Flying inside building construction with structural steel

[2nd2non]

I’m curious if anyone has been successful flying inside a new building construction with structural steel floors and beams. I’m trying to capture repeatable fly throughs as the building progresses. Obviously, the compass doesn’t like it. The Inspire2 maintains altitude well and due to little wind blowing through, lateral roll control is manageable. But the camera yam is just all over the place. I eventually just shut it down and used my handles to walk the path, but could get the exterior into interior transitions. I also tried a Mavic Pro, but it couldn’t maintain altitude nor was the lateral movement easy to keep from flying straight. This is with and without tripod mode.
Any suggestions?

 

[Bigdz]

I had a job like this the other day, I was able to fly inside-ground floor(W/P4P), but the remaining 3 floors I had to do with Zhiyun Crane and G7 lumix. I probably could've got the same or better results; if I had just held the bird like a gimbal. The end result was all that mattered, and they loved it...

 

[Bigdz]

should've mentioned; this building is just in its starting stages. I had someone push me on a drywall cart, while I recorded... I actually got more salvageable shots than i thought i would...

 

[2nd2non]

should've mentioned; this building is just in its starting stages. I had someone push me on a drywall cart, while I recorded... I actually got more salvageable shots than i thought i would...

Haha, that sounded fun. I’ve got the same setup (ie. Open air, multi floor). I hand carried the I2 and got pretty decent shots. Only issue was the camera would use a little due to the compass erring out.

 

[ProBowie]

I have flown inside large steel structures. Partly metal roof covered and partly just steel beams overhead as well. My experience is with Mavic, Inspire 2, and Phantom 4 Pro inside structures.

I have a few observations (just from my experience):

-Inside covered buildings/structures I have had no issues.

-The compass/GPS is unreliable when "near" roofs and large metal structures and can cause drifting of the AC... You must have visual positioning enabled.

-If you are flying from covered to uncovered areas, or the other way as well, you risk the AC getting odd signals from the GPS...just be ready for that.

-Flying in Tripod mode works best for control.

-Use a Phantom 4 Pro if you can, because of all the obstacle avoidance features.

Lastly,
-If you need to fly close to objects like supports, railings, etc for cinematic effect, then go full manual in atti mode, but be ready for ceiling and wall suck and have a plan! I wouldn't attempt these things without practicing, but hey that's just me.

Fly safe!

 

[NickU]

It's a completed building... but here's one example of someone flying drones in a concert hall in Germany -

Helix4motion has also done some work with the I1 in the Mercedes Museum -

(there's also a behind the scenes video too)

 

[2nd2non]

-The compass/GPS is unreliable when "near" roofs and large metal structures and can cause drifting of the AC... You must have visual positioning enabled.

-If you are flying from covered to uncovered areas, or the other way as well, you risk the AC getting odd signals from the GPS...just be ready for that.

-Flying in Tripod mode works best for control.

-Use a Phantom 4 Pro if you can, because of all the obstacle avoidance features.

Lastly,
-If you need to fly close to objects like supports, railings, etc for cinematic effect, then go full manual in atti mode, but be ready for ceiling and wall suck and have a plan! I wouldn't attempt these things without practicing, but hey that's just me.

Fly safe!

Great advice and matches my observations. I have Mavic Pro and I2. The trick is flying outside in and through with steel framed building. The mavic just couldn’t handle. The inspire worked much better except the drift with roll and A/C plus camera yaw. Just makes it almost impossible to get a straight shot.
I would try full ATTI, but the windows aren’t in and it can get breezy with the cross wind.

I am debating if I should get a P4P. I’m not so much concerned about the OA sensors as much as having more inertia than Mavic while less control parameters than inspire. If the gimbal doesn’t yaw, I think I can pull it off with tripod mode and simply adjusting AC roll/yaw.
What do you think?

 

[ProBowie]

Great advice and matches my observations. I have Mavic Pro and I2. The trick is flying outside in and through with steel framed building. The mavic just couldn’t handle. The inspire worked much better except the drift with roll and A/C plus camera yaw. Just makes it almost impossible to get a straight shot.
I would try full ATTI, but the windows aren’t in and it can get breezy with the cross wind.

I am debating if I should get a P4P. I’m not so much concerned about the OA sensors as much as having more inertia than Mavic while less control parameters than inspire. If the gimbal doesn’t yaw, I think I can pull it off with tripod mode and simply adjusting AC roll/yaw.
What do you think?

Any time I can use VPS I will because (I believe) it overrides the GPS mode... (Anyone? Anyone?) For example, if you are flying over a moving body of water, it will tend to drift with the water instead of stay stable with the GPS. Again, just my observation. I turn off VPS when over water.

You are correct about the Yaw. It is much more difficult to do the filming and flying by yourself, especially while trying to avoid obstacles. But, it can be done. If your job justifies the extra expense of the P4P, then go for it. That's what I do to get more toys, er I mean tools.

 

[NickU]

The vps doesn't override or correct the gps positioning, it supplements/corrects the barometer reading.

GPS is generally pretty inaccurate at calculating heights and instead the drones use a barometer to get their height readings. Only issue withe the barometer readings is that it in turn is not accurate when operating close to the ground. That's where the vision and ultrasonic sensors come in to play to increase the height positional accuracy when flying under 33ft.

The vision systems have issues with highly reflective surfaces, highly absorbent surfaces, and surfaces with low patterning.... water is one of the problem surfaces, and that's why it's best to turn of the vps over waiter

 

[Harryscopic]

The "Visual Positioning System" uses imaging from the bottom camera to compensate for horizontal drift as well as the ultrasonic sensors that help with the vertical drift. Mostly useful indoors where distances are short and GPS reception could be erratic. Maximum usable height is 5m (16.4 ft).

 

[Donnie Frank]

I’m curious if anyone has been successful flying inside a new building construction with structural steel floors and beams. I’m trying to capture repeatable fly throughs as the building progresses. Obviously, the compass doesn’t like it. The Inspire2 maintains altitude well and due to little wind blowing through, lateral roll control is manageable. But the camera yam is just all over the place. I eventually just shut it down and used my handles to walk the path, but could get the exterior into interior transitions. I also tried a Mavic Pro, but it couldn’t maintain altitude nor was the lateral movement easy to keep from flying straight. This is with and without tripod mode.
Any suggestions?

When you say "repeatable," that says "waypoint flying" which relies on GPS. I'm afraid automated flight is probably going to be out of the question.

 

[2nd2non]

When you say "repeatable," that says "waypoint flying" which relies on GPS. I'm afraid automated flight is probably going to be out of the question.

Yea I’ve given up on waypoint or anything requiring GPS lock. At this point I just need to be able to keep it smooth and steady

 

[Donnie Frank]

Yea I’ve given up on waypoint or anything requiring GPS lock. At this point I just need to be able to keep it smooth and steady

A great invention would be GPS transmitters that you could plant in the 4 corners of a room that our drones could use in lieu of satellite acquisition. How hard could it possibly be to invent? I may have to look into this....