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How to make Phantom/Marvic to descent with me while skiing down a...
707 10 2017-2-19
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Edd_88
lvl.4
Hong Kong
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Hi there,
Read from the official site and other resources and learn that Phantom/Marvic will hold the elevation while the active track/follow me function engaged. It's not very practical when I skiing down a slope as the subject, in that case is myself, getting smaller and too small after a few turns. Anyone has some trick to get around this restriction to share?
Many thanks.
2017-2-19
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Geebax
Captain
Australia
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I don't believe so, it has been a limitation for a long time, since the P3 series.
2017-2-19
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Aardvark
Captain
Flight distance : 384432 ft
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United Kingdom
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My understanding it that it will not go below home point, but what if home point were at the bottom of the slope ? That might work. So, operator at bottom of slope flies aircraft up to top where skier is and then starts tracking ?
2017-2-19
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Edd_88
lvl.4
Hong Kong
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I myself would likely be the operator. Any chance/method that I can trick the drone like I take it up the slope, fly it down to the bottom manually (can I do it?), stop it remotely, restart it remotely, fly it up to me then start tracking?
I can't test it myself as I want to make sure dji drone can serve my purpose  before paying big money.
2017-2-19
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Geebax
Captain
Australia
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The question is, what tells the aircraft to follow the elevation? If it were a P3 there is nothing to do this, as the RC unit's attached phone/tablet most likely does not have a barometer to measure altitude, and the GPS altitude is very innacurate. Also with the P3, having to carry the RC unit while you are skiing is rather impractical.

But the P4, P4Pro and Mavic all have vision based systems, and I seem to remember someone saying that under some circumstances, they can track elevation. However, again, it is not very practical to set up a tracking mode and then ski off, because if it loses track of you, you probably won't know until you are at the bottom of the slope. This has been discussed on here several times in the past, and the general consensus was that you need to have someone else in control of the drone, not the skier.
2017-2-19
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Edd_88
lvl.4
Hong Kong
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Thanks geebax. It's not easy to have a ski friend who can be a pilot too except my wife. However, I think it would be safer if the drone controled by itself than by my wife ;-)  
That's why I want to search for one that can do a better job.
I learn that, from their website, Airdog, Flypro and Yuneec can track down/descent by using some sort of tracker attached/carried by the subject. Will dji develop similar technology in the near future? For the time being, phantom or marvic is still at top of my list in consideration of price tag (most important), quality of pic/video (also most important) and portability.
2017-2-19
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Geebax
Captain
Australia
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Edd_88 Posted at 2017-2-19 21:29
Thanks geebax. It's not easy to have a ski friend who can be a pilot too except my wife. However, I think it would be safer if the drone controled by itself than by my wife ;-)  
That's why I want to search for one that can do a better job.
I learn that, from their website, Airdog, Flypro and Yuneec can track down/descent by using some sort of tracker attached/carried by the subject. Will dji develop similar technology in the near future? For the time being, phantom or marvic is still at top of my list in consideration of price tag (most important), quality of pic/video (also most important) and portability.

No, DJI has not indicated they intend to add a feature like this, considering they already have Active Track. Whether the other makers can actually do what they claim, you will have to work that out for yourself, but bear in mind those sort of features are often publicised by the manufacturer, but when it comes down to the crunch, many times they don't work as advertised. If I wanted that feature like you do, I would want to see it working before I made any decision.

The other thing is all the potential obstacles on a ski slope, and avoiding them. The best Obstacle Avoidance system is a good pilot.

2017-2-19
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Cabansail
Second Officer
Flight distance : 136686 ft

Australia
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This is the feature that the Lily was going to target. Unfortunately that enterprise did not get off the ground.
2017-2-19
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Edd_88
lvl.4
Hong Kong
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That's why I want to make sure I can get around P4/marvic's restriction prior to any decision. For the obstacles, I in fact  want to film my descent in back country. The only obstacles would be myself and a couple die hard ski fans and some rocks.
2017-2-19
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Geebax
Captain
Australia
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Edd_88 Posted at 2017-2-19 23:31
That's why I want to make sure I can get around P4/marvic's restriction prior to any decision. For the obstacles, I in fact  want to film my descent in back country. The only obstacles would be myself and a couple die hard ski fans and some rocks.

The rocks would be enough to smash your aircraft totally. Few Phantoms manage to bounce off them.

2017-2-20
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Edd_88
lvl.4
Hong Kong
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If it's possible, I will have the drone fly in front/above me (Can Trace function do that?) or at side/above me (Profile function) instead behind me. I suppose very little chance the drone will hit anything. I hate trees so I won't ski into tree line.
2017-2-20
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