Mapping at Dr. Hupy's House

     Since mapping is the one the most basic requirements for this class, our lab was to do some test flights with a DJI Inspire. In teams of two, our goal was to come up with a pre-flight and post-flight checklist for the Inspire. We also made a pre-flight checklist for the Red Edge camera.

     For the entirety of the three hours, we flew. My partner, Kyle Sheehan, was the first to fly. I was his visual observer (VO). Our mission was to fly from the end of Dr. Hupy's street to the soy bean field and take video of the entire journey. The entire mission took roughly 5-10 minutes and was more of an introduction to the DJI Inspire. To me, flying the Inspire was almost identical to flying the Mavic that I own. DJI has a the same user interface app for all of their commercial level drones. DJI has a very user friendly interface and design. The only different aspect to me, was the cost of each drone and the sensor package. Below are some photos that I took to document different stages of the flight. 

Above is Evan Hockridge and Krysta Rolle performing their pre-flight checklist for the first flight of the day. Dr. Hupy is helping out for the first couple of flights to ensure no mistakes are made unintentionally. 

Take off! The first flight of the semester, the DJI Inspire took off flawlessly. The weather for this day was perfect, low winds, sunny, and almost no clouds in the sky.

Pilot in Command/Technician Kyle Sheehan performing a pre-flight check on the DJI Inspire. He decided to fly first, then I flew second. Afterwards I became the Pilot in Command and technician. We both flew out missions without any mishaps. Our missions were identical, we both flew from the end of Dr. Hupy's road to a soy bean field. Taking video the entire way to eventually create a map out of the data.

Below is the checklist me and Kyle used for both of our flights.

Checklist 

DJI Inspire Checklist 

• Ensure Pilot in Command is in good mental condition (sufficient sleep, more than 10 hours, and no mind-altering substances) 
• Ensure battery percentage level ≥ 95% 
• Ensure controller is charged ≥ 95% 
• SD card inserted in and has sufficient space for data  

• Ensure firmware is up to date and installed on aircraft  
• Clean camera lens of any debris or obstruction 
• Check image on viewing device for any obstructions or damage to camera, or blurriness 
• Check airspace restrictions 
• Check Wx 

• Precipitation less than 5% 
• Winds under 10 knots 

• Ensure visibility is enough and legal 
• Ensure flight is in between civil twilight hours (see local time for specific times) 

• Ensure flight area is unobstructed and safe for flight  
• Pre-flight check on air frame 

1. Camera locked in place 

2. Motors clear of FOD 

3. Check propellers for damage 

4. Ensure propellers are locked into place 

• Ensure take off area is unobstructed 

Red Edge Checklist 

• Ensure RedEdge has SD card inserted in 
• Connect GPS module 
• Connect power cable 
• Power on the camera with the On/Off button. 

• The LED will remain off while the camera turns on 

• Ensure camera is connected through Wi-Fi 
• Make sure status information is as follows 

1. # of satellites used  

2. Altitude is set to 0 AGL 

3. Check the signal strength of each satellite 

Post Flight Checklist 

• Power off aircraft 
• Power off Red Edge 
• Remove SD card from payload 
• Connect SD card to computer to ensure quality images 

• If image quality is good: continue 
• If image quality is poor, adjust accordingly and fly again

• Power on drone and reconnect to controller 
• Put drone into travel mode by flipping landing gear switch up and down 5 times 
• Power down drone 
• Remove battery 
• Power down transmitter 
• Remove props and place in case 
• Disconnect and remove Red Edge sensor and place it in its appropriate housing 
• Put drone and transmitter in their case and lock 

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