Mission types - Mission Planner - PIX4Dcloud

Corridor missions are designed to map linear structures such as power lines, roads, or any other that follow a linear path. They are defined by a set of points that will establish the direction of the flight lines.

How to position and design the mission

Once entering the Corridor mission a default mission defined by two points will be displayed on the map.

The following actions can be performed.

1. Move the survey area: the survey area can be displaced by click on the mission shape and dragging it to a new location.
2. Move a vertex: tap on a vertex and drag it to a new position to extend or reduce the survey area.
3. Remove a vertex: two adjacent vertex can be merged by dragging one on top of the other one.
4. Add a vertex: a vertex can be added by tapping on the “+” icon displayed over a segment.

Note: The Reset mission button allows the mission shape and location to be reset to the default one.

Define the Corridor mission properties

The following mission information and settings are available on the right panel.

• Mission summary:
  
  • Length [km]: length of the mission geometry. The reral length of the flight will be determined by the numer of flight lines.
  • Width [m]: the projected width of the survey area on the ground.
  • Flight time [hh:mm:ss]: estimated flight time of the current mission.
  • GSD [cm/pixel]: distance between two consecutive pixel centers measured on the ground. The GSD depends on different parameters such as the camera specifications, the flight height, and the camera angle.
• Mission settings:
  • Drone model: select the desired drone model.
  • Camera model: select the specific camera for the selected drone model.
  • Start position: determines the start and end position of the flight. It can be switched betwen 4 different options: A,B,C,D.
• Flight height [m]: height of the mission in reference to the take-off location. The range is 10 - 150m.
• Front overlap [%]: percentage of an image covered by the next one at the ground level with respect to the flight direction. The range is 20 - 90%.
• Side overlap [%]: percentage of an image covered by an adjacent one (in adjacent flight line) at the ground level. The range is 20 - 90%.
• Number of lines: determines the number of passes of the drone in the current mission. The higher the number of passes, the higher the width.
• a minimum of 2 lines is recommended.
• Drone speed [100%]: speed of the drone during the mission execution. The maximum speed depends on the selected front overlap and flight height. The slider allows selecting percentages (10% steps) of the maximum speed.

Note: The Restore button can be used to reset the settings to their default values.

The Grid mission is meant to plan and fly polygonal mission shapes with a single grid flight pattern for 2D maps or a double grid flight pattern for 3D models. It is suitable for most environments that require flexible boundaries or complex mapping shapes and ensures that images are taken with the gimbal pitch and the overlap required for optimal processing.

How to position and design the mission

Once entering the Grid mission the default mission shape is displayed over the basemap at the current location.

The following actions can be performed.

1. Move the survey area: the survey area can be displaced by click on the mission shape and dragging it to a new location.
2. Move a vertex: tap on a vertex and drag it to a new position to extend or reduce the survey area.
3. Remove a vertex: two adjacent vertex can be merged by dragging one on top of the other one.
4. Add a vertex: a vertex can be added by tapping on the “+” icon displayed over a segment.
5. Rotate the flight lines: tap and rotate within the survey area to modify the direction of the flight lines.

Note: The Reset mission button allows the mission shape and location to be reset to the default one.

Define the Grid mission properties

The following mission information and settings are available on the right panel.

• Mission summary:
  
  • Area [ha]: area covered by the mission.
  • Flight time [hh:mm:ss]: estimated flight time of the current mission.
  • GSD [cm/pixel]: distance between two consecutive pixel centers measured on the ground. The GSD depends on different parameters such as the camera specifications, the flight height, and the camera angle.
• Mission settings:
  • Drone model: select the desired drone model.
  • Camera model: select the specific camera for the selected drone model.
  • Flight pattern:
    • Use Single grid pattern to take images perpendicular to the ground (nadir), with the overlap required for optimal processing. Recommended in the following cases: main interest in 2D map outputs, relatively flat surface (e.g. earthworks, fields), large area.
    • Use Double grid pattern to take images from multiple sides (oblique), with the overlap required for optimal processing. Compared to the single grid, this pattern is recommended for flying closer to objects in order to capture more vertical details.
      
    • Note: Double Grid is recommended in the following cases: main interest in 3D model outputs, surface with height fluctuations or objects (e.g. buildings, forest), small and medium area (the flight time is doubled compared to single grid pattern).
• Flight height [m]: height of the mission in reference to the take-off location. The range is 10 - 150m.
• Front overlap [%]: percentage of an image covered by the next one at the ground level with respect to the flight direction. The range is 20 - 90%.
• Side overlap [%]: percentage of an image covered by an adjacent one (in adjacent flight line) at the ground level. The range is 20 - 90%.
• Camera angle [°]: angle of the camera during the mission execution. The range is 0° - -90° (nadir).
• Drone speed [%]: speed of the drone during the mission execution. The maximum speed depends on the selected front overlap and flight height. The slider allows selecting percentages (10% steps) of the maximum speed.

Note: The Restore button can be used to reset the settings to their default values.

To generate the best 2D and 3D outputs, we highly recommend using the default mission settings values according to the selected flight pattern:

Define the mission properties

The following mission information and settings are available on the right panel.

• Mission information:
  
  • • Area in m2
    • GSD cm/px
• Mission settings:
  • • Flight height: defines the height of the mission (10m - 250m).
    • Images per orbit: defines the number of images per orbit (20 - 180).
    • POI height: defines the height of the point of interest (0m - 250m).
  Note: The Restore button can be used to reset the settings to their default values.

The following mission information and settings are available on the right panel.

• Mission information:
  
  • • Area in m2
    • GSD cm/px
• Mission settings:
  • • POI min height: point of interest minimum height (base). The value should be at least 10 m lower than the POI max height. Tap Set to current to set the value to the current height of the drone (0m - 240m).
    • POI max height: point of interest maximum height (top). The value should be at least 10 m higher than the POI min height. Tap Set to current to set the value to the current height of the drone (10m - 250m).
    • Mission min height: minimum height at which the drone will fly the mission (cylinder base). The value should be at least 10 m lower than the mission max height. Tap Set to current to set the value to the current height of the drone (10m - 240m).
    • Mission max height: maximum height at which the drone will fly the mission (cylinder top). The value should be at least 10 m higher than the mission min height. Tap Set to current to set the value to the current height of the drone (20m - 250m).
    • Verticals: number of vertical lines in the cylinder mission (4 - 20).
      
    • Front overlap: frontal overlap between successive images in the vertical lines (60% - 90%).

Note: The Restore button can be used to reset the settings to their default values.