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User Manual: eBee

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1. A Ref alt Drone status mD e nnr On Home waypoint Aa 29 0 m iD Autonomy Be Maree Battery voltage Time in fight 7 A MOD 65 11 2v 07 56 Home distance Estimated wind Say 78 m 00 07 y O kady 100 27mjs Flight data Ground speed 9 5m s Altitude m AMSL 489 9 m a Ground sensor height 96 0m N 46 5203887 Ti E 6 5505403 Instruments E C ee arso 30 329 O ACTITUDE mjs mjATO nE a E Simulator u Se la w Wind W 3 0mk A W 13 A Multi drone panel Sidebar One advantage of flying multiple drone drones at once is to cover more area in less time eMotion can automatically upload a multi flight mission to all connected drones in a single click To achieve this follow this procedure 1 Go to the Mission Planning tab and prepare the required mission area this can be done with any of the connected drone selected Make sure that the number of flights required matches the number of connected drones If needed the Max flight time option can be lowered to force the mission planner to split the mission in several flights see section Mission Planning tab on page 107 2 Select Upload to all from the drop down list of the Upload button Note You can only split a mission between drones of the same model and that are using the same camera 79 Advanced functionalities Clicking on the icon in the Multi drone panel allows you to either connect a new drone or to br
2. The eMotion Flight Log file of the flight that had a problem You can find this file in the eMotion logs directory which is created in My Documents on Windows Photos or video of the eBee airframe if required fi Note In order to provide support senseFly may request the flight log files for inspection http my sensefly com 7 see section Importing images and flight data on page 50 for information on retrieving this file from the eBee 168 Part IV Specifications Specifications 1 Software requirements eMotion has the following minimum software requirements Operating system Hardware Screen Microsoft Windows 7 8 1 6 GHz processor 2 GB RAM 500 MB free storage space recommended resolution 1920 x 1080 visible outdoors Postflight Terra 3D has the following minimum software requirements Operating system Hardware Screen 170 Microsoft Windows 7 8 64 bit only 1 6 GHz processor 2 GHz Intel i5 i7 Xeon recommended 4 GB RAM 16 GB recommended for large projects 10 GB free storage space 1 TB recommended for large projects min resolution 1024 x 768 Drone specifications 2 Drone specifications Size Weight without camera and battery Nominal take off weight approx Maximum take off weight Material Battery Nominal endurance flight time Propulsion Nominal cruise speed Wind resistance Max single flight coverage Wingspan 96 cm Wing area 0 25 m
3. Max flight lines altitude above elevation data Maximum altitude dif ference between a flight line and the ground altitude based on the top most elevation data layer 3D flight planning only Min flight lines altitude above elevation data Minimum altitude differ ence between a flight line and the ground altitude based on the top most elevation data layer 3D flight planning only Distance between photos The required distance between each consec utive photo taken in the same flight line calculated using the Longitudinal overlap Ground resolution and Camera model parameters The wind also has an influence as the ground speed increases with back wind wy Note The eBee has a minimum distance between photos that de 114 pends on the wind speed and direction If the calculated distance that is too short will be indicated with a icon This is not critical for the flight but it may reduce the longitudinal overlap of the images Consider reducing the ground resolution fly higher to achieve the selected longitudinal overlap or reduce the longitude overlap itself to remove this notice e Single image coverage The estimated ground area covered by a single eMotion in depth guide image based on the Altitude over take off location parameter assuming flat terrain e Number of waypoints The total number of waypoints to cover the mis sion area e Elevation data sources The elevation data sources being used to calcu
4. Presence of birds Birds approach your drone out of curiosity or they consider it a threat and attack it e To try and escape an isolated incident consider using the fast climb or de scent manoeuvres e Totryand startle the birds and dissuade them from approaching your drone consider using the roll manoeuvre e In the even of a sustained attack or a situation that may put the birds at risk land your drone Note Consult with your local authority or wildlife conservation as O sociation before flying in sensitive areas Avoid flying near known nesting sites especially when young are present in spring or early summer Rather than disturb the birds consider flying at a different time of year or adapting your flight plan to minimise your impact on wildlife Flight planning oversights You have moved the home waypoint on uneven terrain but you have not cor rected the landing altitude to compensate for the change in ground level under the new home waypoint You think there is a risk of a hard landing for some other reason Unexpected wind or a flight planning oversight means that your drone will land on water or in some other unsuitable place Consider aborting the landing correcting the error and landing again 87 Advanced functionalities Unexpected intrusions into airspace Your drone is about to collide with another aircraft or UAV Consider a fast climb or descent Unexpected intrusions into landing zone
5. change altitude AIR Keep highest kartke 87 m ATO Ground resolution W 3 1cm px 4 E sm Photo targets Pitch v w Altitude reference m ATO Targetaltitude W 0 m ATO latitude 24 0106 Longitude 32 9043 gt Add a photo target sfe Reset all photo targets New photo target increment Heading increment vo a New photo Pitch increment vo a target increment gt Automatically reset targets altitude based on elevation data Camera control Take photo now Continuous photo sequence Auto v Camera parameters for mapping Pitch angle v 7 a E Use manual parameters Distance between photos Automatic The camera tab is an advanced tab that can be used to precisely control the func tioning of the camera It also contains controls for taking oblique imagery It is split into several sections Camera model Photo targets Camera control and Camera parameters for mapping 118 eMotion in depth guide The Camera model section is used to define the camera or payload currently con nected to the eBee The list contains all payloads currently supported on the eBee The Photo targets section allows you to program a set of photo targets that the drone will capture with an oblique angle You can define a photo target location distance to the object and the heading and pitch of the photograph The drone will then automatically calculate a flight plan in order to capture the p
6. 3 Take the drone with your hand and put it in different orientation Make sure that the artificial horizon displays the corresponding orientation The artificial horizon should follow smoothly the motion of the eBee and it should not drift when the drone is not moving In case of doubt take a short video and follow the instructions in section Reporting a problem with your eBee on page 168 for advice Check 3 Barometric pressure sensor The barometric pressure sensor is used to measure the altitude from the take off location To check it follow these steps 1 Switch the eBee on by connecting the battery and connect to eMotion 2 Move the drone from your feet to above your head about 2 m altitude vari ation 3 Check the altitude on the vertical bar right of the artificial horizon or in the Status Panel next to the drone icon on the map The displayed altitude should follow the drone motion i e if the drone is raised by 2 m the altitude reading should increase by about 2 m When the drone is not moving the altitude reading may slowly drift by up to 10 m Check 4 Air speed sensor The air speed sensor is connected to the pitot probe by a pair of tubes To check it follow these steps 141 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting 1 Visually check the pitot probe Make sure that it is properly fixed to the airframe and that both tubes are properly attached and not damaged The holes in the probe must be clea
7. For this reason we recommend that you do not turn on the remote control unless you are ready to manually control the drone right after take off To perform a manual landing we recommend the following procedure 1 The drone should always perform a linear landings into the wind Face the downwind direction and confirm that there are no obstacles in an area of at least 100 m downwind and a width of 20 m in either direction from down wind 2 Set the drone to an altitude of around 50 m from the landing altitude by moving the right stick up or down 3 Fly downwind until the drone is around 100 m away from the landing loca tion 4 Turn the drone upwind and towards the landing location by moving the right stick left or right 5 Set the speed to a low value by moving the left stick down to around 25 of its maximum value 6 Bring the drone closer to the ground by controlling the sink rate with the right stick Keep the drone descending until it is around 5 10 m from the ground as described in section Take off on page 43 132 Manual control of the eBee 7 Once the drone is around 5 10 m from the landing location cut motor power using the left stick and allow the drone to glide down to the ground 133 Part Ill Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting 7 Maintenance and repair of the eBee Q Goal of this section This section describes how to update accom p
8. LAND NOW button in the Control Bar three times in quick suc cession will cause the drone to initiate a Circular landing procedure at its 25 see section Manual control of the eBee on page 127 for information on the various manual control modes 2 see section Troubleshooting on page 145 for a full list of In flight warning and Critical failure con ditions and the subsequent reactions of the drone 70 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee current location with its motor disabled and change to Emergency Land ing mode 71 Advanced functionalities 4 6 Linear landing A typical Linear landing follows these steps 72 The eBee flies towards the Home waypoint defined by the user within eMo tion default altitude is 75 m above the landing altitude The altitude change behaviour between the current location and the Home waypoint depends on the Altitude change parameter of the Home waypoint By default it is defined as Keep highest which means that the drone will fly at the high est altitude between its current altitude and the Home waypoint s altitude climbing in a spiral first if needed Once the Home waypoint is reached the drone circles the waypoint and descends to a fixed altitude of 75 m above the landing altitude The drone circles to estimate the wind speed and direction An approach di rection is then calculated as close to the upwind direction as possible within the a
9. A person or vehicle moves into your landing zone during landing approach Con sider aborting the landing A Caution You cannot trigger an emergency manoeuvre if it will e cause your drone to leave the working area e make your drone fly below 30 m and cause a ground proximity warning e interrupt an emergency landing that was caused by a critical failure Caution To avoid a collision do not carry out a fast climb or fast descent if this would risk flying close to trees or other obstacles Caution Some of these manoeuvres will cause a loss in altitude To avoid crashing your drone do not carry out several emergency ma noeuvres in quick succession Allow your drone to stabilise its flight and altitude after each manoeuvre Caution While your drone is carrying out an emergency manoeu O vre it cannot capture high quality images and some images may be missing at the end of the mission In addition these manoeuvres use up battery power shortening the available flight time If after acti vating a manoeuvre 3 times the issue has not be resolved consider landing and waiting for example until birds have left the area be fore restarting or resuming your mission 88 eMotion in depth guide 5 eMotion in depth guide Goal of this section eMotion is a powerful tool designed specifically Q to work with your senseFly mini drones This section includes a com prehensive guide to all the functionalities in eM
10. C Program Files senseFly eMotion 2 usb_driver C Program Files x86 senseFly eMotion 2 usb_driver See section Updating the eBee software on page 136 if you have any difficulty with software installation 20 Planning and simulating a flight 1 2 The eMotion interface Thanks to the powerful tools available within eMotion designing a mapping flight for your eBee is a simple process To get started launch eMotion and choose what you would like to do e To run a simulation select the simulator choose the drone you want to simulate and click OK e To fly a drone connect your ground modem to your computer and select Drone If you have more than one USB device connected to your PC choose the ground modem you want to connect to from the list and click OK Oth erwise just click OK e To process flight data you already created select the Flight Data Manager and click OK We recommend that you plan flights using a simulated drone Once connected to a real or simulated drone you will see the main screen of eMotion The main screen of eMotion is split into four sections e Map Area The Map Area of eMotion displays a map with the drone s cur rent position indicated by the N symbol A small Status Panel floats be side the symbol indicating important status information including the eBee s 21 Quick start guide Flight Parameters tab Camera tab Mission Waypoints tab Mission Planning tab Setup Phase
11. Failure INS There is a failure with the orientation sensors which malfunction makes it impossible for the drone to stabilise itself and thus initiate a gliding emergency landing Emergency action The drone turns off its motor and fully deflects its ailerons which results in an un controlled descent with limited impact energy deep stall or spin 164 Troubleshooting Failure motor The motor is not working even after an attempted malfunction re start commanded by a Motor malfunction In flight warning Emergency action The drone orients itself in the di rection of the Home waypoint and glides towards the ground while continuously trying to re start the mo tor If motor re start is successful the drone cancels the landing and flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home waypoint s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest Failure CPU Over The autopilot processor is overloaded and can no load longer control flight The drone turns off its motor and fully deflects its ailerons which results in an un controlled descent with limited impact energy deep stall or spin 165 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting 8 5 Resetting default camera settings In case of unwanted configuration changes the camera can be re configured to a suitable state Please refer to your camera user manual for the procedure You can find camera manuals in our Knowledge Bas
12. If you have questions about any of your senseFly products please visit my senseFly where you ll find e Our Knowledge Base e A form for contacting support my sensefly com Welcome to your eBee Congratulations on your purchase of the eBee a complex and powerful yet intu itive autonomous mapping system We take great care to develop and design the best possible hardware and software tools for quick high quality and easy to use 2D and 3D aerial mapping Note This manual refers to the version 2 4 of eMotion and version 3 2 O of Postflight Terra 3D software Check the software version included in your package and consult the Release Notes for potential changes included in more recent versions of the software Package contents Ss lt zz User manual eBee E 9 battery aF batter gt 4 packs W charger spare z gt propeller E remote control cables and propeller attachment eBee bands battery charger cable ground mod ein camera charger EPP camera glue wing eBee wing central body The standard eBee package contains the following items 1x carrying case with foam protection 1x eBee central body with built in autopilot 1x pair of detachable wings 1x spare propeller 10x spare propeller attachment rubber bands 2x Lithium Polymer battery packs 1x Lithium Polymer battery charger including cables 1x 2 4 GHz USB ground modem FCC ID 2AC2VGMEBEE for radio data link
13. To import images remove the SD card from the camera insert it into the SD card reader of your computer and select Import from SD card reader Alternatively transfer the images from the camera by lifting it out of its compartment just enough to connect a USB cable to it and turn the camera on Copy all the images into a temporary folder on your computer Select Import from a specific folder and choose the temporary folder Step 4 Import flight logs Confirm that the Drone and eMotion Flight Logs found by the Flight Data Manager are correct You may select logs manually if they are not correctly detected Step 5 Import images Confirm that the images corresponding to your flight were found and matched to the Drone Flight Log correctly Processing image data e Step 6 Select outputs Choose the output actions to execute and files to create Only uncheck the first checkbox if you are sure you do not need to geo tag your images Geotagging images is necessary to create geoinfo KML and Postflight Terra 3D files Check the checkbox and choose a file format if you wish to export a geoinfo file This file contains latitude longitude altitude AMSL and WGS 84 heading pitch and roll values for each image captured Only uncheck the checkbox if you do not want to create a Postflight Terra 3D project Only uncheck the checkbox if you do not want to create a KML file containing the 3D flight trajectory
14. approx 0 42 kg 0 93 Ibs eBee 0 67 kg 1 48 lbs eBee Ag 0 71 kg 1 56 Ibs with standard camera amp battery 0 75 kg 1 65 Ibs EPP foam carbon structure amp compos ite parts 3 cell Lithium Polymer 0 14 kg eBee 50 minutes eBee Ag 45 minutes with standard camera Electric brushless motor Nominal static thrust 0 63 kgf 6 2 N 40 90 km h 11 25 m s or 25 56 mph up to 45 km h 12 m s eBee 12 km 4 6 mi eBee Ag 10 km 3 9 mi ona single battery charge 6 can vary greatly depending on external factors such as wind altitude change and temperature 6 calculated based on the following test conditions GSD of 30 cm 11 8 in per pixel no wind mod erate air temp 18 C 64 4 F new fully charged battery flight altitude of 1 000 m 3 280 ft above ground amp take off at approx sea level from centre of coverage area 171 Specifications Communication devices Navigation GSD per pixel Absolute horizontal accuracy Absolute vertical accuracy Relative orthomosaic 3D model accuracy Carry case dimensions Ground modem e Frequency 2 4 GHz e Range approx 3 km e Certification FCC Part 15 247 IC RSS210 CE Remote control e Frequency 2 4 GHz e Range approx 1 km e Certification CE FCC Up to 50 waypoints eBee Down to 1 5 cm 0 6 in eBee Ag Down to 2 cm 0 8 in eBee with GCPs Down to 3 cm 1 2 in eBee no GCPs 1 to 5 m 3 3 to 16 4 ft e
15. eBee senseFly Extended User Manual eBee and eBee Ag Revision 16 April 2015 Copyright 2010 2015 senseFly Ltd Ne senseFly a Parrot company GENERAL INFORMATION READ THIS USER MANUAL CAREFULLY BEFORE USING A SENSEFLY LTD PRODUCT senseFly Ltd products are intended for professional use only Applicable Regulations senseFly Ltd products are subject to Civil Aviation regulations Regulations may vary depending on the country where you intend to operate your product ANY USE OF SENSEFLY LTD PRODUCTS IN BREACH OF THE LAW OF THE COUNTRY WHERE YOU OPERATE THE PRODUCT IS UNDER YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY INFORM YOURSELF BEFORE USING THE PRODUCT SOME COUNTRIES MAY HAVE LAWS THAT LIMIT THE USE OF UN MANNED AIRCRAFT TO LINE OF SIGHT OPERATIONS AND OR PROHIBIT THE USE OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT AT ALL OR IN SPECIFIC AREAS Privacy Recording and circulating an image of an individual may constitute an infringement of their image and privacy for which you can be liable Ask for authorization before taking pictures of an individual particularly if you want to keep your recordings and or circulate images on the Web or any other medium Do not circulate degrading images or ones that could undermine the reputation or dignity of an individual Check that your use of the cameras on board senseFly Ltd products comply with the legal provision on privacy in the country where you operate your product Limited Warranty SenseFly Ltd warran
16. work sharing options 82 Allow other computers to see my drones All computers that are run ning eMotion and are connected to the same network will be able to dis play the position status and other parameters of the drones connected to your computer Allow other computers to control my drones All drones currently con nected to your computer are not only displayed but can be fully controlled by other computers running eMotion on the same network See all drones on my local network Check this box to display the po sition and other parameters of drones connect to other computers on the same network Apply multi drone coordination to local network Check this box to synchronise all the selected parameters in the Multi drone coordination preferences across all drones that are connected to the same network pro vided that they have checked the Allow other computers to control my drones option Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee e Share simulators on my local network If this box is checked all Network sharing options apply to both real and simulated drones connected to your computer In unchecked they only apply to real drones 4 8 Individual photo targets and oblique imagery In some cases it may be interesting to take oblique photographs of objects for example to provide a nice image for documentation or to increase the quality of 3D models that contain vertical facades and surfaces eMotion includes a tool
17. wy Note The Take photo now button has no effect during Take off Cir cular landing Linear landing and Emergency landing modes e Continuous photo sequence These radio buttons define how the drone is taking images When the default option Auto is selected the drone will start and stop continuous photo shooting based on the actions associated 120 eMotion in depth guide with mission waypoints Selecting On overrides waypoint actions and en ables continuous shooting Conversely selecting Off will override way point actions and disable continuous shooting Default value Auto The Camera parameters for mapping section is used to define detailed parame ters related to the camera and has the following functions e Pitch angle By default the eBee takes images at a default estimated pitch angle of 7 relative to the horizon This angle provides the best compro mise between image quality and flight endurance In some cases however you may wish to change this value to suit your imaging needs Increasing this angle to 15 provides a slightly more perspective view of a building Note however that a higher pitch angle will cause the drone to slow down every time it takes an image losing altitude and decreasing flight time and longitudinal overlap Decrease the pitch angle down to 0 can capture more vertical images of the ground if mapping precision at low altitudes is of utmost importance Howeve
18. 4 1 cm px 137m 4 2 cm px 130 m 4 0 cm px 9 3m O 184 3x135 9 m 8 Improved SRTM Advanced parameters a w 1 aa Afer pevou Advanced parameters zoe v o a oons a Use current wind estimate Max fight time v 40 min a The Mission Planning tab is divided in several panels The first panel Mapping and mission parameters contains the parameters that define the requirements of a particular mission e Difficult terrain Clicking this button will fill in preset values to the rest of the parameters The Difficult terrain preset is meant for imaging terrain with complex features such as forests High image overlap is recommended to increase the amount of features that can be matched between images though at the cost of lower image resolution due to higher altitude e Easy terrain default This preset is meant for simple terrain such as quar ries or agricultural areas where high resolution images can be taken with 108 eMotion in depth guide relatively low image overlap Note The preset values are recommended settings that have O demonstrated good results when images are then used in Postflight Terra 3D to create orthomosaics Do not hesitate however to mod ify these parameters to suit the particularities of the terrain you are mapping or the local regulations and airspace constraints e Mission area You can select either a rectangular mission area for simple terrain as described in section The
19. This section describes how to prepare your eBee for flight launch monitor and control from the air and initiate an autonomous landing Note We recommend that you perform your first flight in a large obstacle free area and limit the length of the mission in order to fa miliarise yourself with the eBee in flight 2 1 Weather check Before each flight you should be aware of the weather conditions The eBee is a small drone that cannot fly in heavy rain or strong wind conditions In case of doubt make sure to check a weather bulletin including wind estimations in the flight area Note that wind is often stronger at higher altitudes and that the wind perceived at the surface is not always a good reference to estimate the wind at flight altitude Cloud velocity or tall tree movements can help you to estimate the wind speed once you are out in the field Weather forecasts may use various units to measure wind speed As a reference 1 m s 3 6 km h 2 24 mph 1 94 kts 29 Quick start guide A Caution The eBee should not be launched if the wind speed exceeds 12 m s in other units 43 2 km h 26 8 mph 23 3 kts A Caution The eBee is not designed to fly in temperatures above 35 C Avoid exposing the drone to high temperature for prolonged periods of time In particular leaving the drone exposed to the sun or in a car should be avoided 2 2 Preparing the eBee for flight The eBee s simple design means it can go from t
20. e Step 7 You may now disconnect the drone Eject the SD card drive and the drone drive before removing the SD card and the USB cable respectively Disconnect the battery and USB cable from the drone Insert the SD card back into the camera put it back properly into its compartment and ensure that it is turned off You can now open the KML file in Google Earth or the project in Postflight Terra 3D for further processing 3 2 in field image quality check Postflight Terra 3D software available as a free download with the eBee package can be used to rapidly create a Quality Report directly in the field The Quality Report that is automatically generated as well as the orthomosaic provide imme diate feedback on the quality of the images gathered during your mission You can open a project for processing in Postflight Terra 3D directly from the Flight Data Manager after importing your data by clicking the Open project in Terra button You will now see the main Postflight Terra 3D window The position of your images will appear as red dots in the Map Area of Postflight Terra 3D powered by Pix4D see section Installing eMotion Postflight Terra 3D and the ground modem drivers on page 20 for installation instructions 53 Quick start guide Automatic Reconstruction Report generation gt Top Toolbar Project Summary Layers aeea ae Local Processing panel apres Map Area Step 1 select
21. for defining photo targets with a specific distance heading and pitch angle The drone can then orient itself and capture the image using a patent pending pitch down manoeuvre Capturing an oblique image can be done easily by following these steps 1 Add anew photo target by clicking on the button in the Camera tab Use the cross hairs to place the photo target on the location of interest in the Map Area You may also right click anywhere in the Map Area and select Add photo target here from the contextual menu The photo target will appear as a circle in the Map Area with an estimated image footprint a manoeuvre zone and a status panel with estimated altitudes before and after the image is taken resize to change ground resolution manoeuvre zone J photo target altitude estimated photo target footprint move in the arrow direction to change pitch persepctive P estimated altitudes gt before after photo Altitude before photo mS 101 m ATO A rotate to change _ Altitude after photo heading lt T 83 Advanced functionalities 2 Select the desired heading and pitch angles of the image by rotating the image footprint and moving the photo target arrow respectively The es timated image footprint can help you choose the required angles You can also set the angles manually in the Photo targets section of the Camera tab 3 Define the desired ground resolution at the
22. including USB cable 1x 2 4 GHz remote control including 3 AA batteries 1x still camera including memory card battery and charger 1x USB cable for interfacing with camera and on board autopilot 1x EPP glue 1x eBee User Manual 1x camera User Manual Depending on your order your package may also include other items such as additional payloads Please verify upon delivery that your package is complete In case of a missing item please contact your eBee reseller immediately Note Camera user manuals are also available to download from our Knowledge Base part of my senseFly http my sensefly com Hardware features battery compartment f pitot probe status LED oA 7X central body Ne camera compartment vV j A E F4 N servo connection N mechanism f fth gt A Top face of the eBee wing N aileron 4 r Y winglet ground sensor camera lens hole Bottom face of the central body The eBee is an autonomous flying drone comprised of the following components e Central body This is the core of the eBee and includes all the electronics actuators and communications hardware on board the drone e Wing The two wings of the eBee are detachable for storage and replace ment Each wing has two wing struts and two clips to hold it in place within the central body e Winglets These structures add aerodynam
23. on page 58 Changes made to the selected waypoint are sent to the drone immediately after selecting an item in the popup menu or upon hitting the Enter key in the text fields You can reposition the waypoint by clicking the 9 button and then clicking at the de sired position in the Map Area You can make the selected waypoint the current waypoint by clicking the button 116 eMotion in depth guide A Caution Any change to the waypoints or their parameters are di rectly sent to the drone and may therefore impact its flight behaviour We recommend that you take great care before modifying waypoints while the drone is in flight You can add new waypoints by clicking the button or by right clicking on the Map Area and selecting Add waypoint here Clicking the button will remove all mission waypoints from the drone fi Note All modifications made to the waypoint list will be lost when the drone is switched off unless the list is explicitly saved into the au topilot using the Save flight plan in drone button in the Setup Phase tab see Section Setup Phase tab on page 102 117 Advanced functionalities 5 8 Camera tab Camera model p Individual photos Camera control Camera parameters for mapping cCecsan Camera model JELPH Individual photos Stegen Photo sequence Stop sequence control Photo targets ID RESOLUTIONHEADING PITCH gt 1 lt 31mfpx oe 10
24. As indica tive values the Home waypoint radius should be set to 30 m for wind speeds below 5 m s 40 m for wind speeds between 5 8 m s and to 50 m for wind speeds above 8 m s Note In case of strong wind conditions the drone may drift even O further than 50 m away from the center of the Home waypoint when performing a Circular landing Therefore it is safer to plan for even more clearance in the downwind direction By default the Home waypoint is set to an altitude of 75 m ATO In case a Go to Home Waypoint procedure is triggered during flight the drone will by default determine the highest altitude between its current altitude and the Home way point s altitude and climb in a circle towards that highest altitude if required Once it reaches this highest altitude it will then fly towards the Home waypoint Due to this behaviour the altitude of the Home waypoint should be selected with care it should be at least 20 m higher than the surrounding obstacles to avoid the risk of a crash but should not be set too high to reduce the effect of potentially high winds and altitude and to prevent the drone from getting lost Alternatively you can change the altitude transition behaviour within the Setup Phase tab See section Waypoints and their properties on page 58 for more information on alti see section Setup Phase tab on page 102 1 either automatically due to an In flight warning or manually using eMotion 42
25. Drone Flight Log file cannot be recovered eMotion features a Flight Data Manager to help you transfer and consolidate all the data related to a mapping mission Open the Flight Data Manager by clicking on the Flight Data Manager icon when you load eMotion Alternatively click on the button in the Toolbar and select Flight Data Manager see section Reporting a problem with your eBee on page 168 50 Processing image data select Flight Data Manager click OK Follow these steps to import data from the drone e Step 1 Select a flight If the flight was monitored from the computer you are using to import images then the flight is saved within the local database Select the date that the flight took place A list of flights in cluding number of images taken from that date will appear in the combo box select the one you wish to import The flight s trajectory will appear in the Map Area e Step 2 Create a directory Choose a directory name that uniquely iden tifies your flight e g the date the name of the area etc 51 Quick start guide 52 connect USB cable to autopilot Step 3 Prepare data for import To import the Drone Flight Log connect the supplied USB cable to the eBee s autopilot marked with a amp icon Con nect the battery to the drone if it is not already connected The status LED will become white and a new storage drive will appear on your computer
26. Executing a flight tude transition behaviours and how to modify them 2 4 Take off Once you ve planned your mission and the eBee status LED is solid green you can launch it using the procedure on the following pages A Caution Make sure to keep the propeller area free of all obstructions at all times during the launch procedure Not horizontal a blue status LE uke pulse status LED solid Step 1 Orient horizontally and against the wind Orient yourself against the direction of the wind and confirm that the take off direction in front of you is free of obstacles Firmly grasp the drone with both hands one hand on the front of each wing as shown in the figure Hold the drone horizontally with the nose pointed against the wind and level wings 43 Quick start guide Note If the drone detects a condition that prevents correct take off a Take off veto will be displayed in eMotion and the status LED will start pulsing blue Section Take off vetoes on page 149 describes the possible Take off veto messages and the user action that should be taken to remove them For example if the drone is not oriented horizontally the status LED will start pulsing blue until you re orient it horizontally at which point the status LED turns solid green again Caution It is imperative to launch the drone directly against the wind otherwise it will be unable to gain enough speed during take off and likely crash
27. Home waypoint Checking this box reverses the order of the planned mission waypoints Be cautious however to ensure that there is enough reserve battery to return to the Home waypoint at the end of the mission Default value disabled e Save parameters as default Clicking this button will save the current pa rameters of the Mission planning tab as the default ones in eMotion The next panel contains advanced parameters used by the flight planner e Starting waypoint The waypoint ID of the first waypoint used to imple ment the mapping mission as organized in the Waypoint list in the Mission Waypoints tab This option is useful when including more than one mission area into a single flight The default value for a new mission is 1 When plan ning for a second area to be covered in the same flight the After previous button sets the starting waypoint after the waypoints used for the previous area Default value 1 e Wind estimate The estimated wind speed and direction Incorrectly set ting the windspeed affects the estimated flight time of the eBee and may cause it to return to Home before completing the desired flight plan Click ing the Use current wind estimate button will copy the wind speed cur rently estimated by the drone to the Wind estimate field Default value direction 0 speed 0 m s e Max flight time This parameter sets the maximum estimated flight time for a single flight If the flight planner esti
28. Likewise launching the drone in high winds above the specified safe wind speed of 12 m s is dangerous and can result in a crash no hopy EN S status LED 6 z gt Xa shake 3x shake 3x motor startup begin blue 1 pulse status LED Step 2 Switch the motor on Shake the eBee back and forth 3 times longitudinally within approx 3 seconds to begin the motor power up sequence The status LED will pulse blue until the motor is at full power and ready for take off 44 Note You do not need to hurry to launch the drone In case you want to shut off the motor just repeat the back and forth action three times and the motor will stop Executing a flight pe status LED MS pulse motor ready for take off _ green status LED blink place nose up 10 status LED solid step forward and release Caution always orient the eBee against the wind for take off Step 3 Launch the eBee Once the motor is at full power the status LED will blink green Orient the drone with approximately 10 degrees nose up and level wings When the angle is correct the status LED will turn solid green indicating that the drone is ready for take off Launch the drone with a gentle push by walking 1 2 steps forward while releasing it with both hands in a purely forward motion After take off the drone tries to maintain its initial direction or follow the direc tional take off heading you
29. The eBee can perform either a Linear or a Circular landing Linear landing is the default and recommended landing type especially in high winds To prepare a Linear landing place the Home waypoint centre at a location that is at the same altitude as the take off location and is clear of ob stacles in a 10 m radius Choose one or several approach sectors that are free of obstacles for at least 60 m from the Home waypoint centre You can drag the ap proach sector around the Home waypoint and change its width directly in the Map Area or from within the Setup Phase tab Make the approach sector s as wide as possible to maximize the chance that the drone can subsequently land against the direction of the wind Ensure that the terrain within the approach sector is flat and contains visual contrast to allow the ground sensor to function properly during landing When a Linear landing is initiated either automatically or by pressing the Go Land button in the control bar the drone will fly towards the Home waypoint circle the waypoint at 75 m ATO by default to measure the direction of the wind 7 By default the take off transition altitude is set to 20 m In difficult launch conditions you can set both the take off heading and the take off transition altitude in the Setup Phase tab as described in section Setup Phase tab on page 102 2 see section Waypoints and their properties on page 58 for a more detailed explanation on way po
30. W 318 ae You can set the take off location of the eBee by clicking on the 9 icon and placing the point on the map This simulates the action of switching on the real drone 3 see section Simulator on page 93 for a complete description of the simulator 26 Planning and simulating a flight and letting it acquire GPS signals You can test your flight plan by clicking the 4 icon simulating a take off manoeuvre The eBee will then go through its flight plan in the same way it would in the field You can pause play or speed up the simulation by clicking the corresponding buttons in the Toolbar You can monitor the state of the drone while in flight using the Flight Monitoring tab and the Status Panel You may also monitor the flight in 3D in Google Earth by clicking on the amp button in the Toolbar Caution The simulator is a tool designed to aid with flight planning O and to familiarise you with the advanced functions of your eBee The simulated physics however are basic and do not always accurately reflect the true behaviour of the drone in flight In particular esti mates of battery level and reactions to wind are difficult to simulate with high accuracy You should in no case depend on behaviours seen with a simulated drone to be reproduced exactly in real flight 1 6 Getting ready for a mission Before leaving for the field to perform a flight be sure to fully charge all your eBee batteries When delivered t
31. airframe check regularly to keep your eBee in good shape See section Full airframe and sensor inspection on page 139 for more details 31 Quick start guide propeller propeller 7 attachment rubber bands Step 2 Install the propeller Mount the propeller on the motor axis Secure the propeller using two attach ment rubber bands as illustrated above Ensure that the propeller is lying flat against the motor mount and that the rubber bands do not show cracks or any other sign of aging A Caution Failure to use two rubber bands may result in the loss of the propeller in flight wy Note After extensive use the rubber bands may develop cracks This is normal and is caused by the ageing of the rubber material For max imum security inspect the rubber bands regularly and discard them if they show cracks 10 spare rubber bands are included in the pack age 32 Executing a flight insert camera into compartment plug in camera connector to camera plug v w m close camera compartment lid Step 3 Install the camera Install the camera into the payload bay within the eBee and close the camera compartment lid If the camera connector is not already connected plug it into the connector with the B icon on the eBee Caution The eBee has not been designed to fly without the camera Attempting to fly without the camera may render the drone unstable which
32. altitude of less than 40 m is potentially dangerous and will be indicated by a icon Use elevation data to set absolute waypoint altitudes Checking this box will enable the flight planner to adjust the absolute altitudes of all mis sion waypoints based on elevation data This advanced planning mode is described in detail in section 3D mission planning using elevation data on page 63 Default value disabled Lateral overlap The percentage of overlap between the ground coverage of pictures from adjacent flight lines For most mapping purposes a mini mum of 50 is usually required Higher coverage values may increase the mapping quality but will increase the flight duration Default value 60 Longitudinal overlap The percentage of overlap between the ground coverage of pictures taken consecutively in the same flight line Default value 70 Generate perpendicular flight lines Checking this box creates a second pass over the desired area perpendicular to the first pass This option will significantly increase the overall image overlap and therefore improve the resulting map quality in Postflight Terra 3D It is particularly useful for diffi cult terrain at the cost of doubling the required flight time Default value disabled Reverse flight direction By default the flight planner will design a flight in which the drone begins a mission at the farthest waypoint and finishes eMotion in depth guide closer to the
33. different charger In particular using a charger improperly config ured or designed for other types of batteries may lead the battery pack to be permanently damaged or to catch on fire LiPo batteries do not exhibit any memory effect We recommend that you always fully charge them after use even when they are only partially discharged When not using the battery store it in the carrying case provided with your drone Avoid leaving the battery in direct sunlight 143 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting O 144 Caution If any of the cells of your battery pack are overly discharged the battery may be irreversibly damaged and becomes dangerous to charge If the battery grows beyond its regular size or if any of the cells are punctured it is also likely damaged and should be discarded Forcefully charging a damaged battery may lead it to take fire Do not attempt to charge an over discharged or damaged battery Dispose of the battery safely Troubleshooting 8 Troubleshooting Goal of this section This section describes the various error mes 0 sages that may be displayed during start up or while the eBee is in flight and provides some tips on solving the simplest problems In the case of amore serious problem this section describes how to prepare the required data on the problem and report it to your eBee reseller The eBee can generate several types of error messages depending on its flight mode Some of these messages a
34. eMotion Turning off the remote control will cause the drone to return to the last autonomous operation mode it was in 5 see section Flight Parameters tab on page 123 for more details on this setting 127 Advanced functionalities before Manual mode was enabled Caution We recommend that you only turn the remote control on when it is held by a pilot ready to take manual control of the drone and that you turn it off when putting the remote control down Manual control of the eBee can be achieved at any time if the drone is within range of the remote on manual FM elevator off auto AM climb sink rate FM thrust I l NM FM ailerons AM speed AM turn rate left stick CO trim dials 7 a el nigh stick FM Full Manual AM Assisted Manual Caution The remote control is preconfigured for use with the eBee O In particular the trim dials used to finely adjust the position of the drone s ailerons are calibrated to ensure optimal flight characteristics and should not be adjusted Changing the remote control s configu ration including the trim settings may compromise the flight char acteristics of the drone If for any reason the preset settings should be lost contact your eBee reseller 46 see section Drone specifications on page 171 for the range of the remote control 128 Manual control of the eBee 6 2 Pre flight testing of the remote control If you
35. in case of poor GPS coverage V Return to home in case of camera malfunction Return to Home after 30s in case of link loss Climb in case of detected ground proximity lt 30 m Z Use ground sensor for landing gt w SG General information Firmware version 2 2 0rc3 1394 Bootloader version n a Drone serial number B 01 002 Autopilot serial number n a Total flight count 3 Total fight time 00 18 51 96 View flight database The Flight Parameters tab includes some advanced functions that govern the over all behaviour of the drone while in flight It is separated into two sections Flight parameters and General information The Flight parameters section includes the following items e Working area radius This is the radius of the working area around the take off location Flying outside of this area will create a warning and cause the drone to return to the Home waypoint Default value 500 m e Working area ceiling This is the maximum altitude above the take off location at which the drone can fly Flying above this altitude will create a warning and cause the drone to return to the Home waypoint Default value 300 m ATO 123 Advanced functionalities e Manual control mode Selects between Full Manual control and Assisted Manual control when the remote control is turned on Default value Full Manual control e Security actions The next checkbo
36. in the drone s au topilot User action Re connect the battery If the problem persists contact your eBee reseller 148 Troubleshooting 8 2 Take off vetoes After successfully completing pre flight checks the status LED becomes a solid green to indicate that the drone is ready for take off At this point the eBee con tinues to monitor its sensors and battery level If at any point the drone detects a condition that prevents it from beginning the automatic take off procedure it displays a Take off veto in eMotion and the status LED changes to a blue pulse Once the Take off veto is cleared the status LED returns to a solid green colour to indicate that the drone is ready for take off Table 4 on the next page presents all the Take off vetoes that may occur and pos sible actions to remove the veto If a veto persists after performing the suggested action we recommend you report the problem by following the instructions in section Reporting a problem with your eBee on page 168 149 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting Table 4 Take off vetos eMotion text Description and User action Drone not horizontal roll or pitch The eBee must be held horizontally with level wings to initiate take off User action Hold the drone horizontally Motor is blocked Excessive current was detected from the motor User action Check that the propeller is mounted correctly and that the motor is freely t
37. mapping products as well as measurement tools The resulting orthomosaic and DSM may then be imported as custom background map and elevation data layers in eMotion This data can be used for advanced flight planning in complex or uneven terrain Note You need to either enable tile set generation OR choose Gen erate Google Maps Tiles and KML from the Process menu before you can push the tileset into eMotion by choosing Send Map to eMotion from the Process menu Alternatively this data can be imported into eMotion choose Import custom map from eMotion s File menu wy Note The best way to learn how to use the various features of Post flight Terra 3D is to look at the comprehensive online Knowledge Base within my senseFly 16 see section Toolbar on page 90 for more information on importing layers into eMotion 55 Part Il Advanced functionalities Advanced functionalities 4 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee Q Goal of this section Aerial mapping using the eBee is designed to be simple and fully automatic requiring very little input from the user Understanding the basics of aerial navigation however can help you map more complex terrain and yield higher quality results This sec tion explains the basics of waypoint based navigation and the control strategies used by the drone for flight 4 1 Waypoints and their properties The eBee uses a flight plan consisting of a list of waypoints to nav
38. may eventually lead to a crash Some payloads may require a separate battery or SD card to operate properly Please refer to the User Manual of the camera or other payload for proper installation instructions 33 Quick start guide insert wing struts into central body ensure servo connection mechanism is aligned and engaged Step 4 Attach the wings Attach the wings to the central body by inserting the wing struts into the re ceptacles in the central body Ensure that the ailerons are properly aligned with the servo connection mechanism before pushing the wings fully into the central body A Caution Flying with damaged wing struts or a badly engaged servo connection mechanism may cause erratic flight and ultimately a crash Be sure to properly inspect and attach the wings before flight 34 Executing a flight connect battery and insert into close battery ie compartment compartment connect battery disconnect battery ronan m status LED be preflight checks failed Aa erty Startup ron process status LED V ready for startup status LED solid Step 5 Install and connect the battery Lay the eBee horizontally on the ground outside in the vicinity of the take off lo cation with the top face up To install the battery begin by connecting the power cables to the battery Insert the connectors firmly to the end in order to avoid un desired disconnection
39. mission phase of a flight on page 24 or a polygonal mission area for more complex terrain as described in section Advanced polygonal mission area on page 62 Default value Rectangular e Ground resolution The target ground resolution to be achieved expressed in centimetres per pixel This parameter is directly linked to the flight al titude a higher resolution few cm px requires a lower altitude while a lower resolution many cm px requires a higher one Default value 4 0 cm px e Camera The camera payload that is currently selected Make sure the correct camera model is set in the flight planner to correctly calculate the required flight line spacing and distance between photos e Desired altitude The target altitude value is the desired altitude above the ground at which the drone will take images It is automatically cal culated based on the Ground resolution and the characteristics of the on board camera see section Camera tab on page 118 for details on changing the camera type 109 Advanced functionalities ey Note eBee has a minimum distance between images that depends 110 on wind strength and direction The maximum longitudinal overlap depends on this minimum distance as well as the calculated altitude and the camera model If the calculated altitude is too low the drone may not be able to achieve the required longitudinal overlap This will be indicated by a icon Flying at an
40. photo target within the Cam era tab You can also adjust the ground resolution by resizing the photo footprint in the Map Area Caution Be sure to define a ground resolution that is high enough to allow the drone to recover from its pitch manoeuvre by paying close attention to the Minimum altitude after photo parameter We rec ommend that you do not define parameters that result in an Mini mum altitude after photo of less than 30 m in particular when se lecting a high pitch angle 4 Define the altitude of the photo target if it is not the same as the take off altitude You may use elevation data to define this altitude by enabling the Use elevation data to set absolute photo target altitudes checkbox Repeat the above steps to define multiple photo targets After launching your drone click on the Begin sequence button in the Camera tab at any time to be gin taking the images The eBee will fly to the location of the first photo location measure the wind above the location and perform a dive pitching down ma noeuvre to take the oblique photo It will perform this for all photo targets until it has completed the entire sequence Taking a series of oblique images of the same photo target at regular heading and pitch intervals allows you to create a higher quality 3D model of a photo target You can use the New photo target increment to define a desired increment angle Clicking on the button will t
41. plan to use the remote control during a flight we recommend that you first test it on the ground Ensure that the eBee is set to Full Manual mode and follow these steps 1 Check that the left stick on the remote control is in the low position to pre vent the propeller from spinning 2 Turn on the remote control 3 Turn on the eBee by connecting the battery Once the drone detects the signal from the remote control it will change to one of the manual modes A Caution The motor of the eBee is now controlled by the remote con trol and will begin spinning if the left stick is pushed up Always keep the area around the propeller clear of obstacles and body parts to prevent injury 4 Move the right stick on the remote control to verify proper reception by the drone and correct servo direction 5 Turn off the remote control for take off Note If the remote control is switched on while it is performing pre flight checks the ailerons will not move when the checks are com pleted and the GPS signals are acquired For more information on using the remote control refer to the original user man ual available from the Knowledge Base within my senseFly see section Enabling manual control on page 127 48 http my sensefly com 129 Advanced functionalities 6 3 Full Manual mode Full Manual mode allows you to have direct control over the eBee s actuators over riding all control from the on board auto
42. the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest using altitude calculated from GPS sig nals only potentially causing large fluctuations in al titude User action Land as soon as possible and perform Check 3 in section Full airframe and sensor inspec tion on page 139 154 Troubleshooting Motor The motor is drawing too little or too much current malfunction This may be caused by damaged wires or connectors leading to the motor or by sand or other debris within the motor Security action The drone attempts to re start the motor If the first attempt fails a Failure Motor mal function Critical failure is announced User action Land as soon as possible and perform Check 1 in section Full airframe and sensor inspec tion on page 139 Battery The sensor used to measure the battery voltage and malfunction current is registering invalid values indicating that the sensor is de calibrated or damaged Security action The drone flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest User action Land as soon as possible and re start the drone If the problem persists contact your eBee reseller 58 see section Critical failures on page 163 155 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting Airspeed malfun
43. to Highest User action Land as soon as possible and re start the drone If the problem persists contact your eBee reseller Camera sync There is a problem with the wiring of the on board malfunction camera Security action If required parameter set in the Flight Parameters tab the drone flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home waypoint s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest Otherwise it continues its mission without taking further images User action Land as soon as possible and re start the drone Reset the camera settings as described in section Resetting default camera settings on page 166 153 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting Camera power malfunction The camera is no longer responding most likely be cause it is no longer powered Security action If required parameter set in the Flight Parameters tab the drone flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home waypoint s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest Otherwise it continues its mission without taking further images User action Land as soon as possible Check the ca ble connection between the camera and the drone and charge all the batteries before performing an other flight Barometer malfunction The barometer used to sense the current altitude is malfunctioning Security action The drone flies towards
44. when in flight Once connected insert the battery into its compartment and close the compartment lid Caution Take care to keep the propeller area clear in case it sud denly starts spinning 35 Quick start guide Note Only connect the battery cables to the drone when you are O ready for start up Do not leave the battery connected for extended periods of time when the drone is on the ground as this may dis charge the batteries and cause irreparable damage When connected and not in flight the eBee will briefly move its ailerons up and down every minute as a reminder that it is switched on As soon as the battery is connected the eBee will perform an automatic self check of its sensors and acquire GPS signals Be sure not to move the drone during these tests Itis important that the drone is not inclined more than 10 degrees in order to start up properly Pre flight checks may last from a few seconds to several minutes in the case of poor GPS signal reception As these satellite signals are required for the checks to complete be sure to place the eBee outside with a clear view of the sky During the pre flight checks the status LED will pulse blue Once the pre flight checks are complete the eBee will flip its ailerons up and down and the status LED will turn solid green to indicate it is ready You may already connect the drone to eMotion Step 6 before pre flight checks are complete to get a better idea of the status of the che
45. 1 Initial Processing P Rapid Check Step 2 click Start To create a Quality Report while in the field bring up the local processing panel by selecting Local processing from the Process menu or by clicking the icon in the Toolbar Select only the Initial project processing checkbox and the Rapid button If you wish to create a low resolution orthomosaic while generating the report check the Orthomosaic and DSM generation checkbox Click Start to begin rapid processing Postflight Terra 3D will now process the data and produce a report that includes the overall completeness and georeference quality of the images taken during your last mission You may use this information to decide whether further imag ing flights are required while you are still in the field The quality report will be displayed in a new window click the icon in the Toolbar if it does not appear 54 Processing image data 3 3 Creating advanced mapping products Beyond Quality Reports and low resolution orthomosaics Postflight Terra 3D can generate geo referenced high resolution 2D orthomosaics 3D point clouds tri angle models and DSMs or export to common third party photogrammetry soft ware such as Bingo Orima or Inpho Ground Control Points GCP can be added to increase the geo reference accuracy Postflight Terra 3D also includes a mosaic and a rayCloud editor giving you more control on the quality of your final
46. Bee Ag with GCPs Down to 4 cm 1 6 in eBee Ag no GCPs 1 to 5 m 3 3 to 16 4 ft eBee with GCPs Down to 5 cm 2 0 in eBee no GCPs 2 to 5 m 6 6 to 16 4 ft eBee Ag with GCPs Down to 7 cm 2 8 in eBee Ag no GCPs 2 to 5 m 6 6 to 16 4 ft 1 3 times GSD 55 x 45 x 25 cm 21 6 x 17 7 x 9 8 in 7 can vary greatly depending on external factors such as cruise altitude presence of obstacles and radio frequency interference 172 Glossary AMSL Above Mean Sea Level Your eBee s altitude can be shown and set in eMotion using ATO or AMSL Your drone uses the EGM96 mean sea level standard for navigation ATO Above the Take off Altitude Your eBee s altitude can be shown and set in eMotion using ATO or AMSL Altitudes in ATO are relative to the place your eBee started its motor just before take off DSM Digital Surface Model A 3D digital representation of a surface FTDI Future Technology Devices International A Scottish semiconductor device company specialising in Universal Serial Bus USB technology FTDI cables allow serial connections through a USB cable eMotion uses FTDI technology to connect to the ground modem You can often connect a computer to a GNSS base station using FTDI geo reference A data point associated with a specific location on the earth s sur face GSD Ground Sampling Distance The distance measured on the ground between pixel centres in an image or DSM The smaller the GSD the higher
47. GHz based communication devices or put them into Air plane mode in the vicinity of the USB ground modem This includes all http my sensefly com 6t see section Flight Parameters tab on page 123 for more details 166 Troubleshooting Wifi and Bluetooth devices such as the ground station computer or mobile phones The strength of the connection between the drone and eMotion is indicated in the Flight Monitoring tab The three LEDs next to the antenna on the ground modem also indicate the strength of the connection The connection is strongest when all three LEDs are a solid red and weakest when a single LED is blinking 8 7 Losing and locating your eBee in the field We recommend that you write your address and phone number on your eBee by putting your business card on top of the camera for example in case it gets lost and subsequently found by a third party In case you lose your drone in the field for whatever reason whether from a loss of communications a Critical failure or an accidental collision use the following steps to try to recover it 1 Do not disconnect the connection in eMotion If it is simply out of commu nication range the drone should reconnect automatically as it returns to the Home waypoint after completing its mission Note the last known location of the drone in eMotion by printing the screen or writing down the location displayed in the Flight Monitoring tab Move towa
48. a vertex Alter natively hold down the Ctrl button and left click on a vertex to remove it e Left click and drag on the dark grey area within the polygon to reposition the entire polygon e Left click and drag the circle on the corner of the light grey rectangle sur rounding the polygon to rotate the direction of the resulting flight lines You may also set a polygonal mission area directly from a KML file containing a polygon such as those created by Google Farth Simply click on the icon in the Mission planning tab select Load mission area from KML file and choose a KML file that contains the desired polygon 4 3 3D mission planning using elevation data eMotion has the ability to take into account elevation data to set the altitude of mission waypoints and the resulting flight lines of a mapping mission This not only improves the resulting ground resolution but also increases mission safety 63 Advanced functionalities particularly in uneven terrain by keeping a more even height between the drone and the ground You can display elevation data by clicking on the button in the Toolbar eMo tion s default Improved SRTM elevation data will be downloaded as tiles from senseFly s servers and overlaid above the map as a colourmap You can adjust the scale and opacity of the colourmap by using the associated buttons in the bottom right corner of the Map Area Elevation colourmap Auto adjust col
49. ally you can view eMotion in full screen mode by clicking the 3 button 92 eMotion in depth guide 5 2 Simulator Familiarising yourself with your eBee and its features will allow you to more ef ficiently plan and execute mapping flights saving you time and improve your imaging results The Simulator in eMotion is designed to help you test the various features of the drone and to better prepare a mapping mission before perform ing it in the field Several simulated drones can be connected at the same time allowing you to test multi drone functionalities fast forward re position take off location play initiate take off pause instant recharge of battery Simulator il a be 9 4 um Wind W 2 0 m s 4 W 318 ae wind speed wind direction The Simulator bar appears at the bottom of the Sidebar of eMotion when you con nect to a simulated drone The simulated drone will go through the same pre flight checks as a real eBee after which it will update the Home to its current posi tion typically the last position that was used within the simulator and the Start waypoint to 80 m West of the Home waypoint The various buttons available in the Simulator bar are described in table 1 on the following page Feel free to modify the wind speed waypoint positions and other parameters in the Toolbar and the various tabs of the Sidebar in eMotion to see their effect on the eBee while it is in flight Also be sure to
50. ansition altitude e Home waypoint The safe point for the drone to circle in case of emer gency as well as its landing position at the end of a flight for both Linear and Circular landings Approach sector i Bof Nauti ique obstacle take off free zones waypoint transition altitude reached we direction 39 Quick start guide It is important to carefully select the take off location the Start waypoint and the Home waypoint to ensure your drone remains at a safe distance from obstacles The eBee should always be launched against the wind Select a take off location clear of obstacles buildings rocks power lines hills trees etc within a distance of at least 40 m in the upwind direction Immediately after takeoff it will keep its wings level and climb in the general direction it was launched until it reaches the take off transition altitude at which point it will start flying towards the Start waypoint By default the Start waypoint is set to a distance of 80 m West of the initial posi tion of the drone and an altitude of 75 m ATO It is good practice to move the Start waypoint close to and upwind from the take off location to allow a smooth transi tion between take off and waypoint directed flight You can move waypoints by clicking on them and dragging them within the Map Area The Home waypoint is used both as the landing location and as a safety position in case of an In flight warning
51. anying software and on board firmware keep your drone in good working condition and perform small repairs such as cracks in the air frame 7 1 Updating the eBee software Occasionally senseFly Ltd releases a software upgrade for the eBee to provide ad ditional features to our users or to correct potential issues As of version 2 0 2 eMotion will check for new versions during start up and will display a message with update instructions if a new version is available We recommend however that you check my senseFly regularly for updates to ensure you have the latest version of the software Caution We are constantly working to improve the performance of O our products and we are dedicated to providing our customers with the newest software as soon as it becomes available Since the high est level of flight safety can only be achieved with the latest software release senseFly Ltd can only offer warranty service for products that have been properly updated To upgrade eMotion or Postflight Terra 3D to the latest version download the in staller from my senseFly and follow the standard install procedure see section In stalling eMotion Postflight Terra 3D and the ground modem drivers on page 20 It is not necessary to uninstall previous version of eMotion before installing the new one Every version of eMotion is packaged with an accompanying firmware revision which must be installed on the drone before it can be used To up
52. assume that the landing location is precisely at the same altitude as indicated in eMotion This will result in a landing precision that is decreased and dependent on the strength of the wind Default value checked Note Un checking this feature is only recommended when perform ing a linear landing in uneven terrain where the height measured by the ground sensor during approach would imply an undesired ap proach slope correction 125 Advanced functionalities Clicking the More list will provide further options e Save parameters as default in drone Saves the currently set flight pa rameters to the eBee s autopilot s memory e Restore factory parameters Returns the flight parameters to their de fault values and automatically sends them to the drone s autopilot The General information section displays information specific to your eBee This includes the current firmware and bootloader versions loaded into the autopilot the serial numbers of the airframe and the autopilot the total number of flights performed by drone and the total time spent in the air wy Note The flight counter is incremented every time the take off pro cedure is initiated by shaking the eBee back and forth 3 times even if take off is subsequently aborted Clicking View flight database will bring up a window that presents a summary of all the flights performed by the drone using this computer 126 Manual control of th
53. be met in order for the ground sensor to function correctly and ensure the accuracy of the Linear landing 74 e Ifthe Linear landing location is not at the same altitude as the Take off lo cation you must adjust the Landing altitude parameter in the Setup Phase tab as the drone uses this altitude to level out and slow down before land ing Steps 6 8 Enable the Land at a different altitude than take off check box and set the altitude as an absolute value in AMSL O Note When Land at a different altitude than take off is enabled the Home waypoint s altitude will be converted to AMSL instead of ATO by default 75m above the landing location Caution Incorrectly setting the altitude of the Linear landing loca tion will decrease the accuracy of the Linear landing and may result in damage to the eBee e A Linear landing can only be performed over flat terrain Ensure that the ground is flat and at the same altitude as the Linear landing location for a distance of at least 100 m from the Linear landing location within every approach sector It is also recommended to have flat terrain in the opposite direction of every approach sector in case a Linear landing is aborted in its final stages O Caution Attempting a Linear landing on sloped terrain the top of a roof or the edge of a cliff or any other terrain that is not flat will likely result in false detection of the height above the ground during the approa
54. before acknowledging the error and continuing normal operation Low battery The remaining battery level is too low to continue the flight plan Security action The eBee flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest and automatically initiates an expedited landing procedure without performing a full wind estimation once it reaches the waypoint User action Land as soon as possible Re charge the drone battery before performing another flight 7 see section Critical failures on page 163 for a description of possible Critical failures 152 Troubleshooting Drone flight log There is an error saving data to the on board mem malfunction ory card which will prevent the images from being geo tagged Images may still be geo tagged using the eMotion Flight Log file but may be less precise Security action The drone continues normal flight User action Land as soon as possible Once on the ground connect to the on board memory card as de scribed in section Importing images and flight data on page 50 and re format the memory card Flight controller The flight controller has encountered an unexpected malfunction state such as an incorrect waypoint type Security action The drone flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set
55. can be used to resize it and the round handles on the corners of the area can be used to rotate it As you adjust the area the mission plan preview is continuously updated 3 Adjust the mapping and mission parameters in the Mission Planning tab to suit your terrain and quality requirements As a first step eMotion provides two predefined set of parameters Easy terrain are the default parameters designed for simpler terrain such as mines or agriculture whereas Difficult terrain is designed for complex areas such as forests and provides higher image overlap at the cost of a lower resolution Be sure to include an esti mated wind speed and direction as this has an effect on the area that can be covered in a single flight Once again the mission plan preview will be continuously updated as you modify the parameters 4 Check the resulting flight characteristics in the tab Once you are satisfied upload the mission plan to the simulated drone by clicking the Upload button 5 Click the button in the Toolbar to open the flight plan in Google Earth Review the flight plan to ensure that there is sufficient clearance between the flight plan and the ground Any updates to the flight plan that you make within eMotion will be reflected directly in Google Earth 1 see section Mission Planning tab on page 107 for a complete description of available parameters 2 see section Flight visualization in Google Fa
56. ch and may result in damage to the eBee In particular landing downhill may cause a large overshoot and should always be avoided Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee e Ensure that there are no obstacles within 60 m of the Linear landing lo cation within all approach sectors and within a radius of 10 m around the Linear landing location If there are some obstacles in the distance ensure that the top of the obstacles is at no more than a 15 angle from the point 60 m from the Linear landing location as indicated in the figure on page 73 It is also recommended to not have any obstacles in the opposite direction of all approach sectors in case the Linear landing is aborted before com pletion A Caution It is not recommended to perform Linear landings between tall obstacles as they may disturb the GPS signals your eBee needs to be able to navigate e In order to limit the ground speed when landing and to achieve the best landing accuracy the eBee should only perform a Linear landing against the direction of the wind Approach sectors should be as large as possible and in as many directions as possible to allow the drone to select the optimal approach direction based on its estimate of the wind If all of the available approach sectors are in the direction of the wind an In flight warning will appear in eMotion when the drone calculates its trajectory Step 3 Caution If the drone performs a Linear landing in the direction
57. checks Check 1 Motor and Servos The eBee uses a brushless DC motor to turn its propeller and generate thrust The servos are the two actuators connected through a servo connection mechanism to both ailerons Damaged actuators can prevent the drone from flying correctly and thus it is important to ensure their proper functioning pitot probe servo connection mechanisms motor To check the actuators follow these steps 1 The motor must be clean and spin smoothly without friction to function 139 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting correctly Ensure that there is no sand or other obstructions within the mo tor If there is something blocking the motor from spinning smoothly blow some air through the motor to dislodge the obstruction Make sure the left stick of the remote control is all the way down to keep the motor off Place the eBee at the edge of a flat surface and keep the area around the propeller clear A Caution The propeller on the eBee spins at high speeds and can 8 cause deep cuts if it comes into contact with exposed skin Always wear gloves and glasses when any work is done requiring the battery to be connected to the drone Switch the drone on by connecting the battery Connect to eMotion Ensure that Manual control mode is set to Full Man ual control and that the Ignore RC signals setting is not checked Switch
58. cking on its left edge The Sidebar also contains controls for the simulator when connected to a simulated drone 1 3 Creating a new flight plan Every mapping flight requires a flight plan which is a path defined by a set of waypoints or points in 3D space and a set of actions that can be performed at or in between waypoints such as taking images proceeding to the next waypoint or landing A flight plan is shown in the Map Area using circles to represent way points lines to represent the flight path and arrows to show the direction of flight The large circle with a thick border illustrates the working area boundaries within which the eBee will always remain See section Waypoints and their properties on page 58 for more information on waypoints and the various symbols presented in the Map Area A complete flight plan for an eBee is divided into two separate phases the setup phase and the mission phase The mission phase includes waypoints and actions related to mapping and capturing images The setup phase includes waypoints and actions related to take off and landing This phase is usually planned directly in the field and is explained in detail in section The setup phase of a flight on page 39 23 Quick start guide 1 4 The mission phase of a flight The easiest way to create a mapping flight for the systematic coverage of an area is to use the automatic mission planning feature of eMotion By simply positioning a
59. cks T Note If there was any problem during the pre flight checks per formed by the drone this will be indicated by a Pre flight error in eMo tion as well as a by the status LED blinking red See section Pre flight errors on page 146 for a description of possible Pre flight errors and how to handle them 36 Executing a flight 0 m ATO 174 m AMSL mD 0 00 select eBee eBee Ag 0 m ATO 174 m AMSL m 0 00 ide Ready to take off Idle Running pre flight checks Start a simulati in Ren Drone type eBee eBee Ag when position acquired Fiy real drone FTDI port select FTDI port Step 6 Connect to eMotion Start by connecting the USB ground modem to your computer Then launch eMo tion which will display the Connection window Select the eBee connection pro file choose the corresponding FTDI port and click OK Note Every eBee is paired with the ground modem it is delivered with and will only work with that particular modem The name of the FTDI port corresponding to the ground modem is labelled as eBee SERIAL where SERIAL is the serial number of the drone it is paired with When aconnection is established eMotion will display a map and the Status Panel indicating the current state of the drone If the eBee has not yet detected its loca tion the Status Panel will appear in the top right corner of the Map Area with the text GPS Waiting for signals During th
60. ction The differential pressure sensor used to measure air speed is registering invalid values This may be due to a damaged sensor or to a clogged pitot probe Security action The drone flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest at a constant thrust value instead of con trolled speed potentially resulting in low or high flight speeds depending on wind Once it reaches the Home waypoint it initiates a landing procedure User action Try to provide a maximum amount of approach sectors to ensure that the drone can land against the direction of the wind Land as soon as possible and perform Check 4 in section Full airframe and sensor inspection on page 139 Low airspeed Detected airspeed is unusually low or close to zero This may be due to a collision with the ground or a clogged airspeed sensor Security action The drone shuts off its motor and tries to continue its mission User action If the warning is due to a clogged air speed sensor it may be due to moisture in the air Try commanding the drone to descend closer to the ground and out of any cloud cover 156 Troubleshooting Overspeed Detected airspeed is unusually high possibly due to a loss of control Security action The drone applies a 50 reverse thrust to try to slow down User action Keep track of the drone s position in case it is
61. currently circling the Start waypoints to ensure a 15 m separation The base altitude of the Start waypoint which is the altitude of the lowest drone in the stack can be set in the Multi drone Panel Home waypoint and landing Similarly to the Start waypoint when the Home waypoint is synchronised eMotion will us the same Home waypoint Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee for all connected drones A stack will also be created to avoid collisions between multiple drones circling the Home waypoint Caution As eMotion defines the Start and Home waypoints in ATO O It is therefore critical for all drones to take off from the exact same location to achieve altitude separation and collision avoidance over these two waypoints e Flight parameters This option will synchronise all the parameters in the Flight parameters tab across all drones This includes the Working area radius and ceiling take off transition altitude Security action parameters etc e Mission planning This option will share the same Mission Area among all connected drones e Simulator When checked repositioning a simulated drone on the map will reposition all simulated drones at the same time In addition to the altitude separation on the Start and Home waypoints described above eMotion provides two traffic control mechanisms to help avoid collision between drones in flight e Proximity warning When enabled a visual and audible warning will be em
62. d clicking will acknowledge the current warning For red Critical failures button text changes to CRIT ICAL FAILURE and cannot be clicked START No active Fly towards the first active waypoint in the MISSION Security action waypoint list and start the mission from the beginning RESUME Not in Perform Return to the last position reached during MISSION Mission mode the mission and continue the flight plan GO TO No active Fly towards the Start waypoint circle and START WPT Security action wait for next command GO TO Anytime Fly towards the Home waypoint circle and HOME WPT wait for next command GO LAND Anytime Fly towards the Home waypoint and initiate landing procedure HOLD No active Create a virtual waypoint at the current loca POSITION Security action tion and altitude circle around this point and wait for next command 33 see section Troubleshooting on page 145 for a full description of In flight warnings and Critical failures that may occur 96 eMotion in depth guide LAND NOW Anytime Initiate a Circular landing around a 30 m ra Click 3x dius waypoint at the current location Must be clicked 3 times in quick succession to be engaged ABORT During Cir Circular or Linear landing abort current LANDING cular Land landing procedure return to the altitude of ing Linear the Home waypoint circle the Home way Landing or point and wait for next command Emergency Emergency land
63. d the ground If you connect to a simulated drone you can simulate the entire flight and follow the drone within Google Earth Note To use this feature Google Earth has to be installed on the ey ground station PC as described in section Installing eMotion Post flight Terra 3D and the ground modem drivers on page 20 We rec ommend to use the latest version of the Google Earth software A Caution A flight trajectory visualized in Google Earth represents the planned trajectory The real flight trajectory can be different from the planned due to flight conditions such as strong wind Caution The terrain data within Google Earth including hills and O buildings may contain significant errors When planning flights over uneven terrain be sure to keep sufficient distance between the flight plan and the terrain guarantee regarding the accuracy and completeness of the Google Earth terrain model 67 Advanced functionalities 4 5 Autonomous controller and modes of flight Autonomous operation modes Idle on ground after climbing after a few seconds to take off on ground transition height Start Waypoint Linear Landing if Go to start waypoint if Linear after mission is enabled shake 3x and release if Wait on Start waypoint after take off is enabled plug in battery Circle Circular Landing landing selected automatically aft
64. dive It then pulls out if the dive resulting in between 15 and 30 m of lost altitude and climbs gradually back up to its initial altitude 85 Advanced functionalities Activating Emergency Manoeuvres The land now and abort landing buttons are always available on the control bar To activate the roll fast climb and descent features 1 Choose Preferences from the File menu 2 Choose the User interface pane ab Local preferences User interface _Settings Maps Snap waypoint to lines Elevation data Hide status panel when more than one drones is connected B tog Always show waypoint status panels on the map Em Folder B Flight data F Messages Advanced buttons Network Multi drones M Show roll button V Show fast dimb button M Show fast descent button Restore factory default 3 Inthe Advanced buttons panel check the manoeuvres you want to activate and click OK Buttons that trigger the manoeuvres are added to the Control Bar ABORT ROLL 5 FAST FAST LANDING CLIMB DESEENT Note To trigger the land now manoeuvre click the land now button 3 times in quick succession within half a second A landing can only be aborted in the absence of critical failure 86 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee When to use the Emergency Manoeuvres You might need to use an emergency manoeuvre in these situations
65. e 166 5 see section Critical failures on page 163 160 Troubleshooting Ground proximity The ground sensor on the drone has detected a detected ground height above the ground of less than 30 m if enabled during normal flight Note this feature should not be depended on for avoiding obstacles as the ground sensor may fail to detect obstacles in cer tain environmental conditions Security action if enabled The drone circles the current position while climbing to an altitude of 60 m above the detected ground height Once this altitude is reached the drone continues towards the next way point but sets the waypoint s target altitude at 60 m above the last detected ground height User action Ensure that there are no obstacles such as hills or buildings higher than the waypoints of your flight plan Ground proximity The ground sensor on the eBee was unable to detect not detected the proximity of the ground during a Linear landing landing precision procedure This may be due to an obstruction in the decreased sensor low ambient light or low contrast in the envi ronment Security action The drone continues the Linear landing procedure but will initiate its final brake at an estimated altitude of 20 m instead of 3 m assum ing the Linear landing location is at the same altitude at the Take off location resulting in decreased pre cision in the landing location User action Be ready for the dr
66. e File menu by clicking on the button in the Toolbar From this menu you can connect to or disconnect from a drone access the Flight Data Man ager change eMotion preferences or import custom maps Clicking the icon will launch Google Earth and display the current flight trajectories of drones con nected to eMotion as described in detail in section Flight visualization in Google Earth on page 66 3 for an overview of the eMotion interface see section The eMotion interface on page 21 90 eMotion in depth guide You can select the background map source from the drop down list in the Toolbar and adjust its zoom level using the and buttons eMotion can use many sources of commercially available and custom mapping information Tiles from map sources with the icon are downloaded by eMotion from the Internet as required and locally cached on the hard drive Due to regulatory restrictions map sources with the icon cannot be saved locally and are not recommended for use in the field If you anticipate the use of eMotion in conditions where connecting to Internet is impossible you can preload the map data by selecting Download maps from the File menu Follow the instructions in the dialog box to select the zone of interest map tile source and start downloading eMotion can also import and display custom layers which may include KML files custom map tiles and elevation data To import a KML file s
67. e eBee 6 Manual control of the eBee Q Goal of this section This section describes how to use the remote control to manually control the drone either in Full Manual or As sisted Manual modes A Caution Operation of the eBee in either Assisted or Full Man ual mode requires the skills of an experienced RC aircraft pilot SenseFly Ltd cannot be held responsible for damage caused by man ual control of the drone Any damaged caused by manual control of the drone will void the warranty 6 1 Enabling manual control By default the eBee flies autonomously and does not need the provided remote control to be operated However by using the remote control it is possible to override the drone s autopilot by switching to one of two available manual modes Full Manual or Assisted Manual In Full Manual mode the sticks of the remote control directly set the motor power and the angle of the ailerons of the drone In Assisted Manual mode the sticks of the remote control are used to set the speed turn rate and climb or sink rate iy Note Ensure that the Ignore RC signals option in the Flight Param eters tab is unchecked otherwise the drone will ignore the com mands from the remote control and remain in autonomous operation mode Turning on the remote control will cause the drone to change to either Assisted Manual or Full Manual mode depending on the Enable assisted manual control setting in the Flight Parameters tab of
68. e within my senseFly 8 6 Improving radio signal communication You may occasionally lose the data connection between eMotion and your eBee while in the field Whether there is a loss in uplink or downlink communication the drone will continue flying along its Flight Plan and should re establish the connection as it flies closer to the base station or changes direction If the drone stops receiving messages from eMotion uplink direction for more than 30s you will see a Data uplink lost In flight warning appear in eMotion If for safety reasons you would like the eBee to automatically return to the Home way point when this warning appears select the corresponding option in the Flight Parameters tab If there are no more messages received by eMotion from the drone downlink di rection a Data downlink lost message will appear in eMotion If there is still an active uplink connection you may still command your drone to return to the Home waypoint using the Control Bar Data connection range can be effected by many external factors such as antenna height terrain and obstacles or radio interference We recommend the following tips to improve the range of your connection in the field 1 Place the USB ground modem as high as possible for example on top of a car ladder or nearby building A height of at least 2 m is recommended 2 Ensure that the USB ground modem s antenna is pointing straight up 3 Disable any 2 4
69. eBee in the field on page 167 159 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting Poor GPS coverage GPS signal coverage is low This may be due to moun tains or tall buildings blocking satellite signals If cov erage degrades any more a Critical failure will be ac tivated and an emergency landing will be initiated Security action if enabled The drone flies to wards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home waypoint s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest User action If this occurs once or twice click ACK WARNING and continue normal flight If this warning appears more often land as soon as possible and wait for better conditions for satellite signal reception Al ternatively move away from objects that may disturb satellite signals such as mountains or cellular anten nas Data uplink lost if enabled This warning occurs if the eBee does not receive any data from eMotion for more than 30 s This can be due to a large distance between drone and ground station a problem with the USB ground modem an tenna positioning or interference Security action if enabled The drone flies to wards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home waypoint s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest User action Try to improve radio signal quality by following the instructions in section Improving radio signal communication on pag
70. ears at the bottom of the Map Area Commands sent using the buttons in this Control Bar such as START MISSION or GO LAND are sent to all the drones currently connected to your computer e Collision avoidance is provided by eMotion This is done by automatically changing the altitude of the Start and Home waypoints for each drone in or der to separate them Also the drones are automatically put on hold when there is a collision risk during the mission When connecting to more than one drone at a time real or simulated a dedi cated Multi drone Panel is displayed next to the Sidebar Each drone is displayed with its name battery level and status and can be selected The rest of the Sidebar and its various tabs are associated to the currently selected drone as indicated by the colour of the frame The multi drone interface also displays the relative altitude of all drones with respect to the selected drone Since this is a relative altitude a value close to 0 m means that a drone is at the same altitude as the currently selected drone Right clicking on a drone s tab in the Multi drone Panel allows you to disconnect the drone or change its colour 2 if the option is selected in the Multi drones preference pane 78 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee selected drone second drone connected to this computer drone shared through network ror Ww C2eOSEG
71. ed battery the drone will fly for 142 Maintenance and repair of the eBee about 45 minutes Frequent altitude changes presence of wind use of old bat teries and or frequent photo acquisition may significantly reduce the flight en durance Batteries perform better at medium or high air temperature and it is normal to observe shorter flight times in cold weather The eBee is powered by a Lithium Polymer LiPo battery composed of three cells connected in series A single LiPo cell can have a range between 3 V empty and 4 2 V full in its normal operating range This results in an empty battery voltage of 9 V and a fully charged battery voltage of 12 6 V A well balanced and healthy battery should have all three cells at a voltage very close to each other and be tween 3 and 4 2 V The charger delivered with your drone automatically checks for healthy voltages of all three cells and only attempts charging if they are within limits If the cells are out of balance the charger will take care of balancing them If the charger detects a voltage outside of the allowable range it will indicate an error either by flashing the status LED red or by the LED staying off This means that the battery is over discharged and should be discarded A Caution The batteries delivered with your drone are designed to be charged with the charger delivered with your eBee senseFly Ltd can not be held responsible for any consequences resulting from using a
72. ed climb or descent rate is be yond physical limits the drone will reach the destination and keep climbing descending around the destination waypoint This is typi cally used to achieve the best efficiency when the altitude between waypoints is not constrained Before transit The drone will first climb or descend at its current position until it reaches the altitude of the current waypoint and then fly in the direction of the waypoint at its altitude This is typically used for 3D mapping Keep highest The drone will first determine whether its current al titude or the current waypoint s altitude is highest If the drone s cur rent altitude is highest it will first fly towards the waypoint and then descent to the waypoint s altitude in a circular fashion If the current waypoint s altitude is highest the drone will begin by climbing at its current position until it reaches the waypoint s altitude and then fly towards the waypoint This is typically useful to avoid hitting the ter rain in mountainous landscapes and in particular for the Home way point when the mission altitude is below the take off location e Altitude The altitude of the waypoint above the altitude reference The waypoint is considered reached only when the drone starts circling about it at the waypoint s altitude 59 Advanced functionalities e Altitude reference The reference point of the Altitude value When set to m ATO the Altit
73. elect Import KML from the File menu and select your KML file The resulting layer will now be available in the Toolbar by clicking on the icon and can be clicked to display or hide it eMotion can display lines polygons paths and points saved in KML format wy Note KML files including associated icons or images included within them are not copied to the eMotion directory and will no longer ap pear in eMotion if the original KML files are deleted Custom map tiles can also be added as a layer in eMotion These tile sets must be TMS compatible sets of files Select Import custom map from the File menu and select the folder that contains the tile set The tile set will then appear in the list of layers in the Toolbar accessible by clicking the button fi Note If you use Postflight Terra 3D see section Processing im age data on page 50 you can generate TMS compatible eMotion compatible tile sets for each project In this way you can create your own map background using the eBee Generate the tile set by select ing Generate Google Maps tiles and KML from the Process menu within Postflight Terra 3D Whenever the eBee takes a picture eMotion records the location and orientation of the drone and computes the approximate span of the photo on the ground or 91 Advanced functionalities footprint All the footprints taken by a drone are added to a shaded polygon outlined with the d
74. er 2 complete circles if Restart mission Mission after mission is enabled if Circular landing selected Circle Home Waypoint when mission is completed Manual and emergency modes Assisted Hold Emergency Manual Position Landing During a typical flight the autonomous controller on the eBee will switch between various modes depending on its flight plan and the commands that it receives from the Control Bar The controller changes between modes during a typical mission as shown in the figure above and as described in more detail in the fol lowing list e After being switched on and running pre flight checks the drone will enter Idle mode until it is ready to be launched Shaking the drone back and forth 21 see section Control Bar on page 95 for details on the Control Bar 68 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee three times initiates the take off procedure and changes to the Take off mode e After take off the drone climbs with level wings gaining altitude until it reaches the take off transition altitude by default 20 m above the take off location At this point the drone heads for the Start waypoint and changes to Circle Start Waypoint mode e Once it reaches the Start waypoint the drone circles the waypoint several times to estimate the strength of the wind Once it calculates the estimated wind the drone either heads towards the first mission waypoint if Start
75. explore the effects of the various buttons in the Control Bar on the behaviour of your drone Don t be afraid to push the boundaries Aborting a flight or causing an emergency landing in the simulator will better prepare you for unexpected circumstances while in the field 93 Advanced functionalities Table 1 Simulator bar buttons Button Description Pause Clicking the pause button will pause the simulation and thus stop the drone while in flight This can be useful when you wish to change parameters or way points while the drone is already in flight Note this is a simulated action that is not possible with the real eBee Instead of pausing while in flight we recommend that you use the HOLD POSITION function to better simulate real flight conditions Play Clicking the play button returns the simulation to ac tual speed from the pause or fast forward conditions Fast forward Clicking this button increases the speed of the simu lation to 4x actual speed This allows you to shorten the time required to simulate a complete mission Re position take off location Clicking this button and then clicking on a location in the Map Area simulates the action of connect ing the battery to the drone in a new location The drone is returned to the ground at the new location and runs through its pre flight checks before enter ing Idle mode Initiate take off Clicking this button simulates a
76. f waypoint altitudes are set close to or outside the working area or due to strong wind Security action The drone flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest It also turns off its motor as long as it re mains above the working area ceiling User action Limit the altitude of all waypoints to less than the working area ceiling 158 Troubleshooting Out of working The drone has passed the lateral boundary of the area radius working area defined by the working area radius This may occur if waypoints are set close to or outside of the working area or due to strong wind Security action The drone flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest User action Limit the planned flight path within the working area boundaries Far outside of The drone has passed far outside of the working area working area This may be caused by very high winds or due to me chanical failure Security action The drone tries to orient itself in the direction of the Home waypoint and begins descend ing immediately until it lands on the ground or re turns within the working area User action Keep track of the location of the drone during landing If the drone lands outside of view fol low the instructions in section Losing and locating your
77. f you select Linear landing the panel expands to show options on approach sectors You can define up to four approach sectors each of which has a heading and a span either by dragging in the map area or by manually setting parameters in the panel See section Linear landing on page 72 for details how to correctly select the Home waypoint and approach sectors Default value Linear landing Approach sectors single sector with a Head ing of 0 and Span of 20 eMotion in depth guide e Landing location altitude You can also configure the altitude of the land ing location if it is different from the Take off altitude Expand the Landing location altitude panel and select an altitude in m AMSL or in m ATO It is also possible to predefine the landing altitude based on elevation data by clicking on the Set absolute landing altitude based on elevation data but ton This button will pre set the altitude each time it is clicked i e if the landing position is changed the altitude is not automatically pre set based on the Improved SRTM model the user has to press the button each time that the landing position is changed Default value Landing location altitude 0 m ATO e Setup phase reset Pressing the Reset all setup phase parameters will reset the Home and Start waypoints to the take off location and reset the rest of the parameters on the tab to factory defaults Clicking the Reset all waypoints and phot
78. fic In flight warnings 124 eMotion in depth guide e Return to Home in case of camera malfunction Checking this box will enable the Security action return to Home waypoint related to a camera malfunction Un checking this box will disable the Security action how ever the In flight warning will continue to appear Default value checked e Return to Home after 30s in case of link loss Checking this box will en able In flight warnings and Security actions related to a loss of the commu nications uplink between eMotion and the drone return to Home after 30 s of link loss Un checking this box disables both the In flight warning and the Security action and will result in the drone continuing on its flight path even if it does not re connect with eMotion Default value unchecked e Climb in case of detected ground proximity lt 30 m The eBee fea tures a ground sensor that continuously checks the presence of the ground If this box is checked and the ground sensor detects a height above the ground of less than 30 m the drone will climb to a safe height of 60 m be fore continuing the mission Default value checked e Use ground sensor for landing The eBee uses its ground sensor together with its estimate of the wind speed during its landing manoeuvre to calcu late the ideal moment to perform a final brake and enter deep stall If this box is unchecked the drone will ignore the ground sensor during its ap proach and will
79. g The heading angle with respect to North of the photo tar get 119 Advanced functionalities Pitch The pitch angle with respect to vertical of the photo target Altitude reference The altitude reference of the photo target alti tude either ATO or AMSL Target altitude The altitude of the photo target Position Coordinate The precise latitude and longitude of the cen tre of the waypoint e New photo target increment This panel makes it easier to make a se ries of oblique photos of the same target with a regular angle increment in order to aid reconstruction of a 3D model Every new Photo target that is added using the button will be placed at the same location as the previ ous one but with an increment in heading and pitch angles defined by the Heading increment and Pitch increment parameters respectively Default value Heading increment 0 Pitch increment 0 e Automatically reset target altitude based on elevation data Check this box to use elevation data to set the absolute photo target altitudes If this box is unchecked photo targets are presumed to be at the same al titude as the take off location Default value disabled The Camera control section has the following functions e Take photo now Clicking this button will send a command to the drone to take a single picture at its current location This command can be sent during the mission phase of a flight plan
80. g a flight 1 1 Installing eMotion Postflight Terra 3D and the ground modem CLIVERS ase fect Sp Tied veined Sankt E rE rE N SrtA 1 2 TheeMotioninterface 2 2 ee ee 1 3 Creating a new flight plan 000 1 4 The mission phase of a flight o o oana aaa 1 5 Simulating your flight aaaea aa 1 6 Getting ready for a mission oaaae Executing a flight 2 1 Weather check 2 0 2 0 0 00 eee eee 2 2 Preparing the eBeeforflight 2000 2 3 Thesetupphaseofaflight 000 24 gt Take oft fics toe aae way bas ha ee ee he ey 2 5 In flight monitoring and control 00 2 6 Landing 6 42 eee oa ee eee ee eas 2 7 Potential in flight errors 0 020000 ee eee Processing image data 3 1 Importing images and flight data 3 2 In fieldimage quality check 0000 3 3 Creating advanced mapping products Il Advanced functionalities 4 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee 4 1 Waypoints and their properties 4 4 2 Advanced polygonal missionarea 4 4 3 3D mission planning using elevationdata 44 Flight visualizationin Google Earth 4 4 5 Autonomous controller and modes of flight 46 Linearlanding 0 0 0 0 eee 4 7 Flying multiple drones at the same time 4 8 Individual photo targets and oblique imagery 4 9 Emergency Manoe
81. g will load the last mission area that was successfully uploaded to an eBee autopilot whether it was a real or sim ulated one This option is useful when you want to repeat your last mission and did not explicitly use the Save mission area button Load mission area from KML file Use this option to load a polygonal mis sion area directly from a KML file produced in Google Earth for example Load mission area from map object Use this option to load a polygonal mission area from a previously imported map object see section Toolbar on page 90 Reset mission area Clicking will reset the mission area to the default rect angular size and reposition it in the centre of the Map Area It will also reset eMotion in depth guide all mapping and mission parameters to their last saved default values e Restore factory settings Click to restore all the parameters of this tab to their default settings The last panel of this tab displays the characteristics of the flight s resulting from the selected image parameters e Number of flights The resulting number of flights that must be performed to cover the chosen mission area If the mission area cannot be mapped in a single flight eMotion will split it into the minimum possible number of flights The estimated distance that can be covered in a flight is calculated assuming a fully charged battery and an accurate wind estimate e Flight time This is the estimated fli
82. gger than the mission area selected so as to ensure maximum image overlap within the mission area itself Note If there is no flight plan overlaid on the mission area rectangle O then the mission is too large and cannot be flown by the eBee This can be for two reasons either the distance between two waypoints is too long for the drone to cover in a single flight or the waypoints are too far from the Take off and landing locations 107 Advanced functionalities Mapping and mission parameters Mission plan actions Resulting flight characteristics ragsam Mapping and mission parameters Difficult terrain Mission area Rectangular Ground resolution W 4 0 em px Camera DXUS ELPH Desired altitude above elevation data 130 0 m Easy terrain 7 Use elevation data to set absolute waypoint altitudes Lateral overlap v Longitudinal overlap W Generate perpendicular fight lines Reversed fight direction 60 70 a Save parameters as default HL Upload Resulting flight characteristics Number of fights Fight time Total fight distance Total ground coverage Number of fight ines Fight ines spacing Mean fight lines altitude above elevation data Max fight lines altitude above elevation data Min fight ines altitude above elevation data Distance between photos Single image coverage Number of waypoints Elevation data sources a 00 07 13 5 5km 12 0ha 640 73 7m 132m
83. ght time for each of the flights e Total flight distance The total distance that will be flown during all of the flights e Total ground coverage The total area that will be mapped during all of the flights e Number of flight lines The total number of flight lines in the mission phase of the flight plan not including flight lines to and from the Take off or landing locations The second number represents the flight lines per pendicular to the first number e Flight lines spacing The required distance between parallel flight lines calculated using the Lateral overlap and Ground resolution parameters Default values for mapping and mission parameters are set by clicking the Save parameters as de fault button 113 Advanced functionalities ey Note If the flight line spacing is low enough to cause your drone to overshoot the beginning of a flight line eMotion will automatically switch to an alternating flight line pattern Your drone will fly along every other flight line then return to fill in the gaps If the spacing becomes too small even for an alternate flight lines a will appear beside this parameter to indicate the warning You can remove this warning by decreasing the Lateral overlap or the Ground resolution Mean flight lines altitude above elevation data Mean altitude differ ence between all flight lines and the ground altitude based on the top most elevation data layer 3D flight planning only
84. gle its turn direction e Radius Modify the radius by left clicking on the waypoint s perimeter and dragging it e Altitude Hold down the Ctrl button while left clicking on the waypoint and moving the mouse up or down to increase or decrease the altitude of the waypoint respectively 61 Advanced functionalities e Create new waypoint Right click anywhere in the Map Area that does not contain a symbol to bring up the context menu then select Add waypoint here to add a new waypoint e Context menu Right click on a waypoint to bring up the context menu You can then select the following options Go to Select while the drone is in flight to make this the current des tination waypoint Auto next Toggle the Auto next parameter of the waypoint Reverse turn direction Toggle the Turn direction parameter of the waypoint Change altitude Set the transition behaviour of the drone when flying towards the selected waypoint Remove waypoint Remove the selected waypoint Any modification will be sent directly to the drone to update its onboard waypoint list If the message is not acknowledged by the drone for example due to a tem porary loss of communication link the waypoint will move back to its previous position on the map to accurately reflect the current waypoint list status within the drone s autopilot Note Modification of flight plan parameters can cause the drone to react in unexpected ways In pa
85. grade the firmware 5 provided that there is an internet connection gt http my sensefly com 136 Maintenance and repair of the eBee of the eBee follow these steps 1 Connect the battery to the drone 2 Connect the USB cable between the computer on which you installed eMo tion and the autopilot of the eBee as shown in the figure The connector is beside the camera connector and is marked with a amp icon The status LED will turn white as soon as you connect the cable 3 Launch eMotion connect USB cable to autopilot 4 In eMotion click the icon and select Updater eBee 5 Click Update to begin the updating process Wait until the process is com plete which is indicated by the text File downloaded successfully 53 you can also update without launching eMotion using the separate Updater eBee program in the Windows Start or Apps menu 137 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting File Click Update to update the firmware Click Update to update the firmware mm im ina Froese soo ac Wait for update File downloaded Click Update to complete successfully Note You may need to install a driver the first time you upgrade your O firmware The driver will be installed automatically but may cause the firmware update to fail If this is the case retry the update process by clicking Update again witho
86. he Sidebar is hidden e Autonomy The battery level displays the current charge and voltage of the battery As the battery s charge level decreases the voltage decreases as well A fully charged battery has a voltage of 12 6 V and is fully dis charged when it reaches about 9 V This section also displays the total time in flight the straight line distance to the Home waypoint the estimated time required to return to the Home waypoint based on estimated wind strength and the quality of the radio data link between the ground modem and the drone The strength and direction of the wind estimated by the drone is displayed with an arrow Caution Lithium polymer batteries are chemical devices whose per O formance depends on a number of parameters including tempera ture lifetime number of cycles mechanical integrity etc Estimating the remaining capacity of a battery can thus be tricky and the dis played value may occasionally be inaccurate It is the operator s re sponsibility to monitor battery voltage and flight time in addition to the battery level to make sure that endurance is sufficient to com plete the mission e Flight data This section includes additional information that may be use ful during the flight including ground speed and height altitude Above Mean Sea Level AMSL and the absolute position detected by the GPS on board the eBee 34 see section Troubleshooting on page 145 3 see section Proper bat
87. he box to being ready for flight in minutes We recommend that you perform the following 6 steps before every flight to ensure that the platform is best prepared for flight Note Remove the red warning sticker from the motor before your first flight 4 Central body Central body top view bottom view Wing detached 30 Executing a flight Step 1 Perform a general inspection Visually inspect the drone for damage or wear using the following steps 1 Check the foam central body and wings for cracks or other damage 2 Verify that the pitot probe is properly attached to the airframe and that the holes in the probe are free of obstructions 3 Verify that the ground sensor is free of obstructions and that the sensor s lens is clean 4 Verify that the wing struts are not split or damaged in any way 5 Verify that the tubes within the Central Body that hold the wing struts are not cracked or damaged in any way A Caution It is vital to carefully inspect the wing struts and tubes within the Central Body before every flight as they may cause a crash if they are damaged in any way This is particularly important if the wings were found separated from the Central Body after a previous flight 6 Verify that the power cables within the battery compartment are well insu lated and not damaged Note A general inspection should be performed before every flight O It is also good practice to perform a full
88. he eBee battery may not be fully charged 30 balance LEDs i 20 10 Status B O status LEDs power cable LiPo Balance Charger eBee battery pack not to scale To charge an eBee battery pack connect it to the battery charger as illustrated above During charge the status LED on the charger is solid red Charging is com plete when the status LED turns green The charger provided independently balances the voltage of each of the 3 cells contained in the battery pack to ensures optimal performance and battery life see section In flight monitoring and control on page 46 gt Consult your payload user manual to know if the payload battery is necessary for the flight 27 Quick start guide If any of the cells is unbalanced its associated LED will flash red during charging until it is re balanced Charging can take up to an hour depending on the charge level of the battery and the required cell balancing work See section Proper bat tery care on page 142 for more information on maintaining your drone s batteries If you plan on performing a flight away from an Internet connection it is useful to preload map tiles by selecting Download maps from the File menu More details on how to take advantage of the various map sources available in eMotion can be found in section Toolbar on page 90 28 Executing a flight 2 Executing a flight Q Goal of this section
89. he ground if the ground is well textured and there is enough light When it reaches an altitude of 25 m above the ground the drone will level out estimate the direction of the wind and resume its descent so as to touch down against the wind while remaining on the circle defined by the Home waypoint Caution The ground sensor can only provide usable feedback in daylight conditions above flat terrain that contains enough visual tex ture If these conditions are not met during a circular landing the drone cannot ensure a touchdown against the direction of the wind Landing in the direction of the wind in strong wind conditions may result in a high landing speed and damage to the eBee 41 Quick start guide To prepare a Circular landing place the Home waypoint in a location that has no obstacles within a radius of 50 m or 20 m more than the Home waypoint radius to give the drone enough space to land Ensure that the entire landing area is flat to allow the ground sensor to function properly By default the radius of the Home waypoint is 30 m In high wind conditions it is recommended to increase this diameter A Caution The radius of the Home waypoint and thus of a Circular landing can be reduced to 20 m but should only be done in low wind conditions lt 3 m s Reducing the radius of the Home waypoint be low 30 m in moderate or high wind conditions can result in damage to the drone when it contacts the ground during a landing
90. hen add a new photo target at the same location as the previous target but with an incremented pitch and heading value A more detailed description of all the available options for taking images of indi vidual photo targets can be found in section Camera tab on page 118 84 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee 4 9 Emergency Manoeuvres Despite careful planning unexpected situations might place people property animals or your drone in danger for example e Unexpected intrusions into your eBee s airspace by low flying aircraft or other UAVs e Flight planning errors e Unexpected intrusions into the landing zone e Birds approaching or attacking your drone e Unexpected changes in wind conditions As a precautionary measure to be used only when absolutely necessary the eBee has been programmed with a series of emergency manoeuvres e Land now The drone immediately initiates a circular landing around a 30 m radius waypoint at its current location e Abort landing The drone aborts its landing climbs up to a safe altitude and circles waiting for a command See section Linear landing on page 72 for more details e Roll The drone performs a roll along a linear flight path then resumes its mis sion e Fast climb The drone suddenly climbs with full thrust approximately 40 m then grad ually descends at approximately 4 m s back to its initial altitude e Fast descent The drone enters a spinning
91. hoto with the desired parameters e Photo sequence control Clicking the Start sequence button will send the drone to the first photo target location and subsequently take images of all the photo targets currently in the Photo targets list Clicking the Stop sequence will send the drone back to the Home waypoint e Photo targets This panel contains the list of photo targets to be taken in a sequence Clicking the button will add a new photo target You can set the location by using the cross hairs and clicking in the Map Area By default the location of a new photo target is the same as the previous one in the list Clicking the will remove all photo targets from the sequence list Each photo target has the following properties Change altitude The way the drone transitions to the altitude of the current photo target This parameter is set to Keep highest for all photo targets and cannot be modified Minimum altitude after photo This is the calculated minimum al titude the drone will reach at the end of a photo capture manoeuvre based on the desired ground resolution Ground resolution The desired ground resolution in the centre of the image that will be pointed at the photo target position Distance The calculated straight line distance between the drone and the photo target and the defined pitch angle For a given dis tance as the pitch angle increases the distance to the ground de creases Headin
92. ic stability to the drone while it is in flight e Ailerons Used to control the eBee while in flight e Servo connection mechanism The ailerons are connected to the servo motors within the central body of the drone through this connection mech anism e Propeller Used to generate thrust while it is in flight A Caution When attached to the motor the propeller spins at high speeds and can be potentially dangerous if it comes into contact with exposed skin Be sure to always keep your hands clear of the propeller when the battery is attached to the eBee e Battery compartment The eBee is powered by a LiPo Lithium Polymer battery stored within the battery compartment A Caution Proper care of your battery is essential Please read section Proper battery care on page 142 before using your drone for the first time e Cameracompartment The eBee features a built in camera for taking aerial images stored within the camera compartment e Data Link Antenna Used by the drone to communicate with the eMotion software through the USB ground modem e Pitot probe This is the sensor used by the eBee to detect airspeed wind and altitude It must be kept clean and clear of obstructions to function properly e Status LED This coloured LED displays the current state of the eBee It is housed underneath the pitot probe and thus illuminates the entire trans parent probe in various colours depending on the drone s state e Grou
93. igate A waypoint essentially consists of a circle about a given position and information that defines how the drone should behave when reaching them The entire list of waypoints is stored in the drone autopilot and can be remotely edited using eMotion to Next Waypoint KS Direc tion I os aye Altitude os Above Take off location m ATO OR Above Mean Sea Level m AMSL l i y Position GPS coordinates In eMotion every waypoint is defined by the following parameters e ID Every mission waypoint has a unique ID beginning at 1 The eBee can store up to 50 mission waypoints Setup phase waypoints Start and Home do not have an ID 58 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee e Active Indicates whether the waypoint is active or not Deactivating a waypoint by clicking the checkbox beside its ID will remove it from the cur rent flight plan Setup phase waypoints Start and Home cannot be deac tivated e Current A status that indicates if the waypoint is currently being circled or navigated toward indicated by gt lt around the waypoint s ID Only one waypoint is marked Current at a time e Change altitude This parameter defines the way the drone transitions to the altitude of the current waypoint During transit The drone will fly in the direction of the current way point while simultaneously changing altitude by climbing or descend ing in a linear fashion If the requir
94. ight errors eMotion text Description and User action Incorrect firmware There is an error with the current version of the detected firmware in the eBee s autopilot User action Re load the correct firmware Battery too low for take off The battery level is too low to perform a take off User action Re connect a fully charged battery Drone flight log memory full The memory card used to store the Drone flight log is full User action Empty the memory card by follow ing the instructions in section Importing images and flight data on page 50 see section Updating the eBee software on page 136 146 Troubleshooting Pitot malfunction A high airspeed was detected while on the ground User action Be sure to protect the drone from the wind and re connect the battery If the problem per sists perform Check 4 in section Full airframe and sensor inspection on page 139 If this does not solve the problem contact your eBee reseller High current A too high current was detected which may be caused by an internal problem User action Re connect the battery If the problem occurs twice contact your eBee reseller Magnetometer There is an error with the drone s magnetic field sen malfunction sor User action Re connect the battery If the problem persists contact your eBee reseller EEPROM There is an error with the memory chip of the drone s malf
95. ing only available if there Landing mode if no active Critical failure is no active Critical failure abort current landing procedure return to the location where the Emergency landing was triggered circle and wait for next command 97 Advanced functionalities 5 4 Flight Monitoring tab regs Am Drone status a Drone status Ready o take of Autonomy Battery voltage Time in fight MOD 20 125y 00 00 Home distance Estimated wind Autonomy O ome A Link quality ui 100 0 0 m s Flight data Ground speed 0 0 m s Flight data Gnrdwertes com Postion E e0620 Instruments IIIENA ARSD 24 270 30 ATMUDE Instruments Identification Payload information Advanced Instruments The Flight Monitoring tab can be used to monitor the eBee during a mapping mis sion and is the default tab that is displayed when you click anywhere on the map area that does not have a symbol The tab is split into the following sections e Drone Status The status of the plane keeps you informed on what the drone is currently doing This can include mission actions such as Taking photo or Going to waypoint as well as warning or failure messages such 98 eMotion in depth guide as Out of working area or High wind Note The most important status and warning messages are repro duced in the Status Panel in the Map Area and thus remain visible even when t
96. ing up the Multi drones preferences pane Local preferences rae eaerchanations Cockpit D Maps Z Take off Elevation data F Start waypoint Log Each drones will be separated by 15m in altitude im Fold A Eoas Elaran Multi drone hes Each drones wil be separated by 15m in altitude lessages r n Muti drones Tl Ficht parameters coordination 7 Mission planning E Simulator Traffic control Z Proximity warning Traffic control X Collsion avoidance Network sharing Z Allow other computers to see my drones E Allow other computers to control my drones Z See al drones on my learetvak Network sharing E Apply multidrone coordination to local network E Share simulators on my local network Restore factory default Note Add multicrone information here OK Apply eMotion provides Multi drone coordination options to synchronise various way points and parameters among connected drones 80 e Take off Synchronising the take off applies specifically to Directional take off heading and transition altitude Start waypoint When the Start waypoint is synchronised eMotion will use the same location and altitude for the Start waypoint of each connected drone Every modification to the Start waypoint of one drone is thus trans ferred to all other drones To prevent collisions between drones eMotion will automatically create a stack by incrementing the altitude of each drone that is
97. ints and how to modify them 40 Executing a flight at the landing location and choose an approach direction as much against the di rection of the wind as possible It will then fly downwind in the opposite direction of the approach direction turn 180 and begin descending in the approach direc tion until it lands on the ground underneath the centre of the Home waypoint The approach angle is around 20 and the drone will reverse its thrust if needed to maintain a suitable airspeed during this phase Note There are a number of requirements that must be fulfilled O to ensure a successful Linear landing Section Linear landing on page 72 describes in more detail the Linear landing process and how to properly define approach sectors in more complex terrain In particular in the case of strong wind conditions low light or low contrast terrain the precision of the final landing location around the Home waypoint is reduced Therefore it is safer to plan for more clearance especially along the possible landing axes If there are no suitable approach sectors to perform a Linear landing the drone can also perform a Circular landing around the Home waypoint When initiating a Circular landing around the Home waypoint the drone will switch off its motor and glide down while circling around the Home waypoint at the waypoint s ra dius During the Circular landing procedure the drone uses its ground sensor to measure the height above t
98. ion of the Home and Start waypoints and the actions to be taken before and after the mission phase of the flight plan The Setup Phase tab is divided into the following sections e Take off parameters You can predefine a take off heading and transition 102 eMotion in depth guide altitude To enable this feature expand the Take off parameters box and check the Activate directional take off check box A new arrow is now dis played on the map This arrow defines the take off heading the drone will try to stay on the track defined by the arrow desired takeoff direction I Idle Ready to take off You can now grab the arrow on the map in order to modify the take off heading Furthermore you can also pre set the take off direction and the take off transition altitude in the Setup Phase tab Default value Unchecked Heading 0 Transition altitude 20m ATO Caution Setting the take off transition altitude too low may cause the drone to perform a change of direction too early and may result in a crash Setting the take off transition altitude too high may cause the drone to drift sideways after take off if there is too much wind e Start waypoint Here you set the position change altitude parameter al titude above take off m ATO turn direction and radius of the Start way point You can set the location by clicking the 9 button and clicking on the desired location in the Map Area 103 Advanced f
99. is time the status LED on the drone will pulse blue Once your drone has set its position using GPS signals an icon of the drone will appear at its location on the map If the drone s location is not on the map you can click the button from the Toolbar to centre the map on the drone The drone s status on eMotion will be displayed as Idle Ready to take off and the status LED will become solid green 37 Quick start guide You can now load a flight plan you prepared earlier by selecting the Setup Phase tab from the Sidebar clicking on Load flight plan from file and selecting your flight plan file Alternatively you can plan the entire mission in the field following the same process outlined in section Planning and simulating a flight on page 20 38 Executing a flight 2 3 The setup phase of a flight The setup phase of a flight includes the waypoints and actions related to the take off and landing of the eBee and includes the following locations e Take off location The point from which the drone is launched automat ically set to the location calculated from GPS signals by the drone when it is launched This location defines the altitude of 0 m ATO ATO stands for above take off the altitudes of all other waypoints when defined in m ATO are referenced to the altitude of this location e Start waypoint The first point that the drone flies towards when launched once it reaches the take off tr
100. itted if two drones are on a trajectory potentially leading to a collision in less than 7 seconds e Collision avoidance When enabled eMotion will constantly monitor the trajectory of the connected drones and automatically put one drone in a temporary hold pattern similar to the HOLD POSITION function see sec tion Control Bar on page 95 until it is safe to resume the flight Priority is given to drones with the lowest battery level engaged in a landing proce dure or with an active error or warning 81 Advanced functionalities A Caution All collision avoidance mechanisms are implemented by eMotion on the ground computer The drones autopilot do not com municate between themselves and do not have knowledge of each other s positions It is therefore critical to keep all drones connected to eMotion at all times and remain well inside communication range fi Note While eMotion strives to avoid all collisions the operator is ul timately responsible to ensure flight safety In particular situations involving more that two drones in converging trajectories may not always be handled automatically in a fully safe manner It is recom mended to use slightly different altitudes for each drone when flying more than two drones at a time to limit the risk of collision In more advanced scenarios you may wish to share the position and even the con trol of a drone across a local area network eMotion provides the following Net
101. late the altitudes of the waypoints This can be either the default Improved SRTM within eMotion or imported custom data sets depending on which one is activated and is at the top of the list in the Elevation data Preference pane The flight characteristics are updated automatically as you modify the mission area in the Map Area or the parameters in the first panel 115 Advanced functionalities 5 7 Mission Waypoints tab Ceosan Waypoints iV gt 1 lt Ae 129 m ATO Change altitude ae Keep highest Altitude v 129m Selected mission Altitude reference m aTO Tum direction M Clockwise waypoint ae parameters Auto next J Action OB Start Longitude 6 5538387 Latitude 46 5176757 2 Ss 129 m ATO rae 3 S129 mato Remaining i mission a ath 5 Se 129 m ATO waypoints 6 129 m ATO 7 1z9m ato fa Add or reset Add a waypoint fe waypoints Reset all waypoints The Mission Waypoints tab contains a list of all mission waypoints currently on the drone autopilot It can be used for finer control of individual waypoints in the current mission The list of waypoints displays the ID Change altitude parameter Altitude and Action related to each mission waypoint Clicking on a mission waypoint in the list or in the Map Area will expand the panel to display all the parameters related to that waypoint These parameters are ex plained in detail in section Waypoints and their properties
102. le taking into account the wind Defining multiple possible approach sectors can increase the chance that the drone selects a favourable land ing against the direction of the wind Be sure that there are also no obstacles in a 10 m radius circle around the Home waypoint as the Linear landing process may be effected by wind or positioning imprecision of the on board GPS 28 see section In flight warnings on page 151 76 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee Note The eBee s ground sensor can typically begin detecting ground i proximity at a distance of 40 m If the drone reaches an estimate al titude of 20 m ATO as estimated using the on board GPS and pres sure sensor without a signal on its ground sensor it assumes there is a malfunction with the ground sensor This may be due to insuf ficient light or contrast in the environment dirt on the sensor s lens assembly or a Linear landing location at a different altitude than the Take off Location In this case the drone performs the braking and stall manoeuvre at an altitude of 20 m instead of 3 m This increased time while stalled can greatly reduce the accuracy of the final landing position and damage to the drone If the Linear landing process is aborted by clicking on the ABORT LANDING but ton in the Control Bar before completion the drone will turn on its motor in full thrust and gain altitude while continuing in a straight line in its approach direc tio
103. llowable approach sectors defined by the user within eMotion The drone flies downwind against the approach direction After flying for a sufficient distance it turns around to align itself with the approach direc tion The drone glides down in the approach direction at a controlled speed and descent angle of approximately 20 braking by spinning its propeller in reverse if necessary When the drone detects a height of around 20 m to the ground it begins to level out its descent When the drone detects a height of around 3 m to the ground it performs a final brake to reduce its speed and lifts its nose The drone then glides for the final few metres in a deep stall until it lands Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee Linear landing procedure seen from the side Home 1 Aproach Home waypoint waypoint 2 Descend to 75m 4 Fly in calculated direction above landing altitude 3 Circle to measure wind 5 Glide with controlled angle and speed 75m above landing altitude 6 Start level Landing location out at 20m below Home waypoint 7 Final brake at 3m 178 Deep stall a GY One 9 oE 60m 10m 73 Advanced functionalities The Linear landing process uses an optical based sensor to detect the proximity of the ground A number of conditions on the environment and the positions of the Home waypoint and approach sectors must
104. lly within approx 3 seconds The status LED will pulse blue while the drone s autopilot performs a start up sequence As the motor is now controlled by the remote control it will not begin spinning Once the sequence is complete the status LED will turn green solid or blinking depending on the angle at which you are holding the drone 130 Manual control of the eBee Caution Taking off without performing the motor power up se O quence will result in the eBee staying in Idle mode during the entire flight and is not recommended The drone will no longer be able to enter automatic mode while in flight and must land using manual control 4 The eBee is now ready for manual take off Orient yourself into the wind and confirm that the take off direction in front of you is free of obstacles We recommend that you take off at full power and into the wind by setting the left stick to its highest position and releasing the drone when the status LED is solid green 6 4 Assisted Manual mode In Assisted Manual mode the sticks on the remote control set the desired speed turn rate and climb or sink rate These commands are then transferred to control signals for the individual actuators by the autopilot based on feedback from its sensors This control scheme simplifies control of the eBee Caution Though it may be easier to fly the eBee manually when in O Assisted Manual mode it remains dangerous and should be used with care In partic
105. mates a longer flight time for the currently selected Mission area it will split the mission into two or more flights Default value 40 min The third panel Mission plan actions includes the Upload button which is used to upload the resulting mission waypoints to the autopilot If there are multiple 111 Advanced functionalities flights required this button becomes a drop down list and you can upload each flight individually A Caution Clicking Upload will directly modify the waypoints re quired for the flight plan in the eBee If the drone is flying towards or around one of these waypoints its navigation will be affected to reflect the new waypoint parameters Clicking the More button reveals several more options 112 Load mission area Click to load a previously saved mission area and parameters from an Auto Flight Planner afp file Save mission area Click to save the current mission area and parame ters to an Auto Flight Planner afp file This can be useful for example to map the same area with different image and mission parameters or to save and restore a large mapping mission that requires multiple flights Note that this saves only the mission area shape and location along with the as sociated mission and image parameters not the actual list of waypoints that is then generated or the camera payload model used to calculate the mission plan Load last used mission area Clickin
106. mission is selected in the After take off panel of the Setup Phase tab and changes to Perform Mission mode continues circling the Start waypoint until a command is received from the Control Bar typically a START MISSION command that is sent once a flight plan is finalized e While in Perform Mission mode the drone flies between all enabled mission waypoints taking images of the ground below Once it reaches the final mission waypoint the drone either heads towards the Home waypoint if Land or Go to Home way point is selected in the After mission panel of the Setup Phase tab and changes to Circle Home Waypoint mode heads towards the Start waypoint if Go to Start waypoint is selected in the After mission panel of the Setup Phase tab and changes to Circle Start Waypoint mode heads towards the first mission waypoint if Restart mission is se lected in the After mission panel of the Setup Phase tab and remains in Perform Mission mode 22 as described in section Take off on page 43 2 or ina given direction when using the Directional take off feature described in section Setup Phase tab on page 102 4 see section Flight Parameters tab on page 123 for details on changing this altitude 69 Advanced functionalities e Once it reaches the Home waypoint if in Circle Home Waypoint mode the drone will either begin a Linear landi
107. n Once the altitude of 40 m ATO is reached the drone will turn towards the Home waypoint and continue climbing until it reaches an altitude of 75 m ATO It then continues circling until it receives a further command Caution Do not abort a Linear landing if there are obstacles in the O approach direction behind the Home location as the drone will con tinue flying in a straight line after an abort sequence while it gains altitude and may collide with those obstacles A Caution It is not recommended to abort a Linear landing when the battery is low as the drone may not have enough power to attempt a second landing 4 7 Flying multiple drones at the same time Operating multiple drones at the same time enables the coverage of larger areas in a shorter amount of time This can be useful when the mission time must be kept short for example because of varying lighting conditions To enable multi 77 Advanced functionalities drone operation eMotion provides the following e When more than one drone is connected at a time a dedicated interface called the Multi drone panel is displayed to monitor each drone and switch between them e Anumber of settings are offered to keep relevant flight configurations such as the Start and Home waypoint synchronised between all connected drones e Missions that require more than one flight can be automatically split and uploaded individually among all connected drones e Anew Control Bar app
108. n be used at any time to send commands to your drone as well as to acknowledge warning and failure messages if they occur During a fully autonomous flight the eBee will control its flight au tonomously from take off to landing and you do not need to use any of the con trol buttons They can however be useful in unexpected situations to temporarily hold position by pressing the HOLD POSITION button or to send the drone to the Home or Start waypoints with the GO TO HOME WPT or GO TO START WPT buttons respectively Alternatively you can direct your drone to any location by right clicking in the Map Area and using the contextual menu We recommend you use the simulator to learn the effects of the buttons on the drone Detailed descriptions of the buttons and their effects on the drone are described in section Control Bar on page 95 47 Quick start guide 2 6 Landing After finishing a mapping mission the drone will by default return to the Home waypoint and automatically initiate a landing sequence During a Linear landing the drone will land in a straight line according to the process described in section Linear landing on page 72 In case of a Circular landing the drone will land in a circle according to the process described in section The setup phase of a flight on page 39 Disconnect the battery from the drone before picking it up We recommend you immediately import the images and flight data af
109. nd sensor The ground sensor composed of a high speed optical sensor and lens assembly is used to detect the proximity of the ground Software features The eBee package allows you to download and use eMotion and Postflight Terra 3D at no extra cost eMotion 2 senseFly eMotion is the integrated software package that allows you to interact with your eBee Its easy to use interface allows you to plan a mapping flight intuitively from the comfort of your office or directly in the field Once the drone is launched you can use eMotion s wireless connection with your eBee to track its position monitor the progress of your mapping flight and send commands if desired Postflight Terra ETD L Powered by Pix4D Once your eBee returns after an aerial mapping flight it is the turn of Postflight Terra 3D to process the captured images fully automatically Postflight Terra 3D is a full featured mapping solution with just a few mouse clicks it can create high quality geo referenced 2D and 3D orthomosaics and digital elevation surface mod els DEM DSM While you are still in the field Postflight Terra 3D analyses the qual ity of the captured images and generates an easy to understand report letting you know immediately if the data you captured meets your mapping requirements Software access terms and conditions apply t Postflight Terra 3D works with eBee images only Contents 1 Quick start guide Planning and simulatin
110. nd then create a dataset using Postflight Terra 3D You can then automatically import the data into eMotion by selecting Send DSM to eMotion from the Process menu within Postflight Terra 3D The dataset can then be enabled using the menu in the Toolbar eMotion will use this custom dataset wherever it is available to set waypoint altitudes instead of its default Improved SRTM elevation data Note It is recommended to visually compare imported elevation O datasets with the default Improved SRTM elevation layer of eMotion in order to detect possible mismatches This comparison should be done with a colourmap opacity value of 100 More advanced controls of imported datasets are available in the Elevation data 65 Advanced functionalities panel of the Preferences pane of the menu From this panel you can add remove activate deactivate or reorder overlays eMotion uses the top most el evation data layer to calculate altitude for each waypoint and flight line with eMotion s default Improved SRTM elevation dataset always considered the bot tom layer E Preferences Local preferences Bees Cockpit Maps The foloninglist shons the avaiable custom elevation iat datasets pgs ea Sears eevee Sembee ached ifs borea scence eee ee Log which dataset is shown on top of the others if they H Sis overlap uena the arrows Custom elevation B Fight data mie data Multi drones Import cust
111. ng procedure as described in section Linear land ing on page 72 and change to Linear Landing mode if Land is se lected in the After mission list and Linear landing is selected in the Landing type list of the Setup Phase tab begin a Circular landing procedure and change to Circular Landing mode if Land is selected in the After mission list and Circular land ing is selected in the Landing type list of the Setup Phase tab circles the Home waypoint and remains in Circle Home Waypoint mode until a command is sent e After completing a landing procedure and detecting that it has successfully landed the drone changes to Idle mode e Turning on the remote control will cause the drone to enter either Assisted Manual or Full Manual mode depending on the setting in the Flight Pa rameters tab Turning off the remote control will return the drone to its previous mode e Clicking the HOLD POSITION button in the Control Bar at any time will cause the drone to start circling its current position and change to Hold Position mode until it receives a new command from the Control Bar Alter natively right clicking in the Map Area and selecting Hold here will direct the drone towards the selected position and then circle around that posi tion in Hold Position mode This mode is also enabled automatically after certain In flight warning or Critical failure conditions e Clicking the
112. o targets will remove all the waypoints and photo targets in the currently loaded in the drone Flight plan actions A complete flight plan includes all the Setup phase Start and Home waypoints Take off and Landing parameters etc Mis sion phase waypoints Camera camera model photo targets etc and Flight working area radius and ceiling Security actions etc parameters Reset flight plan resets the current flight plan to default parame ters Load flight plan from file and Save flight plan to file load and save the current flight plan both setup and mission phases to a XML file for later reuse Click Save flight plan in drone to save the current flight plan to the eBee s on board memory Once a flight plan is saved in the drone s memory it will become the default flight plan the next time the drone is started and will appear in eMotion upon connection The drone also keeps track of its last waypoint during a flight If you have saved the flight plan to the drone in this way it can resume an incomplete mis sion from the point it was interrupted You can then for example 3 this action is only available when the drone is not in flight 105 Advanced functionalities 106 land mid mission to change the drone s battery or import images us ing the Flight Data Manager then take off again and the drone will complete the mission from the point it left off Note To resume an incomple
113. of the wind during strong wind conditions or with certain In flight warnings or Critical failures it may not be able to slow enough during its de scent It will likely overshoot the Home waypoint location and land at a high speed potentially resulting in damage e The ground sensor must have sufficient light and texture to accurately de tect the height above the ground Ensure that the ground sensor lens is clear of dirt or other obstructions Only attempt Linear landings in full day light conditions Ensure that there is high contrast surfaces in all the ap 27 see section In flight warnings on page 151 75 Advanced functionalities proach sectors Do not define approach sectors over low texture surfaces such as large bodies of water snow or sand e During a Linear landing the drone requires sufficient energy to slow down its descent and perform its final brake Steps 5 7 If the Linear landing op tion is active and the battery descends below 20 an In flight warning will appear in eMotion To enable Linear landing select Linear landing from the Setup Phase tab A sin gle approach sector appears around the Home waypoint Rotate and resize the approach sector to define the directions around the Home waypoint that are com pletely clear of obstacles You can add additional approach sectors from within the Setup Phase tab These approach sectors will be used by the drone to plan its landing path whi
114. oid the user s authority to operate the equipment This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a class B digital device pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide a reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and uses in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception wich can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures 1 Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna 2 Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver 3 Connect the equipment into a an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected 4 Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help This Class B digital apparatus complies with Canadian ICES 003 This equipment complies with FCC s radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment under the following conditions 1 This equipment should be installed and operated such that a minimum separation distance of 20cm is maintained between the radiator an
115. oint s Auto next parameter is disabled the path directly after it will be dashed indicating that a command must be sent for the flight to continue Clicking a waypoint in the Map Area will display its characteristics waypoint ID for mission waypoints or name for setup waypoints altitude radius and action 18 see section Camera tab on page 118 60 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee and will select it for modification It will also activate the Mission Waypoints tab and highlight the selected waypoint Future Flight path Inactive Selected flight path altitude flight path waypoint 6 110 m ATO STOP PHOTO 4 110 m ATO 110 m ATO 110 m ATO 506 m MSL 110 m ATO mb 2 17 T Current gt 3 lt 3 9 m s 110 m ATO waypoint gt 110 m ATO yp J En route to waypoint 3 UN 110 mato fi 1 110 m ATO ai 4 110m ATO START PHOTO yf Current status Traversed flight path 2 You can modify the waypoint s parameters directly in the Map Area using your mouse using the following actions e Position Change the position by left clicking on the waypoint and drag ging it around on the map By default the waypoint snaps to a position in line with the current flight lines before and after the waypoint Hold down the Alt button while dragging to disable the snapping feature e Turn direction Hold down the Shift button while left clicking on a way point to tog
116. om DSM Network cache In order to provide access to network elements when offline and also to reduce internet traffic a network cache is used to temporarily store network content locally ote aa eee ees Network cache it is possible to manually flush it in order to re download the latest content CAUTION This operation cannot be undone Flush the network cache for the elevation plush data 4 4 Flight visualization in Google Earth eMotion includes an interface with Google Earth to help with flight plan verifi cation and visualization particularly in uneven terrain Clicking on the button in the Toolbar will open Google Earth and zoom to the current position of the drone The current position of drone its planned trajectory the working area cir cle and all waypoints currently uploaded to the drone including Take Off Start and Home are displayed within Google Earth Any changes to waypoints or flight parameters within eMotion are updated accordingly within Google Earth The interface with Google Earth is particularly useful to check the drone s trajec tory with respect to obstacles in the area The flight plan is projected onto the 0 While checking flight plans in Google Earth is a good safety practice senseFly Ltd provides no 66 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee ground in a darker colour giving you an idea of the distance between the flig ht path an
117. one to overshoot its planning Linear landing location by preparing a larger obstacle free zone around the location see section Linear landing on page 72 see section Linear landing on page 72 161 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting Back wind landing precision decreased in blue There are no approach sectors available against the direction of the wind The eBee has calculated a Lin ear landing approach direction in the direction of the wind Security action The eBee continues normal flight User action Add a new approach sector against the direction of the wind if possible abort the landing and try landing again If not be ready for the eBee to overshoot its planning Linear landing location by preparing a larger obstacle free zone around the lo cation Strong wind The wind is too strong for the eBee to navigate safely Security action if enabled The eBee flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home waypoint s Change altitude parameter by de fault set to Highest User action Land as soon as possible and wait for better flight conditions Cannot maintain altitude The eBee cannot maintain the altitude that is com manded by the flight controller This may be due to a damaged motor airframe or ailerons or a strong ver tical wind Security action The drone continues normal flight User action If the condition persis
118. ormap i Change opacity 90 180 270 360 gt E A Caution eMotion s default Improved SRTM elevation data uses a 3 arc second approx 90 m resolution digital elevation model derived from the SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission dataset version 2 1 combined with other data sources ASTER GDEM SRTM30 carto graphic data etc This data covers nearly all emerged land except the territories below 56 S latitude and the territory of the Russian Federation above 60 N latitude This data may contain inaccuracies of several meters and does not contain data on obstacles such as buildings or trees We highly recommend that you check your flight plan thoroughly in Google Earth and ensure sufficient clearance be tween the flight plan and the ground SenseFly Ltd provides no guar antee regarding the accuracy of the elevation data and it is the oper ator s sole responsibility to ensure a safe flight trajectory and altitude Activate the 3D mission planning feature by selecting the Use elevation data to set absolute waypoint altitudes parameter in the Mission Planning tab Elevation data is used to adjust every mission waypoint altitude as follows 1 The flight planner uses elevation data to find the maximal terrain elevation 1 eMotion must be connected to the internet Once downloaded elevation tiles are cached and can then be used off line 64 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee under the c
119. otion to help you plan simulate and monitor your next mapping flight Flight Parameters tab Camera tab Mission Waypoints tab Mission Planning tab Setup Phase tab Flight Monitoring tab Control Bar 0 ft ATO 1969 f AMSL 0 00 Status Panel Map Area Sidebar 89 Advanced functionalities The main eMotion interface is composed of a Map Area a Toolbar and a Sidebar The Map Area displays the current location of the eBee a Status Panel with im portant information on the drone s current status and a Control Bar used to send commands to the drone section Control Bar on page 95 The Toolbar above the Map Area includes the File menu controls for selecting the source of map data the display of picture footprints and various other controls section Toolbar The Sidebar is separated into six individual tabs that are used during different phases of planning and monitoring a flight The Sidebar tabs can be hidden at any time by clicking on the left hand edge of the Sidebar Each tab is described in detail in the following chapter The Sidebar also contains controls for the Sim ulator section Simulator on page 93 5 1 Toolbar Google Earth display Show hide footprints Custom map a all footprints e source m open street Maps v e eS eS A A 9s 4 pa P E L file Follow drone position Center on drone Center on coordinate Fullscreen You can access th
120. ou through the process of transferring images from the drone to a computer checking if the image quality suits your needs while still in the field and producing advanced 2D and 3D maps Quick start guide 1 Planning and simulating a flight Goal of this section This section introduces the eMotion software Q used to interface with the eBee It describes the steps required to plan simulate and save a simple mapping flight A more detailed description of eMotion and its advanced functions is presented in sec tion eMotion in depth guide on page 89 1 1 Installing eMotion Postflight Terra 3D and the ground mo dem drivers You can download the latest version of eMotion and Postflight Terra 3D at http my sensefly com We recommend that you download and install Google Earth to take full advan tage of the features of eMotion You can find more information at the following address www google com earth To install eMotion on Windows simply execute the provided installers for eMotion and Postflight Terra 3D and follow the on screen instructions The eMotion and Postflight Terra 3D software will be available in the Start menu Drivers for the USB ground station ground modem will automatically be installed along with eMotion In case a problem arises after connecting the ground modem to the computer for the first time you can find the drivers in one of the following directories depend ing on your version of Windows
121. pact energy with the ground using the sensors that are still functioning Table 6 on the following page describes the critical failures that may occur and what action is taken by the drone In some cases it may be possible to manually control the drone using the remote control If such a critical failure occurs that results in an Emergency landing we recommend that you keep track of the drone s see section Manual control of the eBee on page 127 163 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting last known position in the air and in eMotion if possible and follow the instructions in section Losing and locating your eBee in the field on page 167 Table 6 Critical failures eMotion text Description and Emergency action Failure loss of GPS Your eBee can no longer calculate its position mak signals ing it impossible for it to know where it is and thus to navigate Emergency action The drone turns off its motor sets a bank angle and glides in a large circle towards the ground If there is a strong wind the drone may be pushed far from its current position If satellite sig nals are re acquired the drone will abort the landing procedure and go to the Home waypoint Failure empty The battery is completely empty battery Emergency action The drone turns off its motor and glides towards the ground in the direction of the Home waypoint This error is always preceded by a Low battery In flight warning
122. pilot The left stick controls the thrust For safety reasons the left stick should remain at the lowest position at all times except during flight The right stick controls the elevator and the ailerons in the same way as a typical aircraft control stick or the joystick with a flight simulator Note that the drone uses its ailerons to fulfil the functions of both ailerons and elevator in a classical airplane When the ailerons function in the same direction they act as the eleva tor When the function in opposite motion they act as ailerons We recommend you perform a standard take off procedure in autonomous mode and only switch to Full Manual mode when the drone is in the air If you wish to take off in Full Manual mode however you must use the following steps 1 Prepare the drone for flight as described in section Preparing the eBee for flight on page 30 while keeping the remote control turned off and the left stick at its lowest position 2 Turn on the remote control You now have manual control over the main thrust motor and the servo motors A Caution The motor of the drone is now controlled by the remote control and will begin spinning if the left stick is pushed up Always keep the area around the propeller clear of obstacles and body parts to prevent injury 3 Firmly grasp the eBee horizontally with level wings using both hands one hand on the front of each wing Shake the drone back and forth 3 times longitudina
123. possible In flight warnings and Critical failures and the drone s reaction to them is described in sec tion In flight warnings on page 151 and section Critical failures on page 163 Note It is important to keep track of the location of the drone during a Critical failure until the moment it reaches the ground Its position s coordinates can aid in finding it afterwards Instructions on how to find a lost drone can be found in section Losing and locating your eBee in the field on page 167 49 Quick start guide 3 Processing image data Q Goal of this section In this section you will learn how to import im ages and flight data from your eBee and create basic mapping prod ucts directly in the field to gauge the quality of the images that you gathered 3 1 Importing images and flight data The next step to creating mapping products after completing a flight is to import the raw images and log files to a computer The eBee records flight data onboard in a special Drone Flight Log file The Drone Flight Log tracks important information throughout a flight such as sensor data location and control inputs The file is required for assigning location information geotags to the images taken by the drone The file is also required and must be sent to senseFly Ltd in case an issue occurred during the flight A similar eMotion Flight Log file is created within eMotion during a flight and serves as a backup in case the
124. r decreasing this angle will cause the drone to lose altitude with each image taken requiring it to return to the target altitude before taking another image once again decreasing both flight time and longitudinal overlap between images Default value 7 e Distance between photos Check the Use manual parameters box to manually set the distance between photos in the direction of flight This option may be used to override the automatic settings based on altitude and longitudinal overlap Default value Unchecked Distance between photos Automatic Note Depending on the altitude and the wind the desired distance between images may not always be achievable The minimum dis tance with no wind and at sea level is around 35 40 m 121 Advanced functionalities Clicking the button will provide further options e Save parameters as default in drone Saves the currently set camera pa rameters to the eBee s autopilot s memory e Restore factory parameters Returns the parameters to their default val ues and automatically send them to the drone s autopilot 122 eMotion in depth guide 5 9 Flight Parameters tab Flight parameters General information jr eosan Flight parameters Working area radius v 500m A Working area ceiling w 300mjaTO a Manual control mode Full Manual control X Security actions E Ignore RC signals Return to Home in case of strong wind 7 Return to Home
125. r and free of dirt or other small obstructions 2 Switch the drone on by connecting the battery and connect to eMotion 3 Gently blow into the front opening of the pitot tube from a distance of around 5 cm The airflow direction should match the natural flow expe rienced in flight 4 Check the air speed displayed on the vertical bar left of the artificial horizon At rest the displayed air speed should be close to zero it may drift up to about 2 m s When blowing in the pitot probe there should be an air speed indicated in the Flight Monitoring tab of eMotion that should easily reach values above 8 m s Check 5 Ground sensor The ground sensor is composed of a high speed optical sensor and a lens assem bly The lens assembly must be clean and unobstructed for the sensor to work correctly 7 4 Repairing the eBee airframe Small repairs of cracks in the airframe can be done using contact glue such as UHU POR glue Take care to use only contact glues that are specifically designed for Expanded Polypropylene EPP If you have doubts about the extent of the damage always contact your eBee reseller to verify if the damage can be easily repaired by yourself or if you need to send your drone in for repair to A Caution Never fly your eBee if it has cracks in the airframe 7 5 Proper battery care Proper care of your eBee s battery is important to prevent damage to your drone and to maximize flight time With a fully charg
126. r eBee Specifications 1 Software requirements 2 Drone specifications 135 136 136 138 139 142 142 145 146 149 151 163 166 166 167 168 169 170 171 Part Quick start guide The first part of this document introduces you to the eBee and contains the basic information you will need to plan and execute a simple mapping project A typical mapping project can be divided into three main phases 1 Planning and simulating a flight Every project begins with careful plan ning whether it is a quick flight over a small area or a multi stage flight in complex terrain Section Planning and simulating a flight on the next page describes how to use the Mission Planning feature to quickly generate a flight plan and to test it using the built in simulator 2 Executing a flight Once planning is complete it is time for the drone to perform its flight In section Executing a flight on page 29 you will learn how to prepare your drone for flight connect it to eMotion and to monitor it in flight while it gathers images Though the eBee can complete a flight fully autonomously from take off to landing you can also modify its flight plan at any point during flight 3 Processing image data The last step in a project is converting the images taken by your eBee into usable products such as precise geo referenced or thomosaics or 3D terrain models section Processing image data on page 50 leads y
127. rds this last known direction with the computer running eMo tion in the hope of regaining a connection Be sure to take the remote con trol with you as well If you have reached the last known location of your drone and have not yet found it turn on the remote control Try moving both the control sticks around If the drone is within range it may start making noise with its main motor or servo motors Try moving downwind from the last known location in case the drone was pushed by the wind while still in the air amp see section Flight Monitoring tab on page 98 167 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting 8 8 Reporting a problem with your eBee If there is a problem with your eBee whether it is a software malfunction dam aged airframe or any other problem we recommend the following actions 1 If there is an error message displayed in eMotion begin by checking section Troubleshooting on page 145 to see if there is a solution to the particular message 2 Check our Knowledge Base part of my senseFly to see if there is a solu tion to your problem 3 If you have still not found a solution contact your eBee reseller Please in clude the following information with your inquiry The serial number of your drone in the format EB XX XXX You can find this number inside the battery enclosure A short description of the problem The Drone Flight Log file of the flight that had a problem
128. re minor and simply need to be acknowledged through eMotion whereas others require more specific action from the user As long as the drone is connected to eMotion error messages will appear in the Status Panel in the Map Area as well as in the Drone Status panel of the Flight Monitoring tab Drone WARNING 5 Status Error messages are divided into four categories Pre flight errors Take off vetoes In flight warnings and Critical failures 145 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting 8 1 Pre flight errors As soon as the battery is connected to the drone it performs a series of pre flight checks to thoroughly test its on board systems The start up process is described in detail in section Preparing the eBee for flight on page 30 If an error occurs during these pre flight checks the status LED will blink red and a description of the error will appear in eMotion In most cases re connecting the battery will suffice to remove the error Table 3 presents all the Pre flight errors that may occur and possible actions to fix the error If the problem is related to the firmware in the on board autopilot try re loading the firmware using instructions in section Updating the eBee software on page 136 If an error persists after reconnecting the battery several times we recommend you report the problem by following the instructions in section Reporting a problem with your eBee on page 168 Table 3 Pre fl
129. rectangle around the area you would like to cover eMotion will generate a mission plan optimised for the ground resolution that you desire Step 5 check in Google Earth Step 1 open tab and select correct camera p ee D oomme ROC CHE BB LL B w go SE au ao PE DES repcsi e I Step 3 mission tes L al choose area params Step 4 Step 2 upload rotate a resize move i Ds a 1 nial eeh a cae Note For more complex terrain and missions eMotion has the abil O ity to set polygonal mission areas of any size and shape and to au tomatically adjust waypoint altitudes based on elevation data These powerful features are described in more detail in section Advanced polygonal mission area on page 62and section 3D mission planning using elevation data on page 63 respectively Follow these steps to automatically setup waypoints for a mapping mission 1 Select the Mission Planning tab from the Sidebar A grey zone will appear in the Map Area to designate the mission area to cover Information such as size and position is overlaid on the area A mission plan including the required waypoints is automatically calculated and displayed to preview the mission plan that will be created 24 Planning and simulating a flight 2 Adjust the location size and shape of the mission area The area can be relocated by dragging the gray zone The four square handles on the edges of the area
130. required User actions can be found in table 5 on the following page The In flight warnings marked with a can have their Security actions disabled whereas the In flight warnings marked with a can have both the warning and the Security action disabled See section Flight Parameters tab on page 123 for instructions on disabling warnings and Security actions Caution The Security action for most In flight warnings is to fly back O to the Home waypoint if Circular landing is selected or the Home waypoint if Linear landing is selected As soon as this Security action is triggered the drone will fly in the direction of the selected landing waypoint while climbing or descending to the waypoint s altitude It is thus important to ensure that there are no obstacles above the altitude of the selected landing waypoint within the entire flight area to prevent a collision resulting from this Security action 151 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting Table 5 In flight warnings eMotion text Description and Security action Failure occurred failure description This warning ensures that the user is aware that a Critical failure has occurred even if it is no longer ac tive Security action The eBee flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest User action Ensure that the failure condition is no longer present
131. rone s colour and displayed in the Map Area This polygon represents an estimate of the area that has been photographed by the drone 100 m ATO 438 m MSL__ mb 2 04 Ei toute to waypoint 2 The footprints can be shown or hidden using the button When hidden the footprints are kept in memory and new photos continue to be recorded but noth ing is displayed in the Map Area Footprints for all drones remain in the memory of eMotion even when a drone is disconnected or eMotion is shut down Clicking on the button removes all footprint polygons from the Map Area the memory of eMotion New picture footprints will be created for subsequent pictures that are taken fi Note Clearing or hiding the footprints has no influence on what is logged by eMotion and on board the drone during the flight such as the information required to geotag the images after the flight Note The footprints displayed on the map are only an approximate O estimation of the actual ground coverage of the corresponding im age Cross wind may introduce errors in the orientation of the dis played footprint compared to the actual coverage whereas inaccu rate elevation data may result inaccurate footprint size The Toolbar also contains buttons for centering the Map Area on the current po sition of the drone A button on a searchable location or coordinate es button or to continually follow the position of the drone while it is in flight GY button Fin
132. rth on page 66 25 Quick start guide Caution eMotion as well as the automatic mission planning tool are not aware of any obstacles that may exist in the area In addition when not using elevation data the mission planning tool assumes that the mission area is flat and at the same altitude than the take off location Itis also not aware of any legal restriction such as minimum or maximum altitude that may exist in your region The resulting flight plan should be carefully reviewed in order to avoid any collision with uneven terrain or tall objects such as buildings and to comply with local regulations The final step after you have prepared a flight plan is to save it to a file that you can load into the eBee when you are in the field Select the Setup Phase tab from the Sidebar click on Save flight plan to file choose a filename and location and click Save 1 5 Simulating your flight Simulating your flight gives you an idea of the position and size of images that will be taken during the flight In addition it allows you to learn to use advanced functions such as in flight waypoint editing and camera control without putting your eBee at risk When eMotion is connected to a simulated drone an extra set of buttons appear in the Sidebar fast forward re position take off location play initiate take off pause instant recharge of battery Simulator il ld b gt 9 4 um Wind W 2 0 m s 4
133. rticular the drone may have trouble following its flight path when the radius is set very low or if there is high wind We highly encourage you to test your entire flight plan using the simulator to get familiar with the drone s behaviours before going out into the field 4 2 Advanced polygonal mission area The mission area defines the area of interest where the eBee will take photos It appears as a grey rectangle when you select the Mission planning tab and to cal culate the flight plan of the drone For many cases the rectangular shaped mission 62 Understanding aerial mapping with the eBee area provides the simplest way to quickly create a flight plan It can be modified as described in section The mission phase of a flight on page 24 For more complex areas eMotion has the option of using polygonal shaped mis sions areas Begin by converting a rectangular area into a polygonal area by set ting the Mission area type to Polygonal in the Mission planning tab or by right clicking on the area and selecting Convert to polygon A polygonal mission area is set slightly differently than a rectangular mission area e The edges of the rectangle now become vertices of the polygon Left click on a vertex to drag and reposition the vertex e Left click and drag anywhere on the edge of the polygon to create a new vertex and reposition it e Right click on vertex and select Remove vertex to remove
134. set by keeping its wings level with full thrust until reaching the take off transition altitude by default 20 m At this point it will switch into waypoint navigation mode and fly towards the Start waypoint Once it reaches the Start waypoint location and altitude the drone will circle around the waypoint 1 2 times to estimate the wind and calibrate its sensors before starting the mapping mission see section Flight Parameters tab on page 123 to change this parameter 12 The eBee may also be programmed to wait at the Start waypoint for a command before starting its mapping mission See section Setup Phase tab on page 102 for more information 45 Quick start guide Control Bar Flight Monitoring Tab recsam asaza e a ep ea al a our ae w Estimated Picture Footprint f A 1 12 1 neem soenen gt hte cavea oer pharm gt Wind speed and direction 2 5 In flight monitoring and control You can monitor and control your drone while in flight through eMotion using the Map Area and the Flight Monitoring tab in the Sidebar The Map Area displays the current position of your drone updated live as the drone executes its flight A small arrow and infobox show the speed and direction of the wind as measured by the eBee The Status Panel that follows the position of the drone displays basic flight information including battery charge flight time and al
135. tab Flight Monitoring tab Control Bar 0 ft ATO Map Area Sidebar current altitude both Above the Take off Altitude marked as ATO and Above Mean Sea Level marked as AMSL battery level flight time and status The Status Panel can be hidden by clicking on the drone Moving around the map is done by clicking and dragging at any place not occupied by a sym bol such as a waypoint or the drone symbol e Control Bar The Control Bar is used to issue various commands to the eBee while it is in flight such as starting the mission phase or holding position 22 Planning and simulating a flight It is also used to display and acknowledge warnings that may occur either before or during a flight Toolbar The Toolbar contains buttons to control the layers sources or map information and other display options related to the Map Area eMotion can use many sources of mapping information Sidebar The Sidebar is split into several tabs each with a particular func tion The Flight Monitoring tab is used for monitoring the drone while in flight The Setup Phase tab controls the take off and landing portions of a flight plan referred to as the setup phase whereas the Mission Plan ning tab defines the image acquisition portion of the flight plan referred to as the mission phase The last three tabs are used for advanced way point planning and parameter setting You can hide the Sidebar by cli
136. take off procedure including the motor power up sequence and the hand launch 31 see section Take off on page 43 for a description of the take off procedure 94 eMotion in depth guide Instant rechargeof Clicking this button will instantly recharge the bat battery tery of the drone Note This is a simulated action that is not possible with the real eBee while it is in flight Wind speed and These fields are used to input a simulated wind speed direction and direction A random wind speed and direction is set when eMotion connects to a simulated drone 5 3 Control Bar Command buttons WARNING START RESUME GOTO GOTO GO HOLD ABORT MISSION MISSION START WPT HOME WPT LAND POSITION LANDING EB 01 008 L Warning indicator The Control Bar includes buttons for sending commands to the drone and for ac knowledging warnings while it is in flight Certain buttons can only be used dur ing specific flight modes The Command buttons allows the operator to directly control the drone while it is in flight The various buttons are described in table 2 on the next page 32 see section Autonomous controller and modes of flight on page 68 for more information on flight modes 95 Advanced functionalities Table 2 Control Bar Buttons Button Available Action WARNING Active For yellow In flight warnings button text warning changes to ACK WARNING an
137. te mission in the Start Waypoint panel on the Flight Setup tab set the After take off action to Wait on start waypoint Launch your drone then when it reaches the Start way point let it circle the waypoint once then click RESUME MISSION on the Control Bar Note The drone will not resume a saved mission at the point it was interrupted if any changes have been made to the mission waypoints or if the saved mission would cause the drone to leave the working area Note It is not necessary to save a flight to the autopilot in order to fly This is an advanced option meant to reduce the preparation time required when the same flight is performed many times and allow interrupted missions to resume eMotion in depth guide 5 6 Mission Planning tab The Mission Planning tab is used to automatically define a set of waypoints based ona mission area and a set of image parameters Clicking on this tab will make a grey box appear in the Map Area that represents the mission area to be mapped You can modify this area s location size and rotation using the handles around it as explained in section The mission phase of a flight on page 24 generated flight lines mission area rotate resize displace Note The quality of the output orthomosaic is usually lower on the O outer edges of the area that is photographed as there is less overlap between images The area photographed is thus always calculated to be bi
138. te when in flight 3 see section Importing images and flight data on page 50 38 see section Camera tab on page 118 for instructions on changing the payload type 100 eMotion in depth guide e Advanced Instruments This section displays the current internal temper ature of the drone the number of GPS signals detected and the estimated accuracy of the the position 101 Advanced functionalities 5 5 Setup Phase tab q ma CTags m Fight setup Take off parameters 7 Activate directional take off Take off parameters P vo Transition altitude W 20 mato a Start waypoint ae 75 m ATO Change altitude During transit Altitude v 75m Start waypoint Turn direction M Antidockwise a 30m 32 9039731 24 0083517 After take off Start mission X After mission and take off actions E Home waypoint L Home waypoint ae 75 m ATO Landing type Linear landing F Landing location altitude After mission Land x Altitude reference m ATO X Landing location altitude Wi Om ato 5 Set absolute landing altitude Landing based on elevation data Approach sectors Heading v 0 av 20 ao Add a sector sfe Setup phase reset L Reset all setup phase parameters Reset flight plan i Load fight plan from file Flight plan actions Save fight panto fle Save fight plan in drone The Setup Phase tab is used to define the setup phase of a flight plan This phase includes the definit
139. tenna and user s nearby person s body at all times 2 This transmitter must not be co located or operating in conjunction with any other antenna or transmitter Disposal of this product at the end of its life Instead in order to prevent possible harm to the environment or human health from uncontrolled waste disposal please dispose of this product separately in accordance with your local laws and regulation For more information on the separate collection systems for waste electrical and electronic equipment that are available for consumers near your home free of charge please contact your local municipal authority et At the end of this product s life please do not dispose of this product in your general household waste You can also contact senseFly Ltd or the reseller from which you purchased your drone who may provide recycling services or be part of a recycling scheme Copyrights senseFly Ltd reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions contained in this docu ment at any time without notice Please consult www sensefly com for the latest release Copyright 2015 senseFly Ltd All rights reserved REPRODUCTION USE OR DISCLOSURE OF ALL OR IN PART OF THIS MANUAL TO THIRD PARTIES WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF SENSEFLY LTD IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED Address senseFly Ltd Route de Gen ve 38 1033 Cheseaux Lausanne Switzerland Website http www sensefly com Technical support
140. ter each flight see section Im porting images and flight data on page 50 before putting the eBee back in its case for storage When disconnecting the wings be sure to pull gently in the axis of the wing struts to prevent damage to the wing struts Check the wing struts for any damage before putting them into the storage case Remove the propeller if you don t plan on using the eBee for an extended period of time 2 7 Potential in flight errors The drone can encounter two types of error messages while flying In flight warn ings and Critical failures In flight warnings typically indicate a dangerous situa tion such as a low battery or strong winds and typically result in a Security action such as a return to the Home waypoint In flight warnings appear in blue or yellow in the Flight Monitoring tab Critical failures occur only when the drone s ability to fly is severely compromised such as a loss of GPS signals or an empty battery The situation will be displayed in red in the Status section of the Flight Monitoring tab When a critical failure arises the drone will immediately perform an emergency landing see section Setup Phase tab on page 102 for information on changing the default behaviours of the drone 48 Executing a flig ht Caution We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the pos sible in flight errors to have a better understanding of what happens if they occur in the field A full list of
141. tery care on page 142 99 Advanced functionalities ey Note The ground sensor height indicates the height above the ground detected by the ground sensor The sensor can typically de tect distances below 60 m depending on available light and surface contrast current heading in degrees 1 a es o 3 AIRSPD 33 ms _ 34 current air speed E 0 0 n current altitude over take off location 7 desired altitude over desired air speed 0 0 P E take off location attitude with respect to artificial horizon e Instruments This display mimics the classical primary flight display used in manned aircraft The column on the left displays the current air speed of the eBee as well as the desired air speed in metres per second The column on the right displays the drone s current altitude over take off location as well as the desired altitude over the take off location in metres The bar at the top displays the current heading of the drone North is indicated as 0 East as 90 South as 180 and West as 270 e Identification This displays the serial number of your eBee and the num ber of the Drone Flight log for the current flight This number can be used as a reference when importing flight data after a flight e Payload information This section displays the payload currently selected and the number of photos that has been taken since take off 36 this feature is only accura
142. the remote control on Move the right stick on the remote control and check the aileron motion The ailerons must smoothly and quickly follow the stick When the stick is not moved the ailerons must stay still When travelling from one end to the other fast or slow the ailerons must smoothly follow without twitching Hold down the drone against the flat surface with one hand to prevent it from moving Gently move the left stick on the remote control to spin up the motor and propeller The motor should run smoothly without making excessive noise When done switch the remote control off In case of doubt take a short video and follow the instructions in section Report ing a problem with your eBee on page 168 for advice 5 4 see section Manual control of the eBee on page 127 for details on using the remote control 55 see section Flight Parameters tab on page 123 for more details on these settings 140 Maintenance and repair of the eBee Check 2 Inertial sensors The inertial sensors are used by the autopilot to compute the attitude i e its ori entation in space of the drone The attitude is displayed by the artificial horizon in the Flight Monitoring tab of eMotion To check the inertial sensors follow these steps 1 Switch the eBee on by connecting the battery and connect to eMotion 2 Put the drone on a flat surface typically an office floor and check that the artificial horizon is level
143. the spatial resolution of the image For example a GSD of 5 cm means that one pixel in the image represents 5 cm on the ground mosaic A single map or terrain model created from several map sections that have been placed side by side and merged together orthomosaic A single corrected image constructed either from several images taken from different angles or from several orthophotos Distortions due to different camera positions ground curvature and relief are corrected for so that the image displays accurately in the given map projection photogrammetry A technique in which measurements taken from photographs are used to reconstruct a 3D surface or a series of points in space point cloud A set of data points within a coordinate system rayCloud A feature unique to Postflight Terra 3D that combines the 3D point cloud with the original images Multi ray matching with the rayCloud extends the stereo view triangulation and increases the accuracy of 3D point estimates while providing a full understanding of 3D results triangle model An approximate representation of a surface constructed from connected triangles
144. titude both above the take off location ATO and above mean sea level AMSL This same information is reproduced in the Flight Monitoring tab along with other useful flight data 46 Executing a flight Note All waypoints image locations and flight paths displayed in ey eMotion are a reflection of the data contained within the drone au topilot If at any point the connection between eMotion and the drone is lost the drone will by default continue its planned flight including the imaging mission and the selected automatic landing fully autonomously If you would like the drone to return to the Home waypoint instead of continuing its mission when it detects a loss of connection you may set the appropriate parameter in the Flight Parameters tab as described in section Flight Parameters tab on page 123 During the Mission phase of the flight the eBee will automatically take pictures at pre defined moments based on the parameters that were defined during mission planning The estimated area captured on the ground is displayed in the form of a continuously updating polygon in the Map Area Note The eBee will not take a picture unless it is in the correct loca O tion and altitude Some reasons for not taking an image are strong head wind large off track distance or incorrect altitude A corre sponding message is displayed in the Status Panel if a picture is not taken At the top of the Map Area is the Control Bar which ca
145. ts during a flight land and wait for the wind to decrease as explained in section Weather check on page 29 If the prob lem occurs in low wind conditions perform Check 2 in section Full airframe and sensor inspection on page 139 162 Troubleshooting Pitch or Roll The orientation sensors on the eBee detected unusu instability ally high pitch or roll values even after performing stabilization This may be due to strong winds or damaged airframe Security action The drone continues normal flight while trying to stabilize the pitch as muchas possible User action If the condition persists during a flight land and wait for the wind to decrease as explained in section Weather check on page 29 If the prob lem occurs in low wind conditions perform Check 2 in section Full airframe and sensor inspection on page 139 8 4 Critical failures A critical failure is an error that occurs in flight that prevents the continuation of normal flight This is the most serious type of error that can occur with the eBee and is indicated in red in eMotion The WARNING button in the Control Bar changes to CRITICAL FAILURE becomes red and cannot be acknowledged When a critical failure occurs flight is aborted and the drone initiates an Emergency ac tion in which it is immediately directed to the ground The Emergency action for each Critical failure is designed to minimize the airspeed and thus im
146. ts that the product will be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of twelve 12 months from the date of delivery SenseFly Ltd further warrants that the product will perform substantially in accordance with its specification During the warranty period senseFly Ltd s sole liability shall be at senseFly Ltd s sole option either to repair or to replace the defective product with another product or a product with similar spec fications at no charge or to reimburse the purchase price of the product or if repair or replacement is not possible issue a credit note provided however that the defect has been confirmed by senseFly Ltd and that the defective product is returned to senseFly Ltd in accordance with the support and repair form together with all required flight logfiles Warranty does not apply without limitation in case a the products are not stored and used according to their specifications b the products are damaged due to carelessness negligence or wrong use by the user and c for defects due to normal wear and tear including but not limited to deterioration to the airframe after first flight normal degradation misuse moisture or liquids proximity or exposure to heat accidents excessive strain abuse neglect misapplication repairs or modifications made by third party other than senseFly Ltd damage due to manual operation damage due to take off or landing location with obstacles damage due to low altit
147. ude flight damage due to loss of data radio connection damage due to strong wind rain or humidity or other causes for which senseFly Ltd has no control THE FOREGOING WARRANTIES ARE IN LIEU OF ALL WARRANTIES EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED INCLUDING WITH OUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND OF ANY OTHER OBLIGATION ON THE PART OF SENSEFLY LTD Limitation of liability TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW IN NO EVENT WILL SENSEFLY LTD BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF REV ENUE LOSS OF PROFIT LOSS OF DATA OR INDIRECT SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES EVEN IF SENSEFLY LTD HAS BEEN NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND WHETHER THIS LIABILITY ARISES FROM A CLAIM BASED ON CONTRACT WARRANTY TORT OR OTHERWISE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF GROSS NEGLI GENCE AND DEATH YOU SHALL AT ALL TIMES OPERATE THE PRODUCT IN AREAS OR UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES SO AS TO GUARANTY SE CURITY AND SAFETY OF PEOPLE PROPERTY AND ANIMALS FCC and iC Compliance statement K C This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules and Industry Canada License exempt RSS standard s Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 This device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired opera tion Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could v
148. ude value is an Above Take off ATO altitude When set to m AMSL the Altitude value is a Above Mean Sea Level AMSL The altitudes of Setup phase waypoints Start and Home are always set to m ATO e Turn direction The direction with which the drone circles around the way point clockwise or counter clockwise e Radius The distance at which the drone circles around the waypoint wy Note The eBee has a limited turning radius Setting this parameter lower than 20 m may cause the drone to significantly deviate from its desired flight path e Auto next Indicates whether the drone should remain on the waypoint upon reaching it until a new command is received or automatically con tinue to the next active waypoint e Action The action if any to be performed upon reaching the waypoint Supported actions include starting and stopping Continuous photo mode Setup phase parameters Start and Home do not have associated Actions e Position coordinates The precise latitude and longitude of the centre of the waypoint Waypoints are represented in the Map Area as circles with their actual radius and an arrow to indicate their direction The flight path of the drone around and in between waypoints is drawn as a line of varying opacity the path ahead of the drone s current position is dark becoming lighter the further it is from the current position in the flight plan The path already traversed is a uniform light colour If a wayp
149. ular the pilot must still be aware of obstacles in the area the altitude of the ground the inversion of control commands when the drone is flying towards the pilot and the distance between the drone and the pilot We recommend that you only try Assisted Manual mode when in a large open space with no obstacles and low wind In this mode the left stick is used to set the desired speed of the eBee Setting the left stick between 10 and 100 sets a desired speed between 10 5 and 20 m s Setting the stick below 10 turns off the motor allowing the drone to slowly de scend in a glide The drone may even engage reverse thrust to limit its speed during descent The right stick is used to set the direction of flight of the eBee Moving the stick 131 Advanced functionalities left or right will set a left or right roll angle of up to 45 s respectively Moving the stick down will set a climb rate of up to 3 5 m s Moving the stick up will set a sink rate of up to 3 5 m s Releasing the right stick at any point will return the drone to a straight flight path at a constant altitude It is not possible to take off in Assisted Manual mode You may only switch to Assisted Manual mode after completing the standard take off procedure Caution There is no clear indication during the take off proce O dure that the eBee will change to Assisted Manual mode rather than Circle Start Waypoint mode after the take off transition altitude is reached
150. unable to slow back down to a regular air speed Ground sensor The ground sensor used to detect the proximity of malfunction the ground is malfunctioning Security action The drone continues normal flight User action Land as soon as possible and perform Check 5 in section Full airframe and sensor inspec tion on page 139 Wings detection The sensor used to detect the presence of the wings malfunction malfunctioning Security action The drone continues normal flight User action Land as soon as possible and inspect the wing struts as described in section Preparing the eBee for flight on page 30 157 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting Temperature out of working levels The temperature sensor on the drone is registering internal temperatures of less than 50 C or more than 90 C This may occur in extremely hot or cold environments or if the on board autopilot is dam aged Security action The drone flies towards the Home waypoint at an altitude defined by the Home way point s Change altitude parameter by default set to Highest User action Land as soon as possible If the out side temperature is above 35 C or below 10 C dis connect the battery and wait until the temperature changes to within these limits Above working area ceiling The drone has passed the vertical boundary of the working area defined by the working area ceiling This may occur i
151. unction autopilot User action Re connect the battery If the problem persists contact your eBee reseller Barometer There is an error with the drone s barometer malfunction User action Be sure to place the drone on a flat surface reconnect the battery and do not move the drone until pre flight checks are complete If the problem persists perform Check 3 in section Full air frame and sensor inspection on page 139 If this does not solve the problem contact your eBee re seller 147 Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting De calibrated INS or Attitude malfunction The orientation sensors were not calibrated correctly User action Be sure to place the drone on a flat surface reconnect the battery and do not move the drone until pre flight checks are complete If the problem persists perform Check 2 in section Full air frame and sensor inspection on page 139 If this does not solve the problem contact your eBee re seller Ground sensor malfunction There is an error with the drone s ground sensor User action Ensure that the ground sensor on the bottom of the drone is clear of debris and is not dam aged then re connect the battery If the problem persists perform Check 4 in section Full airframe and sensor inspection on page 139 If this does not solve the problem contact your eBee reseller Invalid flight controller gains There is an error with the firmware
152. unctionalities 104 Default values Change altitude During transit Altitude 75 m ATO Turn direction anticlockwise Radius 30 m Location 80 m West of the position calculated from satellite signals on start up After take off You can either command the drone to start the mission phase immediately after reaching the Start waypoint or to wait for a com mand from eMotion This second option is useful if you want to modify the flight plan while the drone is already in flight or if you want to resume an incomplete mission Default value Start mission After mission Use this panel to select the action you wish the drone to execute once it completes the mission phase The eBee can either automat ically go to the Home waypoint and land go to the Home or Start waypoint and wait for a command or to restart the mission phase Default value Land Home waypoint Here you set the position change altitude parameter altitude in m ATO or m AMSL if Land at a different altitude than take off is selected turn direction and radius of the Home waypoint You can set the location by clicking the 9 button and clicking on the desired location in the Map Area Default values Change altitude Keep highest Altitude 75 m ATO Turn direction anticlockwise Radius 30 m Location position calculated from GPS signals on start up Landing With this panel you can choose between a Circular landing or a Linear landing on the Home waypoint I
153. urning and try the take off procedure again Battery too low for take off The drone requires a fully charged battery for the take off procedure User action Change the battery Wings not The drone s wings are not attached correctly or the detected wing struts are damaged User action Ensure that the wings are fully inserted into the main body and that the wing struts are not damaged as described in section Preparing the eBee for flight on page 30 USB cable The eBee has detected a USB cable connected to the detected drone s autopilot User action Remove the USB cable before take off 150 Troubleshooting 8 3 In flight warnings While it is in flight the eBee can generate two types of errors warnings and failures In flight warnings occur when there is an event that requires user attention but does not compromise the drone s ability to continue flying When an In flight warning is activated the warning will appear in yellow in eMo tion and cause the WARNING button in the Control Bar to change to ACK WARN ING turn yellow and activate The drone will then perform a Security action de pending on the active In flight warning Some In flight warnings simply need to be acknowledged by clicking on the ACK WARNING button Others require ac tion by the user before the warning is cleared and the drone can return to full functionality The full list of possible In flight warnings and
154. urrent waypoint the previous waypoint and the flight line that connects the two 2 This maximum value is increased by the target altitude value and the result is set as the altitude of the current waypoint The altitude of every waypoint can always be manually adjusted in the Mission Waypoints tab By default the Change altitude parameter for the first mission waypoint is set to Keep highest For all other mission waypoints the Change al titude parameter is set to Before transit so that the drone climbs or descends to the altitude of the next waypoint and thus the next flight line before transiting and taking pictures It is important to understand that even if each flight line can have a different al titude the altitude is constant along a given flight line If the terrain altitude is uneven along a flight line the resulting imagery will have varying ground resolu tion and overlap When the mission planner computes the altitudes of flight lines it tries to ensure that the required amount of overlap is achieved possibly lead ing to a lower ground resolution in some areas During flight planning the range of ground resolution computed by the mission planner is displayed For optimal results it is best to set the orientation of the flight lines as parallel as possible to the terrain s contour lines One way to increase the resolution and accuracy of the elevation data is to fly a first mission at high altitude a
155. ut disconnecting the battery or cable from the drone or closing the Updater eBee program 6 Disconnect the USB cable and the battery It is important that both the drone and eMotion have the same software version for them to work properly together Make sure that you keep both up to date To check which version of eMotion you have installed use the About eMotion item in the Window menu The eBee firmware version can be seen in the Flight Parameters tab once connected see section Flight Parameters tab on page 123 7 2 Cleaning and storage Use a damp cloth to wipe off dirt from the eBee In order to avoid structural defor mation of the wing it is recommended to store the drone either in its transport case or on a flat surface at room temperature Caution Never bring the eBee into direct contact with water as this may damage the electronics within the drone airframe 138 Maintenance and repair of the eBee 7 3 Full airframe and sensor inspection Beyond the general airframe inspection that is performed before every flight we recommend that you perform a full airframe and sensor inspection regularly to keep your drone in good operating condition Caution The autopilot sensors and actuators within the Central Body of the eBee are specially calibrated and should only be modi fied by your eBee reseller Opening the Central Body of the eBee will void the warranty The inspection includes the following
156. uvres sasaaa aaa 5 eMotion in depth guide 5 1 Toolbar ce ee a aa ae eee eS 52 Simulator sa eke doe Ree ed wa eh ad Wee Bee 53 Control Bar Tsi aea dee a ele ok ehhh ae chee e s 5 4 Flight Monitoring tab 2 0000004 5 5 SetupPhasetab 0 cee eee eee eee 5 6 MissionPlanningtab 02002 eee 5 7 MissionWaypointstab 2 002000 5 8 Cameratab 0 eee ee en 5 9 FlightParameterstab 020000 e ee 6 Manual control of the eBee 6 1 Enablingmanualcontrol 0 2000 6 2 Pre flight testing of the remote control 57 58 58 62 63 66 68 72 77 83 85 89 90 93 95 98 102 107 116 118 123 6 3 Full Manual mode 6 4 Assisted Manual mode Maintenance Repair and Troubleshooting 7 Maintenance and repair of the eBee 7 1 7 2 7 3 7 4 7 5 Updating the eBee software Cleaning and storage oaaae Full airframe and sensor inspection Repairing the eBee airframe Proper battery care ononaria 8 Troubleshooting 8 1 8 2 8 3 8 4 8 5 8 6 8 7 8 8 IV Pre flighterrors 2 oaa Take off vetoes 2 ee eee In flight warnings 0 00 eee ee eee Criticalfailures s eo t ee ee ee ee Resetting default camera settings Improving radio signal communication Losing and locating your eBeeinthefield Reporting a problem with you
157. xes are used to disable certain Security actions e Ignore RC signals Checking this option will result in the drone ignoring any signals coming from a remote control RC transmitter on the ground Default value unchecked A Caution In certain regions it is illegal to disable the remote con trol connection between the drone and the operator on the ground Please check the laws in your region before enabling this option e Return to Home in case of strong wind Checking this box will enable the Security action related to high wind strength return to Home waypoint Un checking this box will disable the Security action however the drone will continue to estimate the wind strength and direction and the In flight warning will continue to appear Default value checked A Caution The eBee is not designed to fly in winds above 12 m s Fly ing in high wind conditions increases the chances of a crash that may damage the drone and is done at your own risk e Return to Home in case of poor GPS coverage Checking this box will enable the Security action return to Home waypoint related to poor GPS signal coverage Un checking this box will disable the Security action how ever the In flight warning will continue to appear Default value checked see section Manual control of the eBee on page 127 for more information 3 see section In flight warnings on page 151 for more information on Security actions related to speci

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