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Autopilot Beta Test

Thank you all for being patient. We are still waiting for DJI and Apple to work out the MFi program issue and we will post as soon as we know anything new.

In the meantime, I would like to take this opportunity thank all of you! The amount of people emailing us to participate in the beta is staggering. Some days I feel like we are spending more time responding to beta requests than actually developing or flight testing.

Fear not though. We are flight testing and things are looking really good. Here is a quick teaser of what is to come:

A few comments on the video:
  1. This was shot with a stock Inspire 1 in Focus Mode with the following settings:
    1. Bearing: course by 0 degrees
    2. Altitude: 100 ft
    3. Distance: 250 ft
  2. The van topped out at about 45 mph
  3. We left the video largely uncut so you can get an idea of how much usable footage there might be in a given 2 minute segment
  4. We had to disable gimbal yaw and go with aircraft yaw and gimbal in yaw follow mode. This is due to an unresolved issue in the SDK that DJI is aware of and fixing for us (you cannot set the gimbal pitch and yaw simultaneously). Expect the footage to get even better after this is corrected. Note: this video gives Phantom 3 owners a good idea of what to expect since the P3 gimbal cannot yaw.
  5. We are still working on tweaking the gimbal pitch sensitivity and will definitely be looking for feedback on the best settings. At the moment it attempts to be within 1 degree of the target, but we may make this a setting in order to relax it a bit.
  6. Yes, it is a minivan. This is a demo video, not a marketing video. Also it is easier to load the dev team (with laptops, etc) into a minivan than a Tesla. Marketing videos will come later.
So what are the beta testers that emailed you getting?
Beta testers are getting free access to our release candidates before we publish to the public App Store. The beta is focused less on bugs (we do that internally during our alpha testing) and more on feature enhancements. The hope is that testers will provide feedback that we can integrate into the app before the release. We want v2.0 to be as good as possible, and that means we need as much feedback as you are willing to provide. Videos, flight telemetry logs, etc.
 
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Here we go guys! Get read for our inspires to be #1! This program is going to be the icing on the cake for us! I'm feeling positive about this!
 
hey question. I always fly too high. Because I'm not sure what the tallest structure is. I need to do more testing in my area. But what flight deck would you think safe for filming something like that? I like how close you got.
 
Resubmitting? Is that good news or are you back to step 1? Thanks for all your efforts.
Not back to step 1 - usually these types of resubmits go fast.

From Apple: Once the accessory manufacturer confirms that your app has been added to the MFi Product Plan form, please reply to this message. When we receive your reply with this confirmation, we can proceed with the review; we do not require a new binary even though your application state in iTunes Connect state is Rejected.
 
hi Jim,

sounds good :)
a member made some effort to write up what could be done with existing hardware and software to improve what we have.
here are some more ideas and suggestions towards app developement...



Needed: LOW ALTITUDE DJI Pilot app software enhancements (including Minimum Altitude setting) - REDUCE CRASHES

SEE ATTACHED PDF in this link:
http://www.unifourpeds.com/Neede ... de_enhancements.pdf

This became more of an issue after I crashed my Inspire 1 at 30+ MPH into a very tall tree after repeated S-turns maneuvers inadvertently dropped be to a lower altitude than expected. I now face an 8 week minimum time before I receive my repaired Inspire back from DJI service. This will force the cancellation of at least 8 -12 planned photo shoot excursions.

Consider these relatively easy DJI Pilot software feature enhancements, most of which are already common on military drones and on manned commercial, military and some civilian aircraft. These needed software enhancements, which would prevent about 95% of such low altitude-related Inspire (and Phantom 3) crashes/accidents or damage to others and to property (and would help to reduce your critical repair backlog of Inspires to repair).


Please seriously consider these additions (or at least some of them). Please help us lobby for these needed software enhancements. This is particularly important in photo/video work, land surveys, and search and rescue operations, where “Map View” is utilized significantly during flight by the actual pilot, and in situation where the camera is not in FPV use or used (taken over) by the second controller (camera) operator, or is down-facing. These are high-risk situations for Inspire (or Phantom 3) survival, especially at distant operation where direct visualization is difficult or obstructed for the pilot of the aircraft or when the camera is in non-FPV flight direction, or being used by another video camera operator.

SEE ATTACHED PDF in this link: http://www.unifourpeds.com/Neede ... de_enhancements.pdf
 
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hi Jim,

sounds good :)
a member made some effort to write up what could be done with existing hardware and software to improve what we have.
here are some more ideas and suggestions towards app developement...
The app has a minimum altitude setting, and all of the computer and combined flight control modes have target altitude settings which cannot go below the configured minimum. Also, there is a setting to specify how much altitude variance to allow (between current and target) before Autopilot stops all lateral movement and adjusts to the correct altitude before continuing. The default is 15 m / 49ft.

Quick update while we wait for Apple: We did some more flight testing today with a two remote setup, and it worked flawlessly. Essentially, you can have the app fly the aircraft while a second RC operates the gimbal using the DJI Pilot app touch screen or hardware rollers.
 
sweet... just to make it clear i just thought to add the post to this one while it might have been you (Jim) did not see it... i do not know if you have before. no offence meant in any means.
i am a person who likes to help if possible.
thanks for the update :)
cheers
Martin
 
Low Altitude enhancements (including "Minimal Altitude" setting) to existing DJI Pilot app software - PREVENT CRASHES - requesting your recommendations and ideas:

For those interested in minimal altitude (and associated) enhancements to the existing DJI Pilot app software with the stock production Inspire 1, please make comments in the Inspire Pilots link below:
http://www.inspirepilots.com/threads/needed-low-altitude-dji-pilot-app-software-enhancements.3649/
We think that this collection of enhancements will prevent 90-95% of low-altitude-related crashes of the Inspire, will prevent many more near-crashes, and make low altitude flying considerably less risky, particularly with video shoots where camera is not in FPV position, in land surveys and search and rescue scenarios with camera-down position and having to fly only by "Map-View".

This refers to this document (same as the attached document):
http://www.unifourpeds.com/Needed_DJI_Inspire_low-altitude_enhancements.pdf

Or call me directly at 828-320-5152, David Millsaps, [email protected]

Consider these relatively easy DJI Pilot software feature enhancements, most of which are already common on military drones and on manned commercial, military and some civilian aircraft. These needed software enhancements, which would prevent about 95% of such low altitude-related Inspire (and Phantom 3) crashes/accidents or damage to others and to property (and would help to reduce your critical repair backlog of Inspires to repair).

Please seriously consider these additions (or at least some of them), and help us lobby for these needed software enhancements. This is particularly important in photo/video work, land surveys, and search and rescue operations, where “Map View” is utilized significantly during flight by the actual pilot, and in situation where the camera is not in FPV use or used (taken over) by the second controller (camera) operator, or is down-facing. These are high-risk situations for Inspire (or Phantom 3) survival, especially at distant operation where direct visualization is difficult or obstructed for the pilot of the aircraft or when the camera is in non-FPV flight direction, or being used by another video camera operator.
 

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I used autopilot 2.0 with my phantom 2+ This past weekend and it worked fantastic. I'm really excited to get the same options with the Inspire!
 
Not back to step 1 - usually these types of resubmits go fast.

From Apple: Once the accessory manufacturer confirms that your app has been added to the MFi Product Plan form, please reply to this message. When we receive your reply with this confirmation, we can proceed with the review; we do not require a new binary even though your application state in iTunes Connect state is Rejected.


This means you are waiting for approval again?? :(

I hope it will be ASAP. Cant wait to try ALL the functions on the inspire
 
I was getting impatient for you guys today, so I called Apple asking for an expedited review considering that we originally submitted for approval on May 26. They said they would get back to me, and I just received this:

We recognize how important it is to get your app to your beta testers and want to assure you we are working quickly to process all Beta submissions. At this time, however, we are not accepting requests for expedited reviews for beta apps.
 
I was getting impatient for you guys today, so I called Apple asking for an expedited review considering that we originally submitted for approval on May 26. They said they would get back to me, and I just received this:

We recognize how important it is to get your app to your beta testers and want to assure you we are working quickly to process all Beta submissions. At this time, however, we are not accepting requests for expedited reviews for beta apps.

Bummer
 
Its a new week, maybe the guys at Apple decides to finally approve AutoPilot... I can wait a few more day, the weather is really crappy now :D
 

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