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User Manual: swinglet CAM

1. E 100 30 M cw E 2 OJO 100 30 Mcw E waypoint list 310 0 100 30 Mc i 4 010 100 30 Mc i AEE 100 30 M cw i HABIB 100 30 M ew i Selected waypoint Action None LAT 46 5248533 LON 6 5647031 selected waypoint n editor Place on map Reset All waypoints Save to autopilot 3 r lobal options Refresh all Export Import g P The primary way to edit waypoints is through the waypoint editor The waypoint editor is split into three sections e the waypoint list contains all the waypoints currently stored into the swinglet autopilot e the selected waypoint editor displays the details of the waypoint that is currently selected in the list e the global options section offers options that apply to the entire list of waypoints Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 25 51 User Manual swinglet CAM ON NEXT CUR HEIGHT RADIUS DIR 2 H N A M 100 30 cw F 0MACBENENMENSEICTE 100 30 M cw E 100 30 cew E 100 30 M cw E 100 30 cow E 100 30 cow E 100 30 mM cow B JOOOC IL OOO OO ao uw BW IN P The waypoint list contains all the waypoints currently stored in the swinglet memory The list shows the following information e The column ON shows whether the waypoint is active or not e The column NEXT shows whether the Auto next parameter of the waypoint is set e The column CUR shows which waypoint the swinglet is flying towards or
2. 14 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 2 a waiting indicator rotating segment 3 the GO indication upon successful completion of the self checks or a start up error code if a problem has been detected 4 E ready for take off firmware revision waiting indicator performing self Note Digits are displayed cheek ang warang 1 for GPS signal sh sequentially on the LED x display error code Table 1 on the next page summarises the possible start up error codes Note Other error codes may be displayed after the start up procedure See table 4on page 29 and table 5 on page 30 for more information 4 6 Establishing communication Start the software e mo tion on the laptop and connect to the swinglet see section Connecting to the swinglet on page 20 for more info The status message should show Idle ready to take off and the map should display the flight plan Check the flight plan and modify as necessary see section Programming and monitoring the swinglet on page 19 4 7 Take off and flight Caution Make sure to keep the propeller area free and firmly hold the swinglet with two hands in the holding area as shown in figure below Once the swinglet shows the GO indicator it is ready for take off using the following procedure 1 Gently shake the swinglet back and forth 3 times longitudinally within approx 3 seconds Th
3. Center on robot item of the Map menu The map can be scrolled to an arbitrary location by using the Center on coordinate item of the Map menu and entering the target GPS coordinates 22 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual Table 3 Waypoint actions Label Description Landing Upon reaching the waypoint the swinglet will initiate landing as if the INITIATE LANDING button had been clicked see section Monitor ing and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit on page 27 Note that the swinglet will remain on the waypoint for landing even if the waypoint is set as Auto next Go home Upon reaching the waypoint the swinglet will navigate and stay at the home waypoint eventually landing if no further action is taken by the user Photo sequence When the swinglet navigates between two waypoints whose action is Photo sequence it will take pictures repeatedly see section Taking pictures with the swinglet CAM on page 36 Note that both way points must be marked as Photo sequence for the swinglet to take pictures Start continuous photo Upon reaching the waypoint the swinglet will engage the continu ous photo mode see section Taking pictures with the swinglet CAM on page 36 Stop continuous photo Upon reaching the waypoint the swinglet will disengage the con tinuous photo mode see section Taking pictures with the
4. Auto next Otherwise the segment is drawn as a dashed line The recent trajectory of the swinglet is displayed with a thin line and the swinglet is connected to its immediate destination waypoint with a straight thin line The large circle with a hatched border illustrates the working area boundaries beyond which a TOO FAR cautionary warning will be issued see table 6 on page 32 Finally photo locations are displayed with a solid dot and labelled with a letter 24 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual The waypoints and photo locations can be moved around by dragging them on the map see sec tion Taking pictures with the swinglet CAM on page 36 for information on photo locations This will directly send a message to the swinglet to update its onboard waypoint list If the message is not acknowledged by the swinglet for example due to a temporary loss of communication link the way point will move back to its previous position on the map to accurately reflect the current waypoint list status within the autopilot Note Clicking on a waypoint will automatically select the corresponding line in the waypoint editor see next section 5 5 Using the waypoint editor This section explains how to program waypoints and photo locations and how to activate a waypoint route 800 swinglet_cam_1 Waypoint Editor home wavpoint ON NEXT CUR HEIGHT RADIUS DIR 4 yP L u n M 10 30 cw E read only
5. DIST TO HOME battery f J ia ALTAMSL TIME IN FLIGHT information panel THRUST REMOTE CTRL CONTROL y Ill It a TI SPD __ primary flight display The battery level displays the current 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 A fully discharged battery has a voltage of about 9 V With a fully charged battery the swinglet will fly for about 30 minutes Frequent alti tude changes presence of wind use of old batteries and or frequent photo acquisition may significantly reduce the flight endurance Therefore the battery level should be monitored carefully to ensure that enough charge remains for the intended flight The battery voltage does not depend only on the charge level but also on the mo tor power and the outside temperature It is normal for the voltage to drop when the swinglet uses its motor at high power such as during take off Likewise batteries per form better at medium or high air temperature and it is normal to observe lower voltage in cold weather In this case flight time may also be slightly reduced The warning panel includes a set of cautionary warnings that light up in yellow and a set of emer gency warnings that light up in red The following table lists the possible emergency warnings along with error codes displayed by the LED display on the swinglet When an emergency situation arises
6. on page 19 8 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 3 Preparing for flight Goal of this section Good preparation is important for a successful photo flight This section reviews the steps needed to prepare the swinglet for flight The prepa ration can be done in advance and should preferably be carried out in a place with Internet access and electrical power 3 1 Charging the swinglet battery packs When delivered the battery may not be fully charged We recommend that you fully charge them before each flight main power n cables leave disconnected f pack To charge a swinglet battery pack connect it to the battery charger as illustrated above Depending on the charger type the power cable is either part of a wall adapter power supply or a simple power cable Make sure that the main power cables are left unconnected LEDs will indicate the status of the charge The charger provided with the swinglet individually balances the voltage of each of the 3 cells contained in the battery pack This ensures optimal performance and battery life Charging can last up to 3 hours depending on the charge level of the battery and the required cell balancing work For further information on the charger refer to the notes written on the charger itself power cable LiPoly battery charger The battery packs provided with the swinglet are of the following type LiPoly 13
7. Altitude above start up location in metres where the swinglet will switch from take off flight phase to regular navigation Time on home before land Time in seconds after which the swinglet will automatically land once it has reached the home waypoint Ignore RC signals Controls whether signals from the remote control are taken into account see section Using the remote control on page 47 Re ception of RC signal may be disabled if the remote control is not used and third party signals perturb the swinglet Disable wind check Controls whether the wind check is active or not If disabled STRONG WIND cautionary warnings will not be generated see section Monitoring and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit on page 27 Note that this may lead to the complete loss of the swinglet in case of strong wind Save trims Resets the internal trim values of the swinglet based on the signals currently sent by the remote control Reset pressure sensors Resets the reference value of the speed and altitude sensors to the current value Caution Save trims and Reset pressure sensors are advanced functions that should be used only if instructed by senseFly s engineers By default these functions are not visible To enable them the Enable advanced functions button must be checked when con necting to the swinglet see section Connecting to the swinglet on page 20
8. Set Display Off to 3 minutes For more information refer to the camera manual on the original Canon CD or the support section of our website 8 5 Adding custom imagery to the map window In addition to the satellite imagery and street view mode of the map window see section Under standing the map window on page 22 e mo tion has the capability to display custom imagery provided by the user This imagery must have the form of a hierarchical tile set following the web tiling standard Such tile set can be created from any georeferenced imagery using a third party software such as MapTiler The folder containing the hierarchical tile set should be placed in the e mo tion tiles subdirectory of the My Documents directory on Windows or the Documents directory on Mac OS X Note that you may have to create the tiles folder first Several tile sets can be present and they can be named arbitrarily The resulting file hierarchy would thus be the following My Documents e mo tion tiles MyCustomTileSet 18 My Documents e mo tion tiles MyCustomTileSet 17 My Documents e mo tion tiles MyCustomTileSet 16 http www maptiler org 46 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual My Documents e mo tion tiles MyOtherTileSet 18 When creating the tile set make sure that at least zoom level 18 is generated with zoom level 19 as well if possible since this is typically needed for prec
9. the swinglet will immediately perform an emergency landing For a LOSS OF FIX situation the swinglet does not have the ability to navigate The emergency land ing thus consists of gliding down to the ground around a large circle at a slow speed and with the 28 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual cautionary warnings emergency warnings LS Warning panel acknowledge button Table 4 Possible emergency warnings Label Errorcode Description LOSS OF FIX E30 The GPS position or fix is no longer available which makes it impossible for the swinglet to navigate EMPTY BAT E31 The battery is completely empty INS FAIL E32 An INS Inertial Navigation System failure is occurring which makes it impossible for the swinglet to stabilise itself motor off In an EMPTY BAT situation the swinglet switches off its motor and will perform an emer gency landing at a slow speed along the planned flight path In an INS FAIL situation the swinglet cannot stabilise itself anymore and thus cannot achieve a gliding emergency landing In this case the swinglet will fully deflect its ailevons with the motor off which will result in an uncontrolled de scent deep stall or spin This procedure is designed to limit the speed on impact with the ground the vertical speed is less than 10 metres per second and reduce the amount of lateral drift in case of wind If the emergency c
10. 1 the motor is first cut off to avoid vibrations 2 alevel position is maintained 3 the camera shutter is triggered to take a photo 36 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 4 the regular navigation resumes To enable the CONTINUOUS mode click on the CONTINUOUS button in the cockpit see section Monitoring and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit on page 27 The status of the button reflects whether the CONTINUOUS mode is enabled or not When the CONTINUOUS mode is enabled blue every waypoint acts as if it was a PHOTO SEQUENCE waypoint This means that the swinglet will repeatedly take pictures along the transition between the waypoints This is valid for every waypoint except the home waypoint During a photo sequence or when crossing a photo location the swinglet may decide not to take a photo for flight safety reasons This can happen if the swinglet has not reached the altitude set in its flight plan if it is facing strong wind if the camera is not switched on if the swinglet is too far from the planned path or if its heading is not aligned with its planned flight direction The swinglet will however always take a photo when clicking on the TAKE PHOTO button 6 2 Using the photo location editor ANA swinglet_cam_1 Photo Locations ON LATITUDE LONGITUDE 1 0 0000000 0 0000000 EE 0 0000000 0 0000000 le 0 0000000 0 0000000 E 0 0000000
11. A waypoint essentially consists of a circle about a given position Its trajectory is defined by the following parameters 1 the GPS coordinates about which to circle 2 the radius of the circle 3 the direction of the circle clockwise or counter clockwise 4 the altitude above the startup position Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 21 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Table 2 Waypoint parameters Label Description Active Indicates whether the waypoint is active or not The swinglet will never navigate to an inactive waypoint If no waypoint is active the swinglet will raise a NO ROUTE cautionary warning see table 5 on page 30 and remain on the home waypoint Auto next Indicates whether the swinglet should remain on the waypoint upon reaching it or automatically continue to the next active waypoint Action Indicates which action the swinglet should execute upon reaching the waypoint see table 3 below for a list of possible actions By default after take off the swinglet flies to the home waypoint which is automatically created at the position where the swinglet is started see section Start up on page 14 and updated when the swinglet is switched into take off mode see section Take off and flight on page 15 In addition to these parameters waypoints also contain information that defines how the swinglet should behave when reaching them They are listed in table 2 and ta
12. Caution By default the swinglet is configured with appropriate parameters Changing the parameters may affect the behaviour of the swinglet and should be done only by experienced users 34 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 5 8 Getting information about the swinglet swinglet info Maa BERS EF Information about the swinglet can be obtained in the swinglet information dialogue box which is accessible using the corresponding button in the toolbar The dialogue box displays the firmware version the serial number for both the swinglet and autopilot the total number of flights as well as the total time of flight swinglet information Firmware version 1 1 0 swinglet serial number SC 01 020 Autopilot serial number 6942 020 Total flight count 689 The flight counter is incremented every time the take off procedure is initated even if take off is subsequently aborted Total flight time 60 04 40 95 Close Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 35 51 User Manual swinglet CAM 6 Taking pictures with the swinglet CAM Goal of this section This section describes the various ways in which photo flights can be planned and executed Photo flights range from the acquisition of indi vidual images to systematic area coverage which allows the creation of georeferenced orthomosaics and DEMs see section Processing flight data on page 18 6 1 Triggering picture acqu
13. This section describes the use of e mo tion the ground station software provided with the swinglet 5 1 About e mo tion e mo tion Electronic MOnitoring staTION is the user interface of the swinglet Its main functions are to monitor and control the status of the swinglet program the flight plan and photo locations display the position of the swinglet and navigation information modify the flight plan during the flight display status and error messages See section Installing e mo tion and the radio module drivers on page 44 for information on the installation of e mo tion and the drivers for the USB ground station radio module Note For convenience we cover everything related to flight programming and monitoring in this section For information on using the camera and acquiring photos see section Taking pictures with the swinglet CAM on page 36 map controls status panel fry T LEE waypoint editor cockpit photo location editor map window The main screen of e mo tion is split into three windows Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 19 51 User Manual swinglet CAM e the map window see section Understanding the map window on page 22 e the waypoint editor see section Using the waypoint editor on page 25 e the photo location editor see section Using the photo location editor on page 37 The map window contains the following items
14. altitude over ground at start location in metres current air speed in metres per second _ desired altitude over ground attitude with respect to artificial horizon The primary flight display shows the current flight parameters of the swinglet Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 31 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Table 6 Information panel content Label Description WIND DIR The arrow shows the direction of the wind as measured by the swinglet WIND SPD Wind speed in metres per second GROUND SPD Speed of the swinglet with respect to the ground Note that the swinglet al ways attempts to regulate its flight speed with respect to the air Ground speed is provided for information only DIST TOHOME Horizontal distance between the current location and the home waypoint ALT AMSL Altitude above mean sea level Note that the swinglet always regulates its altitude with respect to the ground level at the start up location Altitude above mean sea level is provided for information only TIME IN FLIGHT Time elapsed since take off in minutes and seconds THRUST Motor power currently applied shown as a percentage of the full thrust REMOTE CTRL ON if the remote control signal is received or NO LINK otherwise Note that this reflects proper signal reception independently of whether the remote control is in automatic or manual mode CONTROL MAN when the swinglet is controlled manually i e
15. circling about e The columns HEIGHT and RADIUS show the altitude and radius parameter of the waypoint e The column DIR shows the direction of the waypoint clockwise if the checkbox is ticked counter clockwise otherwise e The colour indicator in the last column shows whether the modifications made to the way points have been successfully transmitted to the swinglet To change a waypoint s parameters the check boxes in the list can directly be clicked To modify the HEIGHT or RADIUS first double click on the parameter before modifying its value Each modification is directly sent to the swinglet Selected waypoint Action None LAT 46 5248533 LON 6 5647031 Place on map Reset In the selected waypoint editor additional parameters of the selected waypoint can be inspected and modified Changes made to the selected waypoint are sent to the swinglet immediately after selecting an item in the popup menu or upon hitting the Enter key in the text fields See table 3 on page 23 for a description of the possible waypoint actions In addition to changing the parameters of the selected waypoint the selected waypoint editor has the following functions 26 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual e By clicking the Place on map button the selected waypoint will be activated and positioned at the desired position by clicking on the map see section Un
16. during the flight can be downloaded to a computer To download the images connect the camera to a computer using the provided USB cable For more information check the camera user manual on the original Canon CD or the support section of our website You can export KML and GPX files based on the telemetry data logged during the flight by using PostFlight Suite provided by senseFly LLC KML files can be opened in Google Earth and contain a 3D rendition of the flight trajectory GPX files also contain the trajectory data and are compatible with most software capable of dealing with GPS acquired geographic data Using PostFlight Suite you can also geotag the images acquired during the flight The process of geotagging images consists of writing the GPS coordinates of the position at which the image has been taken into the image file PostFlight Suite also allows supports uploading images to senseFly LLC s online image processing service PostFlight Services which produces georeferenced orthoim ages and DEMs Alternatively several other programs and web services can use geotagged images to position images on a map or to create georeferenced mosaics http www sensefly com support postflight services 18 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 5 Programming and monitoring the swinglet Goal of this section For most flights the swinglet must be programmed and monitored us ing the ground station software
17. switched into take off mode Without further user action the swinglet will land after a predefined holding period by default 2 minutes by spiraling around the home waypoint down to the ground Alternatively the swinglet can be programmed to follow a specific waypoint route after take off and to take photos at predefined locations or in a continuous or systematic manner This can be achieved by programming the swinglet using the provided ground station software called e mo tion Elec tronic MOnitoring staTION This procedure is described in section Programming and monitoring the swinglet on page 19 Automatic flight planning to systematically cover a predefined area is de scribed in section Using the automatic flight planning on page 38 At anytime if a security issue arises such as low battery level strong wind or reaching of the working area boundary the swinglet will try to fly back to the home waypoint at a default height of 75 metres and land after the holding period unless further action is taken by the user using e mo tion Using a switch on the provided remote control the user can engage the manual mode In this mode 6 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual the swinglet is directly controlled by the remote control s sticks Note that this should be done only by experienced RC aircraft pilots Be aware that the swinglet is not a very easy to fly aircraft in manual operation because it
18. the log files reveal inappropriate use e g if the crash occurred while the swinglet was manually controlled or due to high wind Caution e mo tion can log flight data only if it is connected to the swinglet Since log files are needed for senseFly LLC to provide support and warranty it is recommended to connect to the swinglet for every flight Note After regular use of the swinglet the flight logs will accumulate and may use a signifi cant amount of disk space Old log files may be deleted to save space Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 45 51 User Manual swinglet CAM 8 4 Camera settings The configuration of the camera is critical for the acquisition of quality images In case of unwanted configuration changes the camera can be configured to a suitable state using the following proce dure 1 Restore default settings Reset All in Camera Settings menu Switch to Program mode middle position of the program selector switch Deactivate the flash left of the multipurpose controller A w N In the Shooting settings menu a Set AF Frame to Center b Set AF assist Beam to off c Set Red Eye Lamp to off in the Flash Settings sub menu d Set Review to off e Set IS Mode to off 5 In the Camera Settings menu a Set Mute to on b In the Power Saving sub menu i Set Auto Power Down to off ii
19. the presence of radio frequency interferences Required reading 1 Section Preparing for flight on the next page 2 Section Executing a photo flight on page 11 3 Section Programming and monitoring the swinglet on page 19 2 4 Scenario 3 Interactive photo flight Caution Certain actions performed through e mo tion when the swinglet is airborne may lead to unsafe or catastrophic situations For example configuring an inadequately low altitude for a waypoint may lead to a crash of the swinglet Therefore only ex pert users with a thorough understanding of the system should use the swinglet in this way It is possible to activate deactivate and modify waypoints and photo locations while the swinglet is in flight using e mo tion This allows the user to dynamically re route the swinglet to perform on demand actions In this scenario the swinglet flies autonomously but the user constantly monitors the swinglet and reprograms waypoints or photo locations as necessary Using the swinglet according to this scenario requires it to be kept within the communication range of the radio modem see section swinglet technical specifications on page 50 A loss of communi cation might lead to unsafe situations depending on the user s actions Required reading 1 Section Preparing for flight on the next page 2 Section Executing a photo flight on page 11 3 Section Programming and monitoring the swinglet
20. tion and disconnect the swinglet battery 10 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 4 Executing a photo flight Goal of this section The section describes the steps that must be performed at the launch ing site in order toinitiate a flight This section describes the procedure to operate the swinglet during flight Before initiating a flight the swinglet must be ready for flight see the previous section for instructions By default the swinglet is programmed to fly at a height of 75 metres in cirlces with a radius of 20 me tres around the take off location see section Programming and monitoring the swinglet on page 19 to change this behaviour After the holding period of 2 minutes the swinglet will perform a landing within an area with a radius of 20 metres around the take off location Important for a safe landing there should be no obstacles within 40 metres of the take off location The zero altitude reference is taken during the startup procedure as soon as the swinglet acquires its first GPS fix Caution Any obstacles such as trees or buildings within 40 metres of the take off location may result in a crash during take off or landing Take off and landing must occur only in areas with sufficient clearance N battery autopilot LED display A pitot probe servo rods propeller ailerons Top face of the swinglet CAM J airframe H winglets 4 1
21. to green Charging takes approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes Note More information concerning the camera charger can be found in the camera manual on the original Canon CD or the support section of our website 3 3 Charging the ground station laptop In most cases a laptop will be used to program and monitor the swinglet during the mission For maximum security make sure that the laptop batteries are charged before each flight 3 4 Pre plan the flight It is recommended to make a brief pre planning of the flight at a place with internet connection in order to have access to online maps 1 Switch the swinglet on by connecting the battery see section Start up on page 14 2 Make sure the ground station computer is connected to the Internet 3 Start e mo tion and connect to the swinglet see section Connecting to the swinglet on page 20 4 Move the map to the area where you plan to fly see section Understanding the map win dow on page 22 Note that if the flight area is close by and the swinglet has acquired its GPS localisation you can use the Center on robot command in the Map menu 5 Place the waypoints as required and save the list of waypoints to the swinglet using the Save to autopilot button in the Waypoint Editor see section Using the waypoint editor on page 25 Optionally you may save the list to your local hard disk by using the Export button 6 Quit e mo
22. 0 0000000 m ont Place on map Refresh all Vans 4 ESS The photo location editor allows the operator to enable and to edit the locations at which the swinglet will take a picture The list shows the following information 1 The column ON shows whether the photo location is active or not 2 The columns LATITUDE and LONGITUDE show the GPS coordinate of the photo location 3 The colour indicator in the last column shows whether the modifications made to the way points have been successfully transmitted to the swinglet In addition to the parameter display in the list the Place on map button allows the operator to place the selected photo location by clicking on a position on the map Finally the button Refresh all downloads the complete list of photo locations from the swinglet to the monitoring software in order to ensure that the data displayed corresponds to the data stored inside the swinglet Note The photo locations are not part of the swinglet s flight plan This means that the swinglet will not navigate to a photo location The waypoint route must cross each active photo locations in order to take photos at these positions Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 37 51 User Manual swinglet CAM 6 3 Using the picture footprint display Whenever the swinglet takes a picture e mo tion records the location and orientation of the swinglet and computes the approximate span o
23. 20 waypoints up to 5 photo locations 1 Endurance can vary greatly depending on external factors such as wind altitude change and temperature Range can vary greatly depending on external factors such as wind altitude change and temperature gt Range of communication can vary greatly depending on external factors such as cruise altitude presence of obstacles and radio frequency interferences 50 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 8 8 e mo tion requirements Operating system Windows XP Vista 7 Mac OS X 10 5 or later Hardware 1 GHz processor 1 GB RAM 500 MB free space Screen min resolution 1280 x 900 1024 x 768 with the compact cockpit visible outdoors Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 51 51
24. 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual flight data on page 18 for information on how to process the images acquired during a systematic coverage using PostFlight Services or other software automatic flight planning ght BERS Er To initiate the automatic flight planning click the corresponding button in the toolbar Flight Plan Setup Imaging and flight parameters Ground resolution 4 0 cm px 8 Lateral image overlap sox Starting waypoint 1 M Deactivate subsequent waypoints amp x Resulting flight characteristics i Total ground coverage 11 4 ha Height over take off location 132 5 m Estimated flight distance 3 5 km Estimated flight time 00 07 05 Distance between flight lines 80 0 m wt Number of flight lines 6 ai Ground coverage per image 160 0x120 0 m 1 9 ha p v N Number of waypoints 7 lt i d d Cancel ok gt o Follow these steps to automatically setup the waypoints 1 When the automatic flight planning button is clicked a grey zone is displayed on the map to designate the target area to cover 2 Adjust the location of the target area using the handles around it The area can be relocated by dragging the grey zone The four square handles can be used to resize the area and the round handle can be used to rotate it The black arrow indicates the direction in which the swinglet will start the coverage 3 When the target area is correctly posi
25. 50 mAh 3 cells in series While alternative chargers may be used to recharge these battery packs senseFly LLC cannot be held responsible for any consequences In particular using a charger improperly configured or designed for other types of batteries may lead the battery pack to be permanently damaged or to catch on fire Caution Ifa LiPoly battery is discharged below 3 volts per cell that is 9 volts for the swinglet battery pack the battery may be irreversibly damaged and it may become danger ous to charge Therefore make sure to disconnect the swinglet s battery before it reaches this voltage which can be monitored in the e mo tion cockpit see section Monitoring and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit on page 27 Note LiPoly batteries do not exhibit any memory effect We recommend that you always fully charge them after use even when they are only partially discharged Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 9 51 User Manual swinglet CAM 3 2 Charging the camera battery We recommend that you always fully charge the camera battery before flight in order to be sure not to miss photos due to low battery level Note that when delivered the camera battery may not be fully charged To charge the camera battery take it off the camera and insert it into its charger Plug the charger into a power outlet The charge LED will light red when charging commences Once the battery is fully charged the LED will turn
26. 8 64 Using the automatic flight planning 38 6 5 Configuring the picture acquisition 41 7 Maintenance and repair of the swinglet 43 Fil Storage aee a De eo Be ee AE ES ES See RE ed etes 43 7 2 Cleaning the swinglet 3 s vas aaa 43 7 3 Repairing the swinglet airframe 43 8 Appendix 44 8 1 Installing e mo tion and the radio module drivers 44 8 2 Updating the swinglet software 44 8 3 Accessingtheflightlog 45 8 4 Canela settings ss co id ded WKS Oe oe eee EEE ea eS ee 46 8 5 Adding custom imagery to the map window 46 8 6 Using the remote control 47 8 7 swinglet technical specifications 50 8 8 e mo tion requirements 4 5 se vds mes se pe deu se ROR ne 6 0 51 4 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 1 Package contents The swinglet package contains the following items _ one carry case with protecting foam one swinglet with built in autopilot two propellers four propeller attachment rubber bands two Lithium Polymer battery packs for swinglet one Lithium Polymer battery charger and balancer one remote control including battery pack one charger for the remote control including cables one USB ground station radio module including a U
27. Lo senserly User Manual swinglet CAM Revision 2 2 November 21 2011 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC Disclaimer SenseFly LLC reserves all rights related to this document and the information contained herein REPRODUCTION USE OR DISCLOSURE TO THIRD PARTIES WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM SENSEFLY LLC IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED SenseFly LLC makes no warranties based on the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time without notice By using senseFly LLC software and products you accept senseFly warranty and liability terms Product limited warranty SenseFly LLC warrants that the product will be free from defects in workmanship and materials for a period of twelve 12 months from the date that the item was first purchased During Warranty Period should the covered product in senseFly LLC s sole opinion malfunction due to any defect in material and or workmanship your sole remedy and senseFly LLC s sole liability shall be at senseFly LLC s option to either repair or replace the malfunctioning product with a similar product at no charge or to reimburse the purchase payment provided that the malfunctioning product is returned with proof of purchase in the form of your original copy of the sales receipt within the applicable Warranty Period The warranty shall exclude defects due to normal wear and tear including but not l
28. MSTANCES WILL SENSEFLY LLC BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT INDIRECT SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES EVEN IF SENSEFLY LLC IS NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY FAILURE OF THE AUTOPILOT ELECTRONICS OR SOFTWARE YOU SHALL NOT OPERATE THE PRODUCT IN AREAS OR UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE A FAILURE COULD CAUSE DAMAGES AND OR HARM TO OBJECTS AND OR PEOPLE ALL USE OF SENSEFLY LLC PRODUCTS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE USE CONFORM TO THE APPLICABLE LAW OF THE COUNTRY IN WHICH THE PRODUCT IS OPERATED IS UNDER YOUR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY INFORM YOURSELF BEFORE USING THE PRODUCT SOME COUNTRIES MAY HAVE LAWS THAT LIMIT THE USE OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT TO LINE OF SIGHT OPERATIONS AND OR PROHIBIT THE USE OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFT IN SPECIFIC AREAS Address and technical support senseFly LLC Route de la Br l e 4B 1024 Ecublens Switzerland Website http www sensefly com E mail support sensefly com Skype hotline sensefly com swinglet CAM User Manual Contents 1 Package contents 2 Operation scenarios 2 1 Overview SL Lee Die een nr Ut ee OR 2 2 Scenario 1 Simple demo flight without ground station 2 3 Scenario 2 Preprogrammed photo flight 24 Scenario 3 Interactive photoflight 3 Preparing for flight 3 1 Charging the swinglet battery packs 3 2 Charging the camera battery 3 3 Ch
29. SB cable O Oo ON DO KR WW N _ one still camera including memory card battery and charger _ _ optional one laptop including charger and installation CD 12 printed documentation Please verify upon delivery that your package is complete In case of a missing item contact senseFly LLC immediately Note This manual refers to the version 1 1 2 of the swinglet 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 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 5 51 User Manual swinglet CAM 2 Operation scenarios 2 1 Overview Flight prepa ration Home waypoint Pre flight checks Take off Landing Waypoint route In preparation for each flight all the batteries should be fully charged and the swinglet prepared for flight This is described in section Preparing for flight on page 9 A flight always begins with pre flight checks It is of utmost importance to cautiously perform pre flight checks to ensure flight safety Also the user must make sure that the environment is sufficiently clear from obstacles for the swinglet to be operated This procedure is described in section Executing a photo flight on page 11 After take off the swinglet will by default join and circle around the home waypoint which is auto matically set above the position where the swinglet is
30. Weather check Before each flight you should be aware of the weather conditions The swinglet is a small airplane that cannot fly in 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 Therefore the wind perceived at the surface is not a good reference to estimate the wind at 75 metres height Cloud velocity or tall tree movements can help you to estimate the wind speed once you are out in the field Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 11 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Caution The swinglet should not be launched if the wind speed exceeds 25 km h or 7 m s Note While flying if the swinglet detects that the wind is dangerously strong over 25 km h or 7 m s it will emit a warning and automatically try to return to its home waypoint at a height of 75 metres Once the home waypoint is reached it will initiate landing after 2 minutes of loitering above home location unless another action is initiated via e mo tion Note Best photo quality is obtained in low wind conditions less than 3 4 m s and on sunny or bright days 4 2 Terrain check Select a take off location that has no obstacles buildings rocks power lines trees etc within a radius of 40 metres around the take off position In case a go home procedure is triggered during flight either automatically due to a warning or manually us
31. all 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 Note Ifyou have doubts about the extent of the damage always contact senseFly LLC to verify if the damage can be easily repaired by yourself or if you need to send your swinglet for repair to senseFly LLC Caution Never fly your swinglet if it has cracks in the airframe Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 43 51 User Manual swinglet CAM 8 Appendix 8 1 Installing e mo tion and the radio module drivers Windows XP Vista 7 To install e mo tion on Windows simply execute the provided installer and follow the on screen in structions The e mo tion software will be available in the Start menu Drivers for the USB ground station radio module will automatically be installed by the installer In case a problem arises after first connecting the radio module to the computer you may need to point Windows to the driver directory for reinstallation In this case Windows should be redirected to the following directory C Program Files e mo tion driver Note The provided Windows drivers are not signed A warning may therefore be displayed during installation and should be accepted Mac OS X 10 5 10 6 To install e mo tion on Mac OS X simply execute the provided installer and follow the on screen instructions The e mo tion soft
32. anual 4 In swinglet CAM Updater click the Update button It is important that both the swinglet and e mo tion have the same software version for them to work properly together Make sure that you keep both up to date To check the e mo tion s version use the About e mo tion item in the Window menu on Windows or the About e mo tion item in the e mo tion menu on Mac OS X The swinglet firmware s version can be checked on the LED display at startup see section Start up on page 14 or in the swinglet information dialogue box once connected see section Getting information about the swinglet on page 35 Caution We are constantly working to improve the performance of our products and dedi cated to providing our customers with the newest software as soon as it becomes available Since the highest level of flight safety can only be achieved with the latest software release senseFly LLC can only offer warranty service for products that have been properly updated 8 3 Accessing the flight log As soon as the swinglet takes off and until it lands e mo tion logs flight data This data is saved in the log subdirectory of the e mo tion directory The e mo tion directory is created in My Documents on Windows or Documents on Mac OS X In order to provide support senseFly LLC may request the log files for inspection In particular the warranty may be void if
33. arging the ground station laptop 34 Pre plantheflight 4 Executing a photo flight 4 1 Weathercheck 4 ose a 34s 4 od EG AA Noe ees ee oe 42 ISIN check ecra ee ob SUS eS EN SS ERS SR BASS 43 Preparing the swinglet AA Preflightecheck esaa a a a OES w Pow ORS As SAMU s oe Boge aa a MUR ae Be eh aaa hem di 4 6 Establishing communication 4 7 Take offand flight AS Lads ss 94 8 RE Ge ORNS EWR we EEE a eS 4 9 Processing flight data 4 54 ve sud ey a bwsa oo wee we ta 5 Programming and monitoring the swinglet 5 1 About e mo tion i ins serait eee 6 rs sb istesrt 5 2 Connecting to the swinglet 5 3 General principles of operation 54 Understanding the map window 5 5 Using the waypoint editor 5 6 Monitoring and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit 5 7 Setting the swinglet s parameters oN NO OO Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC User Manual swinglet CAM 5 8 Getting information about the swinglet 35 6 Taking pictures with the swinglet CAM 36 6 1 Triggering picture acquisition 36 6 2 Using the photo location editor 37 6 3 Using the picture footprint display 3
34. ble 3 Some of the behaviours described above occur upon reaching the waypoint for exam ple the Auto next and the Action functions The waypoint is considered reached only when the swinglet circles about it at the waypoint s altitude If the swinglet reaches the waypoint s position before the waypoint s altitude it will keep circling about the waypoint until the altitude is attained irrespective of the waypoint s settings 5 4 Understanding the map window The map window provides an overview of the current position of the swinglet as well as its waypoint route The top part of the window contains buttons to adjust the zoom level of the map and to select between a street view or a satellite imagery view In addition to these two types of map background the map window has the possibility to display custom imagery provided by the user see section Adding custom imagery to the map window on page 46 for more information Moving around the map is done by clicking and dragging at any place not occupied by a symbol such as a waypoint or the swinglet symbol Zooming in and out of the map is done using the slider at the top or using the mouse wheel if your mouse has one Alternatively the map can be set to automatically follow the swinglet by selecting the Auto center item of the Map menu Selecting this item again deactivates this feature To centre the map on the swinglet once without following it use the
35. ct To ensure optimal performance and battery life recharge the remote control only when the batteries are fully discharged Leaving the remote control on until it beeps can help to completely discharge the batteries Caution Manually controlling the swinglet requires the skills of an experienced RC aircraft pi lot The manual operation of the swinglet is not recommended SenseFly LLC cannot be held responsible for the use of the swinglet and its consequences By default the swinglet flies autonomously and doesn t need the provided remote control to be switched on However by using the remote control it is possible to override the onboard autopi lot by switching to manual mode In this mode the swinglet is directly controlled using the remote controls sticks 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 swinglet is actually equipped with two ailevons that collectively function as ailerons and elevator When the ailerons function in the same direction they act as the elevator When the function in opposite motion they act as ailerons 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 top left switch controls whether the signal from the remote control should override the autopilot When the switch is pulled towards the
36. derstanding the map window on page 22 e The Reset button reverts the selected waypoint to a default state All waypoints a gt Save to autopilot Refresh all Export Import The global option section provides functions that apply to the entire list of waypoints e The Save to autopilot button instructs the swinglet to save the currently defined route Once a route is saved in the permanent memory it will become the default route the next time the swinglet is started e The Refresh all button downloads the complete waypoint route from the swinglet to the mon itoring software in order to ensure that the data displayed corresponds to the data used by the swinglet e The Export and Import buttons saves the current waypoint route in an XML file for later reuse Caution Do not use the Save to autopilot button while the swinglet is in flight as it may temporarily affect the autopilot which may compromise flight safety 5 6 Monitoring and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit The cockpit is the central place to monitor and control the swinglet when in flight It contains the following panels e the warning panel e the battery level e the action buttons e the information panel e the primary flight display Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 27 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Cockpit warning panel action buttons GROUND SPD
37. e the cockpit see section Monitoring and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit on page 27 e the toolbar which provides access to several functions and dialogue boxes e the status panel which indicates the current action being taken by the swinglet To access the main screen e mo tion must first be connected to the swinglet 5 2 Connecting to the swinglet Before connecting to the swinglet the USB radio module must be properly connected to the com puter e mo tion can then be started and will display the connection dialogue box Connection Connection profile swinglet_cam 3 Se port Connection type connection profile Serial port dev cu usbserial 00004226 En lt serial port Baud rate 11520 Stop bits Server address Port number Configuration file S hhip src fw swinglet_cam cfg Save profile Cancel To connect to the swinglet use the swinglet_cam connection profile to automatically configure the connection options The only option that must be manually set is the serial port On Mac OS X the name of the serial port corresponding to the USB ground station radio module starts with cu usbserial On Windows the COM port corresponding to the USB ground station is labelled with Digi PKG U Se rial Port Adapter or MaxStream PKG U Serial Port Adapter 20 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual On Windows
38. ediately initiate a descent along the planned route If it reaches the next waypoint before the ground it will follow a descending spiral on that waypoint until it reaches the ground Landing can be aborted using the ABORT LANDING button at any time In this case the swinglet will climb to the route altitude and follow the current waypoint route If the button is pressed while the swinglet is landing on the home waypoint it will remain on the home waypoint and climb back to its nominal altitude 75 metres See section Taking pictures with the swinglet CAM on page 36 for more information on the TAKE PHOTO and CONTINUOUS buttons Information panel WIND GROUND SPD DIST TO HOME ALTAMSL f m TIME INFLIGHT 7 THRUST __ gt REMOTECTRL CONTROL The information panel contains information about the swinglet and the wind Table 6 on the follow ing page describes the information that it displays The wind direction and speed estimated by the swinglet is valid only if the swinglet recently performed at least one complete circle around a waypoint The precision de creases if the swinglet flies along straight trajectories for extended periods of time It is therefore adviseable to let the swinglet navigate several times around a waypoint at the beginning of every flight current heading in degrees 1 ae AIR EP 33 ALT N g SPD BAG Primary flight 60 ry 7 3 Eo display a 60 b 80 60 current
39. f the photo on the ground or footprint and displays it in the map window show hide footprints clear all footprints Weezer The display of the footprints can be controlled using two buttons on the toolbar The footprints can be shown or hidden using the corresponding button When hidden the footprints are kept in memory and new photos continue to be recorded but nothing is displayed on the map Clicking on the clear all footprints button removes all the footprints recorded so far from the memory Footprints for subsequent photos will continue to be recorded Clearing or hiding the footprints has no influence on what is logged by e mo tion during the flight such as the information required to geotag the images after the flight Since the ground is assumed to be flat and to have the same altitude as the start up location the footprints displayed on the map are only an approximate estimation of the actual ground coverage of the corresponding image Cross wind may also introduce errors in the orientation of the displayed footprint compared to the actual coverage 6 4 Using the automatic flight planning Creating flight plans for systematic coverage of an area to be mapped is tedious and error prone The automatic flight planning feature of e mo tion automates this process by configuring the waypoints to cover a designated area with a given ground resolution and lateral overlap See section Processing 38 51 Copyright
40. he loss of the propeller in flight Note For storage it is best to remove the propeller from the swinglet Long duration strain on the rubber bands may accelerate the aging process To install the battery first make sure that none of the power cables of the swinglet are damaged by slightly pulling the connectors while firmly holding the cables Then connect the battery pack and insert it into the compartment as shown by the arrow in the illustration above Make sure that the battery is well attached to the swinglet by applying vertical pressure Important Only connect the battery cables to the swinglet when you are ready for start up Do not leave the battery connected for extended periods of time when the swinglet is on the ground as this may discharge the batteries below the absolute minimum of 9 volts beyond this value the battery pack will be irreparably damaged When connected and not in flight the swinglet will briefly move its ailerons up and down every minute as a reminder that it is switched on 44 Preflight check Before connecting the battery the swinglet must be checked for potential damages as follows 1 Airframe Check the foam airframe for cracks or other damage Verify that the winglets are solidly at tached to the airframe 2 Propeller Verify that the propeller is attached with two rubber bands Ensure that the rubber bands do not show cracks or other ageing signs 3 Servo rods Verify that the linkage be
41. imited to deterioration of the airframe after first flight normal degra dation misuse moisture or liquids proximity or exposure to heat accidents excessive strain abuse neglect misapplication repairs or modifications made by anyone other than senseFly LLC damage due to manual operation damage due to take off or landing location with obstacles damage due to low altitude flight damage due to lost of data radio connection damage due to strong wind rain or humidity or other causes for which senseFly LLC is not answerable Any claim related to in flight malfunction of the product will be considered by senseFly LLC only if accompanied with the related flight log There are no express or implied warranties representations or conditions other than those stated in this limited warranty The remedy set forth herein shall be the sole exclusive remedy with respect to the product Product liability UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL SENSEFLY LLC BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT INDIRECT SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES EVEN IF SENSEFLY LLC IS NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY YOU OR A THIRD PARTY WHILE OPERATING OR USING THE PRODUCT ANY LOSS OF REVENUE LOSS OF PROFIT OR LOSS OF DATA WHETHER BASED UPON ANY ALLEGED BREACH OF WARRANTY REPRESENTATION OR CONDITION CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER CONDUCT INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE INTENTIONAL OR OTHER WISE GIVING RISE TO SUCH CLAIM UNDER NO CIRCU
42. in table 7 on the following page swinglet parameters a Working area radius 500m Take off transition altitude 20m Time on HOME before landing 120s _ Ignore RC signals 1 Disable wind check This parameter is not saved Wind checks are always enabled when the swinglet is started Save trims To save trims the remote control must be switched on and the control sticks in rest position Save Reset pressure sensors The swinglet must be on the ground and protected from the wind Resetting in flight will lead to a crash Reset _ Save parameters to autopilot after landing Cancel The parameters are applied to the swinglet as soon as the OK button is clicked and will be applied immediately They are however not saved by default and will be reset to default values when the swinglet is switched off In order to save the parameters permanently to the autopilot check the Save parameters to autopilot button before acknowledging the dialogue box Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 33 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Table 7 swinglet parameters Parameter Description Working area radius Radius around the home waypoint in metres that defines the working area When the swinglet crosses its boundary a TOO FAR cautionary warning is generated see section Monitoring and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit on page 27 Take off transition altitude
43. ing e mo tion the swinglet will do it at a height of 75 metres Therefore the presence of any objects taller than 65 metres in the working area hills buildings trees etc increases the risk of crash Note In case of strong wind conditions the swinglet may drift even further than 40 metres away from the take off location when trying to land around the home waypoint There fore it may be wise to plan for even more clearance in the downwind direction 4 3 Preparing the swinglet The swinglet comes ready for flight The only preparation required before use is the installation of the propeller and of the battery pack battery pack insert the battery into the compartment power c cables swinglet s nose connect the cables propeller attachment rubber bands To install the propeller on the swinglet follow these steps 12 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 1 Insert the propeller on the motor axis Important the metal ring of the propeller should be on the motor side 2 Secure the propeller using two attachment rubber bands as illustrated above left After extensive use the rubber bands may develop cracks This is normal and is caused by to the aging of the rubber material For maximum security inspect the rubber bands regularly and discard them if they show cracks Caution Failure to use two rubber bands may result in t
44. is lightweight and very dynamic Switching from automatic mode to manual mode and back can be done at anytime during the flight if the swinglet is within range of of the re mote control Switching from manual to automatic should only be done when the swinglet is flying straight and level at relatively low speed See section Using the remote control on page 47 for more infomation Caution The swinglet is a small airplane that is not made to fly in rain or strong wind condi tions more than 25 km h or 7 m s Caution Any obstacles such as trees electrical wires or buildings within 40 metres of the take off location may result in a crash during take off or landing The swinglet must therefore be used only in areas with sufficient clearance Caution In case of a problem occurring during flight the swinglet will fly towards the home waypoint at a height of 75 metres Therefore the presence of any taller objects in the working area hills buildings etc increases the risk of crash if the safety procedure is triggered by the autopilot 2 2 Scenario 1 Simple demo flight without ground station Without any programming the swinglet will by default climb to 75 metres above ground after take off circling around the home waypoint and landing after the holding period of 2 minutes During the flight the swinglet will automatically take photos at regular intervals if no computer is connected to it Required reading 1 Parts of sec
45. is will switch the motor to full power Note Once this is done do not hurry to launch it into the air If case you want to return to idle mode just repeat the back and forth three times movement and the motor will stop 2 Orient the swinglet against the wind with approximately 30 degrees nose up and level wings Make sure that the take off direction is free of obstacles see Section Terrain check on page 12 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 15 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Table 1 List of start up error codes Label Error code Action Memory write error E01 Disconnect and reconnect the battery Contact senseFly Memory read error E02 LLC if this error occurs repeatedly Memory data error E03 Battery low E04 Recharge the battery or use another battery Make sure the swinglet is placed horizontally on the Attitude sensing E05 ground with the top facing up disconnect and recon error nect the battery If this error occurs repeatedly contact senseFly LLC Verify that the pitot probe and the rubber tubes are well Airspeed error E06 ya PARIS ana Ds in place Disconnect and reconnect the battery and make sure that the swinglet is not exposed to significant Barometer error E07 wind until start up is completed Navigation error E08 Contact senseFly LLC if this error occurs repeatedly Unknown error E99 3 Release the swinglet by gently accompanying it with the two hands sy
46. ise flight planning with the swinglet In MapTiler the Google Maps compatible option should be selected to generate a tile set compatible with e mo tion If you use PostFlight Services see section Processing flight data on page 18 a tile set will be generated for each project This tile set can be viewed in Google Earth and is di rectly compatible with e mo tion You can therefore create your own map background using the swinglet CAM 8 6 Using the remote control Caution The remote control is preconfigured for use with the swinglet Changing the remote control s configuration may compromise its functionality with the swinglet When switched on the remote control provided with the swinglet displays the battery voltage A voltage of 9 5V or below indicates a low battery charge remote control oO remote O charger control O To recharge the remote control 6 follow these steps 1 Switch the remote control 6 off 2 Connect the remote control to its charger 7 according to the illustration above During charge a red LED will be on Once the charge is completed the LED will switch to green Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 47 51 User Manual swinglet CAM autopilot switch manual auto elevator NI ae ef ste remote control O The remote control is equipped with Ni MH batteries that are subject to the memory effe
47. isition The swinglet automatically switches the camera on or off depending on the flight phase Under nor mal flight conditions the camera is switched on after take off when the swinglet reaches 45 metres or more above the start up location The camera is then switched off in case any of the following events occur e take off is requested by shaking the swinglet three times e the swinglet descends to 35 metres or less above the start up location see section Config uring the picture acquisition on page 41 to change this parameter e the swinglet automatically or manually initiates a landing The status of the TAKE PHOTO button in the cockpit reflects the status of the camera The button is enabled blue when the camera is on and disabled grey otherwise The swinglet CAM offers four possibilities for taking pictures e manual clicking on the TAKE PHOTO button in the cockpit e define specific photo locations along the flight path see section Using the photo location editor on the next page e photo acquisition between two PHOTO SEQUENCE waypoints in this case each of them should be defined as Photo sequence see table 3 on page 23 e enabling the CONTINUOUS mode to trigger continuous photo acquisition along every transi tion between waypoints When taking a picture the swinglet always proceeds according to the following sequence of actions independently of how the picture was triggered
48. lot after landing Cancel EX Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 41 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Table 9 Camera parameters Parameter Description Pitch angle Pitch angle in degrees used during the photo capture pro cess small positive angle about 10 degrees limits the loss of altitude while the motor is off see section Trigger ing picture acquisition on page 36 Automatic timing mode This parameter selects the method that swinglet uses to trigger pictures Triggering can be setup such as to achieve either a fixed longitudinal overlap or a fixed time interval When fixed longitudinal overlap is selected the swinglet automatically adjust the delay between two subsequent photos in order to obtain a given longitudinal overlap Longitudinal image overlap The longitudinal overlap percentage used when the timing mode is set to fixed longitudinal image overlap Time interval The time interval used when the timing mode is set to fixed time interval Minimum altitude for cameraON The altitude below which the camera is switched of by the swinglet The parameters are applied to the swinglet as soon as the OK button is clicked and will be in use immediately They are however not saved by default and will be reset to default values when the swinglet is switched off In order to save the parameters permanently to the autopilot check the Save parameters to autopilot butto
49. mmetrically placed on either side in a purely forward motion as illustrated below Note If the wind is calm it is best to increase the initial launch speed This can be achieved by walking 1 2 steps forward before releasing it It is unsafe to take off if the battery voltage is below 11 volts In this case the swinglet will not start its motor and will display a LOW BAT error If this happens the battery should be changed before com mencing the start up procedure If any other warning has happened before take off such as LOSS OF FIX and has not been acknowledged using e mo tion the the motor will not start See section Monitoring and controlling the swinglet status using the cockpit on page 27 for more information 16 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual shake 3 times back and forth AM ro holding p zone propeller danger zone 30 nose up Caution always orient the swinglet against the wind for take off The home waypoint position is updated to the take off location each time the swinglet is switched into take off mode However the zero altitude reference is defined at startup when the GPS fix occurs and will remain the same until the swinglet is switched off See section Setting the swinglet s parameters on page 33 for information about resetting the zero altitude reference Caution The procedure to initiate take off by shaking the swinglet forces the autopil
50. n centimetres per pixel This parameter is directly linked to the flight altitude a higher resolution few centimetres per pixel requires a lower flight altitude while a lower resolution many centimetres per pixel requires a higher flight altitude Note that this parameter is dependent upon the type of camera installed on the swinglet This is automatically taken into account by e mo tion based on the factory programmed camera information Lateral image overlap The percentage of overlap between the ground coverage of pictures from adjacent flight lines For most mapping purposes a minimum of 50 is usually required Higher coverage values may increase the mapping quality but will increase the flight duration Starting waypoint The number of the first waypoint used to implement the flight plan By default waypoint 1 is used to leave the waypoint 0 as a convenient holding point for the begin ning and the end of the mission When planing for a sec ond area to be covered in the same flight the After previ ous button sets the starting waypoint after the waypoints used for the previous area Deactivate subsequent waypoints If this option is enabled any active waypoint after those used for the flight plan will be deactivated 40 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual The longitudinal overlap is configured and achieved independently from the automatic flight planning See sec
51. n before acknowledging the dialogue box To compute the delay between photos when the timing mode is set to fixed longitu dinal overlap the swinglet assumes that the ground is flat and has the same altitude as the start up location If the ground is not flat the actual overlap may vary Also a minimum delay of about 4 seconds is required so the desired overlap may not always be achieved especially at low altitude typically below about 100 metres Caution Setting the minimum altitude for camera ON to values below 35 metres may lead to the swinglet reaching the ground with the camera switched on and its optics de ployed This may damage the camera 42 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual 7 Maintenance and repair of the swinglet Please contact senseFly LLC if you have questions for maintenance or repair of your swinglet Our customer service can help you if you need support 7 1 Storage In order to avoid structural deformation of the wing it is recommended to store the swinglet either in its transport case or on a flat surface at room temperature Avoid exposing the swinglet to high temperature for prolonged periods of time In particular leaving the swinglet exposed to the sun in a car should be avoided 7 2 Cleaning the swinglet Use a damp cloth to wipe off dirt from the swinglet Caution Never bring the swinglet into direct contact with water 7 3 Repairing the swinglet airframe Sm
52. ondition disappears e g the GPS fix is reacquired in the case of a LOSS OF FIX situation the swinglet will abort the emergency landing and will navigate back to the home waypoint at the altitude of 75 metres A red frame will be visible around the emergency warning displays to indicate that an emergency warning has occurred To clear it and allow the swinglet to navigate back to its route the acknowledge button must be clicked In case of a security issue the corresponding cautionary warning lights up in yellow If the severity of the issue warrants it the swinglet will abort its current navigation plan and fly towards the home waypoint Once the home waypoint is reached and without further action from the user the swinglet will land after the holding period of 2 minutes To resume normal navigation the acknowledge but ton must first be pressed to clear the cautionary warning Table 5 on the following page lists the possible cautionary warnings along with error codes displayed by the swinglet LED display Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 29 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Table 5 Possible cautionary warnings Label Error code Description TOO FAR E21 The swinglet has passed the boundary of the working area which is set by default to 500 metres from the home waypoint See section Setting the swinglet s parameters on page 33 for information on changing this parameter NO ROUTE E22 No waypoint is acti
53. ot to enter into flight mode If the remote control is used for a manual take off without following the take off procedure the swinglet will not enter into flight mode and will crash when switched to autonomous mode or if the RC link is lost After take off the swinglet maintains its initial direction with full thrust until reaching a height of 30 metres see section Setting the swinglet s parameters on page 33 to change this parameter At this point it will switch into waypoint navigation mode See section Programming and monitoring the swinglet on page 19 for further information about programming a flight plan including photo sequences or photo locations Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 17 51 User Manual swinglet CAM The swinglet automatically calibrates its air speed sensor in flight to compensate for any drift due to temperature variations To ensure an optimum performance of this calibration the swinglet should execute at least two complete orbits on a waypoint at the beginning of every flight 4 8 Landing When landing is initiated manually or automatically after 2 minutes of loitering around the home waypoint the swinglet will switch off its motor and glide down to the ground by circling around the home waypoint After touch down the swinglet will automatically switch back to idle mode after a few seconds of inactivity 4 9 Processing flight data Once the swinglet has landed the images taken
54. rts spinning 3 Wait for the aileron motion and for the GO indication on the autopilot LED display while the swinglet performs self checks and acquires GPS signal This may last from a few seconds to several minutes in the case of poor GPS signal reception Note The zero altitude reference is recorded when the GPS fix occurs the first time after startup 4 Make sure the camera is properly connected To verify this connection you can shake the swinglet three time up and down in approx 3 seconds while holding it horizontally The camera should then turn on and the optics should extend below the swinglet Repeat the same movement to switch off the camera Caution Always make sure that the optics is retracted camera switched off before putting down the swinglet Otherwise the optics will come into direct contact with the surface potentially causing irreversible damage 5 Ifyou plan to use the remote control switch it to Manual Move the aileron stick on the remote control to verify proper reception by the swinglet and correct servo direction Caution Always check that the thrust lever is in the low position to prevent the propeller from spinning Note Ifthe remote control is switched on and in manual mode the ailerons will not move when the self checks are completed and the GPS fix is acquired Once the battery is connected to the swinglet the LED display will show the following information 1 the firmware revision
55. swinglet CAM on page 36 The map data street or satellite view is downloaded by e mo tion from the Internet as required and locally cached on the hard drive If you anticipate the use of e mo tion in conditions where connecting to Internet is impossible you can preload the map data by scrolling and zooming into the target region beforehand when you are connected to the Internet Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 23 51 User Manual swinglet CAM ADO Map i amp E FF zoom Q Street Satellite y En route to home waypoint will land in 2 00 WIND GROUND SPD DIST TO HOME ALTAMSL TIME INFLIGHT THRUST REMOTE CTRL 12 6 V CONTROL IDD a 15 21 AIR ALT swinglet s current position Le swinglet s altitude over ground kA recent trajectory 7 planned trajectory P lt waypoint Z non auto next segment home waypoint gt A Af auto next segment photo location waypoint s direction waypoint s action waypoint s altitude over ground LA Yo Z LS working area The illustration above describes the various symbols displayed on the map and their meaning Way points are represented as circles with their actual radius as well as their index number or H for the home waypoint and their altitude above start up position Segments connecting waypoints are drawn with a solid line if the originating waypoint is set as
56. the operating system will configure the drivers the first time the USB ground station radio module is connected It may be necessary to disconnect and reconnect the radio module for it to function properly after this initial configuration After acknowledging the connection option by clicking the OK button e mo tion will connect to the swinglet and display its status On occasion it may happen that the connection fails In this case NO CONNECTION AVAILABLE will be indicated in red in the status panel in the map window This can be due to an interference that occurred during the connection process If this happens quit and relaunch e mo tion disconnect and reconnect the swinglet s battery and restart the connection process Contact senseFly LLC in case of repeated connection problems 5 3 General principles of operation The swinglet uses waypoints to navigate It will either circle around them or navigate on a straight line when switching from one active waypoint to the next The entire list of waypoints is stored in the swinglet autopilot and can be remotely edited using e mo tion All modifications made to the waypoint list will be lost when the swinglet is switched off unless the list is explicitly saved into the autopilot using the corresponding button in the waypoint editor see Section Using the waypoint editor on page 25 altitude above start up position l l position GPS coordinates
57. the remote control sig nal is received and the autopilot switch is set to manual or AUTO when the swinglet operates autonomously The column on the left displays the current air speed of the swinglet as well as the desired air speed Both values are in metres per second The column on the right displays the swinglet s current altitude over take off position as well as the desired altitude over take the startup position Both values are in metres The desired altitude over ground depends on the configuration of the current waypoint see section Using the waypoint edi tor on page 25 The bar at the top displays the current heading of the swinglet in degrees North is indicated as 0 degrees East as 90 degrees South as 180 degrees and West as 270 degrees 32 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual Note Starting in version 1 1 2 a compact cockpit is available to accommodate small screens This layout is accessible by choosing the swinglet cam compact connection profile Although the layout is somewhat different than the default layout described in this sec tion it displays the same information 5 7 Setting the swinglet s parameters swinglet settings 1 Weeezger The parameters of the swinglet can be modified in the swinglet parameters dialogue box which is accessible using the corresponding button in the toolbar The parameters that can be modified are listed
58. tion Configuring the picture acquisition for more information For its overlap calculation the automatic flight planning assumes that the ground is flat and has the same altitude as the start up location Actual lateral overlap and or ground resolution may vary if the terrain is not flat Caution When clicking OK in the Flight Plan Setup dialogue box the waypoints required for the flight plan will be directly modified in the swinglet If the swinglet is flying towards or around one of these waypoints its navigation will be affected Caution Theautomatic flight planning is not aware of any obstacle that may exist in the area The resulting flight plan should be carefully reviewed in order to avoid any collision with uneven terrain or tall objects such as buildings 6 5 Configuring the picture acquisition camera parameters para Beeezgecr The parameters for the picture acquisition can be edited in the Camera parameters dialogue box which is accessible using the corresponding button in the toolbar Table 9 on the next page describes the parameters that can be modified Camera parameters Pitch angle Automatic timing mode Fixed longitudinal image overlap O Fixed time interval Longitudinal image overlap 70 B Time interval 4 s Minimum altitude for camera ON 0m 8 Setting this parameter to a value of less than 35 m may lead to damage to the camera at landing _ Save parameters to autopi
59. tion Preparing for flight on page 9 2 Parts of section Executing a photo flight on page 11 2 3 Scenario 2 Preprogrammed photo flight For photo flights a waypoint route including photo locations or photo sequences must be program med into the swinglet autopilot In this scenario the waypoint route is carefully prepared using the e mo tion software and saved into the memory of the autopilot Before take off or after take off when the swinglet is on the home waypoint the swinglet can be instructed to start following the route It will take photos at the programmed locations If the route includes a landing waypoint the swinglet will execute it Otherwise it will follow the route until the battery is low and then will try fly back to the home waypoint for landing Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 7 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Caution Itis the sole responsibility of the operator to ensure that the battery level is sufficient for the swinglet to be able to fly back to the home waypoint As a rule of thumb a mostly level flight with a fully charged battery should not exceed 25 minutes at an average ground speed of 7 to 10 m s High winds or frequent altitude changes will decrease the endurance of the swinglet In this scenario the swinglet can be monitored using e mo tion but will continue to perform its flight even in case of temporary loss of communication e g caused by flying beyond specified range or
60. tioned click on the Create Flight Plan button at the bottom of the map window This will display the Flight Plan Setup dialogue box 4 In the Flight Plan Setup dialogue box enter the desired parameters and click OK The flight plan will be calculated and the waypoints configured accordingly 5 Launch the swinglet and direct it towards the first waypoint of the flight plan Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 39 51 User Manual swinglet CAM Table 8 lists the parameters that can be modified in the Flight Plan Setup dialogue box When ever the chosen parameters result in a flight plan that cannot be achieved by the swinglet because it would exceed its endurance for example a warning icon is displayed next to the problematic pa rameter It is good practice to use an initial waypoint close to the take off location in order to let the swinglet circle a few times at the beginning of the flight The waypoint 0 is typically used for this For this reason the default starting waypoint index is 1 in the Flight Plan Setup dialogue box An added advantage of this practice is that the swinglet will automatically fly back to waypoint 0 after the flight plan is executed and stay there until landing is requested assuming auto next is not enabled for this waypoint Table 8 Auto flight planning parameters Parameter Description Ground resolution The target ground resolution to be achieved expressed i
61. tween the servos and the control surfaces are not damaged and firmly attached at both ends 4 Pitot probe Verify that the pitot probe is properly attached to the airframe and the two rubber tubes are well in place 5 Camera Make sure that the memory card and a fully charged battery are in the camera before inserting it into the swinglet and securing it with the attachment strap Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 13 51 User Manual swinglet CAM 6 Battery Verify that a fully charged swinglet battery is in place see previous section Caution Note that swinglet CAM has not been designed to fly without the camera Attempt ing to fly without the camera may render the swinglet unstable which may eventu ally lead to a crash Note For best image quality make sure that the camera is configured according to Section Camera settings on page 46 4 5 Start up Once the airframe is checked the swinglet can be switched on using the following procedure 1 Lay the swinglet horizontally on the ground in the vicinity of the take off position with the top face up It is important that the swinglet is not inclined more than 10 degrees in order to start up properly 2 Connect the battery to the swinglet Caution Make sure that the colours of the cables match and insert the connectors firmly to the end in order to avoid undesired disconnection when in flight Take care to keep the propeller area clear in case it suddenly sta
62. user the swinglet will function fully autonomously When the switch is pushed away from the user the remote control will completely override the autopilot Manual control of the swinglet can be achieved at any time if the swinglet is within range of the remote see section swinglet technical specifications on page 50 The remote control has been preprogrammed to match the swinglet airframe and autopilot If for any reason the preset settings should be lost contact senseFly For more information on using the remote control refer to the original user manual reproduced below 48 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual Note As the remote control may reduce the range of the USB radio module we recommend that the remote control is switched off when not in use Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC 49 51 User Manual swinglet CAM 8 7 swinglet technical specifications Size Weight Battery Endurance Range Propulsion Flight speed Communication link Navigation Photos Wingspan 80 cm Wing area 0 22 m2 500g 3 cell Lithium Polymer Capacity 1350 mAh Approx 30 minutes Up to 20 km Electric brushless motor Nominal static thrust 0 45 kgf 4 4 N Nominal cruise speed 10 m s Remote control e 35 MHz range approx 1 km s n up to SC 03 xxx e 2 4 GHz range approx 1 km s n SC 04 xxx and higher Data 2 4 GHz range approx 1 5 km up to
63. ve CAMERA E27 An error has occurred with the camera indicating that the camera may be out of battery or improperly connected to the swinglet STRONG WING E24 The wind is too strong for the swinglet to navigate safely INT ERROR E26 An internal error occurred If this error arrises repeatedly con tact senseFly LLC LOW BAT E23 The battery level is too low to pursue safe navigation This er ror may also happen during take off procedure if the battery is not fully charged WARNING E25 An emergency situation see Table 4 on the preceding page is occurring or has occurred in the past Action buttons The action buttons allows the operator to directly control the swinglet while it is in flight The GO TO HOME WAYPOINT button instructs the swinglet to join the home waypoint immediately The GO TO NEXT WAYPOINT button instructs the swinglet to fly towards the next active waypoint If the swinglet is currently on the home waypoint or the last active waypoint it will join the first active waypoint The INITIATE LANDING button instructs the swinglet to initiate the landing phase If the swinglet is flying around a waypoint it will remain on that same waypoint and follow a descending spiral in 30 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User Manual gliding mode with motor off until it reaches the ground or the ABORT LANDING button is clicked If the swinglet is flying between waypoints it will imm
64. ware will be available in the Applications folder and the drivers for USB ground station radio module will be automatically installed 8 2 Updating the swinglet software Occasionally senseFly LLC releases a software upgrade for the swinglet CAM to provide additional features to our users or to correct potential issues This section describes the procedure to upgrade the swinglet s firmware and the e mo tion ground station software To proceed you will need a up date bundle from senseFly s support web page or provided by senseFly on a CD You will also require the PICkit 2 USB programmer included in the swinglet transport case to transfer the firmware data from a computer to the swinglet To upgrade e mo tion to the latest version follow the standard install procedure see section In stalling e mo tion and the radio module drivers It is not necessary to uninstall previous version of e mo tion before installing the new one To upgrade the firmware of the swinglet perform the following steps 1 Disconnect the battery of the swinglet and remove the camera from its compartment 2 Connect the PICkit 2 USB programmer to the connector in the camera compartment and to a USB port on your computer 3 Launch the provided swinglet CAM Updater software located in the upgrade bundle on Mac OS X or in the Start menu after installing e mo tion on Windows 44 51 Copyright 2010 2011 senseFly LLC swinglet CAM User M

User Manual: swinglet CAM

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