Control Station Analysis

Control Station Analysis
“DJI GS Pro is an iPad app designed for industrial applications including but not limited to, aerial imaging, architecture, precision agriculture, electrical inspections, search and rescue, safety control, and more” ("DJI GS PRO User Manual," 2018). This software provides easy mission planning using an intelligent user interface and interactive menus. One can create waypoints by tapping on the map or simply uploading a file to the iPad. Another way that the software is useful is that it interacts with many of DJI’s aircraft, controllers and accessories. With this interaction, it is effortless to export data from a memory card straight to a computer for post-processing. The drop-down menus allow the user to choose an aircraft and payload, and if supported the app can determine certain features of the mission such as the area covered, resolution, optimal overlaps, and many other features. The quick menus allow users to choose things such as PhotoMap which “automatically generates flight paths after the user has set their required flight area and camera parameters. The aircraft will then follow this route to complete its aerial photography tasks” ("DJI GS PRO User Manual," 2018). Users can create virtual fences that define a specific area for the aircraft to fly in which is beneficial for operations in a specified area or flight training. The software also has an option for 3D Map area and 3D Map POI. These features allow the user to quickly and efficiently create 3D images that can be exported into a reconstruction program or the ability to create a 3D model of an object based on pictures.
From the mission page in the software, the user can see the connection of the aircraft to the flight controller, the flight mode, GNSS signal strength, remote controller strength, camera model, battery level, the aircraft battery, the iPad battery, and general settings. The mission page also has quick access to mission creation, scale, 2D and 3D switching, location, and navigation pane. This interface is constructed in a way that allows the operator access to all the information about the aircraft, GroundStation, and mission. Having such a wide variety of information available allows the user to adjust tasks or react to any issues that arise, always staying ahead of the aircraft and remaining situationally aware. I haven’t had any problems or bugs with this software, and it is something I use every day in my own personal business. A few problems I have heard of others having is the aircraft has a few settings that will not work with this app. There also was no popup or visual warning as to why these settings won’t work which seems like a programming issue. I assume these issues have been solved on DJI’s side. Another aspect is the newer aircraft require the use of the DGI GO 4 app to change specific settings and then switch back to the GS Pro app. Another problem that arises is the fact that a few of DJI’s aircraft are not supported within the app. However, the app will still allow the aircraft to fly the whole mission, but the craft won’t take pictures even though it flies the mission.
In conclusion, this software is very powerful and what I believe to be the best software in use for small unmanned systems that can be used for commercial use. With the few bugs and slight configuration issues, it definitely is worth it to use this software in my opinion.



References

DJI GS PRO User Manual. (2018, November 2). Retrieved November 25, 2018, from https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/groundstation_pro/20181102/GS_Pro_User_Manual_v2.0_EN_201811.pdf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sensing and Avoiding Space Debris

Sensing and Avoiding Space Debris The conventional approach to avoiding collisions in space centers on estimating where satellites and debris will be relative to each other on subsequent orbits. Technologists are also working on concepts for removing dead satellites and spent rocket stages from orbit. Given the plans private companies have for launching thousands of satellites, these strategies may not suffice. Space expert Dave Finkleman says it's time to consider an alternative approach (Finkleman, 2017). I find this article very fascinating, considering the fantastic amount of satellites that will be launched in the next decade. The premise of this article is to bring to light the growing amount of space debris as well as the amount of satalites inorbit with more planned in the coming years. Should there be more research into this growing field or is there more technology in the works for equipment that can collect or destroy the space debris. This tech will solve one ...
Read more

Unmanned Systems Maritime Search and Rescue

Unmanned Systems Maritime Search and Rescue This article covers the use of the Bluefin-9 by General Dynamics which is a UUV with many mission capabilities. I chose it because of the ease of use for rapid deployment search and rescue, and also because it provides line replaceable units or LRU’s for quick swapping batteries and data storage systems. The sensors that this machine is loaded with include a Sonardyne Solstice 3000 Multi-aperture sonar, Removable Data Storage Module (RDSM) w/ Camera, Turbidity and Fluorometer Sensor, and Sound Velocity Sensor + Temperature + Pressure ("Bluefin-9 Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV)"). All these sensors and payloads are exteroceptive sensors, and there are a few proprioceptive sensors to mention as well. These include the dashboard which automatically shifts communications to the highest bandwidth channel available providing you with a dynamic gateway to the vehicle, following this is a variety of specialized diagnostic interfaces wh...
Read more

UAS Sensor Placement

UAS Sensor Placement Sensor placement is crucial for commercial applications considering the data collected. I want to mention a few interesting installations in DJI’s UAS, first being the Matrice 210 which allows a camera to be placed on the top on the drone for bridge inspections or missions where the vehicle needs to fly under the object being inspected. The second is the Mavic 2 Enterprise which has additional payloads such as a visible strobe, loudspeaker, and spotlight. These sensors and payloads are examples of proper sensor placement in addition to the task they perform. The UAS I chose for aerial photography is the Phantom 4 RTK by DJI. This UAV will change the way we do aerial imagery through the means of its super precise GPS and 1in. Sensor camera. The drone operates the same way the other DJI drones with a ground controller and iPad or iPhone. Other ground station tablets can be purchased from DJI as well. The Phantom 4 has about 30 minutes of battery life and can ope...
Read more