Hi all! I'm new here, and I haven't bought a drone yet, because I'm not sure it would do one of the things I'd like it to do.

My use case would require that the pilot and the person controlling the main camera are different persons, and that the camera operator is remote. Moreover, it would be nice if you could have different pilots-flying. Also, the video has to be transmitted with little lag, and we should be able to use various technologies to establish a larger control range.


So, here are the details: I'm involved in the sport of orienteering, where racers run at high pace in rough terrain using a detailed map. They can follow any route they like. We've been filming this with drones for a long time, but making it really good is very resource intensive, and as it is a pretty small sport, we don't usually have that. I'd like to see if we can do with much less.

Then, there are certain regulatory requirements, like the drone has to be a C0 drone (so, a Mini), we need to have a certain separation from the racers, and we have to fly VLOS.

The pilot workload can get pretty intense, so to capture the action well, it would be really good if the pilot in the forest could focus on this task only, and have an audio channel open to the camera operator, where the camera operator controls the gimbal but can also instruct the pilot where to fly. Now, it seems to me that the Mini 3 PRO has the hardware for this, it seems that the pilot could use the forward cameras for aviation and navigation while the camera operator controls the gimbal? Could the Mini 3 PRO do this now? Could Mini 3?

And then, lets see if we can take it a step further... We've managed to fly VLOS a few hundred meters with Mini 2, but the competition area usually spans several kilometers, and it would be nice to follow racers much longer. As far as I can tell from the regulation, there's nothing stopping us from having several pilots if we could have a safe handover while both have VLOS. You would still have the same camera operator though. This does not appear to be a hardware issue at all, but I guess I can't write the software for doing this myself, so is this something that can be done?

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. The DJI Mini 3 Pro and DJI Mini 3 don't have a feature to control the aircraft with 2 remote controllers (2 pilots, Master, and Slave). You may want to check the DJI Inspire 2 as this aircraft does support the said function that you are looking for. If there is some misunderstanding or other inquiries, please let us know. Thank you for your support.

DJI Paladin Posted at 4-26 18:42
Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. The DJI Mini 3 Pro and DJI Mini 3 don't have a feature to control the aircraft with 2 remote controllers (2 pilots, Master, and Slave). You may want to check the DJI Inspire 2 as this aircraft does support the said function that you are looking for. If there is some misunderstanding or other inquiries, please let us know. Thank you for your support.

Thanks a lot for the answer!

I hadn't looked at the Inspire 2, it looks like a great product, but I believe that falls into the European C3 category, is that correct? In that case, it has to be flown according to A3 rules, and that would be way too far away from the racers, so it isn't regulatory possible to use Inspire 2 for our purpose.

In some cases, we might be able to fly the mission in A2 rules, but A1 would be much preferred, as we can then fly "common sense" missions.

Also, it doesn't seem to me that the Inspire 2 allows for the separation of the Pilot and Camera Operator roles, even though I understand it has quite a lot of technology to assist the pilot. Also, we would need pilots to be stationed further than 100 meters apart from each other, it should be possible that they only have a small overlap in VLOS.

it seems that the pilot could use the forward cameras for aviation and navigation while the camera operator controls the gimbal? Could the Mini 3 PRO do this now?
No ... the Minis and other DJI consumer drones only have the main camera, there is no additional forward camera in anything smaller than the Inspire.

You might like to look at the Mavic 2 Pro or Zoom they offer the use of dual simultaneous controllers but one is considered the 'master'/primary and the other the 'slave'/secondary. If the master issues a flight command etc. it will over ride any flight command being issued simultaneously by the slave but I have not checked whether or not the master can issue flight commands whist the slave simultaneously 'plays' with the camera.
You might do better to ask that question in the Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom forums here or on the relevant Mavicpilots forums e.g. https://mavicpilots.com/forums/mavic-2-pro.68/

Labroides Posted at 4-27 14:08
it seems that the pilot could use the forward cameras for aviation and navigation while the camera operator controls the gimbal? Could the Mini 3 PRO do this now?
No ... the Minis and other DJI consumer cameras only have the main camera, there is no additional forward camera in anything smaller than the Inspire.

Right! I just looked at the picture, and it seems like the Mini 3 PRO has additional camera sensors for obstacle avoidance and positioning. Then, I figured, repurposing them for use by the pilot, even though they probably have lower resolution, is a software problem, and software can be changed if the right use case arises.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-27 15:10
You might like to look at the Mavic 2 Pro or Zoom they offer the use of dual simultaneous controllers but one is considered the 'master'/primary and the other the 'slave'/secondary. If the master issues a flight command etc. it will over ride any flight command being issued simultaneously by the slave but I have not checked whether or not the master can issue flight commands whist the slave simultaneously 'plays' with the camera.
You might do better to ask that question in the Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom forums here or on the relevant Mavicpilots forums e.g. https://mavicpilots.com/forums/mavic-2-pro.68/

Yeah, and that's interesting since Mavic 3 has received a C1 certificate, so I suppose that could fly A1, so it would take us a bit closer to the goal.

kjekje Posted at 4-28 02:02
Yeah, and that's interesting since Mavic 3 has received a C1 certificate, so I suppose that could fly A1, so it would take us a bit closer to the goal.

Just in case you are thinking I made a typo, as far as I know no model of the Mavic 3 series offer dual control. Dual control is offered by the Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom and possibly by one or more models of the Mavic  (no number) series.

Sean-bumble-bee Posted at 4-28 02:28
Just in case you are thinking I made a typo, as far as I know no model of the Mavic 3 series offer dual control. Dual control is offered by the Mavic 2 Pro/Zoom and possibly by one or more models of the Mavic  (no number) series.

Oh, OK! But the Mavic 2 is too heavy for C1, barely, but still... So, we can't use that...

kjekje Posted at 4-27 13:32
Thanks a lot for the answer!

I hadn't looked at the Inspire 2, it looks like a great product, but I believe that falls into the European C3 category, is that correct? In that case, it has to be flown according to A3 rules, and that would be way too far away from the racers, so it isn't regulatory possible to use Inspire 2 for our purpose.

Thank you for your response. We totally understand your request however, we don't have a consumer drone that is capable of doing the said feature. Should you have other inquiries, please don't hesitate to reach us. Thank you for your valued support.

kjekje Posted at 4-28 01:57
Right! I just looked at the picture, and it seems like the Mini 3 PRO has additional camera sensors for obstacle avoidance and positioning. Then, I figured, repurposing them for use by the pilot, even though they probably have lower resolution, is a software problem, and software can be changed if the right use case arises.

I doubt that would be possible.
But in any case, the main camera is not independently controllable.
It just points where the drone does.
There would be nothing for the camera operator to do except to push the on/off button.
And the drone operator can do that just as easily.

DJI Paladin Posted at 4-28 02:52
Thank you for your response. We totally understand your request however, we don't have a consumer drone that is capable of doing the said feature. Should you have other inquiries, please don't hesitate to reach us. Thank you for your valued support.

OK, great, thanks! I hope a C1 drone with this capacity can end up on your product roadmap one of these days. It is not so much the consumer/professional distinction that concerns me, it is more that the mission requires a C1 drone.

kjekje Posted at 4-28 01:57
Right! I just looked at the picture, and it seems like the Mini 3 PRO has additional camera sensors for obstacle avoidance and positioning. Then, I figured, repurposing them for use by the pilot, even though they probably have lower resolution, is a software problem, and software can be changed if the right use case arises.

Even if it was possible, you would still be missing the side view...

But I believe your much bigger problem would be to find the software that allows you to have one drone controlled by several radios... Current 2.4-5.8Ghz spread spectrum, does lock the channel preventing access to all the others... You could however use old FM radio where, as long as everybody uses the same crystal frequency you are good as gold... You could build such system, but I don't think DJI do sell what you are after...

If you decide to build one, you could use FM for the radio and 5.8Ghz for the two different cameras mounted on the same drone... That would definitely do what you are after... Not sure about the final weight but possibly around the 1kg with a 5000mAH and 30 minutes flight...

There are websites that will sell you all you need for this project.. The hardest part will be to find the FM module for the selected Radios... I have one for my Taranis radio, but I did purchase it more than a decade ago...

kjekje Posted at 4-28 14:03
OK, great, thanks! I hope a C1 drone with this capacity can end up on your product roadmap one of these days. It is not so much the consumer/professional distinction that concerns me, it is more that the mission requires a C1 drone.

You are most welcome. Thank you for your continued support!

Burt37 Posted at 4-28 14:51
Even if it was possible, you would still be missing the side view...

But I believe your much bigger problem would be to find the software that allows you to have one drone controlled by several radios... Current 2.4-5.8Ghz spread spectrum, does lock the channel preventing access to all the others... You could however use old FM radio where, as long as everybody uses the same crystal frequency you are good as gold... You could build such system, but I don't think DJI do sell what you are after...

Yeah, I can see the radio problem. We're not operating with full duplex on the 5.8 GHz radio? So that the video stream could be used to control the camera?

My hope was to simply rely on having Internet connectivity, and so abstract that problem onto that. It seems far easier to simply have enough access points around with antennas to cover the operations area than to design usable radio from scratch. But this could perhaps be at odds with the radio-line-of-sight requirement?