Practical tips and tricks when working with DJI drones and their autopilot systems
Greetings to all habrovchan, and those who are interested in the topic of quadcopters in particular! It just so happened that the last year I actively use DJI products, and after reading several articles I realized that there is not so much information besides the one stated in the manual. It is especially sad to read articles that say how someone broke / lost his quadric, making an elementary mistake. In this regard, I decided to write a little material in which I will describe my own observations and try to give useful advice to beginners DJs.
Disclaimer: some of the points described in this material may seem primitive to many, however, after reading a few articles on Habré about the DJI devices, I concluded that an educational program would not hurt. All conclusions are made by me personally and are based on the personal experience of using drones from DJI. Tips and comments will be highlighted in the course of the story, and for clarity, underline. Interesting? Then I ask for cat.
UPD: I recommend to read the comments, the participants added quite a lot of useful information!
And we begin, perhaps, with one of the most common to date quadrocopters from DJI - Phantom Vision 2.
')
In total “Phantoms”, from those that I saw on sale, there are three modifications:
FC40 is the first version of the Phantom; it is of little interest to us, because outdated, has a small battery, a simpler camera (compared to Vision 2 and 2+), a weak video link and other trivia, noticeably improved in Vision 2. Vision 2+ is essentially the same Vision 2, but with a camera that on a standard gimbal, it can shoot vertically down and increased (according to DJI themselves) the range of video signal reception (Since I personally did not use 2+, I can’t say this).
Since Vision 2+ is not yet very common, and the FC40 is already outdated - our choice falls on Vision 2. The manufacturer offers this engineering marvel for a modest $ 999 or for $ 1060 with an additional battery.
If there is an opportunity - it is better not to press, and buy a second battery immediately. Sooner or later, you will mature vseravno before buying it, and buying it in a set with a quadric will result in quite good savings.
We will not stop on anboxing, this kind of shaft in Google and on YouTube, the only thing that surprised me was the absence of any instructions, except for a small booklet, the essence of which is reduced to “Get out of the box, turn on, fly. Do not put your hands in propellers. ” Having visited the DJI site I found a rather tight manual already in 28 pages (The language, alas, is English, but it does not matter to me).
If this is your first drone, and if you do not have practical experience, print it out and put it in a box. It will be useful. At first, I sometimes lacked it "in the field."
Going a little ahead, I will say that the Naza-M autopilot is installed on Vision 2. It is also sold separately, for example, if you decide to assemble your own multi-rotor, but are not yet ready to write your own brains. By the way, Naza-M is not limited to quadrocopters, but also supports other layouts (trictors, hexacopters and even octocopter). But this is a completely different story, and in this article we will not dwell on this.
Finally, we have a box with a quadric in our hands, and, of course, we cannot wait to send the Chinese miracle of technology to the sky.
The first thing to do before the first flight is to cope with emotions. Most falls and “flyers” occur precisely because of the haste / excitement.
Unpacking the device, the first thing you need to charge all the batteries. Most likely, they will come with some charge (main battery Li-Po), but I still advise you to charge up to 100%. At this point, the Chinese thought of the mistakes of the user. The smart battery charges itself to the desired level, after which the charge stops, there is a temperature sensor, which will stop charging if something happens. The propellers of the right rotation cannot be screwed onto the engines of the left, and so on. At this stage, you have to try hard to break something. The signal booster (so-called range extender) is charged by USB, at 100% charge the LED will turn green. And the most important thing:
Do not skimp on the batteries for the remote. Buy normal Duracel's. The basic principle of droning - the miser pays three times!
In the meantime, the batteries are charging, you can download the software for setting up a quad from the official site - dji.com .
Why do we need some kind of software if the device is positioned as RTF - Ready to Fly (ready to fly)? It's very simple, in case of any abnormal situation, the autopilot switches to Failsafe mode in order to save the life of your candy wrapper. However, there are already three variations of Failsafe:
Immediately, I note that “it sits smoothly” may be different from your understanding, understanding “smoothly.” Especially if it comes to the emergency discharge of the battery, quadrics, lightly planning, the stone will go to the ground.
Look at what mode you have, and what position of the S2 toggle switch translates the candy wrapper to Failsafe. Remember this.
If you have a phone or tablet on Android and iOS, download the DJI Vision software. Launch it at home in advance, the first time she asks for registration, though no confirmation is sent to the mail, which allows you to draw the appropriate conclusion. Why do we need it? We will talk in the next section.
And so, if the batteries are charged, and the operator does not want to eat, drink, or sleep in the toilet - you can prepare for the first flight!
When we arrive at the place of departure, we first calibrate the compass. Although the Chinese do not write about it anywhere, I personally recommend doing a compass calibration before each flight, and it is in the place from where you are going to take off. In no case do not recommend to take off from reinforced concrete structures and near large metal objects. The compass gets off, after which the behavior of the quadric in the air is unpredictable.
We include the complex in the following order:
Now we need to give Fantik a minute and a half so that he can catch enough satellites and initialize Wi-Fi.
I do not recommend flying if the number of satellites caught before takeoff is less than six.
If there are satellites, the backside of the quad lights up green, you can connect via Wi-Fi to an open access point range extender'a.
In addition to the real-time video stream, the program shows a bunch of useful information, such as: battery level, number of satellites caught, distance to a quadric (albeit in feet, albeit), quadric height (here, too, alas, it is very approximate).
If you do not have a phone / tablet on Android and iOS (you never know) - do not be stingy, buy the simplest tablet on aliexpress. Without information about the battery charge and video stream, I can hardly imagine how you can fly normally.
We start the engines, keeping the controls sticking diagonally down to each other, and see if all the propellers rotate normally, or if there are any extraneous sounds.
If there are no comments, we take off. I see no point in describing the process of piloting, everything is intuitive, and, thanks to a fairly good stabilization system, is simple. The only thing worth noting is that you should not decline too quickly.
During the flight, you should always monitor the battery level. The first warning comes when the battery charges at 30%. With a charge of 15%, the quadric will start to be planted by itself, and, as mentioned earlier, “smoothly” is almost a stone down. Personally, I try to never bring the charge to a critical point, and I land at 32-31%.
DJI assure that telemetry is stable at a distance of up to 300 meters. Personally, after 200, “hangs” have already started.
To minimize these “hang-ups”, you should set the minimum quality of previews in the DJI Vision settings. I use a mobile phone on android, even with the minimum quality of the preview, the picture is distinguishable, and believe me, the better picture is slightly worse than the “hanging up” when the quadric is no longer visible visually. Moreover, he writes in 1080p 30FPS, regardless of the quality of the preview.
Landing is not tricky, but there is a nuance. My instructions say that the same combination of sticks is used to start and stop the engines. This is not entirely true. The fact is that if you sit on the ground, and then both sticks are reduced to each other down diagonally (as indicated in the manual), the quadrics will be cut into the ground and will cut it with propellers.
For a smooth landing, after contact with the ground, it is necessary to lower the left stick vertically down, while not touching the right one, and hold it in this position for a few seconds. Engines smoothly stall.
It often happens that after landing, looking around, you remember that you didn’t have time to “there” or forgot to take it off, and intuitively start to take off.
This can lead to a fatal error, since after landing it is necessary to completely turn off the quadric and all the equipment, and before the next take-off everything is turned on again. Otherwise, a control failure may occur, or the Fantik will fly itself, not responding to the control.
This is an autopilot joke, I don’t know if it was fixed in the latest firmware, but I don’t want to check.
That turned out to be a modest opus, I hope someone will come in handy, yet I think it is better to walk on other people's rakes.
PS: The eye is a little "zamililsya" after typing, missing commas and typos, which probably is, eliminate.
Disclaimer: some of the points described in this material may seem primitive to many, however, after reading a few articles on Habré about the DJI devices, I concluded that an educational program would not hurt. All conclusions are made by me personally and are based on the personal experience of using drones from DJI. Tips and comments will be highlighted in the course of the story, and for clarity, underline. Interesting? Then I ask for cat.
UPD: I recommend to read the comments, the participants added quite a lot of useful information!
So, let's begin
And we begin, perhaps, with one of the most common to date quadrocopters from DJI - Phantom Vision 2.
')
In total “Phantoms”, from those that I saw on sale, there are three modifications:
- - FC40
- - Vision 2
- - Vision 2+
FC40 is the first version of the Phantom; it is of little interest to us, because outdated, has a small battery, a simpler camera (compared to Vision 2 and 2+), a weak video link and other trivia, noticeably improved in Vision 2. Vision 2+ is essentially the same Vision 2, but with a camera that on a standard gimbal, it can shoot vertically down and increased (according to DJI themselves) the range of video signal reception (Since I personally did not use 2+, I can’t say this).
Since Vision 2+ is not yet very common, and the FC40 is already outdated - our choice falls on Vision 2. The manufacturer offers this engineering marvel for a modest $ 999 or for $ 1060 with an additional battery.
If there is an opportunity - it is better not to press, and buy a second battery immediately. Sooner or later, you will mature vseravno before buying it, and buying it in a set with a quadric will result in quite good savings.
We will not stop on anboxing, this kind of shaft in Google and on YouTube, the only thing that surprised me was the absence of any instructions, except for a small booklet, the essence of which is reduced to “Get out of the box, turn on, fly. Do not put your hands in propellers. ” Having visited the DJI site I found a rather tight manual already in 28 pages (The language, alas, is English, but it does not matter to me).
If this is your first drone, and if you do not have practical experience, print it out and put it in a box. It will be useful. At first, I sometimes lacked it "in the field."
Going a little ahead, I will say that the Naza-M autopilot is installed on Vision 2. It is also sold separately, for example, if you decide to assemble your own multi-rotor, but are not yet ready to write your own brains. By the way, Naza-M is not limited to quadrocopters, but also supports other layouts (trictors, hexacopters and even octocopter). But this is a completely different story, and in this article we will not dwell on this.
Preflight preparation
Finally, we have a box with a quadric in our hands, and, of course, we cannot wait to send the Chinese miracle of technology to the sky.
The first thing to do before the first flight is to cope with emotions. Most falls and “flyers” occur precisely because of the haste / excitement.
Unpacking the device, the first thing you need to charge all the batteries. Most likely, they will come with some charge (main battery Li-Po), but I still advise you to charge up to 100%. At this point, the Chinese thought of the mistakes of the user. The smart battery charges itself to the desired level, after which the charge stops, there is a temperature sensor, which will stop charging if something happens. The propellers of the right rotation cannot be screwed onto the engines of the left, and so on. At this stage, you have to try hard to break something. The signal booster (so-called range extender) is charged by USB, at 100% charge the LED will turn green. And the most important thing:
Do not skimp on the batteries for the remote. Buy normal Duracel's. The basic principle of droning - the miser pays three times!
In the meantime, the batteries are charging, you can download the software for setting up a quad from the official site - dji.com .
Why do we need some kind of software if the device is positioned as RTF - Ready to Fly (ready to fly)? It's very simple, in case of any abnormal situation, the autopilot switches to Failsafe mode in order to save the life of your candy wrapper. However, there are already three variations of Failsafe:
- - Quadric returns to takeoff location
- - Kvadrik gains a given height (by default it costs 20 meters) and returns to the take-off location
- - Kvadrik smoothly sits
Immediately, I note that “it sits smoothly” may be different from your understanding, understanding “smoothly.” Especially if it comes to the emergency discharge of the battery, quadrics, lightly planning, the stone will go to the ground.
Look at what mode you have, and what position of the S2 toggle switch translates the candy wrapper to Failsafe. Remember this.
If you have a phone or tablet on Android and iOS, download the DJI Vision software. Launch it at home in advance, the first time she asks for registration, though no confirmation is sent to the mail, which allows you to draw the appropriate conclusion. Why do we need it? We will talk in the next section.
First flight
And so, if the batteries are charged, and the operator does not want to eat, drink, or sleep in the toilet - you can prepare for the first flight!
When we arrive at the place of departure, we first calibrate the compass. Although the Chinese do not write about it anywhere, I personally recommend doing a compass calibration before each flight, and it is in the place from where you are going to take off. In no case do not recommend to take off from reinforced concrete structures and near large metal objects. The compass gets off, after which the behavior of the quadric in the air is unpredictable.
We include the complex in the following order:
- Turn on the remote
- Enable range extender
- We include the quadric itself
Now we need to give Fantik a minute and a half so that he can catch enough satellites and initialize Wi-Fi.
I do not recommend flying if the number of satellites caught before takeoff is less than six.
If there are satellites, the backside of the quad lights up green, you can connect via Wi-Fi to an open access point range extender'a.
In addition to the real-time video stream, the program shows a bunch of useful information, such as: battery level, number of satellites caught, distance to a quadric (albeit in feet, albeit), quadric height (here, too, alas, it is very approximate).
If you do not have a phone / tablet on Android and iOS (you never know) - do not be stingy, buy the simplest tablet on aliexpress. Without information about the battery charge and video stream, I can hardly imagine how you can fly normally.
We start the engines, keeping the controls sticking diagonally down to each other, and see if all the propellers rotate normally, or if there are any extraneous sounds.
If there are no comments, we take off. I see no point in describing the process of piloting, everything is intuitive, and, thanks to a fairly good stabilization system, is simple. The only thing worth noting is that you should not decline too quickly.
During the flight, you should always monitor the battery level. The first warning comes when the battery charges at 30%. With a charge of 15%, the quadric will start to be planted by itself, and, as mentioned earlier, “smoothly” is almost a stone down. Personally, I try to never bring the charge to a critical point, and I land at 32-31%.
A few words about the video link
DJI assure that telemetry is stable at a distance of up to 300 meters. Personally, after 200, “hangs” have already started.
To minimize these “hang-ups”, you should set the minimum quality of previews in the DJI Vision settings. I use a mobile phone on android, even with the minimum quality of the preview, the picture is distinguishable, and believe me, the better picture is slightly worse than the “hanging up” when the quadric is no longer visible visually. Moreover, he writes in 1080p 30FPS, regardless of the quality of the preview.
Landing
Landing is not tricky, but there is a nuance. My instructions say that the same combination of sticks is used to start and stop the engines. This is not entirely true. The fact is that if you sit on the ground, and then both sticks are reduced to each other down diagonally (as indicated in the manual), the quadrics will be cut into the ground and will cut it with propellers.
For a smooth landing, after contact with the ground, it is necessary to lower the left stick vertically down, while not touching the right one, and hold it in this position for a few seconds. Engines smoothly stall.
After landing
It often happens that after landing, looking around, you remember that you didn’t have time to “there” or forgot to take it off, and intuitively start to take off.
This can lead to a fatal error, since after landing it is necessary to completely turn off the quadric and all the equipment, and before the next take-off everything is turned on again. Otherwise, a control failure may occur, or the Fantik will fly itself, not responding to the control.
This is an autopilot joke, I don’t know if it was fixed in the latest firmware, but I don’t want to check.
That turned out to be a modest opus, I hope someone will come in handy, yet I think it is better to walk on other people's rakes.
PS: The eye is a little "zamililsya" after typing, missing commas and typos, which probably is, eliminate.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/229961/
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