Draganfly GCS User Manual

Download

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Open Mission

Clear All Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0 Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

Shutdown Cancel

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GCS USER MANUAL

Handheld Ground Control

System

Version 1.2

Operator Notice

The responsibility to operate in a safe manner, prevent injury to persons or damage to property, and to take no unnecessary risks falls upon the owner and those whom the owner authorizes to pilot and operate the Draganﬂyer helicopter.

Furthermore the onus is upon each owner/authorizer/pilot to comply with all regulations pertinent to the use of the Draganﬂyer helicopter and associated components at the location of operation with regards to the use of airspace as well as radio communications.

Draganﬂy Innovations Inc. does not accept any responsibility for damages or ﬁnancial compensations which may arise as the result of an owner/authorizer/pilot failing to comply with any regulations which would lead to a claim against the user.

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Warning

The Draganﬂyer helicopter is a precision machine that is vulnerable to misuse and can prove to be dangerous if not properly maintained or used in an inappropriate manor.

Special notice:

Throughout this manual, look for and pay special attention to these information boxes for tips, tricks, safety information, or serious warnings and risks, associated with this product.

Helicopters by their nature are not positively stable. Although the Draganﬂyer can maintain an attitude and a position relative to wind movement without constant control input; operators should always be aware of its position and be able to take immediate control of the helicopter to recover from an unwanted position and avoid any mishaps. Please completely read and understand all Draganﬂyer helicopter instructional information before attempting to ﬂy the Draganﬂyer aircraft.

To provide optimum performance, a Lithium Polymer battery powers your Draganﬂyer helicopter and controllers. The same properties that make these batteries extremely powerful and lightweight also make them dangerous if handled incorrectly. Please read and understand all information pertaining to the battery before attempting to use or charge it.

IF MISUSED THIS AIRCRAFT IS CAPABLE OF CAUSING SERIOUS BODILY HARM TO THE OPERATOR AND SPECTATORS AS WELL AS PROPERTY DAMAGE. ANY DAMAGE OR INJURY OCCURRING DUE TO MISUSE OF THIS PRODUCT IS SOLELY THE OPERATOR’S RESPONSIBILITY.

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DO NOT PLACE YOUR HANDS OR ARMS IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE ROTORS OR ATTEMPT TO STOP SPINNING ROTORS WITH YOUR HANDS AS SERIOUS INJURY COULD RESULT FROM CONTACT.

THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS CHEMICALS WHICH ARE KNOWN BY THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE CANCER, BIRTH DEFECTS AND/OR OTHER REPRODUCTIVE HARM.

Many common materials such as metals, plastics, glues, lubricants and other coatings contain chemicals in varying amount and concentrations which will cause harm if introduced into the human body. For further information on toxic or dangerous chemicals please refer to California’s Health and Safety Codes Sections 25249.5-13

Special notice:

We are always shocked, and you might also ﬁnd it hard to believe, that upon getting their new helicopter system many people want to take it apart to see how it works.

Often to their dismay, all they learn is the helicopter and controller are as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside but more times than not, they mix-up the motors or break something so our advice is please, just enjoy the helicopter, the amazing GCS, and let your imagination soar with this incredible aerial tool.

- Understand there is no need to lubricate the motors and often people that don’t listen to us and do it anyway, end up damaging them.

- Please also understand that each motor is coded to a speciﬁc position on the aircraft so don’t get the wild idea to move a motor from the back up to the front. If you are experiencing a problem with the aircraft please just call our support line at 1-800-979-9794 or drop us an e-mail to support@draganﬂy.com.

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Safety Precautions

As the pilot in command you are responsible for the safety of yourself and others whether it be in the immediate takeoff and landing area, or the general ﬂight path area. Please take safety very seriously.

• Always wear protective eyewear.

• Do not use batteries other than those speciﬁcally designed for the Draganﬂyer

aircraft; doing so may cause erratic ﬂight performance and void warranty.

• Do not ﬂy the Draganﬂyer aircraft in excessive winds.

• Do not ﬂy the aircraft system in rain.

• Do not ﬂy near people on the ground or objects in the air.

• Do not ﬂy near pets or other animals.

• Do not ﬂy near high-tension lines, electrical substations, high structures or

communication facilities.

• Be careful where you place the controller and aircraft during ﬂight

preparations, be sure that they will not be dropped or suffer a fall as this may cause serious damage.

• Never ﬂy this aircraft where damage to property or injury to persons may

result if loss of control occurs.

• Never leave the Draganﬂyer aircraft unattended with the battery connected.

Make it a habit to always disconnect the battery when not ﬂying.

• When possible ﬂy with a spotter or observer

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Meet your Draganﬂyer GCS

Over two years in the making and extra attention focused on the ergonomic layout of switches, controls, the feel, and overall balance, we believe you will be very happy with the new handheld Ground Control System (GCS) from Draganﬂy Innovations.

The feel reinforces control of the aircraft; the spoken audio alarms keep you informed, and the direct sunlight viewable display provides aircraft telemetry, mapping, and crisp digital video downlink display from the aircraft payload.

Below you see/learn more about the GCS front side controls.

Camera tilt

Return home

Throttle/Yaw

Scroll wheel and “D”Pad

mouse click

Pitch/Roll

Pitch/Roll trim

Ball mouse

Power on/off

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The ﬁrst time you power-on the GCS you quickly realize this is more than just a controller; this is a full blown, custom made computer. And no, we didn’t outsource the GCS and just stick our name on it. The GCS was designed from the ground-up by the engineering and software team at Draganﬂy Innovations.

Every curve, every button and every pixel was developed by the team so when it comes time for systems support we can provide premium service.

Below you see the switches along the topside of the controller as well as ports and connections along the bottom.

Disengage motors

Ethernet

Audio Mini USB

Speakers

USB

Camera shutterEngage motors

Not used

LiPo balance plug

LiPo charge plug

Battery test

AUX. power

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Backside controls of the GCS fall in-line with your natural grip. A more relaxed grip at the controls results in conﬁdent control of the aircraft allowing you to spend more time collecting data, shooting photos or searching an area.

One of the primary design goals of the helicopter system and GCS was to equip and better enable the pilot in command with an effective tool to collect aerial data. By ofﬂoading the stress of ﬂying the aircraft the team can focus their attention on the realtime analysis of the data provided by the aircraft because in the end, this isn’t all about ﬂying, it’s all about getting the work done.

Below you see the backside GCS controls.

Zoom in control

Student training switch

antenna

Zoom out control

Data-link antennaVideo-link

Altitude hold or GPS position

hold switch

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Contents

Chapter 1: Understanding the GCS

This is one of the more interesting and important chapters because we’ll go over each and every screen that makes up the GCS DraganView System. It’s technical, in-depth, and

we’ll do our best to make it fun too.

Chapter 2: Battery Safety and Charging

The GCS is powered by a Lithium Polymer battery so please take time to read this chapter. Lithium Polymer (LiPo) battery technology has improved greatly over the years; but if not cared for properly, the batteries can be very dangerous.

Chapter 3: Ready for ﬂight

At this point you know where all the switches are, what they do, and you’re more than ready to get out ﬂying so wait no more; in this chapter we’ll run through preparation for your ﬁrst ﬂight and a typical mission scenario.

Chapter 4: GCS technical data

Here you’ll ﬁnd the speciﬁcations and technical data required to answer many of the questions asked by your agency responsible for the National Air Space (NAS) or neighbor down the street.

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Chapter 1

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Chapter contents

There is so much information discussed in this chapter we’re providing a chapter table of contents to help you quickly ﬁnd, or get back to, information that you’re interested in.

Understanding the GCS! ! ! P11- 15

Home Screen! ! ! ! ! ! P12- 15

- screen layout and deﬁnition

System Utility screens! ! ! P15- 43

Overview! ! ! ! ! ! P16- 21

- power-up system! ! ! ! !

- understand the amazing D-Pad! ! !

- full screen video and mapping!!!!

Vehicle screen! ! ! ! ! ! P21 - 24

- understand parameters and settings

Controller screen! ! ! ! ! P25 - 29

- understand parameters and settings

- secondary controller setup

Network Screen! ! ! ! ! P29 - 33

- understand networks

- video network

Database screen! ! ! ! ! P33 - 41

- mission log ﬁles

- exporting log ﬁle data

- photo gallery

- single image viewing

Summary! ! ! ! ! ! P41 - 43

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Understanding the GCS

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Open Mission

Clear All Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0

Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

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Scanning ...

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

We know you really want to turn it on so if you haven’t done it already, go ahead and power it on. The GCS will need to be charged but there should be enough battery for you to check out the main “Home Screen” and take a look at the battery charge level.

The Quick Start Guide ran you through some of the basics but in this manual, we’re going to cover the functionality of every button, switch, connector and go through the various screens of the GCS. Yes, we’ll cover a lot of detailed information. A good way to cover the material is to ﬁrst satisfy your curiosity by getting a quick look at the GCS and then, we ask you to set it aside and charge the battery.

While the GCS is charging we want you to read the manual, take notes, and when the GCS is charged, go through this section again with your GCS powered on.

To get started, power-up the GCS by pressing the orange “power” button.

When the GCS boots-up youʼll here it beep again and you will be presented with the GCS “Home Screen”.

To power on, momentarily press power switch until you hear the GCS beep and let go.

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Don’t be alarmed if you see striped vertical lines on the screen when you ﬁrst power-up

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Open Mission

Clear All

Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0

Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

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the system; this is a normal part of the boot-up process. Following the vertical lines you’ll see the Draganﬂy logo followed by the presentation of the “Home Screen”.

The software running on the GCS is called DraganView. DraganView ﬁrst started many years ago as the base station software designed and developed by Draganﬂy. Through the years DraganView has evolved to support digital video down-link, mapping, and most recently DraganView is at the heart of the GCS system.

Home Screen

This is your “go to” screen to quickly get all the information you need. The screen is broken down into several clearly deﬁned sections as indicated below.

Points of Interest set points and mission control

Aircraft ﬂight

information

Dual purpose: Status and message area or when toggled to map view displays a small live-video window

Navigate to other

system utility screens

Dual purpose: Displays either

live video or displays map

Disconnect GCS from communicating with aircraft

Aircraft heading

and bearing

Aircraft telemetry and

GCS information

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Points of Interest

At the time of this writing the Points of Interest (POI) section has not been implemented. In a future software release, this section will be enabled allowing the pilot in command (PIC) to take full advantage of the “Vision Based POI System”.

The POI system allows you to set mission waypoints using a visual based system and the ability to save a given mission. This is a powerful feature that will be explained in more detail after extensive testing and ﬁnal implementation.

Aircraft ﬂight information

Real-time critical ﬂight information is presented in this area. Flight time, aircraft heading in degrees, aircraft distance from the GCS, altitude above ground, aircraft speed and the controller ﬂight mode.

Status and video window

The lower left corner window is multi-purpose. By default it’s your messaging and status window for the GCS. Often the GCS will verbally announce status or warning messages but in addition, they are also displayed in this area.

A bit later in the manual we’ll discuss switch functionality but for now, understand that when the upper right hand window is toggled between video or map display, your live video feed will be displayed in this window. When you toggle the upper right window to display video again, the message area is restored.

System Utilities

Selecting this button will take you to the GCS Utility screens. We’ll discuss these screens in more detail later but in general, you will ﬁnd detailed information about the aircraft, GCS, network and GCS database in this set of screens. Whenever you want to get back to the “Home Screen”, simply toggle the “D-Pad” left.

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Disconnect

The GCS is connected to the aircraft over a wireless datalink. Once the connection is established you always have the option to “disconnect” from the aircraft. Disconnect is only allowed when the aircraft motors have been disengaged and disarmed.

For example, when you land the aircraft you will disengage the motors to stop the props from spinning. The next step is to disarm the motors preventing an accidental restart and then you disconnect the aircraft before powering the aircraft and GCS off.

Aircraft heading and bearing

This is a multi-function display that can be very useful. A helicopter has the ability to be pointed one direction, but ﬂy a completely different direction. For example, the aircraft can be pointed north, but ﬂy sideways in an easterly direction. Unlike an airplane, the heading and bearing can be wildly different.

The center aircraft canopy symbol indicates the heading of the aircraft. A directional arrow will become visible when the aircraft is moving to indicate the bearing, or direction the aircraft is actually moving. Using the same example from above, if the aircraft is pointed north and ﬂying sideways east, a small arrow will be visible pointing east on the dial.

Aircraft and GCS telemetry data

In the graphic above the GCS is not connected to an aircraft so the only display shown is GCS battery health and GPS position accuracy. If you’re indoors when you’re looking at the GCS it’s very unlikely that you will detect any GPS satellites to establish a position.

When connected to an aircraft, in realtime you can quickly visually inspect your GCS battery, helicopter battery, quality of datalink and GPS position accuracy of the aircraft and GCS.

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Video and mapping window

This is a dual purpose window used to display either video or mapping information. Toggling between the two is accomplished by turning the “scroll wheel”.

When the GCS has established a connection with the aircraft video network, the video window control buttons and indicators are enabled to “play” the video stream, “pause” the video stream and “record” video to the GCS. The strength of the video network is displayed in the lower right corner of the video window.

If this is your ﬁrst pass through the manual please power-off the GCS and get it charging. To power off the GCS:

• press the power button

• use the mouse and move the computer screen cursor over the “Shutdown” button in the message window

• use the “D-Pad” to “click” select the Shutdown button

• GCS will power-off

If this is your second time through the manual please keep the GCS powered on and continue through the manual.

System Utility Screens

If you haven’t assembled your helicopter please do so at this time and install the helicopter payload but DO NOT install the props. For many of the tests and work that we’ll be doing it’s a good idea to remove the props and eliminate any danger of the aircraft taking off, or anyone getting hurt in the process.

Special notice:

Please remove all four props from the aircraft now.

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When the aircraft is powered on, please keep your hands and ﬁngers away from the motors. Even without props attached you can still hurt yourself if you come in contact with the prop latch assemblies so during these exercises keep your hands away, children away and pets away from the aircraft.

And once again - please make certain that all four props have been removed from the aircraft. If not - please do it now.

Overview

This will be a long section so if you get bored, tired of reading or just want to take a break please do so. Never walk away and leave the equipment powered on. If you decide to step away from this for a while make sure to power everything off.

The switches and controls are pretty intuitive and described in the ﬁrst part of the manual. Special function controls, or controls with signiﬁcant or complicated functionality will be described and illustrated in detail. But otherwise switches like “shutter control”, are obviously used to remotely control the camera shutter to take a photo.

In preparation to step through this section please:

• assemble helicopter without any props

• install payload

• install a fully charged ﬂight battery

• GCS battery should be fully charged

• ensure all four props have been removed from aircraft

• power on the GCS

• power on the helicopter

With the GCS booted and the aircraft powered on you should be looking at the GCS home screen and the helicopter navigation LEDs should be blinking steadily sequence.

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When it’s ﬁrst powered on the GCS is always looking for an aircraft to connect with. In

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Open Mission

Clear All

Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0 Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

Aircraft name: Available

Primary: GCS name

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this example just one aircraft is powered on so you will see only one aircraft listed. If multiple aircraft were powered on and not already connected to a GCS, they would be

Ball mouse

Center button on D-PAD is mouse click. Push button in, to select

Available aircraft will be listed in the status window. Move mouse over the helicopter ID and select with D-Pad

listed here.

Select the helicopter to establish a wireless datalink connection by positioning the GCS mouse cursor over the helicopter name in the status window and “select” the aircraft by clicking the D-Pad. The D-PAD center switch is your mouse select button.

After selecting the aircraft, the GCS will:

• announce vehicle communication is established

• the aircraft ID will clear the screen

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• aircraft telemetry data will start streaming to the GCS

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Open Mission

Clear All

Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0 Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

15.9 16.6 43.0 0.0 0.0

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Everything will come alive before your eyes and to see that it’s all working, simply pickup the helicopter and rotate the aircraft to watch the aircraft heading indicator function. When the canopy symbol is pointing north, the helicopter is pointed towards “true” north.

Your GCS screen should look something like this.

Status will indicate the aircraft is “unarmed” and in holding altitude mode

Heading symbol will reﬂect actual aircraft heading

Aircraft telemetry will come alive to display real-time values

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It’s time to stop and describe in more detail the multi-function scroll wheel and D-Pad control. This is a fascinating switch because it’s very easy to use and it can do so many things. The scroll wheel allows you to quickly switch or “scroll” between screens. The DPad is the button in the center of the wheel that moves in ﬁve different directions.

The D-Pad toggles up, down, left, right, and when pushed in, functions as a mouse click to select items on the screen.

So let’s try out the scroll wheel. Right now we should have the home screen displayed on the GCS. Roll the scroll wheel clockwise one click and you will shift the video window

Pushing straight down is a mouse click

Pushing to the left returns to home screen

From home screen pushing up switches to full screen video or mapping

Rotates either direction to move between screens

down over the status window in the lower left corner. At the same time you will expose a GCS map screen. Scroll the wheel Clockwise another click and you’ll shift the video

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window back to the upper right window. The scroll wheel is an easy, fast way to switch

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

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Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

REC

screens. Scroll the wheel again to restore the map window.

Using the D-Pad, toggle the switch “up” one click. When toggled up, you will switch into full screen mode. And please note, we haven’t turned the camera on yet or enabled streaming video so the video window will be black.

The full screen video or map screen is a very complete screen with essential telemetry information, aircraft information, status window and at anytime you can toggle back to the home screen by clicking the D-Pad left.

Full screen video or map. Use scroll wheel to toggle between the two screens

Status and message area

Aircraft ﬂight

information

Aircraft telemetry and

GCS information

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Return to the home screen and let’s take a look at the utility screens.

Special notice:

Always remember to RETURN back to the Home Screen, click the D-Pad in the LEFT direction to return. The home screen is nothing more than just one click away.

At the home screen, position the mouse over the “Utility Screen” button and select using the D-Pad. By default you always start by viewing the Vehicle screen. Before we take an in-depth look into each screen, simply “scroll” through the various screens using the scroll wheel. Toggle between the vehicle, controller, network and database screens.

Rolling the wheel clockwise will run you around in a loop through the screens or you can roll over a couple screens one direction and turn the scroll wheel back counter clockwise to move between screens. If you don’t like the scroll wheel you can use the mouse and click with D-Pad to select the TABS at the top of the page and open a screen.

Any time that you need the home screen, you will use the D-Pad as described above. Clicking the D-Pad left brings you directly to the home screen.

Vehicle Screen

At Draganﬂy we work extra hard to try and keep things simple. And keeping the GCS simple has been a big challenge because we need to provide good information but at the same time don’t want to over clutter the controller with tons of switches or crowd the screens with lots of confusing information.

We think what you’ll ﬁnd is a good balance. For those people that just want to see what is needed to ﬂy, that information is presented by default; and for those wanting more information, our software developers took advantage of the “mouse over” feature to expose more information if needed.

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For example, when you ﬁrst enter the Utility Screen chapter of the GCS you’re presented

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

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43.0

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Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

Payload

General

Status

Identity

Position

GPS

Vehicle

Controller

Network Database

Measurement

LED brightness

Altitude limit

Upper limit

Lower limit

Rate control

Tilt rate

100%

60m

Firmware

Primary

Secondary

Packet Loss

Payload

Temperature

Triggered

A9F675C876540387 (Aircraft name)

52.08086N 106.59759W 54mASL

9.6mSEP 1.40PDOP 10SVs

1.0.4u

3C12B733AF9A2346 (Controller name)

3C48B123AF0A7645 (NAME)

126

25C

with the Vehicle screen. By default the upper right window is blank but when you hover the mouse over “Identity” on the left, the mouse over exposes more detailed information about the aircraft in the upper right window.

All the utility screens take advantage of the mouse over feature to expose more information about something when needed. So here’s a quick look at the screen followed by an explanation of each setting and adjustment.

Area is clear unless you mouse over an

Aircraft status information

item to get more information

Aircraft setup area to easily change parameters

The bottom section is the same across the utility and full screen windows providing aircraft telemetry information

Payload setup area to easily change parameters

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The following runs through the information and settings available on the vehicle screen by section. And because we have previously discussed the aircraft telemetry information along the bottom, we’ll just focus on new information here.

When making changes to any of the values you need to have the aircraft powered on and be connected to the aircraft. To make changes simply use the arrow buttons on either side of the setting value to make a change. The new settings are “set” in real-time over the wireless datalink to the aircraft and will remain set until you change them again.

Upper left vehicle “Status” window:

Identity: The serial number and “name” of the aircraft Position: This is the current Lat/Long and altitude above sea level of the aircraft GPS: Provides the current number of satellites being received and position accuracy

Upper right vehicle “pop-up” window:

Contents of this window will vary depending on what item is selected. In this example we have placed the mouse over the “Identity” of the aircraft to reveal more detailed information about the helicopter and payload.

Firmware: Current ﬁrmware revision level of the processor onboard the aircraft Primary: The serial number and name of the controller that is connected to the aircraft Secondary: The serial number and name of the last controller connected to the aircraft Packet loss: An indicator for the quality of the data-link to the aircraft Temperature: Autopilot temperature onboard the aircraft Payload: Estimated tilt angle of the payload Triggered: Number of photos taken during the ﬂight

Center left vehicle “General” setup window:

Measurement: Sets the GCS units of measure between SI (meters) or Imperial (feet) LED brightness: Sets navigation LED illumination between 0 and 100% brightness Altitude limit: Sets a hard altitude ceiling for the aircraft. Despite pilot input the aircraft

will not exceed this altitude setting.

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Center right vehicle “Payload” setup window:

Upper limit: Sets the upper limit when tilting the camera payload Lower limit: Sets the lower limit when tilting the camera payload Rate control: When on, enables the tilt rate value to payload scale tilt speed Tilt rate: Sets the tilt rate speed

Over the life of the system and your adventures together you’ll have different reasons to change these settings. Some you might change often and others, like the units of measure, you typically set once. If you prefer to think in meters, you typically never change the setting.

Navigation LED brightness is something we change from time-to time depending on

personal preference and lighting conditions. By default we typically run at 100% brightness for daylight operation but if you ﬂy at dusk or low light conditions often the LEDS are too bright. When ﬂying at night we typically run the LED brightness at 20% versus being blinded by the LEDs but it’s all personal preference.

Altitude limit is something you might set based on the regulations of your airspace

agreement or limitations you want to impose for a particular project. For example there is an agency in the United States that received a Certiﬁcate of Authorization (COA) from the FAA to operate the Draganﬂyer aircraft but because they are near an airport, they are limited to ﬂying no higher than 200 feet. The altitude limit feature is ideal for operating under these special conditions.

Payload tilt limits and rate control is something you may or may not adjust depending

upon the speciﬁc use of the aircraft. For search/rescue and police work there will be little need to change these values. For applications where you’re shooting video and want speciﬁc limits or tilt speed for a given shot, then these adjustments come in vary handy.

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Controller Screen

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Open Mission

Clear All Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0

Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

REC

15.9 16.6 43.0 0.0 0.0

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

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Set Clear

----

Set Clear

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Set Clear

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Open Mission

Clear All

Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0

Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

The controller screen has a similar layout to the vehicle screen and operates in very much the same way with more detailed information revealed through the mouse-over pop-up information exposed in the upper right hand window.

Controller information and settings are managed from this screen and it’s using this screen, that also allows you to set-up a wireless link to a “secondary” controller. The ability to wirelessly link another controller into the system is a powerful tool. Most often this feature is used for training a student pilot but it can also be used to allow a separate camera operator to be a part of the team and work as an observer with the pilot in command.

In a teacher/student scenario this feature allows the instructor to “pass over” one control at-a-time to the student operating a secondary controller. The student learns the controls one-by-one until the student is in complete control of the aircraft. Because this is the most common use, we named the GCS control the “trainer switch” and often refer to this as the “trainer mode”.

Trainer mode is engaged by the instructor through a switch on the backside of the GCS so at any moment, the instructor can quickly switch back and resume full control of the aircraft.

As we discuss the controller utility screen, we’ll also describe in detail, how you set-up the wireless link to a secondary student controller. The student controller can be either another GCS or the

Primary GCS

Primary control of the aircraft is accomplished via the Instructor controller. Secondary control is accomplished using the student controller thru the instructor controller after joining into the network.

Secondary controller

Page 25

standard handheld controller. By default it’s assumed the GCS is a Primary controller

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

15.9

16.6

43.0

0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

Payload

General

Status

Identity

Position

GPS

Vehicle

Controller

Network Database

UTC offset

Max flight time

Alarm volume

Primary

100

DraganView

Firmware

Data free

Media free

B9F696C873030284 (Controller name)

0.00000N 0.00000E 54mASL

0.0mSEP 99.99PDOP 0SVs

2.022 (1363730976.b483fdaf4c4)

1.0.0n

1242.1Mib

13553.8Mib

Back light

Show help

Secondary

Upgrade

operating in Solo mode, meaning that no secondary controller is involved with the network.

Area is clear unless you mouse over an

GCS status information

item to get more information

GCS setup area to easily change parameters

Illustrated above is a mouse-over event over the controller identity in the status window exposing more detailed information about the current controller software and hardware status. The following information describes the displayed information and settings that

The bottom section is the same across the utility and full screen windows providing aircraft telemetry information

Secondary controller setup is blank unless primary is checked to expose the setup menu

are available from the controller screen.

Page 26

Upper left controller “Status” window:

Identity: The serial number and “name” of the controller Position: This is the current Lat/Long and altitude above sea level of the controller GPS: Provides the current number of satellites being received and position accuracy of

the controller

Upper right controller “pop-up” window:

Contents of this window will vary depending on what item is selected. In this example we have placed the mouse over the “Identity” of the controller to reveal more detailed information about the controller and media capacity.

DraganView: The software revision level of the DraganView software Firmware: Current ﬁrmware revision level of the processor onboard the controller Data free: Free space for the software partition of the GCS Media free: Free space for the dedicated media storage such as photos and video within

the GCS

Center left controller “General” setup window:

UTC offset: Enter the UTC offset value of your time zone in reference to Coordinated

Universal Time (UTC). For example, daylight savings time in California (PDT) is -7 hours difference from UTC.

Max ﬂight time: This is nothing more than a ﬂight timer and can be conﬁgured based on

user preference. For example, you want to automatically be notiﬁed when you have been ﬂying for 20 minutes; you set that value here.

Alarm volume: Sets GCS system volume. Backlight: Display brightness setting. The higher the brightness setting the faster your

battery will be drained so it’s a balancing act. You want good brightness on sunny days but just remember it’s at the life of battery.

Show help: Displays help graphics to illustrate GCS switch locations

Page 27

Upgrade: Select this button to check for GCS software updates. To upgrade the system

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

15.9

16.6

43.0

0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

Payload

General

Status

Identity

Position

GPS

Vehicle

Controller

Network Database

UTC offset

Max flight time

Alarm volume

Primary

100

DraganView

Firmware

Data free

Media free

B9F696C873030284 (Controller name)

0.00000N 0.00000E 54mASL

0.0mSEP 99.99PDOP 0SVs

2.022 (1363730976.b483fdaf4c4)

1.0.0n

1242.1Mib

13553.8Mib

Back light

Show help

Secondary

Upgrade

Roll

Pitch

Throttle

Hold

Ascent

Yaw

Shutter

Zoom

Tilt

Aux

P S

your GCS needs to be fully charged and either connected to a wireless WiFi Internet connection or it must be plugged into an Internet connection.

If you’re connected to the network the GCS will check with the Draganﬂy Servers to see if an upgrade is available. If there is, the GCS will indicate a new software version is ready for download. Select Upgrade again in the upper right window and the system will automatically download the required software installer, install the upgrade and reboot the GCS.

Secondary controller setup:

Selecting the “primary” check box will reveal the setup window. From this window you can easily select what controls are being passed over to the secondary controller when the “trainer” switch is enabled on the GCS.

Selecting the “Primary” check box enables the secondary controller setup area

In this example “yaw” has been passed over to the secondary controller only when the trainer switch is enabled

By default camera controls are automatically shared with a secondary controller

Page 28

In the example above the “yaw” control is passed over to the secondary student controller.

Okay, so you understand the check marks to pass over control but why are there X’s in the camera control boxes? By default we have it set-up so that whenever a secondary controller is connected into the network, the controllers automatically get shared control of the camera even when the trainer button is not enabled on the primary controller.

Quite often the pilot will be ﬂying with a camera operator as part of the team and in some countries, having a dedicated camera operator is required. To make it easier for the pilot, by default when a secondary controller is included in the network the camera controls are automatically passed over to the observers (secondary) controller. By programming it this way, there is minimal setup time required and during the ﬂight, the pilot doesn’t have to “hold” the trainer button to enable the secondary camera controls.

Connecting a secondary controller is straight forward, fast and simple.

• power-on the primary controller (GCS)

• power-on and connect to the aircraft

• navigate to the “controller screen”

• select “Primary”

• select what controls will be passed over to the secondary controller

• power-on the secondary standard handheld controller (HHC)

• select the “conﬁg screen”

• select “Trainer setup”

• select “Slave”

• select “Acquire now”

• select “Done”

• you are connected

• when the “trainer” switch is activated, the selected controls will be controlled by the secondary controller

Page 29

Network Screen

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

15.9

16.6

43.0

0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

Video

Wireless

Vehicle

Controller

Network Database

Wired

AXIS M7001 - 00408CCC9104

Forget

Wireless

http://192.168.22.128/mjpeg/video.mjpg

Refresh

“Animator”

00:21:29:7d:28:7E -67dBm

“DFLY”

DC:9F:DB:0A:1E:46 -39dBm

5180MHz Unencrypted

Buffering: Normal

Aspect: Letterbox Crop

Just about everything we do is over a wireless network so networking is a critical part of the system.

Your system was setup and ﬂight tested at Draganﬂy so the connection to the aircraft and video network are already setup for you. The only additional network setup that’s required is a connection to either your wired or wireless network to cache in new maps or pull down new GCS DraganView software updates from Draganﬂy; but before we get into that lets take a quick tour of the screen.

Upper left network “Wireless” window:

The wireless window is a dynamic window meaning that any available network in your immediate area will populate the screen. When the network list exceeds the window area, a scroll bar will automatically appear on the right side of the window pane.

Mouse-over either of the Wired or Wireless buttons to get detailed network information

Indicates a connection to the video server onboard the aircraft.

Sets video quality and latency. Sliding to the left brings streaming up to real-time performance but video may stutter. Sliding adjustment full right is the best video smoothness and quality but there will be some latency. You decide what you like.

Page 30

By default you’re automatically connected to the Draganﬂy video network. In this example the video network is called DFLY.

You also see a WiFi network called “Animator” in the list but keep in mind the GCS can only be connected to one wireless network at-a-time. If we want to get connected with Animator to update map tiles or GCS software, we’ll need to “Forget” the DFLY network and enable the Animator network.

If the WiFi network requires a password, once you click the cursor inside the password box a software keyboard will be pop-up on screen, and allow you to enter the password.

Once connected, if you would like to see the network address or network information simply move the GCS cursor over the “Wireless” button in the upper left window. The mouse-over action will prompt the display of network information for either the wireless or wired network.

Another way to get connected to the Internet is to plug-in an Ethernet cable to the GCS. The Ethernet connector is located along the bottom side of the GCS. As long as the network supports DHCP no set-up is required.

Center right network “Video” window:

When the GCS connects to the video server onboard the aircraft, the video server is listed here and it’s at this time, that the “play” video button appears on the home screen.

As pointed out above, the video network connection is not instantaneous on power-up. Often you have to wait a good thirty seconds to one minute before the network handshakes and sets up the streaming link. When you’re on the home screen and you’re waiting for the “play” button to become visible it seems longer than it really is.

Page 31

Special notice:

Please note: It can often take a good 30 seconds to one minute for the GCS to handshake and establish a streaming video connection with the aircraft. If it doesn’t immediately appear - be patient - it will connect.

If the “play video” button never appears you can quickly navigate to the network screen and ﬁrst check:

• are you connected to the Draganﬂy wireless network - if not, get connected

• do you see a connection to the streaming video server, in the video window and is it selected. If not - select the video adapter to complete the connection

• if the Draganﬂy video network is not detected, make sure the payload is plugged into the helicopter and the helicopter is powered on.

Let’s play some live video:

While we’re talking about the video connection lets take a little break from the utility screens and look at some video from your helicopter. As we have been running through the screens your GCS and helicopter with payload have been powered on so now please;

• remove lens cap

• power-on camera

• hit the D-Pad “left” and switch back to the home screen

• at the home screen in the upper right video window you will see a blue play button. If you don’t see the play button, make sure the Draganﬂy wireless network is selected and active in the network screen we just discussed. When connected to the aircraft you will see the Axis video device listed on the right center screen. And just remember the Draganﬂy network + the AXIS video server = a streaming video play button on the home screen video window.

Page 32

• select the play button to begin streaming live video

• with the video playing, now hit the D-Pad “up” switching into full screen video

• pick up and move the helicopter or tilt the camera to see you have live video

• hit the D-Pad “left” and return to the home screen

• at the home screen, select the utility screen button

• navigate to the network screen

• adjust the video quality slider all the way to the left, for “real-time” display

• hit the D-Pad “left” and switch back to the home screen to view video

• the best way to measure video latency is to set a clock with sweep second hand in clear view of the camera. Watching the streaming video and keeping an eye on the clock provides a good indication of the quality and delay.

• in real-time mode the latency is about 300 to 500 milli-seconds

• in smooth, high quality mode the latency will exceed a second or more

• go back and forth adjusting the slider and viewing video to see the results

• after viewing video power-off the camera and replace the lens cap

No FPV ﬂying:

As tempting as it might be, we strongly discourage First Person View (FPV) ﬂying. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s a mode of ﬂying where you pilot the aircraft by only watching a live video feed from the aircraft, as though you were sitting inside the helicopter.

Special notice:

The Draganﬂyer helicopters are NOT DESIGNED as an FPV system and should NEVER be ﬂown in this manor. The helicopter system is a direct “line-of-sight” aircraft and should always be in clear view during operation.

Page 33

Understand this is NOT AN FPV system. A sophisticated FPV system uses very high power, analog video transmitters that are often non-compliant with FCC regulations, tracking directional ground receivers, and in many countries requires a dedicated observer. In the FPV hobby pilots are often ﬂying beyond line-of-sight and their only visual reference is through video broadcast from the aircraft.

The Draganﬂy system was designed and should be ﬂown as a “Direct Line-of-Sight” aircraft meaning you need to “see” the helicopter to safely operate it.

Database Screen

If you need to take a break or get something to drink now is a good time to step away, clear your head, and come back fresh before we dive into the database. As with everything we do here at Draganﬂy we have done everything possible to provide as much power and capability as possible while trying to keep it all very simple. And the Database is no exception.

Database overview:

The database is a warehouse of information within the GCS storing:

• detailed ﬂight data log ﬁles

• photos

• video

And it’s not just enough to store this data, the GCS does an excellent job displaying the information, organizing the information and exporting data to be used in other applications or archived on other computer systems. In its simplest form the database captures, displays, and exports data.

Page 34

Database Mission Log screen:

GPS Hold used:

Mission #:

Battery range:

GPS sats:

PDOP:

Min RSSI:

Photos taken:

Videos stored:

Name:

Date:

Duration:

Time:

Mission size:

35mAGL

16.8 - 14.4

9 - 15

.9 - 1.2

33 - 75

Unnamed

2013/04/07

24:00

10:39:56

2513.3K1B

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

15.9

16.6

43.0

0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

Vehicle

Controller

Network Database

DurationDate Vehicle#

16 2013/04/07 22:12 Aircraft Name

15 2013/04/07 13:06 Aircraft Name

14 2013/04/07 22:56 Aircraft Name

13 2013/04/07 18:52 Aircraft Name

12 2013/04/07 15:45 Aircraft Name

11 2013/04/07 11:29 Aircraft Name

10 2013/04/07 09:10 Aircraft Name

09 2013/04/07 12:33 Aircraft Name

08 2013/04/07 05:15 Aircraft Name

07 2013/04/07 18:58 Aircraft Name

06 2013/04/07 17:26 Aircraft Name

05 2013/04/07 13:43 Aircraft Name

04 2013/04/07 24:00 Aircraft Name

03 2013/04/07 22:20 Aircraft Name

02 2013/04/07 19:10 Aircraft Name

01 2013/04/07 15:33 Aircraft Name

Copy (1) missions

Delete (1) missions

The database mission log screen is the ﬁrst screen that you see when scrolling over to view the database.

Mouse-over a mission log ﬁle listed in the left window to expose details about the ﬂight

Take action in this section of the screen to copy, delete or when viewing thumbnail images select or deselect images

This is the launch point to gather more information about a particular mission so let’s take a look at the screen.

Upper left database “Mission Log” window:

Flight data log ﬁles are recorded to the GCS and listed in this window in ascending order, so the latest ﬂight is listed at the top.

Select log ﬁles to copy or delete from the list

Mouse-over any log ﬁle to see ﬂight details in right window. Double click any log ﬁle to see thumbnail images or video.

The last log ﬁle written is placed at the top of the list. Scroll slider to see all ﬁles.

Page 35

From the list you see the sequential mission number, date of the ﬂight, duration and the aircraft name. If you only have one helicopter system you’ll see the same aircraft listed here over and over but this comes in handy when you have multiple helicopters being ﬂown from the same GCS.

From this mission list you basically have three different actions that can be carried out.

1. Hovering the GCS mouse over a mission will expose the details about the ﬂight in

the right hand window.

2. Selecting a mission or multiple missions allows you to either copy or delete the

mission from the system

3. Double clicking a mission that contains photos or video will automatically move

you to the thumbnail view of the database

Upper right database “Mission Details” window:

Many of the items listed here are self explanatory but of particular interest is the ability to “name” a mission. Clicking into this area will expose an on-screen keyboard and allow you to provide a name for the mission. For example, if being used by a public safety agency you might enter the call number or if doing research, provide a name making it easier to recall the work or project being ﬂown.

When you look over a mission also note the system will keep track of how many photos were taken, how many videos and how much disk space the mission occupies. If you want to take a quick look at the photos/video taken, you can simply double click the mission to expose the mission photo gallery.

Lower right database window:

The presentation of this window changes depending on whether you’re looking at a list of missions or in the photo/video gallery. From the mission listing you have the option to:

1. Copy the mission log ﬁle, KMZ ﬁle, and photo/video to a memory stick

2. Delete the mission log ﬁle, KMZ ﬁle, and all photos or video related to the ﬂight

Page 36

To copy off a mission insert a memory stick into the

dragany

videophotos

ight_00166

ight_00166.csv

ight_00166.kmz

USB connector on the bottom of the GCS. Select the mission log ﬁle to be copied and select “copy” from the button in the lower right window. The mission is bundled up and copied to the memory stick along with all photo thumbnail images and videos.

Please always keep in mind the “high resolution” photos from the mission are stored on the memory card of the camera, not the GCS. The corresponding images on the GCS are just a quick way to reference the photo or video. Later in the manual we’ll discuss a two or three different scenarios to illustrate how this is done and why.

Database Photo Gallery screen:

Before you try to shift over into the photo gallery screen of the database you need to mouse-over a log ﬁle to see if photos or video were captured. As you mouse over a log ﬁle look at the photo or video count detailed in the right hand window.

If you see that photos were taken, simply double click the log ﬁle of interest and you will be taken to the photo gallery for that mission.

The photo gallery presents you with a list of thumbnail images and thumb nail of the video captured. To make it easier to distinguish what’s a photo and what’s a video, video ﬁles have a “play” button in the center of the thumbnail image. And as mentioned a bit earlier be aware the high resolution images are stored on the camera memory card. The thumbnail images are a quick way to review what photos you took of an accident scene without having to land, and either review on the camera or pop the camera memory card

Page 37

GPS Hold used:

Mission #:

Battery range:

GPS sats:

PDOP:

Min RSSI:

Photos taken:

Videos stored:

Name:

Date:

Duration:

Time:

Mission size:

True

16.8 - 14.4

9 - 15

.9 - 1.2

33 - 75

Unnamed

2013/04/07

24:00

10:39:56

2513.3K1B

Latitude:

Longitude:

Altuitude:

52.080896 N

106.627615 W

35mAGL

0001 0002 0003

0004

0005

0006

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

15.9

16.6

43.0

0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

Vehicle

Controller

Network Database

Select All

Return to missions

Select None

Mouse-over a photo to provide information about the ﬂight and the exact location and altitude when the photo was taken

Select all thumbnail images at once or deselect all that have been selected. Also provides a return navigation button to the main missions screen

Indicates slide show time delay in seconds

and review in a computer. Being able to review these images on the GCS is a huge time saver and helps assist getting all the photos you need.

There is so much to the functionality we’ll describe things a piece at-a-time. Above you see the photo gallery screen and by simply hovering your mouse over each photo you quickly see the ﬂight data and exact location where the photo was taken and at what altitude.

Slide show control

interface

Slide show

progress bar

Page 38

From the gallery you have the ability to create a slide show of the shots taken or view

them one at-a-time For example, your Lieutenant wants to see photos from the crime scene but it would be redundant to show them all, so you quickly select image #1, #4, #5 and #6 by clicking the “select” icon on each thumbnail. When selected the small circle turns a solid color indicating it has been selected.

When you have selected the thumbnail images to be viewed you can begin a slide show by selecting the play arrow on the player interface. Either prior to starting the slide show or during the show you can adjust the time interval displayed in seconds between slides. For example by default the player assumes 3 seconds between slides but if you want to run through them faster, each time you click the double right arrow, the time will be

Indicates the time delay setting between slides

Indicates the slide count being displayed

Jumps to the ﬁrst slide

Increases the time delay between slides

Slide show play button

Reduces the time delay between slides

Jumps to the last slide

Indicates the total number of slides in the slide show

Slide show progress bar

reduced by one second. Minimum display time between slides is one second.

If you haven’t taken any photos yet not to worry, we were pretty busy during the ﬂight testing of your aircraft before shipping and as a result, you have test log ﬁles and photos already on the GCS

Page 39

Find a log ﬁle with photos, double click the log ﬁle entry and you will see the photo gallery and thumbnail images. They might not be very interesting photos but for now they will sufﬁce to create a slide show and experiment with the player interface.

Recording video:

At the time of this writing when you select REC from the video playback screen you are recording video to the GCS. When you see a video ﬁle in the photo gallery the thumbnail has a “play” arrow over the clip to indicate it’s a video. The purpose of the thumbnail is to simply acknowledge the video was recorded to a ﬁle in the GCS database.

At the moment video playback is not supported on the GCS. To view recorded video you need to export the mission log ﬁle and retrieve the video from the “video” folder created during export to play on your computer.

Video playback will be supported at a later date available through a future software update.

And we’re not done yet:

There is one more display mode we haven’t explored and that’s a situation where you don’t want to setup a slide show, you just want to take a closer look at an individual photo stored in the database.

As illustrated in a previous graphic of the photo gallery, lets assume we just want to take a closer look at image #0006. To display a larger view simply “double click” on the image and you will be taken to a single image viewer screen as illustrated below. When you have concluded viewing the image, select the “Return to thumbnails” button in the center right control window.

The screen changes are very subtle. When you double click an image you see the single image displayed. When you want to return to the Thumbnails, select the return button in the center right hand control window.

Page 40

GPS Hold used:

Mission #:

Battery range:

GPS sats:

PDOP:

Min RSSI:

Photos taken:

Videos stored:

Name:

Date:

Duration:

Time:

Mission size:

True

16.8 - 14.4

9 - 15

.9 - 1.2

33 - 75

Unnamed

2013/04/07

24:00

10:39:56

2513.3K1B

Latitude:

Longitude:

Altuitude:

52.080896 N

106.627615 W

12mAGL

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

15.9

16.6

43.0

0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

Vehicle

Controller

Network Database

Select All

Return to thumbnails

Select None

If you want to launch a slide show starting with this image, simply select the play button and the GCS will automatically select all the images and start playing.

System Utility Screen Summary

We covered a lot of information in this section discussing the vehicle screen, controller screen, introduced the concept of setting up a wireless trainer system, the network setup and conﬁguration screen and the various screens making up the GCS database.

Take some extra time to review the screens, understand their value, what settings you’ll use most often and explore the power of the database.

Page 41

Develop good habits:

Case number

2013041500068

videophotos

ight_00166

ight_00166.csv

hi-res-photos hi-res-video

ight_00166.kmz

It’s always a good idea to develop some good habits from the beginning and honestly, it really depends on the type of work that you’re doing with the system. In general, use the written ﬂight log book and always take the time to off-load photos, data and merge everything together.

For example, you’re documenting a crime scene.

1. After the ﬂying is completed, ﬁll in the written ﬂight log book information

referenced to the RMS case number consistent with your agency RMS system

2. After the ﬂying is completed, go to the GCS database and “name the log ﬁles”

with the corresponding “case number”.

3. Off-load the mission log ﬁles to a USB memory stick

4. Back at the ofﬁce create a folder on your desktop computer with the case

number as part of the folder name

5. Copy the GCS log ﬁles into the folder

6. Create an additional folder for the high resolution photos and video from the

camera

Page 42

7. Copy your camera memory card photos and video into the appropriate folder

8. It varies by agency but possibly the camera memory card will need to be booked

by the property room

And it doesn’t matter if you’re a public safety agency or running a professional aerial photography business the process is pretty much the same.

1. After the ﬂying is completed, ﬁll in the written ﬂight log book information

referenced to the project number

2. After the ﬂying is completed, go to the GCS database and “name the log ﬁles”

with the corresponding “project number”.

3. Off-load the mission log ﬁles to a USB memory stick

4. Back at the ofﬁce create a folder on your desktop computer with the project

number as part of the folder name

5. Copy the GCS log ﬁles into the folder

6. Create an additional folder for the high resolution photos and video from the

camera

7. Copy your camera memory card photos and video into the appropriate folder

8. Store the camera memory card with your project paperwork or ﬁles as a backup.

Page 43

Chapter 2

SEL

MODE

ENT/

STOP

INC

DEC

LiPo Charge[sel]

4sPACK C=3.00A

Page 44

Battery Charging System

SEL

MODE

ENT/ STOP

INC

DEC

LiPo Charge[sel] 4sPACK C=3.00A

Please fully read and understand the Lithium battery safety instructions and warnings section at the end of this chapter before using or charging your batteries. The operator assumes full responsibility for all risks associated with the use of this product.

AC power

cord

DC power

cord

Balance plug

Main battery charge plug

Page 45

Your Draganﬂyer system comes equipped with a complete charging kit for the helicopter and controller batteries used with the system. The charging system has been designed for ease of use, portability, safety, and convenience, to keep your systems charged and ﬂying.

Included with the Draganﬂyer aircraft charging system is:

" 1 – TP610ACDC single port battery charger (users manual included) " 1 – 6 wire balancer cable " 1 – 2 wire charging cable

" 1 – Fire retardant battery charging pouch

Setup and Operation

Your charger can be powered from a 110-240 volt AC wall outlet or an 11-18 volt DC power source such as a car battery. If using an AC wall outlet, remove the cable from the case, connect it to the power input of the charger, and plug the cable into an AC outlet.

If you are using a 12V battery (car battery), connect the DC cable provided to the charger. After connecting the cable to the charger ﬁrst, then connect the alligator clips to the terminals of your 12V battery (red clip to positive, black clip to negative). When power is applied, the charger will automatically turn on.

When the charger is powered on, the + and – buttons allow you to scroll up/down through menus before and during battery charging/discharging. These buttons also allow you to change values/settings for options after they have been selected (typically when ﬂashing after pressing the ENTER button).

The SEL/MODE button functions only when you’re not charging or discharging a battery. Pressing the MODE button will allow you to scroll between the three available modes:

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• Charge/Discharge/Cycle/Storage Modes

SEL

MODE

ENT/

STOP

INC

DEC

LiPo Charge[sel]

4sPACK C=3.00A

• Setting Data Mode

• Data View Mode

The ENT/STOP button allows you to select and validate values/settings for options that can be changed (using the +/– buttons to change) before and during charging/ discharging. Pressing and holding the ENTER button also allows you to start and stop charging/discharging.

After powering on the charger by default it’s set to ‘Charge Mode’ as illustrated above. Before shipping your system, your charger was preset by our team for charging the helicopter ﬂight battery pack, with a setting of 4 cell charging at 3 amps.

Charging the Handheld Controller batteries

Included with your system is the handheld Ground Control System (GCS) and a standard handheld controller. The GCS is powered by a smaller capacity 4 Cell LiPo battery and the standard handheld controller (HHC) is powered by a 3 Cell LiPo battery.

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Charging these batteries is just as simple as charging your helicopter battery. The

SEL

MODE

ENT/ STOP

INC

DEC

LiPo Charge[sel] 4sPACK C=1.70A

connections are the same using the balancer cable and main power charge plug but you always need to remember that when charging the standard controller, you need to change the charger cell count from 4 to 3, and reduce your charge current.

Charging the GCS

The GCS is a 4 cell battery and compared to a helicopter ﬂight pack, charges at a lower current setting of 1.70Amps.

Connect the balance port connector and the main battery charge cable to the GCS. The charge connectors are located and clearly labeled on the bottom of the GCS.

With the cables connected and the charger powered on, brieﬂy press the ENT button to step through the display until you select the current setting. When you stop there, the current setting will be ﬂashing, meaning the charger, charge current value is ready to be changed.

Press the “-” or (dec) button repeatedly until you step (each time button is pressed the value will change) the current setting down to 1.70Amps. When you see 1.70 Amps press the ENT button and the 1.70A value will stop blinking.

The charger should now read 4sPack C=1.70A. If this is correct, “press and hold” the ENT button and once charging begins let go. The battery is now charging and you will

be notiﬁed when charging is complete.

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Charging the HHC

SEL

MODE

ENT/ STOP

INC

DEC

LiPo Charge[sel] 3sPACK C=1.70A

The standard handheld controller uses a smaller battery pack with a lower cell count so to charge this controller you will need to change both the cell count values as well as the charge current

values.

Connect the balance port connector and the main battery charge cable to the GCS. The charge connectors are located on the backside of the HHC.

With the cables connected and the charger powered on, brieﬂy press the ENT button to step through the display until you select the cell PACK setting. When you stop there, the cell PACK setting will be ﬂashing, meaning the charger, cell count value is ready to be changed.

Press the “-” or (dec) button once and the reading will change from 4sPack to 3sPACK. When you see 3sPACK press the ENT button until you step over to the current setting to conﬁrm the value is 1.70A. If not, when the value is ﬂashing adjust either the “+” INC or “-” DEC buttons to create the 1.70A setting.

The charger should now read 3sPack C=1.70A. If this is correct, “press and hold” the ENT button and once charging begins let go. The battery is now charging and you will be notiﬁed when charging is complete.

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Summary:

The battery charger provided has been preset at the factory to charge the helicopter LiPo battery pack. The charger connects to the batteries or controllers using two cables. One cable is a cell balancer cable, and the other is the main charge cable.

When charging the GCS you need a lower charge current setting and with the standard HHC, both the cell count and the charge current must be adjusted.

Handheld Ground Control System (GCS)

Charger setting = 4sPACK @1.7 Amps

Standard Handheld Controller (HHC)

Charger setting = 3sPACK @1.7 Amps

Standard and maximum charger settings:

• Helicopter battery pack = 4sPACK C=3.00A - maximum current C=5.45A

• Handheld GCS = 4sPACK C=1.70A - maximum current C=2.70A

• Handheld HHC - 3sPACK C=1.70A - maximum current C=2.10A

For additional instructions on your battery charger please refer to the TP610ACDC battery charger operator’s manual included in your package

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Things you need to know

Special notice:

You might think that we’re exaggerating the issue but no, LiPo battery safety is something to be taken seriously. If you want to see examples of what can go wrong just search YouTube for LiPo ﬁre examples. It’s common to think “this will never happen to me” but that’s why they call them accidents, so please take battery safety very seriously and here are some tips to consider:

1. When charging your controllers, they won’t ﬁt in a ﬁre proof LiPo bag so

place them on a ﬁreproof surface and monitor them during charging.

2. After charging is complete, always remove/disconnect both cables from

the controller.

3. Keep your controllers out of direct sunlight or high heat conditions. For

example don’t set them on the dashboard of your car. You want to keep the controllers protected, cool and safe.

4. Some people think “more is better” but no, not with a LiPo battery.

Please only charge the controllers at the prescribed cell count and current ratings. Trying to “over ﬁll” a battery will result in damage.

5. If you suspect a battery issue with your controller DO NOT disassemble

the controller. Contact Draganﬂy to get instructions for further testing, evaluation and/or return to have the battery replaced at the factory.

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Lithium Battery Safety Instructions and Warnings

Please read and fully understand all of the instructions and warnings below before using or charging your lithium polymer batteries. Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries are

volatile; improper use or failure to follow these instructions and warnings may result in ﬁre, personal injury and/or damaged property. Draganﬂy Innovations and its

afﬁliates assume no liability for the improper use of this battery, or failure to comply with these instructions and warnings.

General Guidelines and Warnings

• Your batteries are not fully charged

upon receiving them, the batteries

must be charged before use.

• Never leave charging batteries

unattended. When charging LiPo

batteries you must constantly monitor the charging process and

be there to react to any undesired results.

• Before charging, press the battery

test button on your ﬂight battery to check the status and voltage level.

One or more of the status LED’s should turn on and remain on while the button is held. Any other

ﬂashing pattern on the status LED’s

may indicate damage to the battery; please contact Draganﬂy

Innovations Technical support.

• When selecting the cell count or

voltage for charging, ensure to

select the cell count and/or voltage that appears on the controller

battery label. Selecting an incorrect cell count or voltage may result in a ﬁre.

• Do not exceed the maximum

charge rate current listed on the

controller battery label.

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• Always connect the balance cable

between the controller and charger

while charging or discharging.

permanent damage and premature deterioration to the battery in the

controller.

• Only use a good quality charger

rated for LiPo batteries, such as

the charger including in your Draganﬂyer system. A low quality

charger may damage the controller battery and result in ﬁre.

Storage & Transport:

• Never ship or transport a damaged

LiPo battery.

• Store controllers at room

temperature between 4.5 degrees C (40 F) and 21 degrees C (70 F).

• Do not store controllers in a vehicle

even if in a ﬂame retardant

container.

• Do not store or expose controllers

to direct sunlight for extended

periods of time.

• Do not expose controllers to

temperatures in excess of 76

degrees C (170 F). Exposure for longer than 2 hours may cause ﬁre.

• Before travelling with LiPo powered

devices always check with your airline for their policies and

regulations regarding transportation of LiPo batteries.

• If shipping the controllers, always

discuss safe packaging and shipping procedures with the

courier.

• Do not store controllers near a

source of heat.

• Exposing LiPo the controllers to

temperatures in excess of 65

degrees C (150 F) may cause

Page 53

Disposal:

If you believe there is a problem with the battery in the GCS or HHC controllers contact Draganﬂy to get more information. Do not attempt to disassemble the controller to remove the battery.

Special notice:

Never disassemble the handheld controllers to remove the battery, inspect battery or dispose of the battery. If you suspect a problem contact Draganﬂy Innovations.

Page 54

Chapter 3

Page 55

Ready for ﬂight

In the helicopter manual we describe ﬂying a photo shoot and focus more on the ﬂying than the actual mechanics of using the GCS to launch and control the aircraft. In this manual we will cover GCS speciﬁc information to:

Get in the air:

• get connected with the aircraft

• streaming video

• arming motors

• engage motors

• initiate an automatic takeoff

What to do when you’re up there:

• GPS position hold

• shooting photos and recording video

Landing and shutdown:

• landing

• disengage motors

• disarm motors

• disconnect from the aircraft

Post ﬂight data:

• review mission log

• review photos

• export mission data

• open mission data on computer to examine a log ﬁle

• open mission data on computer to examine a KMZ ﬁle

• merge high-res camera photos and video with GCS archived data

Page 56

Get in the air:

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Open Mission

Clear All Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0 Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

REC

Aircraft name: Available

Primary: GCS name

15.9 16.6 43.0 0.0 0.0

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

Scanning ...

15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Scanning ...

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Open Mission

Clear All Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0 Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

REC

Aircraft name: Available

Primary: GCS name

15.9 16.6 43.0 0.0 0.0

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

Scanning ...

15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Scanning ...

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

Earlier in this manual we had you remove your props and if for some reason they’re back on the aircraft, please take a minute to remove them. Whenever you’re trying something new, doing some experiments or just want the system powered on to check some settings it’s a good idea to remove the props to prevent any possible accidents.

Special notice:

Please remove all four props from the aircraft now.

With the props removed we’ll quickly run through the connecting, arming and engage motor sequence. The idea is to get you comfortable with the routine and most importantly comfortable with turning the motors off once you’re on the ground. There is nothing worse than making a perfect landing only to make a mistake later and ﬂip it over or do some damage.

Throttle:

Before we actually start the motors it’s important to understand the throttle has a dual purpose. As illustrated below when the motors are not powered on, the throttle is used to arm and disarm the motors. Once the motors are running it takes on a new

Execute auto take-off and increase altitude

Lower-left corner

disarms motors

Motors not running

Yaw right

Lower-right corner

arms motors

Yaw le ft

Decrease altitude

Motors powered on

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personality used to initiate an automatic takeoff and once the aircraft is up in the air, it

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Open Mission

Clear All Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0 Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

REC

Aircraft name: Available

Primary: GCS name

15.9 16.6 43.0 0.0 0.0

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

Scanning ...

15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Scanning ...

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

behaves just as you might imagine. So basically the throttle control has three different personalities:

1. arm and disarm the motors

2. initiate an automatic take off and control altitude and yaw

3. control altitude and yaw only

Get connected:

For this exercise make sure the props have been removed from the aircraft, install a battery and power-up the aircraft.

Power-up the GCS and after booting, the GCS will locate the aircraft and “list” the aircraft as being available in the lower left hand window. Once connected the GCS will announce the connection has been established and we’re ready to arm and engage the motors.

Arming the motors:

With the props removed for this test, move the throttle down and to the lower right corner of travel. Hold it there until you hear the GCS announce the motors are armed and also notice, the helicopter navigation LEDs stopped blinking. When you see the aircraft with navigation lights on steady it means - stay away - because the motors are armed and ready to start spinning at anytime.

Lower-right corner arms

With the motors armed make sure to keep your hands, children and pets away from the motors. The next step is to engage the motors.

motors

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Engage the motors:

When you engage the motors it just gets them spinning at a moderate speed. The thrust is low enough where you don’t have to worry about the aircraft taking off but it is very important at this step of the process to make sure that all four motors are running. As part of your pre-ﬂight, before initiating an auto-takeoff you will always check to make sure all four motors are running.

So lets engage motors.

With motors already armed press and hold the “motor engage” switch for about 1 second to start motors and let go.

Check to make sure all props are spinning and if not, disengage motors and try again.

Because we have the props removed when we initiate an auto-takeoff the helicopter will get frustrated because the altitude isn’t increasing but not to worry. The helicopter will try to achieve an approximate 1 meter (3.2 feet) altitude but without props you’ll just hear the motors trying their best to achieve the desired altitude.

To engage motors press the top, left, rear switch and hold for approximately one second. The motors will start and always, check to make sure they are all running.

Initiate an auto-takeoff:

With the props removed you’ll just hear the motors increase speed but this is a very good exercise to get a feel for the process.

As illustrated in the next diagram, to initiate the takeoff you will move the throttle straight up and hold for approximately one second, then lower the throttle to the center position. Do not “let go” of the stick as you return to center. Please get into the habit of raising the throttle, holding for one second, and returning it back to the center position in one ﬂuid

Page 59

motion. Once the throttle is back to center you will hear the motors increase speed as

GCS Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Set Clear

----

Open Mission

Clear All Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0 Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

REC

Aircraft name: Available

Primary: GCS name

15.9 16.6 43.0 0.0 0.0

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

Scanning ...

15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Scanning ...

00:00:00 Software build hash number 00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number

the aircraft attempts to reach the desired takeoff altitude.

Disengage motors:

In a real ﬂight situation you would be ﬂying the aircraft now and when it was time to land you would bring the aircraft back, make your descent, and once the aircraft is on the ground, execute the following procedure.

With the aircraft on the ground you’ll bring the throttle straight back and hold it in this position for at least one second. After one second keep the throttle in the full back position, and simultaneously depress the motor disengage switch. The motor disengage switch is located on the top, left front position.

When depressed the motors will stop.

If you accidentally hit the motor disengage switch too quickly, you will have to hold the switch for approximately 10-15 seconds before the motors will stop. So the trick is to ﬁrst bring the throttle straight back, hold for one second, then depress the motor disengage switch.

Disarm motors:

When the motors have stopped, return the throttle to the center position. Then move the throttle to the lower left position and hold it there until the GCS conﬁrms the motors have been disarmed. When disarmed the helicopter navigation LEDs will start blinking and it’s safe to be near the aircraft.

Summary:

We had you remove the props for this exercise to reduce risk and build conﬁdence with the essential skill of starting and stopping the aircraft motors. Before installing the props, please take time to practice this routine over and over

Lower-left corner

disarms motors

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again to become very familiar with the process. There is nothing worse than making a great landing and then having trouble powering off the motors or even worse damaging the aircraft. To quickly review the process:

Takeoff:

• arm motors

• engage motors

• check that all four motors are spinning

• initiate an automated takeoff

Landing:

• land the aircraft

• when helicopter is on the ground, disengage motors

• disarm motors

When you are very comfortable with the process, power off the aircraft and install the props so we can do some real ﬂying.

Get in the air: (we’ll really ﬂy this time)

After running through the previous exercise you’re now experienced at starting and stopping the motors and familiar with getting the aircraft into the air, so it’s time to get ﬂying. The information you ﬁnd here compliments and in some cases is replicated from the “Helicopter Flight” information you ﬁnd in the helicopter manual.

The “Get in the air” info provided in this manual is geared more towards the unique aspects of the GCS and how you get the most out of the GCS system. To get a good understanding of ﬂying the system we recommend that you read and use both manuals.

Before any ﬂight, you want to preﬂight the helicopter and the GCS system so as a quick review, the preﬂight graphic for the helicopter is provided along with a preﬂight for the GCS system.

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GCS preﬂight frontside

In addition to conducting a preﬂight on the aircraft it’s just as important to preﬂight the GCS before powering up the system and getting up in the air.

You want to look over the GCS for any physical damage, check the battery voltage, make sure the joy sticks are operating smoothly, double check all the settings, set the antennas to the proper position, and make sure switches are in the right place before lift-off.

Check to make sure the throttle/yaw gimbal operates smoothly

Move camera tilt position to the “top” of the control range

Check to make sure the scroll wheel and D-Pad are functioning smoothly and properly

Check display brightness setting and for ﬂying conditions and if required, clean the display for clear viewing

Check to make sure the Pitch/Roll gimbal operates smoothly

Pitch/Roll trim adjustments should be centered

Check the ball mouse to make sure itʼs operating smoothly and in control of GCS cursor

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GCS preﬂight backside

The backside is often overlooked but keep in mind it’s just as important as the frontside controls. Look over the backside for any damage and as indicated below check to make sure the switches and controls are operating smoothly.

Of particular importance you want to make sure the hold switch is centered in the altitude hold position for takeoff. You also want to make sure the antennas are rotated 90 degrees perpendicular to the case to get the best signal to the aircraft.

Check zoom control for smooth operation

Make sure the spring centered switch is functioning properly and automatically returning to center

Rotate antenna 90 degrees so itʼs pointing straight back from the case

Check zoom control for smooth operation

Make certain the Altitude Hold and GPS position hold switch is in the “outside edge” switch position for takeoff

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Helicopter preﬂight

Just like a real aircraft it is very important to pre-ﬂight the Draganﬂy helicopter to make sure it’s airworthy. We recommend a static on-the-ground pre-ﬂight as illustrated below, and once you have taken off, we suggest a second ﬂight check in a hover to make sure the aircraft and system are behaving properly. If you have any doubt, or suspect a problem, either cancel the mission or abort the ﬂight until the problem is corrected.

Double check to ensure the

Ensure booms are locked ﬁrmly in place

Spin all motors by hand to make sure they spin smoothly

canopy is secured tightly

If you are ﬂying with a payload, make sure attachment screws are securely fastened and camera is properly secured to the camera mount

Check you props to make sure they are locked securely in place and double check props for nicks or cracks

Double check and make sure landing gear is ﬁrmly locked in place

Draganﬂyer X4-ES System Pre-ﬂight Check

Page 64

The mission:

In the ﬂight scenario described in the helicopter manual we were focused on explaining information about the aircraft itself versus the GCS during a typical photo shoot but in this scenario, we’re more focused on the GCS while ﬂying a mission at a train derailment. We strongly encourage you to read and understand both scenarios to get a well rounded understanding of the system.

In this scenario the task for our ﬂight team is to provide HAZMAT personnel with critical tanker car information, understand the extent of damage and shoot aerial images documenting the crash scene.

Our ﬂight crew consists of three people and the team has staged personnel and their equipment at a safe distance from the accident. In the crew we have the pilot, camera operator, and a spotter, to monitor the airspace and general ﬂight area.

Page 65

Pre-planning:

Safety is always a priority so before ﬂying, the ﬂight team designates a primary takeoff and landing area along with two safety zones. The safety zones are designated areas to be kept clear of personnel and equipment in the event the aircraft needs to come down quickly. Keeping the zones clear protects team personnel and it protects the aircraft from accidentally hitting something in the event of an emergency landing.

Trees

Train tracks

Clear of people

and equipment

Safety Area 1

Trees

CRASH SITE

STAGING AREA

Dirt Road

Safety Area 2

Clear of people and equipment

Helicopter takeoff

and landing area

Page 66

Get the data:

This ﬁrst ﬂight is to get up in the air to determine the extent of damage, check for leaking ﬂuids and read markings on the tanker cars. The second ﬂight will be ﬂown to gather more data and we estimate a third or fourth ﬂight to document the scene and the work of response personnel.

With both the GCS preﬂight and aircraft preﬂight completed we’re ready to get into the air. The helicopter system is brought over the the designated takeoff and landing area and we then:

• power on the helicopter and GCS

• remove lens cap and power on the camera

• connect to the aircraft

• connect to the secondary controller being used by the camera operator

• verbally announce to personnel, the aircraft will be lifting off

• connect to the video network

• check video and camera controls

• check the immediate airspace for other aircraft and obstacles

• arm the helicopter

• check helicopter GPS accuracy and ensure you have enough satellites

• verbally announce helicopter is lifting off

• engage motors

• check to make sure all four motors are spinning

• initiate an automatic takeoff

• during the preliminary hover, conduct a second preﬂight to ensure helicopter and system are behaving properly

• double check airspace

• ascend and ﬂy forward at a nice climb rate to get above trees enroute to your ﬁrst target

• switch to full screen video mode on the GCS

As the helicopter climbs out and you ﬂy towards the crash site the camera operator will provide you with directions and working together, as a team, you will work the crash site to gather the data and photos needed. During the ﬂight the spotter will monitor the

Page 67

airspace, keep the safety zones clear of people, vehicles, and also keep an eye on the aircraft.

What to do when you’re up there:

As you slowly ﬂy over the crash site the camera operator will suggest the best spot to “park” the helicopter in a GPS position hold to get the photos needed. When you switch into GPS position hold using the mode switch on the rear of the GCS, it’s always a good idea to slow the aircraft to a hover, then initiate the GPS position hold.

Relax, keep an eye on the aircraft, the wind, and work as a team with your camera operator to get the photos needed. When you’re in a GPS position hold often the camera operator will request that you yaw or rotate the aircraft. And because the autopilot is holding a stationary hover, it’s all pretty easy.

The GCS will verbally announce status changes and warnings but it’s always a good idea to visually “scan” your telemetry data to keep an eye on your altitude, datalink signal strength, GPS position accuracy, and battery health. When your aircraft battery gets down around the

14.4vdc value you know that within a few minutes you’ll get your ﬁrst battery warning and need to start thinking about returning to land.

When you need to move off to a new location it’s always a good idea to bring the aircraft back into the “safety position” before releasing the GPS position hold. The safety position is something you learned during ﬂight training and it was discussed in the helicopter manual. The idea is very simple. Yaw the aircraft into a position where you see the two white navigation lights. This means the rear of the aircraft is pointed towards you, bringing you in line with the aircraft, making it easier to ﬂy.

Page 68

Release the GPS position hold and ﬂy to the next location to shoot more photos. As you

SUNEX 61985

approach the next GPS position hold spot, slow the aircraft into a steady hover and engage the GPS position hold.

Always remember that you’re the pilot in command of the ﬂight. If the winds get too gusty, you see some rain moving into the area or you’re not comfortable with the conditions you can either abort the ﬂight or not even execute the mission. The safety of the crew and anyone in the area is your responsibility so take this all very seriously.

When you receive the ﬁrst battery warning it’s always a good idea to start heading back to the takeoff and landing area. A battery change is a quick affair so why take any risks, and unless it’s an emergency why push the battery to it’s limit.

If you are an experienced pilot and comfortable ﬂying the aircraft in any orientation, release the GPS position hold and head back. If you’re more comfortable starting out from the safety position, yaw the helicopter into position before releasing the GPS position hold.

Landing and shutdown:

As you return to the takeoff and landing area clearly announce to everyone the aircraft will be landing. As you make your approach do not ﬂy over people and if possible make as direct an approach as possible.

As you get closer make sure the camera operator rotates the camera “up” as far as possible to help keep the lens clean during landing. Clearly announce one more time the aircraft is landing and bring the helicopter in.

When you get the helicopter on the ground you will:

Page 69

• aircraft touches down, disengage motors

GPS Hold used:

Mission #:

Battery range:

GPS sats:

PDOP:

Min RSSI:

Photos taken:

Videos stored:

Name:

Date:

Duration:

Time:

Mission size:

True

386

16.8 - 14.4

9 - 15

.9 - 1.2

33 - 75

HAZMAT-AB2013

2013/04/07

24:00

10:39:56

8513.3K1B

Latitude:

Longitude:

Altuitude:

52.088866 N

102.62645 W

30mAGL

0001 0002 0003

0004

0005

0006

0007 0008

0009

0010

0011 0012

cBatt

vBatt

Link

vGPS

cGPS

15.9

16.6

43.0

0.0 0.0

Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude

Flight time: 00:00

AGL: 0.0m

Heading: 0

Speed: 0.0m/s

Distance: 0.0m

Solo

Vehicle

Controller

Network Database

Select All

Return to missions

Select None

• disarm motors

• disconnect the GCS from the aircraft

• power off the camera

• power off helicopter

• assuming you’re done for a while - power down the GCS

Post ﬂight data:

Lets assume that you ﬂew four missions over the crash site and in addition to providing the oversight needed for the response team, you were able to help identify leaking tank cars, read tank labels and now it’s time to quickly review the data and put everything together for the incident report.

Page 70

Using the database tools you can quickly examine and name the four different missions. Double clicking a mission with the D-Pad brings up the photo gallery where you can quickly review the photos with the incident commander and if needed, build a slide show to run through images of particular interest.

As the team works the incident, export each mission to a USB memory stick and archive on a laptop out in the ﬁeld or at your desktop back at the ofﬁce.

In addition to the ﬂight log ﬁle, GCS captured photos and video, the GCS also exports a GoogleEarth KMZ ﬁle with embedded photos. The KMZ ﬁle allows you to review the aircraft ﬂight path and precisely examine where each photo was taken. Simply open the ﬁle using GoogleEarth on your laptop or desktop system.

Along the ﬂight path you will see either the individual photos or clusters of photos taken from a given location. Select a cluster to expand the photos and if you want to see a larger view with photo details, simply double click an image.

KMZ Flight Path

Expanded Cluster of Photos along ﬂight path in GoogleEarth. Double click photo to get larger view and position, altitude information

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As you archive data or export into your agency RMS database make sure to also merge and include the high resolution photos and video from the camera memory card as we discussed on page 42 of this manual.

Summary:

In this chapter we covered quite a bit of information ranging from the basics of arming and engaging the aircraft motors, running though a mission scenario and combined with ﬂight information in the helicopter manual you should have a good grasp on the basics of ﬂying and operating the aircraft.

The Draganﬂyer helicopter system and the handheld Ground Control System are a powerful combination. We have gone to great lengths to make it “simple” and at the same time, provide you with some amazing capability.

Enjoy your ﬂying and if you have additional questions or need additional support please contact us by e-mail or give us a call.

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Chapter 4

GCS

Aircraft

Link

GPS/SV

PDOP

----

Set

Clear

----

Set

Clear

----

Set

Clear

----

Set

Clear

----

Set

Clear

----

Open Mission

Clear All

Save Mission

Flight time: 00:00

Heading: 0

Distance: 0m

AGL: 0m

Speed: 0m/s

Solo

System Utilities

Disconnect

15.9

0.0

Scanning ...

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Troubleshooting

Problem: There is no live video display on the GCS

Possible cause:

• Payload is disconnected

• Camera is powered off

• Network connection issue

• Select the “play” video button

Solution: Check to make certain the payload interface cable is plugged into the

aircraft.

After the aircraft is powered-on, the GCS is powered-on, the camera is powered on, and lens cap removed, please connect to the aircraft and navigate to the system utilities network screen. Check your available networks to make sure the Draganﬂy network is seen and has been “connected” to. If not, connect to the network.

Once connected you should see the AXIS video server listed in the lower right window. At this point return to the home screen and you should now see the blue “Play arrow”.

Select the play arrow and video streaming will begin. If not contact Draganﬂy for more information.

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Technical Speciﬁcations

! Handheld GCS:

• Width: 29cm (11.4”)

• Height: 15cm (6”)

• Depth: 7.5cm (3”)

• Weight: 1.44kg (3.17 lbs)

! Data Link RF Communications:

• Link Type: 2.4GHz two way

• Helicopter Antenna: Wired Whip Antenna

• Controller Antenna: Omni Directional Whip

• Transmission Power: North America: 50mW (+18dBm) International:

10mW (+10dBM)

• RF Data Rate: 250kbps

• Receiver sensitivity: -100dBm

• Transmission Technique: DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum)

• Frequency Band: 2.400 – 2.4835 GHz

• Certiﬁcation: CE, FCC, IC, ETSI

• Data Link Channel Selection: Automatic (13 channels)

! Video Link RF Communications:

• Link Type: 5.8GHz two way

• Transmitter Antenna: Wired Whip Antenna

• Receiver Antenna: Internal ﬂat patch & external Omni directional whip

• Transmission Power: 19dBm

• RF Data Rate: 54 Mbps

• Transmission Technique: 802.11e

• Frequency Band: 5.475GHz – 5.825GHz

• Certiﬁcation: FCC, IC, CE

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! Storage capacity:

• Solid state storage

• 16Gb mission storage space

! External interfaces:

• Ethernet 10/100/1G

• USB 3.0

• Micro USB 3.0

• Audio out

• Audio in

• External power input 17.5 - 24vdc

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Contact Information

Draganﬂy Innovations Inc.

Product support:

Phone: 1-800-979-9794 International: 1-306-955-9907 e-mail: support@draganﬂy.com

Sales information:

Phone: 1-800-979-9794 International: 1-306-955-9907 Online: www.draganﬂy.com e-mail: sales@draganﬂy.com

Mailing address:

https://www.draganﬂy.com

Draganﬂy Innovations Inc. 2108 St. George Avenue Saskatoon, SK S7M0K7 Canada

This product and manual are copyrighted by Draganﬂy Innovations Inc. with all rights reserved. No part of this product or start-up guide shall be reproduced in any form without the prior written consent or authorization of Draganﬂy Innovations Inc. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the product or information contained herein.

Document Revision Level: v1.2

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Draganfly GCS User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual