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Waypoints

Discussion in 'ALTA 8' started by Tabb Firchau, Aug 14, 2018.

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ALTA 6 and 8 with Waypoints, Mavlink, and API - would you upgrade

  1. Hell yes this sounds awesome

    100.0%
  2. I fly manual and could care less about your waypoints

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Tabb Firchau

    Tabb Firchau Administrator
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    Doing some market research for the future :)

    If we were to develop a version 2 of our flight controller (Synapse) that allowed Mavlink, API, and Waypoints, would you be interested in sending your ALTA 8 in for an upgrade?

    The upgrade could be an option to purchase for ALTA 6 and 8 customers

    Thanks for your input!

    Tabb
     
  2. Tabb Firchau

    Tabb Firchau Administrator
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    Hey Jonas, it doesn't exist right now....just an idea we are kicking around
     
  3. Joshua papp

    Joshua papp New Member

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    Over the years my industrial customers have asked about this feature. I'm sure the aerial cinematographers would like this also when the need to repeat exact moves over multiple takes.
     
  4. Jonny Lee

    Jonny Lee New Member

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    So many operators who need to make a living with their ALTA's are having to purchase the M600 because the functions you mention above are not available yet or not turned on in the Synapse. Even within the cinema aerial space, productions are asking for "motion control" in the sky. I think most would prefer to stick with the Synapse if it had these features. You'll see an uptick in ALTA sales and maintain your ALTA fan base if you add or release these features. You'll also see a surge in operators who use smaller systems making the switch to the ALTA.I recently had a seasoned drone veteran contemplating going back to MK avionics because the ALTA not having these features and of the recent crashes on set with the A3 FC on the Gryphon frame and an Inspire that smack an actor in the face. If you add these features, some of the former ALTA owners will come back to Freefly. The above points are not my views but the general consensus in the medium to heavy lift aerial cinema industry. If you don't get more voting, the possibilities perhaps are the ones who needed to visit the forum in the early days are now well on their way operating safely, efficiently and are profitable, they have sold their ALTA's and now are using other systems with more features or greater weight capacity and pilots who could use these features may have just resigned themselves to the fact that the above features will never come to fruition. Perhaps in your next bulletin include your question and see what the response is. You'll be pleasantly surprised. Thanks again for revolutionizing the drone and film industry!!!:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
     
  5. Rick Gerard

    Rick Gerard Active Member

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    About half my drone income comes from flying a Phantom 4 Pro using Drone Deploy or an even better app called Map Pilot (Maps made easy) that has terrain following. Almost every client I have would pay extra if I could fly these kinds of surveying missions with my Alta and a really good camera. Waypoints would be a very important upgrade for me, especially if you could upgrade an Alta 6 because it's more than adequate to fly a Sony A9 or similar DSLR. The Matrice is about the only reasonable option for that kind of work and it's not anywhere as good a machine as an Alta.
     
  6. Tabb Firchau

    Tabb Firchau Administrator
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    Thanks for the feedback all!

    onward and upward ;)
     
  7. Benjamin Granet

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    I think you're on to something Tabb. I'm actually puzzled why you haven't done that a long time ago to diversify revenu sources.

    But to be quite franc, a simple waypoint option wouldn't be enough to diversify the use of the gear. You would also need to upgrade the Movi Pro and create an entire echo system to push in that direction. The Synapse is gonna have to control the gimbal and the payload to make all that efficient on film sets and in the industrial sector.

    Something like whats available on the Gremsy gimbal would be necessary.

    And an upgrade on the GPS to have RTK abilities would be a killer as obstacle avoidance, who's becoming standard.

    I especially love the fact you're considering an upgrade which means a longer life on your products. Alta are really good machines, they might just need a refresh to have a second life.
     
  8. Andrew Kommers

    Andrew Kommers New Member

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    I would send in the Alta 8 in a heart beat to get those feature. While I am mostly a manual only pilot ... There are times where automation would be extremely handy to execute the mission in a timely and professional manner.

    Please let me know if this plan goes into beta phase... I would be interested in testing it.
     
  9. Stefan Jannides

    Stefan Jannides New Member

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    Yes! There are many benefits to waypoints with stills and when I enquired about this when the Alta was first launched was told "it was not on the radar and unlikely to be as it was of little interest to film makers" so I cancelled my pre-order and continued with MK FC. Thought it was a little shortsighted so good to hear you're now considering it.
     
  10. Julian Dale

    Julian Dale New Member

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    Fantastic idea! It is the only thing we felt that the aircraft lacked.
    We typically fly manually and almost exclusivly off small boats and zodiacs in some pretty terrible remote conditions. The Alta is rock solid and by far my favourite out of our fleet of aircraft to fly and depend on in the field.

    At present we have to take a separate aircraft to accomplish our mapping missions when I would prefer to deploy with two of the same aircraft to reduce spares, batteries, logistics etc. Currently I am custom building with MK/pixhawk/Emlid autopilots to achieve our mapping requirements or trying to use a fixed-wing where it is not well suited.

    I think having a Mavlink protocol that would work with a number of mapping software solutions would be ideal. Because we work in such remote areas (Antarctica for example) the base maps and elevation data is terrible or non existent so we chose ground control software that allows for importation of custom dsm’s and base maps.

    RTK for us is not necessary. I prefer to have the payload independent of the aircraft so we can swap out roles easily. To date I have built our mapping payloads to have the RTK standalone and use PPK for corrections and a hotshoe for precise trigger points. All we really need is a PWM camera trigger output from the autopilot (customisable pwm signal points to allow for different camera shutter converters) This also allows for easy upgrades to different RTK products and cameras as the technology/specs improve.
    The RTK antenna is also seems somewhat finicky with noise and multipath so I would not necessarily want to deal with that antenna/groundplane/mast etc on the aircraft all the time when using our other payloads.

    Give us the option for 100 or so waypoints, mavlink and a pwm camera output and we would be as happy as pigs in s**t
     
  11. Ari Golan

    Ari Golan New Member

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    I have been requesting waypoints forever. Although most of our piloting is manual, there are absolutely many occasions where precise repeatability would be a huge benefit.
     
  12. Marcus CF. Tinnerholm

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    Do it NOW!!! Need it NOW! ❤️
     
  13. Kele Stanley

    Kele Stanley New Member

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    We have three A6’s and we would be 100% on board with this. In the past we have had to resort to our other rigs for waypoint missions. And as our customers are requesting repetition in our flights it would be a well welcomed addition. I think most pilots would be into this as well. Can’t wait to hear more about this.
     
  14. Lane Wooder

    Lane Wooder New Member

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    One of the things I miss about using the MK brains on the Cinestars was the ability to do waypoint automation. For trying to match or blend shots, using this functionality gave us something similar to motion control. I really enjoy flying the ALTA, and waypoints were the only thing I missed from the MK/Cinestar platform, so adding this on is a great improvement!
     
  15. Duane Bradley

    Duane Bradley Active Member

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    On the note of implementing updates..

    How about being able to send then OSD over HD?
     
  16. Neil Cain

    Neil Cain Member

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    Definitely up for this but depends how much it would cost to send the Alta from UK. Would be awesome if there was a DIY package you could post out (unlikely I know!). I have a job 2 weeks where this would really help
     
  17. Wayne Mann

    Wayne Mann Member

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    I would also like to put my 2 cents in for the HD downlink capability as long as we are thinking about upgrading the system. Since it is so popular it would be great to be able to use a Connex downlink for the FPV system with the OSD. I am already using the Connex for the FPV system with a GoPro camera, but to my knowledge there is no way to pipe the Alta's OSD through it.

    Wayne Mann
    www.helicamhighdefmedia.com
     
  18. Tom Comet

    Tom Comet Member

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    Yes, this would be very handy for my company on the film & TV, corporate and industrial side. In all arenas we utilize waypoints on our Inspire2 fleet through Autoflight Logic (Hangar) and Litchi. Film & TV likes the motion control like repeatability, we have done 35km long hyper lapse videos and then all the obvious industrial mapping and data capture stuff where we would rarely need a platform as big as the A8 but it would be nice to have the option.
     
  19. Neil Cain

    Neil Cain Member

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    Hey Tabb,

    just saw this the new Alta Pro film on Youtube:



    Will we be able to send in our Alta's for upgrade?

    Best

    Neil
     
  20. Neil Cain

    Neil Cain Member

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    Just checked the store and answered my own question! Upgrade available :) Nice one
     

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