The Facade Mission Component is for vertical mapping. Use Facades for inspections and reality modeling, where complete coverage of a structure is required. Missions are built by setting up a boundary of the structure, and setting imaging parameters.
Configure Facades to fly along a line, and using vertical or horizontal flight patterns and edit multiple settings such as the starting and ending altitudes, vertical and horizontal overlap, and target distance way from the structure.
This article focuses on Basic Settings using the Line Boundary Face Facade.
Advanced Facades include Polygon, Circle and Spiral Boundary Face options, useful for flying tower like structures. See Advanced Facades to learn more.
Expert Facade Settings give you more control, such as slowing down the Capture Speed. See Expert Facade Settings to learn more.
The Adaptive Facade on-the-fly function is only included in the Growth plan. This function requires using Offsets that assist with aligning the drone during flight.
Step 1 - Add Facade from the Create Menu
Select the Create Menu, or right click / long press on the map, and Select Facade. Scroll down to the Expert section in the Create Menu.
Select a location to place the Facade mission template.
The Facade Mission template defaults to flying vertical columns along a Line Boundary Face set by 2 points, from a starting altitude of 30m (100ft) to a final altitude of 61m (200ft), 9m (30ft) away from the boundary with a 50% vertical and 50% horizontal overlap at a 0 degree gimbal pitch.
Step 1.1 - Add Facade from the 'Add Menu'
Within an exiting plan, add a Facade from the Add Menu by selecting Add, or right click / long press the map.
Within the Add Menu, Select Advanced and then Select Facade
Step 2 - Adjust Boundary Face
Drag existing or add new boundary points to define the edge of the structure you want to capture.
The default option uses the Line boundary face with the flight path on the left side.
Switch the flight path to be on the right side by selecting the Boundary Face option "Line - Right."
Pro Tip - Open 3D Planner to Visualize Flight Path in 3D
When mission planning with Facades, the 3D planner is a very valuable tool to use.
Toggle it open with the 3D button and position the Virtual Drone to view the flight path.
Learn more about the 3D Planner and Virtual Drone here.
Step 3 - Edit Initial, Final and Approach Altitudes
Set the Initial and Final altitudes to match the structure being inspected. For the Initial Altitude, set a minimum safe altitude.
The approach altitude controls how the drone flies to the Facade Starting Point when starting the mission. Access the Approach Altitude by expanding the Advanced Settings.
Step 4 - Select Vertical or Horizontal Pattern
Choose between Vertical and Horizontal flight patterns.
Step 4 - Configure Imaging Parameters (Target Distance, Overlaps, Camera, Speed, Gimbal Pitch)
Adjust key imaging parameters to collect the right data for your use case. These parameters will change the number of columns or rows, image quality, image count and flight time.
Camera
Each camera has a different field of view and Dronelink does not adjust flight plans based on the connected drone. Make sure to select the correct camera so that your sample distance and overlaps are correct. Learn More.
Target Distance
Controls the how far the drone will fly from the boundary and will make sure to maintain a set target distance. The sample distance is displayed below the target distance and is calculated based on various other parameters.
Vertical and Horizontal Overlap
Control overlap between photos to ensure 3rd party processing tools have sufficient data.
Speed
When flying close to structures, lower flight speeds will result in better quality images.
Use Expert Settings to
Gimbal Pitch
Pitch the camera up or down based on the asset being inspected.
If multiple camera angles are needed, duplicate the Facade mission and perform another pass using a different angle.
The sample distance will remain constant, meaning with different angles the actual drone distance from the structure will be less then the sample distance.
Notice the flight path changes in the 3D Planner.
Step 5 - Check Facade Parameters and Mission Preview
Open the Facade parameters to see the resulting number of rows, or columns, and the spacing between photos. Learn More.
Also check the Mission Preview before flight.