Hello

We just purchased the new DJI Phantom 4 RTK and did a first flight.

We are very disapointed by the flight planning software DJI GS RTK app. This software is extremely basic. You can only fly at one elevation per block. So it is only usefull if you want to cover flat terrain.

But we need to monitor snow avalanche slopes, which are steep. So we would need to adapt the individual flight lines in elevation above ground.


We neeed to be able to load the terrain models into the flight planning software. As we read thath the software can import KML files we thought that we can import our flight planse we use for the DJI Pahntom 4 pro. But unfortunately this is not possible you can only import the area to cover as KML file and not flight lines with according elevations.


DJI, we strongly urge you to improve the flight planning software with the above mentioned capabilites or provide a firmware update which allows for pairing the RC with third party software.


Unfortunately with the currrent flight planning, the DJI Phantom RTK is useless!

Greetings from Switzerland
Yves

Well come on in, to the forum...


RedHotPoker

Download Litchi and use that instead

RedHotPoker Posted at 1-10 07:03
Well come on in, to the forum...

What do you mean with your post !?!?

SPIKE_151 Posted at 1-10 07:03
Download Litchi and use that instead

Unfortunately it is not possible to install anything on the divice built in the RC!

SLF Posted at 1-10 07:14
What do you mean with your post !?!?

Welcome here. It’s nice to have you join us...

Please correct the spelling in your thread title. ;-)

RedHotPoker

SLF Posted at 1-10 07:21
Unfortunately it is not possible to install anything on the divice built in the RC!

So you have a Phantom 4 Pro + with the built in crystal sky screen

SPIKE_151 Posted at 1-10 08:02
So you have a Phantom 4 Pro + with the built in crystal sky screen

yes, this is the only way you can get the Phantom RTK

RedHotPoker Posted at 1-10 07:55
Welcome here. It’s nice to have you join us...

Please correct the spelling in your thread title. ;-)

How can I correct the spelling?

SLF Posted at 1-10 08:05
yes, this is the only way you can get the Phantom RTK

I would part exchange it with the drone shop you bought it from for a standard P4Pro that you can use third party apps on.

SPIKE_151 Posted at 1-10 08:15
I would part exchange it with the drone shop you bought it from for a standard P4Pro that you can use third party apps on.

We already have two P4Pro's and we thought now with the RTK we have all we need. Unfortunately not the case!

SLF Posted at 1-10 08:07
How can I correct the spelling?

Click Edit, then Advanced...

Then you can access the title.

Have fun, enjoy your drone and time well spent, while in the forum.


Or don’t if you like, not.

RedHotPoker

SLF Posted at 1-10 08:19
We already have two P4Pro's and we thought now with the RTK we have all we need. Unfortunately not the case!

Then the Phantom 5 will get released, but who knows when...?



RedHotPoker

I have P4Pro + V2. Here, third-party applications can not be installed. I bought a control unit without a display a week ago for flight planning. Now this is coming DJI Smart Controller.  Am I mistaken?

SLF Posted at 1-10 08:19
We already have two P4Pro's and we thought now with the RTK we have all we need. Unfortunately not the case!

G'day SLF,
You can get Litchi on your P4P+, but need to do it on the AMAZON Platform.
I have both Litchi and Pix4d Capture on my P4P+.
First you need to download AMAZON APP then purchase Litchi (about 35 USD) then to make it run you need to bypass the DJI APP by connecting USB to Micro USB in back of controller (standard cable that comes with unit)
Screen will pop up asking what app you want to use with controller, select Litchi and choose the "Just Once" option.
You can get out of the Litchi mission at anytime by  flicking from P mode to A or S and back again. You can then manually fly home or press Home button on controller. Or pull cable back out and open DJI app.
I find that both Litchi and Pix4d can lose image transition during mission, however they both complete mission and return home even if image transmission is frozen.
Hope this helps

Latanzi Posted at 1-13 14:01
G'day SLF,
You can get Litchi on your P4P+, but need to do it on the AMAZON Platform.
I have both Litchi and Pix4d Capture on my P4P+.

Best to mention that m,y P4P+ is the original not the V2 and no RTK. Hopefully will still work for you with your aircraft

I agree the flight planning is very poor, when I import .kml it tries to do some kind of crop spraying pattern that is NOT set up for 2d photogrammettry. There should be pc ground station to preplan missions and terrain following should be included.

Latanzi Posted at 1-13 14:13
Best to mention that m,y P4P+ is the original not the V2 and no RTK. Hopefully will still work for you with your aircraft

Dear Lattanzi

Unfortunately this is not working for the RTK, that is a big problem!!!

Dear DJI

It would be nice to hear something in this chat from a DJI staff. What do you plan to do to solve this severe problem? When can we expect updates?

In the current status we have to clearly state that the DJI RTK is not suitable for survey except you have completely flat investigation areas. This is in clear contrast ti the DJI advertisement "Visionary Intelligence. Elevated Accuracy." Visionary Intelligence is definitely something different!!!

According to : https://forum.dji.com/thread-178747-1-1.html they added support for the remote controller without a built-in display for use with Mobile SDK apps. Can anyone test ?

SLF Posted at 1-14 23:27
Dear DJI

It would be nice to hear something in this chat from a DJI staff. What do you plan to do to solve this severe problem? When can we expect updates?

'It would be nice to hear something in this chat from a DJI staff. What do you plan to do to solve this severe problem? When can we expect updates?'

To answer your questions, in order:
1. DJI do not discuss these issues on this forum, you only get short answer from forum administators, and they are of no help.
2. DJI most likely will not do anything.
3. Updates arrive when they arrive and there is no point in asking here.

Simple answer, you did not research your purchase properly before buying.

Howdy SLF,
Saw this on another thread, may be of interest to you
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php? ... p;page=1#pid1680205
Or look up thread "Phantom 4 Pro+ Limitations"
Mat

SLF,

Can you use PPK instead of RTK?  If you can, I am thinking you can link the Phantom RTK to one of your Phantom 4 controllers and use whatever 3rd party app you've been using for terrain following.

I ordered my Phantom RTK thinking the Map Pilot team would soon release a version compatible with the Phantom RTK.  Turns out they will be releasing a beta version soon, but only to those who purchased a drone from them.

Like you, I can't fly without terrain following but want the precision of RTK or PPK. My plan has always been to use PPK because I don't have a known point at the sites I fly nor do I have internet access for a real time correction. I am hoping we can do as suggested in the opening paragraph.

Please let me know what you find.

Thanks,
Dave

This issue may be solved by the latest firmware update:

This issue may be solved by the latest firmware update (Date: 2019.05.07  Aircraft Firmware: v02.01.0009).

So much terrible and misinformed "advice" in this thread. Seems nobody until the very end took the time to notice the OP was talking about a P4P RTK and not a "regular" P4P+ or P4P+ V2. Or if they noticed they didn't know enough to understand that the RTK is a completely different beast (yes it's a P4P, but not the same as the others regarding software and firmware).
Fortunately the news about the new firmware and terrain following capability found its way in here eventually. Good luck to @Yu-Huang Wang!

OP - DJI seem to have released the RTK with very basic functionality and are slowly rolling out the stuff that most people that will spend $10k on a drone need to do their jobs.

The terrain follow was introduced with the latest firmware update and should solve your problem.  However, I have yet to get it to work with our data, other posters have got it working correctly.

Linear flight plans were only introduced months after the initial release and I expect more functionality to be brought to the app incrementally.

Pretty average way to roll out a new product, but for the price compared to other RTK/PPK commercial drones some teething problems can be overlooked.

I am going to write a 'manual' (as none has been released) on how to get terrain mapping working.  I'll upload it when it is finished.

Good luck

Hi there, I'm just about to take delivery of a P4 RTK and don't plan to use any automated flight planning as all my work will be in complex environments. All of my (admittedly non RTK) 3D modelling/photogrammetry and LIDAR has been been flown 'by hand' with good results, why not just do that?

nickedw Posted at 5-19 08:17
Hi there, I'm just about to take delivery of a P4 RTK and don't plan to use any automated flight planning as all my work will be in complex environments. All of my (admittedly non RTK) 3D modelling/photogrammetry and LIDAR has been been flown 'by hand' with good results, why not just do that?

Hi,
I would suggest waiting, we also map detailed terrain manually and we just bought an RTK. It lacks the time lapse mode in the photo controls so it’s impossible to follow our existing workflows, which is a disaster for us. We have only had it a few days but we are very unhappy. I strongly suggest not buying if you want to map manually, at least until this is sorted

VirtualGeol Posted at 5-28 15:39
Hi,
I would suggest waiting, we also map detailed terrain manually and we just bought an RTK. It lacks the time lapse mode in the photo controls so it’s impossible to follow our existing workflows, which is a disaster for us. We have only had it a few days but we are very unhappy. I strongly suggest not buying if you want to map manually, at least until this is sorted

Yes, having 'played with that feature' most of today, you are completely correct. Note to self - don't comment  on DJI kit until you have it in your paws.

If you want cheering up, according to mapbox, the land I was standing on for this job today wasn't even there!



I was worried about automating a flight plan around 600ft ship to shore cranes, as obviously, they move and aren't where they appear on the map (a Proper map, as below) I need not have worried, as according to DJI/mapbox they're not there at all



This container terminal is at least 4 years old, so how old does that make our maps?

I know they're not always right, but I've never flown off land that simply wasn't there before.

Great, good old DJI.

It's a bit much to expect the available basemaps in DJI and other flight apps to always accurately depict the current ground condition, especially in places where recent (or not-so-recent) change has occurred. The app developers don't make the maps.

We routinely have to use GPS to map hazards and other features not shown in the basemaps prior to designing a flight plan. Being able to import your own raster basemaps or at least KML or shp files into the planning & flight control app is pretty key functionality.

Just performed my first two test flights using dji Terra for mission planning on the P4 RTK. Still processing the output (in PIX4D) but it is so much better than the GS RTK app IMHO.

it has a few foibles of course, but the level of control and ease of planning is in a different league. oh yeah, and it uses google maps, not my friend, mapbox.

It would appear that the mission planning side of this doesn't require a license (until someone notices perhaps?) but I assume the software post-processing bit does. If so. I'll take that all day long.

Well worth a look if you haven't tried it, you need a USB C cable to connect your P4RTK TX to your laptop. for 3D (Oblique) it generates 5 separate flight plans, and uploads them individually to the aircraft.

I know this to be true as my laptop ran out of juice on the last mission and I wanted to test what would happen anyway. The mission continued, completed and autolanded nicely.

The TX doesn't show the planned mission (as it does with the native app) but the laptop does - you just see a track of the mission on the TX screen as it executes.

The 'STOP' button is non obvious, and lives on a pull out on the right of the laptop screen I discovered.

So far so good, I'll post some feedback on the model when it's cooked, but certainly looks promising.

The only slight concern is that the flight profile differs to the one PIX4D generates (in a non-RTK world of course), in as much as Terra performs S shaped flights, N, E ,S, W (all separate missions, which is great, if you only need 3 faces such as a quay or quarry etc)  with the aircraft oriented in that direction the entire time, ie it flies sideways and backwards, and does not turn, PIX4D missions always face ahead in the S shapes in my experience, ie turns at the corners to always face the direction of travel, terra does not turn at the corners.

Feeling much better about this rig than I did yesterday

nickedw Posted at 5-31 04:55
Just performed my first two test flights using dji Terra for mission planning on the P4 RTK. Still processing the output (in PIX4D) but it is so much better than the GS RTK app IMHO.

it has a few foibles of course, but the level of control and ease of planning is in a different league. oh yeah, and it uses google maps, not my friend, mapbox.

Good Info. I read that the controller needed to be connected to the laptp. I'm guessing during the flight the cable is still needs to be connected, time to buy more 10' USB C cables.

LYVFD8142 Posted at 5-31 05:54
Good Info. I read that the controller needed to be connected to the laptp. I'm guessing during the flight the cable is still needs to be connected, time to buy more 10' USB C cables.

Not necessarily. As stated, my laptop died on the last flight and it completed fine. So the mission is uploaded to the aircraft.

The TX shows the track taken, but not the planned mission route ahead,  So to monitor the mission fully (and upload the next one) yes laptop connection. At a push, looks like you can disconnect when underway though.

Any more updates on the Terra app ? How do i get a copy for myself to test with ?

So is that the end of the DJI RTK SDK Controller I paid 700 euros for ? no app savailable for it yet and none coming ?

Would anyone be interested in flying gently curved, convergent, non-traditional (non-linear/non-parallel) flight paths?  Curved flight paths offer a) a much more diverse view perspective and b) a way to help mitigate the well known Structure-from-Motion doming (elevation) error.  I've used curved flight paths for a) long narrow corridors, b) areas, and c) odd shaped parcels with good results.  You can just keep on flying around the arc and save battery time.  Let me know what you think.
This site is not to friendly for adding pictures.  Google "Gently Curved, Convergent, Non-traditional Drone Flight Paths" for examples.

jimdow528gmail Posted at 7-1 12:50
Would anyone be interested in flying gently curved, convergent, non-traditional (non-linear/non-parallel) flight paths?  Curved flight paths offer a) a much more diverse view perspective and b) a way to help mitigate the well known Structure-from-Motion doming (elevation) error.  I've used curved flight paths for a) long narrow corridors, b) areas, and c) odd shaped parcels with good results.  You can just keep on flying around the arc and save battery time.  Let me know what you think.
This site is not to friendly for adding pictures.  Google "Gently Curved, Convergent, Non-traditional Drone Flight Paths" for examples.

Welcome, @jimdow528gmail!!

More options are (amost) always better! Especially when the options exist as a solution to a need or problem.

Are you offering a flight planning/control option that will work with the P4RTK  SDK?

patiam Posted at 2019-5-8 19:42
So much terrible and misinformed "advice" in this thread. Seems nobody until the very end took the time to notice the OP was talking about a P4P RTK and not a "regular" P4P+ or P4P+ V2. Or if they noticed they didn't know enough to understand that the RTK is a completely different beast (yes it's a P4P, but not the same as the others regarding software and firmware).
Fortunately the news about the new firmware and terrain following capability found its way in here eventually. Good luck to @Yu-Huang Wang!

Amen, A lot of bad advice in this forum. Better not to answer a question for which you don't know the answer!

VirtualGeol Posted at 2019-5-28 15:39
Hi,
I would suggest waiting, we also map detailed terrain manually and we just bought an RTK. It lacks the time lapse mode in the photo controls so it’s impossible to follow our existing workflows, which is a disaster for us. We have only had it a few days but we are very unhappy. I strongly suggest not buying if you want to map manually, at least until this is sorted

That is incorrect information! It does have time-lapse and it defaults to that. I always have to change new missions to distance.