1) Failsafe algorithm to prevent fall from sky if a motor or propeller fails or is damaged. There have been too many instances where Phantoms have lost a motor/esc or a propeller and the drone has dropped from the sky, destroying the drone. Luckily I don't know of any that have hurt anyone or destroyed other property but that is a major concern. The algorithm shown in the video below seems like it could do damage to the gimbal due to g-forces and/or landing, but that is better than a total loss, and more importantly would allow the drone to come down slowly allowing anyone near it a chance to get out of the way, and to significantly lessen the damage to property by having a controlled slow decent instead of a drop from the sky. Maybe add a buzzer or warning noise when this happens to alert anyone near by so they can safely get out of the way.
Here is another video showing failsafe with only 2 working props.
2) Separate video and telemetry data communications so that even if video transmissions fails, there should still be enough bandwidth for telemetry. Since telemetry takes up significantly less data than video it should be able to have a much further range than video. Kind of how the 4MBs video feed has further range than the 10MBs video feed. Once video fails, if you still have telemetry data including location, you can safely fly the drone back into video range instead of having to press RTH. Typically when you lose video you also lose telemetry but RC control is still available. So you may lose video/telemetry and also think you have lost RC signal and that the drone has triggered the RTH failsafe since it is out of range and am waiting for it to return. Instead since you still actually have RC control, it just sits there using battery until the low battery return to home is triggered. At this point with the range of the new Phantom's there is a good chance that it may be too far out for it to actually return to home safely with remaining battery. At the very least, waiting so long for the drone to come back without knowing if it is returning or not can be disconcerting to your users. Being able to still see the telemetry location on the Ground Station view would allow the user to know they still have control and be able to bring it back safely on their own. Another thing you could do is if someone toggles to the Ground Station View, reduce the video quality to 2MB's or less or something. This will allow for the smaller picture to be able to be broadcasted further when using the Ground Station. It should also open up more bandwidth for the telemetry to also allow the Ground Station to be used even further.
Would also be great if the small Video or Map preview box didn't cover up the radar info.
3) Optional cellular GPS tracking similar to Flytrex Live as a backup telemetry. Many users invest in GPS trackers. This can be very useful when you have flown out of range and triggered RTH and don't know if the drone is actually coming back or not. Or for when you run a Ground Station way point mission that may go out of range. And of course in case of a flyaway or crash or something you will know exactly where it is and can locate it accurately. Add a sim card slot that would allow for telemetry data to be sent from drone and received (as long as phone/tablet has internet connection) even when the drone is out of RC range. Adding a 3G/4G sim card should be optional for the user, but if installed the drone should transmit telemetry both via RC and cellular and the phone app should automatically be able to switch between the two methods. Ie it should use RC telemetry data (I believe there is less lag) until RC telemetry signal is lost, then switch to cellular telemetry signal. If RC telemetry comes back in range it should switch back to that. It would be acceptable if there was a slight delay while the app switches between the two methods. Maybe display which Telemetry mode it is in so users can get an idea of when it is out of RC telemetry range which would indicate it will soon lose RC control signal range as well. Or if it comes back into RC telemetry range, they would know it is back in RC control signal range as well.
A redundant GPS with a small backup battery for the cellular system would be even cooler, that way even in a crash and loss of power to the drone, it could still transmit. Would only need to transmit for a few minutes under backup battery power so battery could be small. This would ensure the last location transmitted is highly accurate.
The last location should be stored on the user's account on DJI.com that way if they don't have internet connection on their phone/tablet when flying, they can login and find the last location once they have internet connection. http://www.flytrex.com/shop/flytrex-live-3g-drone-tracker/ http://www.phantompilots.com/sea ... tracker&o=relevance (there are over 100 threads on Phantom Pilots about GPS Trackers, many with dozens of pages. Clearly your users want something like this)
4) Use actual ground level elevation information to check the safety of missions, RTH, and other automated flight. This information is available via the Google Maps API. You could use this to keep the same height AGL even if the elevation changes. It could also be used to help prevent flying back into the side of a hill on RTH or something. Or flying into trees as the elevation rises, but the drone does not. Even could be used to help the obstacle avoidance algorithms.
Check out the Maps Measure App and play with the elevation calculations. It can calculate elevation changes between 2 points as well as graph the elevation between those points. You'll also notice it has buildings/homes information as well. https://play.google.com/store/ap ... j4velin.mapsmeasure
5) Increase the RTH speed to optimize battery life for that mission. It seems flying slower actually would use more power to cover the same distance. I usually increase the speed manually when RTH to make sure that it gets back in time before the battery runs out. Also the less time it takes the drone to come back the less freaked out your users will be about a possible lost drone. ;)
6) Add rear sensors for object avoidance. One of the cool shots is flying away from something. During this time, the user obviously can't see what's behind them. This would be a great use case for object avoidance to prevent them from flying into something. Also include warning areas (maybe sections that blink or highlight red), so you know where the drone thinks there is an object it should avoid. That way you don't wonder why it won't go any further and can get a better idea of what you need to avoid.
I believe these should be very easy and cheap to implement since these systems/technologies that are already out there and are fairly cheap. DJI just has to integrate/facilitate them which they are great at doing. These would bring a lot of extra and unique safety features to DJI's line of drones, keeping them in the forefront of safety and innovation, yet at a minimal cost but with great value to the customer.
P4 was officially announced yesterday. While it has a lot of great features, it is still lacking these. These are features I would have liked to have seen on the P4 and have been thinking about for a while, but wanted to wait until it came out to see if DJI implemented any of them. With DJI's release schedule, I'm pretty sure they don't rest on their laurels, and are currently coming up with new features, technology, and upgrades for the next Phantom. Hopefully if they see these suggestion from their user base early enough in the brainstorming and design phase of the next release they can implement it. I think it's a little too late for them to implement all of these for the P4 although some could be firmware/software updates. ;)
So what features would you like to see the next Phantom have?
Retractable legs please and then a 360 degree gimbal controllable from the RC.
how is the p4 in dull light conditions? Is it same camera or better sensors? Can the video be smoother. File size is fine.
The gimbal is different and the camera has different features.
The Phantom 4 camera has been improved in terms of image quality. Chromatic aberration has been reduced by 56% and lens distortion had been reduced by 36% compared to Phantom 3 Professional. In addition to lens improvements, camera firmware has been tweaked to enable the camera to capture 120fps video in full 1080p FHD (the camera’s field of view will be reconfigured to 47° when recording in this mode) for smooth slow motion. The camera is also used for ActiveTrack and TapFly modes.
I would really like it if Phantoms had a long range digital radio that broadcast the last GPS location that could be picked up by the controller. This way if the drone does go down in some unknown location, it would continue to ping its location for a long time (a week or more) at long range (up to 5 miles). That would make me much more confident flying in wilderness areas at long ranges. Don't use a cell solution. Those have too many dead spots, poor coverage areas and cost money every month. There are third party solutions for this but it would be far better to have it built in especially seeing how the insurance plan does not cover loss of the drone.
Ummm ... roundabout Phantom 6, could it be multi-environment? Airborne and Submersible, capable of travelling from one element to the other and back again?
Similar to the flying sub in "Journey to the bottom of the Sea". Heck, maybe we could have a "Phantom 6 Salvager" for retrieving earlier models that ditched in water?
[quote=scott_barton]
1) Failsafe algorithm to prevent fall from sky if a motor or propeller fails or is damaged.
2) Separate video and telemetry data communications so that even if video transmissions fails, there should still be enough bandwidth for telemetry.
3) Optional cellular GPS tracking similar to Flytrex Live as a backup telemetry.
4) Use actual ground level elevation information to check the safety of missions, RTH, and other automated flight.
5) Increase the RTH speed to optimize battery life for that mission.
6) Add rear sensors for object avoidance.
7) Ensure that all future Phantom series stay under 4.4lbs in order to comply with FAA exemption bill.
[/quote]
With the P4P, it looks like DJI has kind of implemented 4. It's using it's sensors to determine height AGL.
It has implemented 6 and 7
I'm not sure if it implemented 2, but 4.3mi(7km) is pretty damn far.
So just need to add fail-safe algorithm if a prop fails, optional cellular GPS tracker, and increase the RTH speed.
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