The Highwall Scanning Missions feature in SkyFlight leverages terrain following to keep a constant distance from the wall.
SkyFlight uses Dynamic Gimbal Control to automatically adjust the gimbal camera during the mission so that it always faces the highwall.
The Oblique (forward) camera captures the wall from a better perspective, resulting in highly accurate, high-resolution meshes of high walls and other outputs.
Creating Highwall Missions in SkyFlight
1. Login to SkyFlight and Click Create Mission.
2. Click Highwall Scanning
3. Depending on your needs, you can import a Digital Surface Model (DSM) for more accurate planning for your Highwall Missions. The DSM is necessary if you wish to do a Terrain Following Highwall Scan.
You can also import a KML for better spatial awareness during the planning of your missions. If none are needed for your flight, you can click Skip.
4. SkyFlight will automatically determine some parameters of your flight plan. You may edit as needed.
Basic Highwall Settings
Modify your Flight Area
You can modify your flight path by tapping, holding, and dragging the white circles with a + sign to new locations. You can also modify your flight path by tapping, holding, and dragging the white circles.
Altitude
In the mission drawer, tap the + or - symbols to change the altitude you wish the mission to be flown. Flight operators are responsible for selecting an altitude that is safely above all objects in the flight area. Changing the altitude will directly affect the Ground Sampling Distance (GSD).
GSD (Ground Sampling Distance)
Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) is a measure of how much ground is represented by one pixel in a photo or map. For example, if the GSD is 2 cm, each pixel in the image shows a 2 cm x 2 cm area on the ground. A smaller GSD means more detail in the image because each pixel covers a smaller area.
Drone Heading
The default direction of the primary legs of flight is North/South. In the mission drawer, tap the + or - symbols to change the direction. Common reasons for changing direction include: aligning with terrain or obstacles, adjusting for the optimal length of flight, or start and endpoint location adjustment.
DSM File
This is the imported Digital Surface Model (DSM) that was selected during the Highwall Mission in the Creation steps above and is the file that SkyFlight will use for spatial elevation awareness to compute the flight correctly. if you wish, you can Replace this file with another DSM if required.
Advanced Highwall Settings
Overlap
The recommended default overlap is 80% front overlap and 70% Side overlap. In the mission drawer, you can increase the overlap by clicking the + and - buttons to the left and right of each overlap setting. More overlap provides more references for the processing pipeline to stitch images together, but also increases the flight time for a given size area and increases processing time due to adding additional photos.
Horizontal Shift
The Highwall Scanning missions feature an advanced setting called “Horizontal Shift”.
This functionality allows the drone to anticipate any steep changes in the terrain to improve the quality of the outputs generated.
The Horizontal Shift feature will move the drone away from the wall horizontally, improving the safety of the mission and allowing the gimbal camera to get a better view of the wall.
Vertical Margin
The Vertical margin is the margin that will be added to the altitude during ingress and egress. You can also set the speeds in m/s for the ingress and egress of the mission.
Photo Mode
Select the way you want your image shot intervals, we recommend Distance Interval Shot.
Start at a Waypoint.
When active, it will show all the waypoints computed for your mission, and it will allow you to set a specific waypoint to start the mission.
For further questions, please email us at support@skycatch.com.
Comments