Activity 2 - Using Mission Planner Software/Pre-flight Procedures

Introduction: 
This week we focused on the basics of using mission planner software that can be found for free here: Mission Planner. We also focused on pre-flight procedures and the importance of them before flying. The original plan was too go out and fly missions we came up with but the weather did not permit it so we did what we could with the weather situation.

Study Area/Methods:
To learn the basics about Mission Planner we played around with it in the lab before taking it outside and using it for imaging purposes. Being free and open ware the software has a lot of potential for further growth and customization. Ours was setup to be used with 3DRobotics aircraft and various popular cameras used for imaging. It was especially interesting experimenting using different platforms and cameras and seeing how by switching those affected how long it would take to capture an area. With the software you have a variety of options when it comes to coming up with a path or a full polygon. You can also adjust the speeds flown and the altitude of the device. There was also an area on the software that highlighted statistics for you aircraft including speed, altitude, how high of quality the gps lock was, etc.  Overall the software was very user friendly.

Below are some screen shots I took of some possible flights we could do.
 

On the left side you can see items such as how big of an area you are planning on capturing, the flight time needed and how many pictures will be taken. On the right you can select what platform will be flying and the sensor you are using for capturing images. You can also select the altitude and speed as shown on the right side of the screenshot.

After exploring the Mission Planner we decided to go outside and simulate a pre-flight check and get everything setup as if we were about to do a flight and capture images.

Dr. Hupy showing us how to go through the preflight checklist and connect everything to the computer.

3DR Iris 

While getting everything setup Dr. Hupy and Dr. P showed us the importance of having a strong GPS signal and using a pole to get the antenna above a lot of the interference. Dr. Hupy also walked us through a pre-flight check which we all ran through afterwards as the link below shows. To operate the platform it is best to have at least three people involved in the process, someone manning the computer and filling out the check list and once in flight monitoring using the computer. The next person is responsible for going through the aircraft making sure everything is in working condition and piloting while a third person has the role of spotting and assessing the ground situation while keeping an eye on the drone and working with everyone making sure everything is doing what it should be doing.

Pre-Flight Check List

These check lists are important to make sure safety is paramount. With pre-flight checks like this there is a good history of record keeping and it helps maintain the equipment and gives you credibility. It takes a little extra time in the beginning but once you get the hang of it the checks go quickly and will save you time and headaches in the long run. 

Discussion:

With the weather the way it was it made it hard to do any image capturing however what we did accomplish was very important and will help us with further classes and future flights. Everything we did makes sense and I can see the purpose for good record keeping. The Mission Planning software seems very effective and efficient and I'm eager to see it in action. 

Conclusion:

We accomplished everything we planned on doing except for image capturing but weather permitting we will have more opportunities to do so. Next time we go into the field we will be much more familiar with running the Mission Planner and also running through pre-flight checks to make sure everything is in working condition and we keep safety first and foremost.