Terrain Follow SRTM, why not?!

[jburtonRTK]

First off, I'm getting really good mapping results from my Evo II Pro V3 RTK down in the valley. But I'm really disappointed there is no SRTM Terrain Follow, or a tripod mode while were at it. Having an enterprise mapping drone that doesn't do terrain follow is such a huge limitation for me. I guess I'll just have to dust off my Mavic 2 if I want to get decent GSDs in our canyons here in SLC. How come a Mavic 2 can do terrain follow but an enterprise mapping drone can't?!?!

Please push a firmware update to allow terrain follow. Does anyone have any work arounds? Can you plan a terrain follow flight somewhere else and import it?

 

[jburtonRTK]

First off, I'm getting really good mapping results from my Evo II Pro V3 RTK down in the valley. But I'm really disappointed there is no SRTM Terrain Follow, or a tripod mode while were at it. Having an enterprise mapping drone that doesn't do terrain follow is such a huge limitation for me. I guess I'll just have to dust off my Mavic 2 if I want to get decent GSDs in our canyons here in SLC. How come a Mavic 2 can do terrain follow but an enterprise mapping drone can't?!?!

Please push a firmware update to allow terrain follow. Does anyone have any work arounds? Can you plan a terrain follow flight somewhere else and import it?

Looks like they just pushed a new Slope mission type. Not quite terrain follow, because it doesn't use an elevation source, you set the slope by flying the drone and establishing points.

 

[pedals2paddles]

It is disappointing. Ardupilot's completely open source firmware and GCS fully support terrain following in missions. And has for over a decade. It can use SRTM terrain data supplied by the GCS. Or it can use a cheap doward lidar for precision height of ground. Or you can manually punch in waypoint altitudes.

Autel chose not to spend their time and money implementing it. Which IMO was unwise.

 

[Porites]

First off, I'm getting really good mapping results from my Evo II Pro V3 RTK down in the valley. But I'm really disappointed there is no SRTM Terrain Follow, or a tripod mode while were at it. Having an enterprise mapping drone that doesn't do terrain follow is such a huge limitation for me. I guess I'll just have to dust off my Mavic 2 if I want to get decent GSDs in our canyons here in SLC. How come a Mavic 2 can do terrain follow but an enterprise mapping drone can't?!?!

Please push a firmware update to allow terrain follow. Does anyone have any work arounds? Can you plan a terrain follow flight somewhere else and import it?

Hola mi nombre es Ameth.

Soy de Colombia y espero que la información que les voy a compartir les sea de gran utilidad a los usuarios de AutelPilots. Tuve exactamente los mismos problemas que ustedes pero investigue mucho y encontré un método que adapte para realizar vuelos con conciencia de terreno usando software libre (Este es un procedimiento muy similar al que se realiza con el software UgSC pero la licencia es muy costosa). El método fue adaptado del canal de Youtube DroniPro de Italia y las configuraciones de la cámara fueron validadas por Autel Robotics tanto en Italia como en Colombia. No hablo ingles pero espero les sirva. Nota este método esta comprobado.

I am from Colombia and I hope that the information that I am going to share will be very useful for AutelPilots users. I had exactly the same problems as you guys but I did a lot of research and found a method that I adapted to perform terrain-aware flights using free software (This is a very similar procedure to the one done with UgSC software but the license is very expensive). The method was adapted from the Italian DroniPro Youtube channel and the camera configurations were validated by Autel Robotics in both Italy and Colombia. I don't speak English but I hope it helps you. Note this method is verified.

Les comparto video en español realizado por mi.

I share a video in Spanish made by me.

Ahora les comparto el procedimiento en ingles.

Now I share the procedure in English.

QGC Follow Terrain Autel Evo 2 Pro V1 V2 V3.mp4

drive.google.com

Importante cuando se crea la misión, de acuerdo al video primero configurar la cámara personalizada.

Important when creating the mission, according to the video first configure the custom camera.

Los parametros de la custom camara se aplican para todas las versiones de Autel Evo II PRO y Autel Evo II RTK (V1, V2 y V3).

The custom camera parameters apply to all versions of Autel Evo II PRO and Autel Evo II RTK (V1, V2 and V3).

Pueden descargar el software QGround Control QGC de esta pagina y es compatible con Windows, MAC OS, LINUX y ANDROID OS(Es Software libre). (Instalar todo lo que pide el software in windows).

You can download the QGround Control QGC software from this page and it is compatible with Windows, MAC OS, LINUX and ANDROID OS (It is Free Software). (Install everything that the software asks for in windows).

Download and Install · QGroundControl User Guide

docs.qgroundcontrol.com

Cualquier inquietud mi correo electrónico es. Any questions my email is.

[email protected]

Espero que les sirva. I hope it works for you.

 

[luiscuadrado123]

I completely agree with you.but I read somewhere that using the UGCS application (paid application), this is very complete and is the only third-party alternative that says it works with autel. With it you can plan missions with the function of following the relief of the terrain.I never tried it, I only watched videos about it

 

[Porites]

I completely agree with you.but I read somewhere that using the UGCS application (paid application), this is very complete and is the only third-party alternative that says it works with autel. With it you can plan missions with the function of following the relief of the terrain.I never tried it, I only watched videos about it

Te puedo decir que el método de UgSC es exactamente igual. Y este método está comprobado, no solo por mí, sino también por personal de una empresa en Colombia que es distribuidor oficial de Autel, además de los italianos de DroniPro, la diferencia del método de los italianos es que ellos usan un plugins de pago hecho por ellos ya que, sus DEM son mucho más precisos que los STRM y los Alos Palsar 2.

I can tell you that the UgSC method is exactly the same. And this method is verified, not only by me, but also by staff from a company in Colombia that is an official distributor of Autel, in addition to the Italians of DroniPro, the difference with the Italian method is that they use a payment plugins made for them since, their DEMs are much more precise than the STRM and the Alos Palsar 2.

 

[pedals2paddles]

I have not used uGCS ina very long time. Guess I'll need to try it out. Is it just is it just adding waypoints with different altitudes? If so, I'm not sure that's going to be a good user experience. Since Autel has ignored everyone begging them to make fly through waypoints, the copter comes to a complete stop at every waypoint for no reason.

 

[Porites]

I have not used uGCS ina very long time. Guess I'll need to try it out. Is it just is it just adding waypoints with different altitudes? If so, I'm not sure that's going to be a good user experience. Since Autel has ignored everyone begging them to make fly through waypoints, the copter comes to a complete stop at every waypoint for no reason.

Eso es cierto todo lo que expones, sin embargo te puedo decir que de momento no hay otro método, pero es mejor sacrificar un poco de tiempo extra de batería por las paradas en cada punto que volar con riesgo, lo más importante aún es que no vuelas con la app de un tercero sino con la propia app de Autel, en cuanto aplicaciones de tercero la única que de momento reconoce los Autel Evo 2 pro hasta la versión 2 es Drone link y permite el reconocimiento del terreno, pero es también bastante costosa y no reconoce el modulo GNSS de las versiones RTK.

Everything you state is true, however I can tell you that at the moment there is no other method, but it is better to sacrifice a little extra battery time for stops at each point than to fly with risk, the most important thing is not to You fly with a third-party app, but with Autel's own app, as for third-party applications, the only one that at the moment recognizes the Autel Evo 2 pro up to version 2 is Drone link and allows terrain recognition, but it is also quite expensive and it does not recognize the GNSS module of the RTK versions.

 

[airheadbit]

While using my Autel Lite+ the Ultrasound sensor give an accurate reading, to bad they consider the Lite and Nano as not worthy their waypoint & SDK software, seems you have to spend $2500 or more to be privileged by them, marketing, got to hate them.

 

[luiscuadrado123]

Muchas gracias Ameth por compartir tu experiencia. Yo me llamo Luis y soy de Argentina.

mi correo [email protected]

estare haciendo algunas pruebas con lo que pasaste.

la verdad una lastima que el mismo Autel Explorer todavia no tenga esta configuracion

 

[Porites]

Muchas gracias Ameth por compartir tu experiencia. Yo me llamo Luis y soy de Argentina.

mi correo [email protected]

estare haciendo algunas pruebas con lo que pasaste.

la verdad una lastima que el mismo Autel Explorer todavia no tenga esta configuracion

Será un gusto poder ayudarte si lo requieres

 

[DroneRat]

It is disappointing. Ardupilot's completely open source firmware and GCS fully support terrain following in missions. And has for over a decade. It can use SRTM terrain data supplied by the GCS. Or it can use a cheap doward lidar for precision height of ground. Or you can manually punch in waypoint altitudes.

Autel chose not to spend their time and money implementing it. Which IMO was unwise.

Keyword "UNWISE", THEY DON'T SEEM TO HAVE A CLUE!

 

[hewell]

Hello everyone, after talk with @Porites, I create this flow to make msl flight path.
Check at MSL Flight Plan Flow. Just one important correction, you just need to add the ellipsode heigth in tour flight area, otherwise se will get a wrong flight height

 

[jburtonRTK]

I'm impressed with how much work everyone has put into getting terrain follow to work on the Evo II Pro v3. If only Autel would listen, because the Slope mission sucks in real world use, it wastes a battery and is very difficult to get your flight height and spacings correct unless you can take off from the bottom of your mission area. You also can't add a KML polygon to the slope mission to aid you in building out the flight area in person, very difficult to use. I was able to build out a mission using UgCS and export it as a KML with their 2 week trial. I'm unclear about the best settings to get the correct elevations. The video from UgCS shows him using these settings, Altitude - Relative to the ground under the 1st waypoint and Format - As a linestring. But with these setting these flight plan does not line up with our geoid elevations when viewed in Google Earth, but maybe it all depends on your GPS initialization from your takeoff position to get the elevation correct. The KML looks much better when I export using Altitude - AMSL.... still need to test out on a flight. Don't want to have to do too much customization to make this work.

 

[DroneRat]

I'm impressed with how much work everyone has put into getting terrain follow to work on the Evo II Pro v3. If only Autel would listen, because the Slope mission sucks in real world use, it wastes a battery and is very difficult to get your flight height and spacings correct unless you can take off from the bottom of your mission area. You also can't add a KML polygon to the slope mission to aid you in building out the flight area in person, very difficult to use. I was able to build out a mission using UgCS and export it as a KML with their 2 week trial. I'm unclear about the best settings to get the correct elevations. The video from UgCS shows him using these settings, Altitude - Relative to the ground under the 1st waypoint and Format - As a linestring. But with these setting these flight plan does not line up with our geoid elevations when viewed in Google Earth, but maybe it all depends on your GPS initialization from your takeoff position to get the elevation correct. The KML looks much better when I export using Altitude - AMSL.... still need to test out on a flight. Don't want to have to do too much customization to make this work.

Plus, NO ONE asked for this mode, and it is not even mentioned in the marketing material, unlike other features that are advertised and are yet to be delivered!!!!! AND ALL OF THEM ARE POOOOORLY DOCUMENTED. This last one, that we have never heard about, is not mentioned at all in the manuals, and to-date remains undocumented. Does one get the feeling there is not a sane captain at the helm?

 

[DroneRat]

Just FYI, Terrain Following IS implemented on the Dragonfish Drones, Autel Dragonfish Standard with Z2 Payload Camera - $90,250.00

Instead of building an Enterprise product lineup with similar capabilities, they are concentrating on the high-end only. Meanwhile the "entry level" Enterprise EVO II v3 is apparently without any meaningful development, updates or bug fixes.

 

[jburtonRTK]

I've just been asked to create a 3D Map of a 50 ft wide area on a relatively steep hill slope. I have the Evo 2 Pro v1. Is there a way to do this using the existing mission options? Thanks

Can't speak to the V1. We're discussing the V3. I'd go to the V1 section of this forum and see what they have. If the slope mission is available to you, that should work at the very least. Depending on the size of your area, you may or may not need to fly a terrain follow mission. You might be able to just fly a polygon mission and deal with the inconsistent GSD.

 

[SARty]

Hello everyone, after talk with @Porites, I create this flow to make msl flight path.
Check at MSL Flight Plan Flow. Just one important correction, you just need to add the ellipsode heigth in tour flight area, otherwise se will get a wrong flight height

Hi. I saw your post and wanted to follow up to see if this is still your current workflow? It's more hoops than I had hoped to have to jump through in order to get terrain following.

@Porites Are you having to implement @hewell's workflow as well? Just wondering if everyone else has found issues with incorrect altitudes being flown using the existing workflow.

 

[hewell]

Hi. I saw your post and wanted to follow up to see if this is still your current workflow? It's more hoops than I had hoped to have to jump through in order to get terrain following.

@Porites Are you having to implement @hewell's workflow as well? Just wondering if everyone else has found issues with incorrect altitudes being flown using the existing workflow.

Hello, I haven't found any problem, trouble or weird things using this.
The only trickie thing is you must not start your flight at a altitude over you altitude flight.
In my place, even if you flight at 100 meters over terrain take care with flight in cannons.
In this case I start manually and then go to the place and then use the kml.

The plus of this method is the amount picture you adquire, easy you can get 80-90% front overlap if you use 2 seconds between picture capture.

You can dm me if you want to ask me more