Area Survey

A survey is a mission plan that contains at least one survey pattern; a grid flight path over an arbitrary polygonal area, flown at a particular altitude and using a specified camera or camera settings.

The survey area is a polygon or circle marked out on the map. The numbered green circular markers indicate the points where the aircraft enters and exits the pattern.

A Survey Editor item is used to set the grid angle, spacing, and other properties. In addition, it specifies appropriate camera settings for creating geotagged images.

Create a Survey Mission

A survey mission can be created under Plan view > Pattern > Survey from the Plan Tools.

This creates a template for a simple end-to-end survey mission for the aircraft. The user must simply define the survey area.

Any items that require configuration are shown with a red border in the mission item list.

If a more complex mission is needed, the basic mission can be extended by adding other items before the return item.

Steps to create a survey mission:

1. Open the Plan View and select the Pattern button and then the Survey pattern.

   
2. Check that the Mission Start item settings are correct for the planned survey. In particular that the altitude is high enough to avoid obstacles when travelling to the survey.

   
3. From the Mission Editor select the Mission tab to edit the type of Survey that is desired in addition selecting other configuration parameters.

   

Basic: Create a polygon starting from a rectangle. The filled circles (vertices) and center can be moved where needed by dragging and dropping the points on the map. New vertices can be created by selecting the markers between existing vertices and then moved.

Circular: The filled circles in the center and on the circumference can be moved on the map to change the circle's position and size.

Trace: Trace around the shape of the target region. The filled circles can be moved on the map while tracing

The center point cannot be changed nor new vertices can be created.

• Select the Done Tracing button to stop tracing and display the Polygon Tools.

• Load: Load region definition from a KML or SHP file.

1. Select the End button editor to choose the action to execute the end of the meeting.

Survey Editor (Settings)

The Survey Editor is used to configure Camera and Grid settings, and also to save and re-use Presets. The bin icon can be used to delete the whole item.

Set the camera first, before configuring the grid as the camera capabilities affects the grid settings.

Camera Tab

Camera triggering during a survey depends on a few factors, including: the capabilities and orientation of the camera, the survey altitude, required image resolution, grid density and trigger distance.

Users can select a predefined camera, which is recommended, enter the details for a custom camera, or manually enter the altitude and grid characteristics.

Use a predefined or custom camera when possible as it allows the survey grid to be automatically recalculated, trading off desired image overlap, image resolution and survey altitude.

Predefined Camera

Using a predefined/known camera allows automatic calculation and recalculation of an optimal survey grid pattern based on desired image overlap, image resolution and survey altitude.

Setting	Description
Camera Selector	Select the camera from the list.
Landscape/Portrait	Camera orientation relative to the "normal" orientation of the aircraft. This is optional and will only appear for cameras that have asymmetric sensors, and hence can be mounted in different orientations

Custom Camera

The Custom Camera option specifies the settings for a “custom” camera, allowing users to benefit from dynamic recalculation of the grid even if their camera is not predefined.

The custom settings are the same as for a predefined camera, but include additional fields for the camera definition.

Setting	Description
Camera Selector	Custom Camera
Landscape/Portrait	Camera orientation relative to the "normal" orientation of the aircraft. This is optional and will only appear for cameras that have asymmetric sensors, and hence can be mounted in different orientations
Sensor Width/Height	Camera image sensor size (mm).
Image Width/Height	Camera image resolution (pixels).
Focal length	Camera focal length (mm).

Manual Camera

Users can also choose Manual (no camera specs) as shown below. The Grid settings will then include options to set the survey altitude, trigger interval and grid spacing.

This approach is not as convenient as using camera settings, as a change to any value or the camera itself will require manual recalibration.

Setting	Description
Camera Selector	Manual (no camera specs)

Camera settings:

Setting	Description
Overlap	Overlap between each image capture. This can be configured separately for when flying along grid lines (Front Lap) or across them (Side Lap).
Altitude	Survey altitude. The Ground Res field is dynamically updated with the resolution required for entered altitude.
Ground Res	Ground resolution for each image. The Altitude field is dynamically updated with minimum value to achieve the entered resolution

For a manual camera:

If any of these settings are changed it requires manual recalculation.

Setting	Description
Altitude	Altitude to fly the whole grid.
Trigger Distance	Distance over ground between each camera shot.
Spacing	Distance between adjacent grid (flight path) lines across the survey area.

Transects Panel

The Transects section is used for grid settings that are independent of the camera. Changes in the settings are reflected in the map.

Setting	Description
Angle	The angle of the grid lines (degrees), relative to North.
Turnaround distance	Additional distance added outside the survey area for aircraft to turn around.
Rotate Entry Point	Button toggles (swaps) the survey entry and exit points.
Options	Checkbox options for: Refly at 90 degree offset: Refly the whole mission at 90° offset. Images in turnarounds: Take images when turning/outside the grid. Relative altitude: Specify that the grid is releative to home (or AMSL)

Terrain Follow Panel

Terrain Following makes the aircraft maintain a constant height relative to the ground throughout the survey. This is recommended when the terrain height varies a lot within the survey area.

By default, the aircraft will follow the survey path at a fixed altitude

Terrain following uses terrain heights queried from the AirMap servers.

Setting	Description
Aircraft follows terrain	Check to enable terrain following (and display the following options).
Tolerance	The accepted deviation in altitude from the target altitude.
Max Climb Rate	Maximum climb rate when following terrain.
Max Descent Rate	Maximum descent rate when following terrain.

Statistics Panel

The Statistics section shows the calculated survey area, photo interval, photo spacing and planned photo count and resolution.

Presets Tab

The Presets section allows surveys to re-use commonly specified camera and grid settings.

Survey presets are saved in the plan file and can only be reloaded onto the current ground station.

Do not load onto another ground station as results may be unpredictable.

Setting	Description
Presets (list)	Selection list of user-created saved presets. Can be used to select a preset to delete or apply.
Save Settings As New Preset	Saves the current settings as a named preset.
Delete Preset	Delete the currently selected preset.
Apply Preset	Apply currently selected preset to survey.

Saving Presets

To save the current set of presets:

1. Select the Save Settings As Preset option. This will display the Save Preset dialog (on the right)

1. Enter a Preset Name.

2. Select Save.

The preset is then saved and added to the P_reset_ list.

Deleting Presets

1. Select the preset in the Presets list.

2. Select Delete Preset.