Quote from: granz on Dec 19, 2024, 07:33 AMPlus, with Christmas approaching, there is less time to play right now.
I hear ya. I was thinking this weekend I might actually get some stuff done, then I found out we're doing birthdays on Saturday and Christmas with some family on Sunday. So this weekend is out for anything S///C related. Last few weekends have been much the same. We have a lot of birthdays in December, plus Christmas with quite a lot of local family to share time with.
Quote from: Jason D. on Dec 23, 2024, 11:47 AMI think a drone would be important also, not everyone would have wireless communication knowledge but you could fly a note to their doorstep up to several miles away. I think micro communities, good neighbors, would be a person strongest alley to survive such an event.
I agree with the drone idea. I own two myself. Perhaps I should shield them from a potential EMP while not in use. Mine have a 3-5 mile range, LOS. roughly 3 for one and roughly 5 for the other. They auto-RTH when they lose signal or if the battery falls below safe RTH range.
Quote from: Chris Savage on Dec 23, 2024, 12:09 PMQuote from: Jason D. on Dec 23, 2024, 11:47 AMI think a drone would be important also, not everyone would have wireless communication knowledge but you could fly a note to their doorstep up to several miles away. I think micro communities, good neighbors, would be a person strongest alley to survive such an event.
I agree with the drone idea. I own two myself. Perhaps I should shield them from a potential EMP while not in use. Mine have a 3-5 mile range, LOS. roughly 3 for one and roughly 5 for the other. They auto-RTH when they lose signal or if the battery falls below safe RTH range.
A drone would also be good for after-disaster tech. Maybe one of you could write up how you would use a drone after a hurricane, blizzard, earthquake, EMP or other. I would be interested in reading that. I still have more work to do on my handheld computer.
I actually do have two drones, myself, but I have not even tried charging them. I got both of them from my e-waste site, and have not had time to try anything.
Chris, I had not heard of the Return-To-Home (I'm guessing that is what RTH means.) Do your drones have GPS on-board, or how do they know where 'home" is?
Quote from: granz on Dec 23, 2024, 02:31 PMChris, I had not heard of the Return-To-Home (I'm guessing that is what RTH means.) Do your drones have GPS on-board, or how do they know where 'home" is?
Both drones are DJI. Each has multiple cameras and yes, GPS. When you take-off, they remember their GPS home coordinates. As GPS has error / drift based on number of sats, they also each have a "precision take-off", which uses a downward-facing camera to "remember" the exact takeoff point and will home in on that to land more precisely. Both drones came with a landing pad that makes it easy to do this type of landing in areas that would normally not work, such as a large paved parking lot or grass.
Quote from: Chris Savage on Dec 23, 2024, 03:35 PMQuote from: granz on Dec 23, 2024, 02:31 PMChris, I had not heard of the Return-To-Home (I'm guessing that is what RTH means.) Do your drones have GPS on-board, or how do they know where 'home" is?
Both drones are DJI. Each has multiple cameras and yes, GPS. When you take-off, they remember their GPS home coordinates. As GPS has error / drift based on number of sats, they also each have a "precision take-off", which uses a downward-facing camera to "remember" the exact takeoff point and will home in on that to land more precisely. Both drones came with a landing pad that makes it easy to do this type of landing in areas that would normally not work, such as a large paved parking lot or grass.
Wow, impressive. Drones are way more advanced than I thought. Time to, at least, plug in my drones, and see what's what with them.
Quote from: granz on Dec 23, 2024, 04:13 PMWow, impressive. Drones are way more advanced than I thought. Time to, at least, plug in my drones, and see what's what with them.
Perhaps more than you know. Both of mine have "intelligent" flight modes. One is waypoints. You can fly to specific coordinates and the drone will remember them. It can then fly itself and go to those places. Also, when hovering, you can set the controller down and the drone will maintain its position against wind / drift, etc.
Quote from: Chris Savage on Dec 23, 2024, 04:27 PMQuote from: granz on Dec 23, 2024, 04:13 PMWow, impressive. Drones are way more advanced than I thought. Time to, at least, plug in my drones, and see what's what with them.
Perhaps more than you know. Both of mine have "intelligent" flight modes. One is waypoints. You can fly to specific coordinates and the drone will remember them. It can then fly itself and go to those places. Also, when hovering, you can set the controller down and the drone will maintain its position against wind / drift, etc.
That could be useful for having the drone go on patrol/guard duty after an emergency.
Quote from: granz on Dec 23, 2024, 06:48 PMThat could be useful for having the drone go on patrol/guard duty after an emergency.
I haven't done it yet, but for a few years now I've meant to set up a waypoint program to fly around an area that has beautiful fall leaves and get some nice video. The idea is that I would then fly the exact same path in the winter, then again in the spring and finally, summer, showing the changes over the seasons. I simply need to make it happen. Below is the tutorial for my first drone for waypoints.
(https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/reviews/06N6X13HBTsCmSsZE18mhOC-16.fit_scale.size_1028x578.v1569473679.jpg)
(https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/reviews/06N6X13HBTsCmSsZE18mhOC-1.fit_lim.size_810x456.v_1569469933.jpg)
(https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/reviews/06N6X13HBTsCmSsZE18mhOC-2.fit_lim.size_810x456.v_1569469933.jpg)
Now that this thread has split off of the Member Project Forum, I was going to mention that my Mavic Pro Platinum has the following "Intelligent Flight Modes":
- Terrain Follow - As it suggests, follows the terrain, maintaining relative altitude to the ground.
- Point of Interest - Will circle around an object, keeping the camera point at the object.
- Follow Me - Track and follow and person or car / bike / etc.
- Waypoints - Create a set of waypoints and automatically navigate to those waypoints again at a later time.
- Home Lock - Drone is in free mode, but pulling pitch stick down causes drone to move toward the Home Point.
- Course Lock - Drone flies in a straight line but keeps camera on target object as it flies by.
It also has some "manual flight modes", such as:
- Cinematic Mode - Good for photos and videos.
- Tripod Mode - Better for videos (slower, more deliberate movements.
- Sport Mode - Faster flight.
- Gesture Mode - You can give hand signals to control the drone and have it take photos.
- Tapfly Mode - Tap on the on-screen map to tell the drone where to fly.
- Wi-Fi Control Mode - Use your cell phone to fly, instead of the standard remote control.
I also wanted to elaborate on the RTH feature. When engaged, the drone flies to a preset altitude (up to 400 feet) and then faces the direction of "home", then it flies there and lands. If you did a precision take-off, it will attempt to do a precision landing as well, usually landing on a "target".
This drone discussion got so big I split it off and moved it so as not to muddy granz's project thread. ;)
We can totally keep discussing drones if anyone is interested in more. I have many videos and photos taken from my drones.
Quote from: Chris Savage on Dec 24, 2024, 11:53 AMThis drone discussion got so big I split it off and moved it so as not to muddy granz's project thread. ;)
We can totally keep discussing drones if anyone is interested in more. I have many videos and photos taken from my drones.
Yep, I noticed. Thank you.
Oops, Sorry Granz, didn't mean to hijack your post.
Quote from: Jason D. on Dec 27, 2024, 12:46 AMOops, Sorry Granz, didn't mean to hijack your post.
There's no harm, no foul. I think I'm the one who actually went down the rabbit hole. LOL It was my last reply that made me realize I was talking more about my drones than his project. Your initial reply was on-topic. I actually left that in that thread. :)
I'm not big into moderation on these forums (trying to keep it simple), but I thought some separate drone discussion would be cool. I really need to use mine more. If I thought there was enough interest, I would have created a separate forum for it.
Do you have a drone, Jason? It occurred to me that I ha dated a couple of women years ago that weren't physically up to hiking into the hills or upper trails in the state parks. I have the FPV goggles for my Mavic Pro which allows me to pilot the drone from FPV mode. However, I find that very disorienting. Instead I let others wear the goggles and I fly by sight or the display like normal. This lets a third party view what the drone can see.
There's a mode with the goggles that let's the person wear them look around, independent of the person flying the drone. In other words, as you pan / tilt you head, the camera on the drone follows, allowing the wearer to essentially look around while you're flying the drone. Of course, the camera has limited range of motion, but you'd essentially have the range a bird would while flying.
Hi Chris,
Yes I have 2 drones, in fact, one is a 6 arm ELEV-8. I never finished it, I believe it's size makes it illegal in California without a license. I also have a DJI mavic mini I have used on Jeep trips. Funny about this topic is I have a friend who asked if I could get his drone batteries to start charging again. I think that effort would have been a good project to attempt on your website.
Quote from: Jason D. on Dec 30, 2024, 12:27 PMI also have a DJI mavic mini I have used on Jeep trips. Funny about this topic is I have a friend who asked if I could get his drone batteries to start charging again. I think that effort would have been a good project to attempt on your website.
That is funny, since when I got my second DJI drone, one of the three batteries wouldn't initially charge. I can't recall the details, exactly, but I think I was advised to run it completely dead, then charge it by itself and that seemed to restore it.