Author Topic: Downwind drone filming  (Read 4381 times)

yugi

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Downwind drone filming
« on: January 12, 2017, 01:40:48 PM »
What are the wind limits that a drone can be flown from a boat which travels downwind with SUPs?

If the waves get pretty crazy is it too hard to launch and land the drone?

Let's just say big bidget stuff. what are the limits possible this year?

PonoBill

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2017, 08:06:48 PM »
My Inspire 2 will do 58 mph according to it's specs, and nearly 70 according to my measurements. Control at high speed is rock solid. On that basis, I'd say flights in 40 MPH should be relatively good as long as the wind is reasonably steady.

Landing on a boat is feasible. Mostly likely landing would consist of some brave soul grabbing the landing gear and holding on while the props are stopped. The alternative is landing in a net.

It's hard to explain the extreme stability and control capabilities of the Inspire 2 unless you witness it. In Tripod mode, or any positionally locked mode, the entire drone is as stable as if it were being held, and the camera is as motionless as if it sat on a table. I have a pretty good understanding of the limitations of the feedback and control systems that govern how multicopters hover, and I don't really have any idea how they accomplish this level of stability. It seems well beyond what I've been able to accomplish with PID (proportional, integral, derivative) tuning of servo loops. Perhaps some kind of feedforward or cascaded system. at any rate, the performance is amazing and as soon as someone is willing to risk 5K worth of drone and camera, there could be some remarkable footage.

I've bought the insurance package for my Inspire and the 4K camera, with an eye toward risking this in the summer in Hood River. We'll see how that all works out. Presently, I'm much too chicken.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

yugi

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2017, 11:07:30 PM »
Do you think you could catch it if the boat is in waves like Maliko on a big day?

What is the autonomy?

PonoBill

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2017, 11:21:02 PM »
Probably. Have to try it to know. The drone could sit still. The problem might be the object avoidance. That might have to be disabled to make it stay put. I tried to land it on a narrow porch a couple of days ago and had some issues. I had to turn it around to get it to move over the rail--it didn't like the house being so close.


Autonomy level is very high. Can fly a precision route while tracking a specific target with the camera. waypoints are uploaded so the flight can be completed if transmission link is lost. Automatic return to home and failsafes. Return to home point is constantly calculated based on remaining battery life. Object avoidance at any ground speed under 28 MPH.

Follow me and tracking is based on visual recognition that adapts to shifting view angles (foreshortening, parallax, etc.) and maintains lock pretty well.

I've tested a lot of the autopilot features and object avoidance. It works better than any of my other drones. I'm more than impressed.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2017, 11:24:50 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #4 on: January 13, 2017, 01:32:23 AM »
Do you think you could catch it if the boat is in waves like Maliko on a big day?

It can be done but will require some planning.  The film crew below added handles and wore biker gear.  I would be very easy to get scalped, lose a facial feature, or send a digit or two into the deep.  The Inspire 2 is incredibly stable but it requires at least a square meter for landing in wind.  It moves a few feet in either direction with wind blasts before correcting itself to center.  Note to self:  Dig a larger landing area next time.  I am not sure a net is a good idea because of the camera and vision stuff that hangs low.  With the boat moving it will be an exciting process. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWhmpxCJojU

Eagle

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #5 on: January 13, 2017, 02:00:26 PM »
Go to 4:50 - "There was incident on the boat ..."

Have seen a number of landings on a boat.  And extra handles do help a bit - but these landings were in relatively docile conditions.  Maybe 10 kts of breeze at anchor or drifting slowly.  There was always a bit of wave motion - but not like on a DW run in 20-30 kts.  Would expect major risk trying to land in those conditions.  Major.  Even on land with 15 kt breeze the drone bobs up and down and left and right - when pinned to remain stationary.  Boat slamming up and down waves and drone bobbing everywhere - hmmm?  You grab it!

http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/phantom-pro-3-vs-heavy-wind-near-disaster.41272/

https://youtu.be/-YfVRbGccLc
Fast is FUN!   8)
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PonoBill

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #6 on: January 13, 2017, 02:39:59 PM »
How does that guy get so much attention?? Such a wanker.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Eagle

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #7 on: January 13, 2017, 05:29:45 PM »
Haha!  Heard in another vid he had a little drone mishap.  Took a second to locate in google.  But yeah - he has a ton of subs - and may get a bigger platform.
Fast is FUN!   8)
Dominator - Touring Pintail - Bullet V2 - M14 - AS23

yugi

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2017, 05:04:21 AM »
Ideal would be a waterproof floating one you could land in the water and then go get.

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2017, 05:51:14 AM »
« Last Edit: January 15, 2017, 10:23:07 AM by Admin »

Eagle

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2017, 11:36:21 AM »
Here are some drones you can use over and right in the ocean - not sure of the max windspeeds though.  If you had a decent budget - you could probs get some reasonable footage surfing or on med DW runs.  Land in the water and pickup with an inflatable or jetski.

http://www.dronesglobe.com/guide/waterproof/

https://youtu.be/rOtd9jO-hVk
Fast is FUN!   8)
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Eagle

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #11 on: January 16, 2017, 12:29:55 PM »
You can def get some ok footage over the water vs going full on pro heli -

https://youtu.be/mKy1eEmHUiw
Fast is FUN!   8)
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PonoBill

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #12 on: January 16, 2017, 06:41:28 PM »
I have one of the Quad H2O drones. Decent in water, but a little leak of salt water equals a lot of smoke with the power stored in drone batteries.

I'm going to build one of my waterproof bodies for the Inspire. I was pretty pleased with the one I did for my Hexacopter. The Inspire body will be a different design, but it should be more than splash proof. Managing the articulated arms will be a trick, but doable.

This one I did for the Hexo+ was blow molded lexan lower bubble, draped fiberglass top. It was moving along nicely to testing when I ran it into the ground after a control fault with the Hexo+. Didn't have time to make another. It was a Maui project.

I'll use a similar method to build the body shell with gaitered sleeves to accommodate the motor arms. It will be splash proof, with the motors left to their own survival (relatively cheap to replace or dewater if they get immersed) with the major "waterproofing" being foam landing skids. Quick rescue will be required for a water landing.







I've designed a truly waterproof drone similar to the HexH2O  ( https://www.quadh2o.com/hexh2o/hexh2o-ready-to-fly/ ) that should do well in high wind and full immersion, but I need time to build it, and the difficulty has substantially shifted with the best control systems now being commercial again. All the PX4 stuff seems to be going obsolete. I should probably just buy the HexH2O kit and call it good. I have enough bits to build at least three of them, but I'm stubborn.

Eagle, the Parrot hydrofoil in your link looks like the Geezer Foil.

« Last Edit: January 16, 2017, 06:59:02 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

blueplanetsurf

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2017, 03:20:05 AM »
I asked my friend Alex from Ocean Paddler TV about this.   They have both Inspire 2 and Phantom 4 drones and they use the Phantom 4 pro drones to shoot open ocean footage because the landing gear makes it easy to catch when on a boat.  They use it to shoot in some pretty heavy downwind conditions, like in this outrigger video:
https://www.facebook.com/oceanpaddlertv/videos/1224287267630496/
Robert Stehlik
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yugi

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Re: Downwind drone filming
« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2017, 03:55:40 AM »
cool!
 8)

 


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