Mission Planning

The following instructions are a basic guide to Mission planning in QGC, going over how to create a mission, select mission type, change speed, adjust camera settings and start a mission.

NOTE: QGC Documentation and Mission Planning

https://docs.qgroundcontrol.com/master/en/PlanView/PlanView.html

NOTE: This applies to RGB camera payloads, dynamic options for lidar systems are not specified.

Mission Planning

STEP

ACTION

NOTES

Open QGroundControl and navigate to the Plan tab

Plan tab is indicated by the waypoint symbol on your computer or Herelink Controller, point A to point B

Select your desired plan (Point A to Point B icon)

You have the option of:

Blank, Survey, Corridor Scan, and Structure Scan Corridor and Survey are the most commonly used mission types

NOTE: In the following example we will be displaying a Survey plan.

When a new mission is created, you will see an option for Takeoff appear on your screen indicated by an orange circle T (Fig. 2)

Click and drag the Takeoff icon to your desired location on the QGC map display

Select 'Done Adjusting’ (Fig. 2 below) to move forward

Once you have created your Takeoff location, you will see the Mission Creation screen with options to create your mission borders and waypoints.

On the right side of the screen, navigate to the Mission Start tab

To adjust Waypoint altitude for all mission waypoints

Set mission flight speed for calculation of total mission time (Fig. 3 below)

Changing altitude will prompt you to apply the new altitude to all items in the current mission

Survey Mission

In the QGC Survey subsection (external link) of the Mission tab you will see a selection menu displayed in the top of the Mission planning screen providing different survey mission layouts (Fig. 4)

Mission Layout

Description

Survey Basic

Will create a 4 point border box with a series of white lines and an arrow showing the direction and path the vehicle will fly on its automated mission.

Circular

Will create a CenterPoint with a white dot radius to adjust the circle width.

Trace

Will allow you to create border vertices individually

When creating waypoints, pan on map using two fingers to scroll and one to select position of waypoint.

Click and drag the points to your desired mission borders and select ‘Done With Polygon’ (Fig. 5) to move forward

You can also upload a KML waypoint file to populate waypoints in QGC

Polygon Aspects

Indicating

Green Box

Where the drone will survey

White Lines

Flight path

Green circle icon with a waypoint numbering and connecting to the takeoff icon with an orange line with an arrow

The first waypoint the vehicle will travel to

After the first waypoint

White Line with an Arrow

Which direction the vehicle will travel

White Dots

Border Vertex

NOTE: Add/ Remove Vertex

Add a vertex with the + icon between 2 existing points. Remove a vertex by selecting one of the existing vertices (Seen below in Fig. 6).

Survey Tab

The Survey tab, on the right side of QGC planning screen, will populate with Grid, Camera and Preset subsection options.

Survey Tab Subsections

Allows the user to preview the survey area and simulate a mission before execution, providing the opportunity to make any necessary adjustments to the survey plan.

(Manual Camera setting Grid Options)

Altitude
Trigger Distance
Spacing
Transects-Angle
Turnaround Distance
Rotate Entry Point

(Custom/Other Camera setting Grid Options)

Overlap
Altitude
Ground Resolution
Transects-Angle
Turnaround Distance
Rotate Entry Point

Camera Settings

IMPORTANT! If Using an Optical Camera Payload

Read through the following steps for setting up the camera options.

Under the Camera subsection there is a selection dropdown (Fig. 8 seen below) with some preset camera options to choose from. In order to properly run your mission, make sure your camera settings are input correctly.

NOTE: Different Cameras Have Different Specs

That will cause inaccuracy of data if the settings are incorrect. Double check your specific camera options to ensure the mission data collection is as accurate as possible.

Manual (No Camera Specs)

Survey tab > Camera > Manual (No Camera Specs)

Selecting Manual Camera allows you to enter in the survey grid tab: Altitude, Photo Trigger Distance and Line Spacing manually in the Grid subsection (Fig. 10).

Altitude

Mission flight height

Survey units can be changed in application settings

Photo Trigger Distance

How far the drone will fly before the camera is triggered

Smaller values = More images captured

Line Spacing

Distance between each flight path

Manually in the Grid subsection

Custom Camera

Survey tab > Camera > Custom Camera

In the Grid subsection, when Custom Camera is selected, allows you to enter:

Photo Front Lap

Photo overlap in the flight direction

Side Lap

Set height manually (or QGC automated)

Altitude Checkbox

Set height manually

Ground Resolution Checkbox

Have QGC calculate the altitude to achieve a specific Ground Resolution

NOTE: Use the 35mm equivalent of your lens to calculate data correctly

Known Camera

Survey tab > Camera > Known Other Camera (Choose from the pre-programmed list)

The Grid tab options will remain the same as custom known camera Grid options (Fig. 12 above)

Transects

Mission > Survey > Grid > Transect Subsection

In the Grid subsection of the survey tab (scroll down) > Transects subsection you will see options for:

Transect Angle

Adjust flight angle of the survey polygon

Turnaround Distance

Control distance beyond the polygon the vehicle will travel when turning around

Rotate Entry Point

Select different vertex waypoint to start the mission

The Options dropdown shows different mission parameters to hover when taking an image (Fig.17 below)

NOTE: Run 90 Degree Cross Pattern (Fig. 17)

Have the vehicle run a 90 degree cross pattern and enable images in turnaround

Terrain Following

Mission > Survey > Grid > Terrain subsection

STEP

ACTION

NOTES

Enable Terrain Following

Downloaded offline maps

Use QGC Basic Guide to download offline maps with elevation data

NOW you can use Terrain Following checkbox

Clicking the checkbox enables Terrain Following

Mission Statistics

Mission > Survey > Grid > Mission Statistics subsection

Mission Statistics are displayed beneath the Terrain dropdown:

Total Survey Area
Estimated Photo Count
Photo Interval
Trigger Distance

NOTE: Photo Interval

It is important to keep the photo interval above 1.0 seconds per photo to give the camera enough time to write all metadata to the image during mission triggering events. If the camera cannot keep up with trigger events, it will fail causing it to stop taking photos during the mission. If your mission photo interval falls below 1.0 seconds, you may need to adjust your flight speed or overlap to compensate giving the camera enough time to keep up.

Adjusting Mission Speed Parameters

Adjust Flight Speed, we need to add a waypoint for the vehicle to travel through to set its speed.

STEP

ACTION

NOTE

Select the Takeoff tab on the right side of the screen under Mission

To add a waypoint between Takeoff and Survey

Select the waypoint on the left side of the screen and tap a location on the map between your Takeoff and first mission waypoint.

Here you can:

Set a New Altitude
Tell the vehicle to Hold its position for a duration
Adjust Flight Speed with the checkbox
Delete an unwanted waypoint with the trashcan icon

NOTE: There are many more options you can use a waypoint for, please consult IFT technicians to ensure vehicle stability using any of the options not outlined in the guide.

After adding a waypoint with the Flight Speed checkbox (Fig. 20 above), the remainder of the mission will proceed at the selected speed.

NOTE: If you cancel and restart your mission from a selected waypoint

(battery swap mid-mission, etc.) the vehicle will default to the speed set in the WP_NAV_SPEED parameter unless it travels to a waypoint with a Flight Speed box checked.

Adjusting Default Speed

To change the default speed, you will need to change the WP_NAV_SPEED parameter, which will remove the need to create a waypoint to change the speed.

STEP

ACTION (Fig. 21)

Using the Purple paper airplane icon, navigate to the main mission QGC screen

Select the Vehicle Settings icon

Scroll down on the left and select the “Parameters” tab

Scroll down again to the “WP” parameters

WP_NAV_SPEED can be changed by selecting the value to the right of the parameter name, and changing the value. The units are in centimeters/second, so you will need to convert the speed you need for your mission. (Ex: 600cm/sec = 6m/s = 13.42mph)

IMPORTANT! Parameters Tab

Be aware that all vehicle parameters are accessible within the “Parameters” tab, and some, if changed, can create vehicle instability. Please take caution when changing parameters, and avoid doing so as much as possible.

Mission Storage and Uploading to the vehicle

STEP

ACTION

NOTES

Using the QGC Mission Plan screen below the Purple Paper Airplane Fly icon, select File.

Here you can:

Save a mission to the controller.
Open an existing saved mission
Upload/Download a mission to the vehicle
Clear a mission from the vehicle if there is a need for resetting

Note: If mission does not clean, restart QGC and the Mission Plan will refresh

To upload your completed mission, use the Upload button under the File tab or in the top right corner of the screen

The default file type for missions is plan, you can also save as a KML using the 'Save Mission Waypoints as KML' option.

Uploading Mission to Desktop Interface

To transfer a mission created on the desktop interface to the vehicle, you will:

STEPS

ACTION

Connect the computer to the USB-C port on the back of the vehicle or using the Herelink wifi hotspot.

Upload the mission to the vehicle using the Upload icon

With a mission uploaded to the vehicle, you can now use the download option on the Herelink controller to download the mission from the vehicle to the controller.

Starting a Mission

With a Mission uploaded, the vehicle will now show a slider to start or continue the mission.

NOTE: For Safety Reasons

We recommend that you conduct a manual pilot takeoff to establish a stable hover, then sliding to continue your mission to ensure safe operation. Once a stable hover has been established, you can then slide to continue your mission.

On the left side of the QGC screen, you will see the Action Menu with Land, Return, Pause or Action options that can be selected to trigger one of the autonomous actions.