Mission failed because ground elevations were not available
Using dronelink 4.3.2 (233) on an admittedly old ipad. This is a terrain follow mission at 130ft, using a mavic 2 pro, decent gps and wifi signal throughout. A different variant of this mission worked a number of times, just last week. Today when this failed after a couple of attempts I tried changing the AGL as I saw suggested elsewhere, to no avail. So I created a totally new mission etc.. same results.
So i read one of the replies to a similar issue awhile back that described this error as a result of the webapp being unable to download the elevations. Is that a bandwidth issue? I am in a very rural area but have tried it mutliple times via a decent wifi broadcast from house and also using a MiFi device that works well for other remote work around here.
Happy to share the mission with you, just tell me what you need (export?) and where to send it. Terrain follow is the entire reason I went with you all and it worked flawless the first couple times with the same drone, different ipad.
https://app.dronelink.com/david-l-hicks/tijeras/plan/r97RBXAp04rVdHbcn6pS/xBpf57yPnSAbPBQT52VB
Please advise
Regards
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If you make any change to the mission plan, do you see a message at the bottom that says something like 182 elevations udpated?
It does, or it does now. On changing AGL from 130 to 125 it does update 350 some odd points. I don't remember seeing this earlier. Doesn't mean it wasn't there, I may have just not noticed.
Clarify something for me:
It seems to download the elevation data only after the drone has lifted off... the drone stops at 3' and then ultimately the mission fails due to lack of elevation data. I can see where this might be the case, you evaluate the actual restricted take-off location/elevation and then download the appropriate elevation data adjust the mission accordingly? Is that what happens?
But if for some reason I am in a rural area with no or slow wifi then that download times out?? I would test this today at work where I do have great wifi/connectivity but it's snowing, not much fun.
Please advise or tell me what I am misunderstanding
It downloads the elevation data while you are doing the mission planning (when you see the message about elevations updated). If you didn’t see the message before it is possible it was not able to download it during the previous planning session. Now that you have seen the message, will it fly the mission?
If I can get some time today I will give it a try again and let you know.
Imagine this scenario in a more important context where making it to the field only to find out the elevations didn't upload could be a much bigger problem.
Is there anyway to know that the data didn't download during planning?
I know running a test flight worked because the Terrain follow is just a little too dicey to try live in the field without first verifying in the planner (which is a fantastic feature btw)
If you view it in the 3D preview you should be able to confirm if the elevations have been applied as the map altitude will be changing.
Well something else is happening here
Just tried it again this morning.
created a new mission, clearly saw elevations updated as I made changes to the plan, still fails with an error to try again because the mission fails as it could not download elevations.
The message comes as the drone is off the ground … so it certainly seems to be trying to download the info literally at the beginning of the flight.
Any ideas?
Will take a look into it.
David. It may be your Wi-Fi since you said it is either slow or no Wi-Fi. Once you have the plan ready and elevations are shown to be updated in the Web app, open the DL Native app while you have a good Wi-Fi connection or cellular service and select to downloaded for offline use. This way you won’t need any service onsite to run the mission. If it works then that’s your issue.
I have the same problem with an Mavic 3 Enterprise.
Until I used the old version of dronelink all was ok.
But with the new version I can't fly with "follow terrain" but without it I can fly.
Another problem (which the previous version also had) is that with dronelink the drone goes jerky and the flight is not constant (it moves its tail up and down), while with pilot2 it is linear
Ah ... I tried to download data for offline mode, but the problem remains.
I also tried to redo a flight that I did perfectly with the previous version... but that doesn't work either
Reported here.
Mike aka Arizona Wildwest
Yes, I always download for offline use because to get the imagery as a basemap would take awhile otherwise.
That is part of what is so odd here, I would expect that creating a mission with offline setup it WOULD download all the elevation data at that time. But it doesn't seem to, instead it "seems" to wait until you start the mission at the site. Maybe this makes sense because in terrain follow you need to specify a starting location so that it can base all the following elevations from that with some level of precision.
Anyhow, when I start the mission (that I downloaded for offline use) the drone takes off, gets to maybe 3ft an sits for maybe 10 seconds. When all of this worked for me (early January) the drone would then start the mission. But now, the drone sits at 3ft for 10 seconds and THEN the mission fails because it cannot download ground elevations.
I tried all of this in town and using a wifi hot spot to see if it was a bandwidth issue, but I got exactly the same behavior. All of this is happening with a mavic 2 pro, I have access to a mavic 2 zoom that does NOT have the latest DJI firmware just to see if it has something to do with firmware.
Any or all input is welcome
https://support.dronelink.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/13842147397651/comments/13942518174995
Ok David. If working correctly you don’t need a cellar or Wi-Fi connection to use the app whether ATL or AGL missions. I still have my iPad Mini which is Wi-Fi only and have used for last two years in a very rural / remote area with no Wi-Fi at all. I download all my mission before going out to fly and I’ve flown a lot of AGL missions without any issues. You are correct that when planing the mission the elevations should be updated in the Web app. If they are and the plan is downloaded for offline then no connection is required and the elevations are already updated in the saved plan. It sounds like it was an issues and as Jim has mentioned and using Beta 4.4.0 should fix it if you want to use it. Hopefully this will fix your issue. When it’s working properly and downloaded for offline you should have no issues. Good luck…
updated the dronelink app to beta on ios, and allowed beta for webapp. Unfortunately it is now raining, and windy. Testing may have to wait until weather clears tomorrow. Will let you all know.
Note: you may need to change something slightly in the plan to get the elevations updated message from the beta web app to see the fix work.
the beta version is ok for ground elevation.
Thank's for your job
Gian Luca. You can use the production app since it’s has been updated a couple times recently and should be working properly now. Pilots choice. Enjoy.
I had this problem myself the other day, just moved the start point of the map slightly and all was good
Thank's Mike !!!
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