoint mission defeats one of the main purposes of using autonomous flight, which is where you know signal will be lost out of LOS, such as missions behind nearby buildings or behind a nearby hill at low altitude.

There is no maximum waypoint altitude limit other than the one set by the user up to 2624 feet for all flights, although the default value is 197 feet for each waypoint and there is a minimum altitude of 33 feet.

The part about the mission ends with signal loss is a real bummer. The software for flying autonomous flights is really,really inferior. If I would have know it was this bad I wouldn't have purchased the Evo. Because of my inexperience with drones I thought the Evo's software for autonomous flights would be at least as feature packed as my Bebop 2 but with a better camera on the Evo especially considering the price difference. I was wrong and I don't anticipate it will ever reach the level of the Bebop 2.
I very well may sell the Evo because of this.

 

[G_G]

I tried several times to lower the waypoint altitude from 197 feet and while it allowed me to change the value in the setting, it did not actually accept my new request and it stayed running my missions at 197 feet. I tried this a few times with no luck. Not sure why it does this, as I can see it says a minimum of 33 feet.

The iOS version of Explorer is missing several key necessary features. That may be one of them. Pick up a $119 8" Samsung Tab A Android tablet at CostCo, like I did yesterday, for a much happier EVO experience! When the value is acceptable in the height box, it will not be red when you save it. Try putting in 3000 feet to see the difference. Play around with the numbers to find out if it stays red for all values below 197 feet. Try 34 feet instead of 33 feet.