AGL reference and the real accuracy?
I refer to this 101 video:
AGL = Above Ground Level (i.e. the real distance between the drone and the ground below it)
This AGL (based on ESRI data) is very interesting and I see lot's of cases I could use it in. So far I have only used the 'TakeOff Location' reference. Is there any way to see how accurate (meters) this AGL mapping data is in the area your drone flight plan is?
E.g. if I wanted to put the drone to fly (slowly) pretty close to the ground (lets say +10m) that is not flat, I would need to know how much error margin I need to leave between the altitude of the flight path and the known AGL level so that drone doesn't hit the ground in any place of the path.
Also, because the DroneLink knows all the time where the drone flies, it must also know the exact GPS coordinates and therefore also the exact AGL value at every spot on the Path. This would mean that there could be one additional parameter value to be set in the Path component. It would define what the AGL value must be through the whole Path. Drone would then calculate the flight altitude dynamically (FlightAltitude = AGL_Value + Set_Flight_altitude) when the drone proceeds the Path. Or do I misunderstand here smtg?
In this 101 video the AGL was implemented with the help of Markers, but I would think those are not needed if this AGL value were constant and set for the whole Path to be the same.
Comments
6 comments
Terrain follow for Path without markers is one of the outstanding feature requests. Map has something similar already, but be aware, it isn't "every point along the path", but rather every 30m of horizontal distance travelled.
My specific use case becomes pretty unmanageable if I have to rely on setting (hundreds/thousands?) of markers to avoid crashing into a hillside. So for me this terrain follow for path is really important. Is this feature request on the horizon? ETA? Thank you.
Not currently prioritized.
Will make do then. Thanks.
I’ve tried AGL and it varied every so often. Tried putting down about 10 altitude markers total every so often where I know the higher hills are and it’s seemed to work more accurate. Approximately 60 feet AGL. Still testing to see if it’s more accurate and consistent overall. The entire plan was about 8 minutes so it would not take too many for a 25 minute plan. Just some thoughts and suggestions to try without putting hundreds of them. Enjoy.
Thanks for the advice. My typical single mission can have a vertical climb of 2,000+ ft over a pretty short horizontal distance. In other words a steep climb.
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