Autopilot Beta Test

Storm Chaser · Sep 21, 2015

Autoflight Logic said:
Check out this.

Wow, that was a fast response-thank you. I realise that the Inspire RC has inbuilt GPS but I know and have experienced it's patchy performance due to (possibly) the tablet shielding it. The simplest solution is to trade my mini 3 wifi for a mini 2/3 cellular. The cost and added complexity of having an external Bluetooth device make having one marginal.
Any thoughts?

Scotflieger · Sep 21, 2015

Storm Chaser said:
Wow, that was a fast response-thank you. I realise that the Inspire RC has inbuilt GPS but I know and have experienced it's patchy performance due to (possibly) the tablet shielding it. The simplest solution is to trade my mini 3 wifi for a mini 2/3 cellular. The cost and added complexity of having an external Bluetooth device make having one marginal.
Any thoughts?

As Autopilot point out in their Flight School note, you can use a iPad with its GPS (SIM versions only) or use an external GPS receiver. For the former you don't need to buy a SIM or data package to use the GPS part. And you will find that Apple are now only selling the iPad Mini 2 or the new (and faster) Mini 4. I have a iPad Air 2 and Mini 2 (both non-SIM/GPS) so I went for the separate Dual XGPS160 which works nicely in my pocket and can connect to 5 bluetooth devices.

Storm Chaser · Sep 22, 2015

Thanks for letting me know the options. I thought about it for quite a while and eventually sold my iPad mini 3 wifi 16GB for £220. Just bought an iPad mini 2 cellular 16GB brand new on sale at Tesco for £259 delivered. Just seems like an easier solution rather than another device to pair/charge.
Really looking forward to using the Autopilot software

SCM660 · Sep 23, 2015

Are the extra add ons we've purchased like Orbit, and Zip Line a one time purchase? I bought all the extra add ins today but it says purchase 1 orbit and one zip line? Does this mean that the function is only available to use once or is it now installed fully for future use?

gregdd · Sep 23, 2015

SCM660 said:
Are the extra add ons we've purchased like Orbit, and Zip Line a one time purchase? I bought all the extra add ins today but it says purchase 1 orbit and one zip line? Does this mean that the function is only available to use once or is it now installed fully for future use?

Fully for future use

SCM660 · Sep 23, 2015

Perfect! Hopefully I'll get the time to give it a good test tomorrow. Reading all the Flight School,stuff and watching the videos, it sounds pretty impressive!

tomtnt · Sep 28, 2015

new SDK v2.4 is out now - looks like DJI added hardware decoding for the video stream. Hope you guys can incorporate this to help with the ipad/iphone overheating and lagging issues.

mdomeny · Sep 28, 2015

can you post a link? or is it on autoflightlogic homepage?

tomtnt · Sep 28, 2015

mdomeny said:
can you post a link? or is it on autoflightlogic homepage?

DJI just sent out an email to all developers noting the changes. Hardware decoding for IOS was one of the changes made to the SDK.

mdomeny · Sep 29, 2015

i am not SD

that is why i did not know about it. is there any info on where it is available? on the dji download page i only see the 1.4.10(most recent) version

Scotflieger · Sep 29, 2015

mdomeny said:
i am not SD that is why i did not know about it. is there any info on where it is available? on the dji download page i only see the 1.4.10(most recent) version

The SDK is only available to registered developers. You have to apply to be one.

chip chipman · Sep 29, 2015

This question may have been addressed earlier: as a Beta tester for the AutoFlight Logic App. must we now purchase it or will the beta continue to work for us? Mine seems to have quit for some reason.

IrishSights · Sep 29, 2015

Each beta has a life of 30 days as far as know. Just buy it and support these guys!

Ecko · Oct 2, 2015

Can we update to the new Firmware 1.05.0011 or better not?

mdomeny · Oct 2, 2015

chip chipman said:
This question may have been addressed earlier: as a Beta tester for the AutoFlight Logic App. must we now purchase it or will the beta continue to work for us? Mine seems to have quit for some reason.

i did buy when it came out having the beta and all works fine since.

Hangar · Oct 6, 2015

tomtnt said:
new SDK v2.4 is out now - looks like DJI added hardware decoding for the video stream. Hope you guys can incorporate this to help with the ipad/iphone overheating and lagging issues.

We are uploading a new beta build (version 2.1) that includes hardware decoding (see full changelog below). NOTE: many of these items were scheduled to be released with the next version, which was supposed to include Waypoint Mode, but DJI announced they will be breaking backwards compatibility with all existing SDK apps with the new firmware at the end of October. This is forcing us to do at least one more release before the version with Waypoint Mode.

Full Changelog:

Added support for spit-screen multitasking
Added support for aircraft type detection (when switching between aircraft types other than Phantom 2 Vision/Vision+)
Added Hardware Video Decoding setting (on by default)
Added Geo Coordinate setting to display lat/long in degrees minutes seconds, which is now the default
Added Reset Gimbal FPV on Disengage setting (enabled by default)
Added additional Max Altitude settings up to 500m (Movement Parameter)
Added additional Max Distance settings of 3000m (Movement Parameter)
Added additional Max Distance settings up to 5000m (Target Parameter)
Added aircraft serial number and firmware version info to the telemetry tapes and telemetry flight logs
Added compass calibration status on the Flight Dashboard, and added compass status info to the telemetry flight logs
Added control status messages on the Flight Dashboard when using buttons like Set with Aircraft Position
Changed metric vertical speeds to meters per second (from meters per minute)
Changed the commands section in the telemetry tape to show course and speed when in slow speed adaptive horizontal power mode
Corrected an issue causing the map to start at an invalid zoom level which required the user to pinch to load tiles
Corrected an issue where changing the aircraft type would not update the "Searching" status bar message
Corrected an issue where opening the Share menu would terminate the app on iPad

Ecko said:
Can we update to the new Firmware 1.05.0011 or better not?

We haven't tested it yet, but will report back once we do.

gregdd · Oct 6, 2015

Autoflight Logic said:
Added support for spit-screen multitasking

Does this mean we can have DJI Go open at the same time as AP?

Hangar · Oct 6, 2015

gregdd said:
Does this mean we can have DJI Go open at the same time as AP?

Our testing shows that the current version of DJI GO (released today) still does not support split-screen multitasking yet, but we hope they will update this soon. Then you can have GO for all the settings and Autopilot for the dirty work.

gregdd · Oct 6, 2015

Autoflight Logic said:
Our testing shows that the current version of DJI GO (released today) still does not support split-screen multitasking yet, but we hope they will update this soon. Then you can have GO for all the settings and Autopilot for the dirty work.

OK but even if we don't use split screen and just switch back and forth (my preferred method anyway) are we allowed to have both open and active at once?

BTW my iPad mini 3 is not finding any update on App Store

Hangar · Oct 6, 2015

gregdd said:
OK but even if we don't use split screen and just switch back and forth (my preferred method anyway) are we allowed to have both open and active at once?

Open? Yes. Active, it doesn't look like it. The new SDK force disconnects Autopilot from the aircraft when the app goes into the background. We have a question into DJI about this.