Hello Hello,

By any chance any of you used M210 / M210 RTK in wind turbine / power line inspection ?
if yes,
do you have any way to automate flight ? I am wondering if there is any way to automate flight plans if you know the size / length / widith of the blades ?
same question regarding powerline ...

Not really, obstacle detectors do not see the lines too thin, it is better to fly in manual

Olivier Vietti-Teppa Posted at 2018-9-2 09:34
Not really, obstacle detectors do not see the lines too thin, it is better to fly in manual

OK ... then the other question is how do you manage to stitch together quite random positioned images ? Or how do you measure size of defects on blades ?

ibadea Posted at 2018-9-2 09:44
OK ... then the other question is how do you manage to stitch together quite random positioned images ? Or how do you measure size of defects on blades ?

the drone is used to find defects, subsequently this engineers who do the verifications directly on the spot

Olivier Vietti-Teppa Posted at 2018-9-2 10:00
the drone is used to find defects, subsequently this engineers who do the verifications directly on the spot

Hmmm ... yes and no. I know for sure that for example, ground level inspection with a DSLR and some post processing already gives the wind turbine operators reports regarding damages at cm level accuracy by stitching multiple images ... drone in the air should allow faster surveys and better data ...

Olivier Vietti-Teppa Posted at 2018-9-2 10:00
the drone is used to find defects, subsequently this engineers who do the verifications directly on the spot

PS: check this movie at minute 0:51


the only thing is ... I am wondering if there are no other (local) ways to develop such flight plans. I am not quite a big plan of cloud / payasyougrow / and ther marketing bull ...
maybe some waypoints in litchi / autopilot / etc. - I don't dare to say in pilot app )

ibadea Posted at 2018-9-2 10:26
PS: check this movie at minute 0:51

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=52&v=3s_LQa9HnIo

with the z30, no need to fly so close

ibadea Posted at 2018-9-2 10:26
PS: check this movie at minute 0:51

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=52&v=3s_LQa9HnIo

webodm and qgis are your answer to bypass the cloud.
have a powerful enough GPU/CPU to cut time down.

MedicFL1 Posted at 2018-10-25 14:28
webodm and qgis are your answer to bypass the cloud.
have a powerful enough GPU/CPU to cut time down.

Thanks mate ... but I think you didn't quite follow I was asking how I can automate the flight plan not how to process the images ...

Olivier Vietti-Teppa Posted at 2018-9-4 18:55
with the z30, no need to fly so close

I have pictures taken with X5S (DJI optics) at 4.5 meters away from the blade of a wind turbine and the level of details is still disappointing so the Z30 it's not even close !

I think an X5S with a 45mm - 70mm lens at 4.5 meters should be ok.

I have the x5s also with the 45mm, but it's still with the z30 that I have the best result

ibadea Posted at 10-26 03:08
Thanks mate ... but I think you didn't quite follow I was asking how I can automate the flight plan not how to process the images ...

GS Pro will do that for free.

ibadea Posted at 10-26 03:08
Thanks mate ... but I think you didn't quite follow I was asking how I can automate the flight plan not how to process the images ...

GS Pro will do that for free. Drone Harmony is another, Pix 4d,  Maps made easy , drone deploy are all flight planning software

MedicFL1 Posted at 11-13 00:08
GS Pro will do that for free. Drone Harmony is another, Pix 4d,  Maps made easy , drone deploy are all flight planning software

Great ! Can you explain me a bit how can I have a automatic flight plan with GS Pro to fly each blade and take pictures every 2 seconds just by telling the app the model of the wind turbine ?!

the blades are never in the same place, I would like them to fly to understand, I think they have never done this type of mission

Olivier Vietti-Teppa Posted at 11-14 17:59
the blades are never in the same place, I would like them to fly to understand, I think they have never done this type of mission

Well actually I did it and trust me, the blades can be stopped by the turbine operator in the exact position 10 times in a row if he wants so

ibadea Posted at 11-14 22:07
Well actually I did it and trust me, the blades can be stopped by the turbine operator in the exact position 10 times in a row if he wants so

yes it's right, but we do not trust the third-party software, so we do it manually and it is not a problem, but if I had to do it automatically I would use ugcs

Olivier Vietti-Teppa Posted at 11-14 22:43
yes it's right, but we do not trust the third-party software, so we do it manually and it is not a problem, but if I had to do it automatically I would use ugcs

OK!
Only now we are on the same page :-D

MedicFL1 Posted at 11-13 00:08
GS Pro will do that for free. Drone Harmony is another, Pix 4d,  Maps made easy , drone deploy are all flight planning software

GS pro cant use the z30 camera's zoom. and i highly recommend using a zoom to stay at a safe physical distance around these expensive (~$5M installed) turbines. you dont want the reputation of someone crashing their uav and tarnishing it for the rest of us not that i am getting much business yet. but soon.

these are done at 30x zoom using the z30 on a m210 in winter, -10C weather. the turbines were operational - we had permission to film a promo on the property, but could not get approval for a wind turbine shut off for a detailed inspection.
can def see impact marks, oil leaks, dust formations, etc. when the WT is off, 1) can get a lot closer physically, if you wanna avoid zoom, and 2) your shot will be more stable as no air turbulence from the rotor blades.

ibadea Posted at 11-14 14:08
Great ! Can you explain me a bit how can I have a automatic flight plan with GS Pro to fly each blade and take pictures every 2 seconds just by telling the app the model of the wind turbine ?!

I see what you're asking  for and No I have not seen an application for exact model inspections yet. Heck, have we got past the Pilot App not plotting data yet...
Early Days.

hey, guys, I had a question as far as connection at ground level with my drone to the top of a wind turbine. I'm guessing wind turbines are generally around 500-600ft in the air. does that type of altitude cause any discrepancies with connection? I using the matrice 210 with rtk