The new updates not only optimize flight time, but also make planning missions easier.
2019.04 release
From mission planning to mission execution and monitoring, the mdCockpit App includes all the needed features to execute a successful mission, and is flexible enough to adjust for last minute changes. The mdCockpit App is unique to Microdrones and makes UAV mission planning as easy as possible. The new features added in version 2019.04 will not only help the user optimize UAV flight time, but will also further simplfy the mission planning process. The development team at Microdrones is always looking for new ways to make the app as easy to use as possible.
CURVED FLIGHT
The feature will be enabled by default for mdMapper, mdTector and some mdLidar products. Most customers who want to keep their UAV in the air for a longer period of time will benefit from this improvement by increasing their autonomy while surveying large areas.
In this release, the curved flight behavior will be applied on the flight paths from one leg to another (sidelap), but will incrementally allow the user to insert curves within the legs (corridor) and from one waypoint to another.
The introduction of curved flight creates a 10% improvement on the survey’s flight time execution.
OPTIMIZED ENTRY POINT
With this new update, mdCockpit will automatically choose the most optimal entry point, based on the location of the preceding waypoint, in order to improve flight autonomy. Before the update, the entry point of a survey was usually determined based upon the way the survey was drawn by the user.
AUTOMATIC HATCH ANGLES
By implementing automatic hatic angles, mdCockpit will automatically set the orientation of the legs of a survey along the longest side of the survey area. This will have the positive effect of reducing the number of legs in the survey, therefore enhancing flight autonomy. Previously, the hatch angle was entirely manual. The user needed to manually choose the optimal hatch angle.
BETTER FLIGHT TIME ESTIMATION
When you’re out in the field flying missions, it's critical to be able to accurately estimate the flight time to ensure acceptable parameters are met. The new flight time estimation is on average, accurate to within 30 seconds for a 30 minutes mission.
VISUALIZE LATERAL OVERLAP
When enabled, this feature will give a visual representation, for each leg, of the surface the UAV will cover. This will allow the user to clearly see the effect of changing the lateral and frontal overlap survey parameters.
Improved Editor Toolbar
The editor toolbar rearranged the way the mission items are grouped to make it more conveninet to operate. For example, surveys and corridor are now together, which makes more sense.
The user can also visualize the selected tool’s current state. That means if the user clicks on the waypoint tool, then selects the landing waypoint subtool, a small icon representing the landing waypoint will also be displayed beside the waypoint tool icon.
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If you'd like to learn more about the mdCockpit App or are interested in putting Microdrones systems to work, click here to speak with one of our representatives.