Orthophoto for landmine detection
I want to use Dronelink to create an orthophoto to find PFM-1 butterfly mines. The software of https://www.de-mine.com should automatically detect the mines.
What would be the best settings to fly a mapping mission?
Can I shoot RAW?
Can the drone hoover while taking the photo to reduce motion blur?
I have an Dronelink Elite account and a DJI Phantom 4
My account https://app.dronelink.com/aerialsurvey
If this succeeds I want to use this technology in Ukraine.
Comments
44 comments
Interesting use case.
Also sounds like you will be using for commercial purposes so a Growth Business plan minimum will be needed. That plan has capture speed setting and you can also convert to an inspection so it stops at each location if needed.
https://app.dronelink.com/pricing/professional/compare
Tim B
That video was shot on an Air 2S :)
I agree. My MA2 shoots perfectly clear photos while using mapping component. As long as the drones altitude and speed is set up properly they look fantastic. It’s all in the setup.
Man, that would be exciting!
I tried flying this mission with a Phantom 4 but half of the photos suffered from motion blur.
My next move will be to fly the same mission with a Phantom 4 Advanced because of its mechanical shutter.
I purchased one second hand that will be delivered today.
The only setting that I changed on the mission is the drone type.
@Barry & @Mike, thanks for the info. I can't change the capture speed on my current plan. But I might consider upgrading if the photo's remain unsharp on the Phantom 4 Advanced.
I have not yet figured out how to set Dronelink to shoot in RAW.
I fly at an altitude of 10 meters because that was recommended by de-mine.com
Once I managed to shoot sharp photos I will lay 10 of these 3D printed dummy PFM-1 butterfly mines in the field for AI detection by de-mine.com
I'm volunteer for www.eyesonukraine.eu
A Dutch organisation that has delivered over 650 consumer drones to Ukraine so far.
Currently we investigate the usage of drones for mine detection.
This one produced from photos taken with my mini2, flown at 285 feet at a max speed of 25mph
https://hub.dronedb.app/r/martinr36-public/spring-gardens-road
Aerial Survey
Good info - thanks. The lower you go, the slower you need to go to avoid motion blur. 10M is pretty low so capture speed will need to be reduced. The mechanical shutter on the P4A will certainly help - I use a P4P V2 for mapping for that reason.
Some things to consider:
I created a component that you should be able to drop in to a plan and then adjust to your settings that has most things set for you. You can access it here: https://app.dronelink.com/barry-houldsworth/components/component/FLVCHUOVw8fvYcxrsycs/4838QIpuTaXOdLgwytnV
Keep us posted!
Aerial Survey.
For future reference If you go into any plan and click + add, commands then advanced you will see all the commands you can add for camera, drone, gimbal etc. That is where you can find all the commands for video or photo including “Photo File Format” Good luck.
Thanks for all the tips. I plan to test again soon.
Today I recieved all the gear. Phantom 4 advanced (done on the left) and 3D printed PFM-1 mines.
My plan is to simply fly the mission with the toolset currently at my disposal
- some knowledge
- dronelink account
- drone
- landmines
- location
And see how far I will get. I haven't even decided on what software to use for photogrammetry. Last time I used Dronedeploy but this is very expensive.
Also with my Elite account I believe there are not really setting available to control the camera.
I realized I had changed the capture speed in the component and that isn't available in the Elite. I've changed that now - just adjust the map speed when you need to.
If you have camera commands in the mission - and yes, the Elite allows that - they will override any manual options. So the other way to do it is have nothing in the mission, the map set to Photo and then make all the settings you want before lift off in the DJI Go4 app.
Tonight (In 30 minutes GMT+1) I will fly the mission with just the drone changed.
Phantom 4 Advanced instead of Phantom 4.
Later I will try if I can get the other settings to work.
I can only fly the mission when the cows are inside the stable to not scare them. So no ideal light conditions.
"Met welke software ga je uw ortho creëren?"
Weet ik nog niet, WebODM?
Back from the test. Same result. Some are sharp, some are Unsharp.
But I did manage to shoot RAW by setting this in the DJI GO4 app.
Unsharp
Sharp (Spot the PFM-1 butterfly mine!)
Changes for test nr 3
- I copied the camera settings from Barry to https://app.dronelink.com/aerialsurvey/my-first-project/plan/wKWbgiUcFGTHBKzNGMgM . Thank you Barry
- I replaced the SD card by a fast 190/90 MBs card
Still the amount of daylight is a problem. Currently I fly my mission at 20:40 when the cows are inside the stables. This is 30 minutes before sundown. This will improve over time since the days are getting longer. If light remains a problem I will have to give up this private site and have to find another more public site for testing.
Also I don't have a permit to fly drones over 250 grams in weight.
I noticed the drone does not follow the dronelink lines on the map but flies zigzag. It is as if it can only fly in north/south and east/west directions. In the simulated flight it perfectly follows the lines.
"Focus. Make sure that you have set the focus mode to Auto or Continuous AF. It is not set by default in the map and if the focus occurs before the map at a different target then photos will be blurry."
I found these Focus settings in DJI Go4 app for the Phantom 4 Advanced.
I reduced the overlap to 40%
https://app.dronelink.com/aerialsurvey/my-first-project/plan/wKWbgiUcFGTHBKzNGMgM
Focus
In the map component there is a focus mode. Make sure that is set correctly.
Speed
If the light is low drop the speed. I had it set to 10mph. Try a small map at 2mph (Speed (Max)) and see if that gives you the results you need.
Unfortunately, there is only so much you can do if the light is poor. If you can find another site that you can run in full daylight, that would certainly give you better results. The laws of physics are a pain.
Flight direction.
There is a circle with an icon in the center of the map. You can click on that and move it to change the flight direction.
It appears to be the wind blowing the drone around. The video even shows "Strong wind warning". It gets blown off course, the corrects over and over. Check wind speed at the altitude you are flying at.
I changed the settings to the recommended on the mission plan
https://app.dronelink.com/aerialsurvey/my-first-project/plan/wKWbgiUcFGTHBKzNGMgM
I intend to fly again tonight.
Thanks for sharing the mission - that makes it much easier.
A couple of things.
Other than that, it looks good to me. Good luck with it!
Just back from test nr 3.
Now even more photo's are unsharp.
Part of the mission https://youtu.be/T9ikWh8cdTY
I may have to switch to other software where the drone does not move while taking the photo. I doubt if the drone is hoovering while taking the shot with dronelink.
1 sharp and 1 unsharp photo: https://we.tl/t-15AIO7j7Fs
If needing to get sharp images especially at the very low altitudes as you are running then you should purchase a Growth business plan. The inspection will work. It is possible to get it to work with what your using but factors like the very low altitude and speed along with others make it more difficult. It would just he better to purchase a plan designed for this type of situation. Just a thought but I believe it will save you so much time and work it will be worth it. Good luck.
OK a few things.
I am wondering of there are parts of a plan that you can buy like example adaptive facade mapping as a 1 time payment
georges
The P4A has a mechanical shutter so rolling shutter is less of an issue.
I just don't like how much movement there is on that drone while it is flying. At 1/30 it's a wonder any of the shots were sharp.
I agree with Mike. Upgrade to a plan that allows for inspection, convert to inspection and let it stop at each photo. Here's the link to that video to save you looking it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQZLB1P8ExY
Thanks again for all the tips.
I use a Samsung A52
RAW photo's: https://we.tl/t-joCogFc4BL
In the DJI GO 4 app I just set the camera into S mode and the shutter to 1/160. Would this be too fast to get enough light?
I removed the RAW camera setting from dronelink because I also set it it DJI GO 4 app
In my opinion the growth business plan, to be able to fly inspection missions, is very expensive. I need a solution that is scalable for Ukraine. Cheap consumer drones and cheap software to detect mines. High costs means less usage on the field for mine detection.
$480 a year for just the software, that is what I pay for a Phantom 4 Pro with 2 batteries.
Thanks again Georges
I will continue to fly at 10 meters. The recommended altitude by de-mine.com
PFM-1 butterfly mines are very small, we need good detail for the AI to detect them
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