kenargo
 Second Officer
United States
Offline
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DJI Ultimate Flight (DJI Ultimate Flight - v3 - Android Apps on Google Play) has just released a number of features specifically designed for waypoint flight operations. The first and more general purpose facility extends the capability to define waypoint altitudes as "above ground level" (AGL), the second and more specialized feature if the capability to use "digital terrain model" (DTM).
First; "AGL" - When selecting AGL for the waypoint altitudes you can freely select altitudes that represent the altitude above the ground (not above takeoff as traditional). Once the mission is designed you have 2 options for flight, the 1st is to fly the mission as-is. When beginning an AGL mission the app will contact Google Elevation Services (GE) and convert between AGL to above take-off (ATO), using the home point as the elevation reference. The second option is to define the mission using AGL and then toggle the option to ATO. The app will prompt to convert AGL to ATO (again using WP1 or home point) and the mission will be converted to altitudes above takeoff. Because GE may not be 100% accurate an additional review screen has been included to validate the elevation profile of the mission.
Second: DTM - DTM files can be downloaded or generated by any number of higher-end mapping and survey applications. DTM files tend to be significantly more accurate than GE depending on the service used to generate the DTM file. Once loaded onto the Android the DTM file is uses instead of Google Elevation. DTM files can also be loaded during mission creation, displaying a bounding box representing the elevation reports of the DTM file. Future enhancements to DTM file support will include the capability to display flight altitude "above ground".
Both features should be very helpful, especially to those flying in areas where ground elevation may not be perfectly flat.
When combined with the custom waypoint types (e.g., Orbit) the ability to create orthogonal imagery becomes much simpler. For example, UF can generate a near-perfect orbit waypoint mission (you set the center, the app calculates the orbit's points). If the ground elevation changes between waypoints then using AGL altitude will adjust the flight altitude, maintaining a constant above ground altitude which should yield significantly more accurate orthogonal imagery and calculations.
More details can be found in the app's documentation: http://djiultimateflight.com/images/DJI Ultimate Flight V3.pdf
Enjoy and fell free to ask questions as needed.
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lvl.3
Captain
lvl.4
First Officer
