eMotion 3 User Manual

Revision 1.9 / March 2018

© 2018 senseFly
GENERAL INFORMATION
READ ALL USER MANUALS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING A SENSEFLY PRODUCT.
USER MANUALS ARE AVAILABLE ON MY.SENSEFLY WEBSITE.
senseFly products (the “Product(s)”) are intended for professional use only.
Always comply with Civil Aviation regulations and other applicable laws, act responsibly and follow the in-
structions in your senseFly User Manuals.

Civil aviation regulations

senseFly products (“Product(s)”) are subject to Civil Aviation regulations. Regulations may vary depending on the
country where you intend to operate your Product.
ALL USE OF THE PRODUCT INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE USE CONFORM TO THE APPLICABLE LAW OF THE
COUNTRY IN WHICH THE PRODUCT IS OPERATED, IS UNDER THE CLIENT’S SOLE RESPONSIBILITY.
THE CLIENT SHOULD INFORM HIMSELF BEFORE USING THE PRODUCT. SOME COUNTRIES MAY HAVE LAWS THAT LIMIT
THE USE OF UNMANNED AIRCRAFTS TO “LINE-OF-SIGHT” OPERATIONS AND/OR PROHIBIT THE USE OF UNMANNED
AIRCRAFTS IN SOME SPECIFIC AREAS.

Other laws and regulations - privacy

Recording and circulating an image of an individual, a building or a creative work may constitute an infringement of
the image rights, privacy or of intellectual property rights including copyrights of the author/owner for which you
can be liable. Ask for authorization before taking pictures of an individual, a building or creative work protected
by intellectual property rights, particularly if you want to keep your recording and/or circulate images on the web
or any other medium. Do not circulate degrading images or ones that could undermine the reputation or dignity
of an individual. Do not use your Product for espionage purposes. Always comply, when using your Product and
cameras on board, with applicable laws and regulations including but not limited to, laws and regulations on privacy,
intellectual property rights and national security in the country where you operate your Product.

Limited warranty
The Supplier warrants that the delivered items will be free from defects in workmanship and materials for a period of
twelve (12) months from the date that the item was first purchased by the client. During the Warranty Period, should
the covered Product, in the Supplier’s sole opinion, malfunction due to any defect in material and/or workmanship,
the Client’s sole remedy and the Supplier’s sole liability shall be, at Supplier’s option, to either repair or replace the
malfunctioning Product with a similar product at no charge, or if repair or replacement is not possible, issue a credit
note; provided that the malfunctioning Product is returned in accordance with the support and repair form together
with all required flight logfiles, with proof of purchase in the form of the Client’s original copy of the sales receipt,
within the applicable Warranty Period.
Warranty does not apply, without limitation, in case: a) the delivered items are not stored, maintained or used ac-
cording to their specifications, b) the delivered items are damaged due to carelessness, misuse, negligence, or wrong
use by the user, c) of defects due to normal wear and tear including, but not limited to, normal degradation, misuse,
moisture or liquids, dust, proximity or exposure to heat, contact with chemical agents, salt water, or other corro-
sive agents, accidents, excessive strain, abuse, neglect, misapplication, repairs or modifications made by third party
other than senseFly, damage due to pilot error (associated, for example, with the use of manual, assisted or interac-
tive flight modes), damage due to take-off or landing location with obstacles, damage due to low altitude or close
object flight, damage due to loss of data radio connection, damage due to strong wind, rain, water, humidity, cor-
rosion, condensation, salt or other causes for which senseFly is not answerable and d) failure to properly update the
flight control software and firmware. Any claim related to in-flight malfunction of the Product will be considered by
senseFly only if accompanied with all related flight logfiles. Battery cells are excluded from warranty after first use.
The warranty shall be subject to the condition that the Client submits the Product, every 100 hours of Product flight,
to the Supplier or to a Supplier-Authorised Service Centre for a service in accordance with maintenance schedules
and service instructions available at Client’s account on https://my.sensefly.com. A service may be performed in
advance provided however that the next service is performed within the above mentioned time interval. It is the
Client’s own responsibility to monitor the number and duration of flights and decide when the maintenance check
must be performed.
Any cost in relation with scheduled maintenance and service instructions, other than the return shipping costs, shall
be borne by the Client only. The Product is always shipped at Client’s sole risk, even in case of free delivery. The
Supplier is responsible for loss or damage to the Product only when the Product is in the Supplier’s premises.
The Client shall make available to the Supplier, at the Supplier’s request, all data regarding the Product’s flight and
maintenance parameters. The Client further agrees and acknowledges that the Supplier is entitled, at any time, to
access, analyse and use all data available on the Client’s Account regarding the flight and maintenance parameters.
If such data are not available for a reason over which the Supplier has no control or responsibility, including but not
limited to an external service provider issue, network fault or power failure, the Supplier is under no obligation to
provide the Limited Warranty coverage until such data is made available.
It is the Client’s responsibility to check that the Product’s airworthiness and level of maintenance are compliant with
applicable requirements under local laws and regulations. Additional maintenance may be required by international
or governmental authorities and the Client should make any and all necessary checks before operating the Product.
There are no express or implied warranties, representations or conditions other than those stated in this Limited War-
ranty. This Limited Warranty is made in lieu of all other warranties, representations or conditions, whether expressed
or implied, including without limitation, merchantability or fitness for a specific purpose.
The remedy set forth herein shall be the sole, exclusive remedy with respect to the Product.

Limitation of liability
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL THE SUPPLIER BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (EVEN IF THE SUPPLIER IS NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES) INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY CRASH OR DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE CLIENT OR A THIRD PARTY WHILE OPERATING OR
USING A SENSEFLY PRODUCT (EVEN IF CAUSED BY A MALFUNCTION OF THE PRODUCT), ANY LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS
OF PROFIT, OR LOSS OF DATA WHETHER BASED UPON ANY ALLEGED BREACH OF WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION OR
CONDITION, CONTRACT, OR ANY OTHER CONDUCT INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE (INTENTIONAL OR OTHERWISE), GIVING
RISE TO SUCH CLAIM.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL THE SUPPLIER BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (EVEN IF THE SUPPLIER IS NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES) INCLUDING,
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY FAILURE OF THE AUTOPILOT, ELECTRONICS OR SOFTWARE. THE
CLIENT SHALL NOT OPERATE THE PRODUCT IN AREAS OR UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE A FAILURE COULD CAUSE
DAMAGES OR/AND HARM TO PEOPLE, PROPERTY OR/AND ANIMALS.

Intellectual property rights

senseFly Products and software are protected by intellectual property rights. senseFly is the proprietor and legal and
beneficial owner and/or the authorized licensee of any intellectual property rights within the Products, and senseFly
is entitled to the benefit of all applications made for the grant of senseFly Intellectual Property Rights.
senseFly, eBee, albris and related logos are registered trademarks of senseFly. You may not use or register, in whole
or in part, registered trademarks without express authorization from their respective owners.
Copyrights
senseFly reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions contained in this document
at any time without notice. Please consult www.sensefly.com for the latest release.
Copyright © 2018 senseFly. All rights reserved. REPRODUCTION, USE OR DISCLOSURE OF ALL OR IN PART OF THIS
MANUAL TO THIRD PARTIES WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF SENSEFLY IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Acknowledgements
Pages 28, 116, 117, 185, 186, 187: Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com are licensed under CC 3.0 BY.
Address
senseFly SA
Route de Genève 38
1033 Cheseaux-Lausanne
Switzerland

Website: http://www.sensefly.com

Technical support
senseFly and our resellers are dedicated to providing you with full professional product support. To
submit a support ticket and/or view your outstanding tickets, please use our customer portal, my.senseFly
(http://my.senseFly.com). Log in with the same account details you used to download your drone’s
software (see the separate software information document in your senseFly drone’ case).
In addition to support access, my.senseFly includes:

• Details of all your senseFly drones, including their serial numbers.

• The Knowledge Base – packed full of helpful articles, tips, tutorials and webinars.
• Download links for the latest versions of our software.
 eMotion 3

Congratulations on your purchase of a senseFly drone. These intelligent mapping

and inspection drones (UAV, RPAS or UAS) offer advanced features such as RTK,
PPK, all-round situational awareness, a choice of flight modes (autonomous, inter-
active and manual), and cutting-edge, feature-rich flight monitoring and control
with eMotion 3.
eMotion 3 is an integrated software package with an easy-to-use interface that al-
lows you to intuitively plan your missions, with or without the drone connected,
pilot and interact with your drone. With eMotion 3’s wireless connection to a
senseFly drone you can, for example, track your drones position, assess its sur-
roundings via its video feeds and ultrasonic sensor displays, monitor flight progress
and send commands.
Coverage, waypoints, photo footprints and flight paths displayed in eMotion 3
are a reflection of the data contained within the drone’s autopilot. If the con-
nection between eMotion 3 and the drone is momentarily lost, the drone can
continue its mission, taking photos as planned, return to home and land, all fully
autonomously.
At senseFly we build our products to the very highest standards. Inspired by the
aeronautical backgrounds of our founders, we test individual components, fin-
ished drones and supporting software extensively in order to achieve the highest
possible level of safety and reliability.
We hope you enjoy using your senseFly drone.

Note: senseFly drones require eMotion to fly. Download the latest

version at no extra cost∗ from http://my.sensefly.com
About this user manual
A complete guide to your drone comprises:

• This eMotion 3 software user manual

An in-depth guide to mission planning and monitoring with eMotion 3.
• A drone user manual
A guide to your drone hardware, completing and complementing the eMotion 3
user manual.

There are also camera user manuals for drones with removable cameras.
You can find these user manuals within eMotion 3, in the Help function tab. All
senseFly user manuals are also available in my.sensefly∗ .

This user manual covers the use of eMotion 3 with any senseFly drones. Through-
out the user manual, items that have a symbol apply only to fixed-wing
drones. Items with a apply only to rotary drones.
This user manual is divided into the following sections:

Part I: Getting Started

How to install eMotion 3 and an overview of its features.

Part II: Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

For all senseFly drone users – connecting, simulating and the basics
of flying.

Part III: Flying fixed-wing drones with eMotion 3

Read this if you fly a fixed-wing senseFly drone– fixed-wing land-
ings.

Part IV: Flying RTK/PPK-capable drones with eMotion 3

∗ http://my.sensefly.com
 Read this if you are using the eBee Plus’s RTK/PPK capability. If you
are flying an eBee RTK, see your drone’s user manual.

Part V: Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

Read this if you fly a rotary senseFly drone, for example, the albris–
covers all rotary-specific features.

Part VI: Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data
For all senseFly drone users – treating your photos and flight data
after a flight.

Part VII: Troubleshooting: all drones

For all senseFly drone users – dealing with the unexpected.

Part VIII: Your drone’s software and firmware

For all senseFly drone users.

You’ll find all the user manuals you need within eMotion 3. All senseFly user man-
uals are also available in my.sensefly∗ .

∗ http://my.sensefly.com
Units used in this user manual

In general, dimensions are given in the appropriate SI units with, when relevant,
the Imperial unit in brackets, for example, 30 m (98 ft).
Dimension Units used
Distance km (mi) kilometres (miles)
Length m (ft) metres (feet)
Length cm (in) centimetres (inches)
Length mm (in) millimetres (inches)
Speed m/s (kts) metres per second (knots)
Climb rate m/s (ft/min) metres per second (feet per minute)
Mass kg (lbs) kilograms (pounds)
Mass g (oz) grams (ounces)
Temperature °C (°F) degrees Celsius (degrees Fahrenheit)
Frequency Hz hertz
Area m2 (sq ft) square metres (square feet)
Area km2 (sq mi) square kilometres (square miles)
Heading ° degrees from true north
Angle ° degrees
Thrust kgf (N, lbf) kilogram-force (newton, pound-force)

The Imperial unit used for speed is the knot (kts).

1 kts (knot) = 1 nm/h (nautical mile per hour)

All headings are given in reference to true north (geodetic north), not magnetic
north.
Contents

I Getting Started 1
1 Installing and updating eMotion 3 2

2 eMotion 3’s features 3

2.1 The Welcome screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2.2 The function tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 eMotion 3’s main flight monitoring and control interface . . . 5
2.4 About eMotion 3’s Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 About eMotion 3’s Navigation Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.6 About the Control Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.7 Warnings and Critical Failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.8 Notifications and actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.9 Keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.10 Mission wind and Mission weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.11 About the drone icon and status panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.12 Elevation data and 3D mapping in eMotion 3 . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.13 Displaying elevation data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.14 Displaying AirMap data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.15 Displaying air traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.16 Coordinates and altitude references in eMotion 3 . . . . . . . 28
2.17 Planning above take-off altitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.18 How to set the fixed altitude reference to the drone’s altitude . 32
2.19 Using a custom elevation model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.20 Using custom map sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
 2.21 About photo footprints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.22 Using the measurement tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.23 How to change unit system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.24 How to change coordinate system units . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.25 Sharing your working area with AirNavigation Pro . . . . . . . 39
2.26 Uploading your flight to DroneLogbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.27 Using Pix4D Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.28 About your Project Folder, eMotion 3 and Drone Flight Logs . . 40
2.29 About eMotion 3’s Data Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.30 How to activate RTK/PPK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.31 Enabling advanced functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

II Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3 45

3 How to connect eMotion 3 to your drone 46

4 Simulating your drone’s flight 48

4.1 How to run a simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

5 senseFly drone missions 51

5.1 About senseFly drone missions in eMotion 3 . . . . . . . . . . 52

5.2 Selecting drones and cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.3 Opening, creating and saving missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.4 Navigating around the map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.5 How to centre the map on the working area . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.6 How to download maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.7 Assigning Start, Home and mission blocks to the drone . . . . 60
 5.8 Take-off and landing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.9 How to place take-off and landing locations . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.10 Selecting and expanding take-off or landing locations . . . . . 63
5.11 How to move a take-off or landing location . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.12 How to assign a take-off or landing to your drone . . . . . . . 64
5.13 Take-off parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.14 Landing parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.15 How to delete a take-off or landing location . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.16 About waypoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.17 How to move waypoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.18 How to change a waypoint’s radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.19 About background & custom maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.20 Waypoints and their properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.21 About mission blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.22 About the mission block list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.23 How to create mission blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

6 eMotion 3’s Flight Monitoring tab 79

7 Autonomous flight with eMotion 3 82

7.1 Controlling your drone during an autonomous flight . . . . . . 82

7.2 Repeating or skipping part of an autonomous flight . . . . . . 83
7.3 Flying missions with more than one flight . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.4 Dealing with an Emergency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

8 Safety Parameters 91

8.1 Safety actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

 8.2 Take-off checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.3 How to make the drone return home sooner if link is lost . . . . 95
8.4 How to save your own default Safety Parameters . . . . . . . . 95
8.5 How to reset Safety Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

9 Mapping missions 97

9.1 Mapping mission properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

9.2 Horizontal Mapping mission blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
9.3 Horizontal Mapping mission block properties . . . . . . . . . . 101
9.4 Around POI (point of interest) mission blocks . . . . . . . . . . 103
9.5 Corridor Mapping mission blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
9.6 Custom Route mission blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

10 Readying your drone for the mission 113

10.1 After take-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

10.2 After the mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
10.3 Flying to Start and Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

III Flying fixed-wing drones with eMotion 3 119

11 Fixed-wing drone linear landings 120

11.1 About linear landing approach sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

11.2 How to create an approach sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
11.3 Moving and resizing approach sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
IV Flying RTK/PPK-capable drones with eMotion 3 123
12 Setting up RTK 126

12.1 Base station compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

12.2 RTK: Setting up your GNSS/RTK base station . . . . . . . . . . 126
12.3 Setting up reference points for your GNSS/RTK base station . . 128
12.4 Setting up virtual reference broadcasters . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
12.5 Setting up PPK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

13 Using RTK 131

13.1 Using a local base station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

13.2 Using a virtual reference broadcaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

14 Using PPK 133

V Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3 135

15 Take-off and landing: rotary drones 135

15.1 About Start and Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

15.2 About rotary drone take-off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
15.3 Landing a rotary senseFly drone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

16 Flying interactively with ScreenFly 142

16.1 The ScreenFly Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

16.2 How to activate and deactivate the ScreenFly Controller . . . . 147
16.3 How to take off using ScreenFly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
16.4 How to land using ScreenFly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
16.5 How to fly left, right, forward and backward with ScreenFly . . 148
 16.6 How to turn the drone using ScreenFly . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
16.7 How to climb and descend using ScreenFly . . . . . . . . . . . 148
16.8 How to hover using ScreenFly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
16.9 How to set a constant speed (cruise) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
16.10 About Distance Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

17 Capturing photos and video 156

17.1 How to capture single photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

17.2 Automatically capturing photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
17.3 Focussing a rotary senseFly drone’ Main Camera . . . . . . . . 157
17.4 Understanding ISO and exposure display colours . . . . . . . . 158
17.5 Focussing the navcams and Thermal Camera . . . . . . . . . . 159
17.6 Recording video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
17.7 How to turn on the Headlamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
17.8 Using the flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
17.9 How to take a photo with the flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
17.10 About the Main Camera zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
17.11 How to move the rotary senseFly drone’s cameras . . . . . . . 163
17.12 About the Thermal Camera feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
17.13 Temperatures in the Thermal Camera feed . . . . . . . . . . . 165
17.14 Thermal Camera calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

18 In-flight Monitoring 168

18.1 Choosing what to display in the Main Viewer . . . . . . . . . . 168

18.2 Selecting the head feed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
18.3 About the head-up display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
18.4 Choosing a navcam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
 18.5 About the ultrasonic sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

19 Mission planning for rotary drones 174

19.1 Flying safely around buildings or structures . . . . . . . . . . . 174

19.2 Flying POI mission blocks with rotary drones . . . . . . . . . . 176
19.3 Cylinder Mapping mission blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
19.4 Panorama mission blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

20 Horizontal mapping with rotary drones 192

VI Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data 193

21 Obtaining photos and flight data: Fixed-wing drones 194

22 Obtaining photos, videos and flight data: RTK/PPK-capable drones 200

22.1 High precision geotagging with an RTK/PPK-capable senseFly

drone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
22.2 For RTK/PPK-capable drones: Transforming coordinates . . . . 203

23 Obtaining photos, videos and flight data: Rotary drones 205

23.1 In-field quality check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

VII Troubleshooting: all drones 209

24 Warnings and error messages 210

24.1 Take-off vetoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

24.2 Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
24.3 Critical Failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
25 Troubleshooting: other issues 242
25.1 A map or elevation data tile is missing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

VIII Your drone’s software and firmware 245

26 Updating the software and firmware 245

27 Software requirements 247

 Part I

Getting Started
Getting Started

1 Installing and updating eMotion 3

Installing eMotion 3

eMotion 3 runs on Microsoft Windows† .

To install, launch the installer and follow the on-screen instructions. Once instal-
lation is complete, you will find eMotion 3 in the Start menu.
The required device drivers are installed automatically. If you need to install them
manually, the installation file is available in‡ :

C:\Program Files\senseFly\eMotion 3\usb_driver\

If you are using a proxy server to connect to the internet, choose Network in the
Options function tab, choose Socks 5 or Http and enter its details.

Updating eMotion 3
When an update is available from senseFly, a message will pop up when you
launch eMotion 3 (if you are connected to the internet).
You can also find updates on http://my.sensefly.com. See Updating the software
and firmware on page 245 for more information.

† full requirements on page 247

† on some computers, you may need to click through a large number of driver installation dialogs

2
 eMotion 3’s features

2 eMotion 3’s features

Use eMotion 3’s Welcome screen to load or create a mission, or click a function tab
to go straight into flight monitoring and control and eMotion 3’s other features.
Use eMotion 3’s Mission function tab to plan your drone missions. Create mission
blocks to build up your autonomous mission; each block can map or inspect a
different area or structure in a different way.

2.1 The Welcome screen

• New mission
Choose the drones and cameras available for your mission from the Select
drones and Select cameras pulldown menus and create your drone missions.

• Load mission
You can open mission (.mis) files from here.
• Favourites
Past missions you have added to your favourites.
• Recent
Your recently planned missions.

3
Getting Started

2.2 The function tabs

Use the function tabs to leave the Welcome screen and activate a function in
eMotion 3’s left-hand, Mission panel:

Mission
Plan your missions, set take-off/landing parameters, your Working area
and Safety Actions.

Postflight
Process your photos and flight data.

Updater
Update your drone’s firmware.
See Updating the software and firmware on page 245.

Logbook
View your drone’s flight logs.

Options
Set overall eMotion 3 options, for example, show optional buttons and
select imperial (US customary) or metric units.

Help
Browse your drone and eMotion 3 user manuals.

Next to the functions, you can also find:

Fullscreen
Click to switch eMotion 3 to fullscreen mode. Click again to leave
fullscreen mode.

Connect
Click to connect eMotion 3 to a real or simulated drone. Click again to
disconnect.

4
 eMotion 3’s features

Note: Once your drone has started its mission, you cannot return to
the Welcome screen. With a drone connected, you cannot process
flight data in the Postflight tab (the Flight Data Manager).

Note: Apart from the User interface options, you can only change op-
tions with the drone on the ground or disconnected.

2.3 eMotion 3’s main flight monitoring and control interface

Leaving the Welcome screen takes you into eMotion 3’s main flight monitoring
and control interface¹.

Right, drone
panel
Toolbar
Control
bar

Function
tabs

Left,
mission
panel

Connect
button
Notifications Main Secondary viewer
viewer

¹ shown with fixed-wing drone connected. For rotary drones, see About eMotion 3’s Navigation Bar
on page 12.

5
Getting Started

eMotion 3’s flight monitoring and control interface is split into several sections:

• Main Viewer
Here, eMotion 3 can display a map with the drone’s current position, the
feed from your rotary drone’s cameras, or your fixed-wing drone’s instru-
ment display.

• Toolbar
Use the toolbar to control the content of the Main Viewer. The toolbar
adapts to your choice of Main Viewer content. When viewing the map,
you’ll find buttons on the toolbar that switch between 2D and 3D, activate
a measurement tool, control the layers, sources or map information and
other display options related to the map. When viewing the feed from a
rotary drone’s cameras, you’ll find buttons to switch between head feeds
and to capture photos and video.

• Control Bar
Use to issue commands to the drone while it is in flight, such as starting the
mission phase or holding position. Warnings raised either before or during
a mission can be acknowledged here. See About the Control Bar on page 13
for details.

• Left-hand, Mission panel

Use the Mission panel to plan drone missions and set their parameters. No-
tifications are also displayed here.
When in flight monitoring and control mode, the left-hand, Mission panel
has the following tabs:

– Briefing
Use to set the working area, view a weather forecast and set expected
wind direction (which sets your missions’ flight line orientation).
– Take-off/landing
Use to create take-off and landing locations, Home and Start and their
parameters.

6
 eMotion 3’s features

– Mission blocks
Use to set up an autonomous flight; add mission blocks to your mis-
sion and assign them to your drones.
– Safety parameters
Use to set your drone’s behaviour if something unexpected happens.
– Drone and camera selection
Use to set the drones and cameras available to you. This can simplify
the eMotion 3 interface.
– / Set up RTK/PPK
RTK RTK
PPK

Use this tab if you have an RTK- or PPK-capable drone.

• Right-hand, Drone panel

When you connect a drone to eMotion 3 or run a simulation, tabs to view
its status and control its cameras and parameters appear here.

– / Flight Monitoring
Use to monitor the drone while in flight.
– Cameras
Use to configure the drone’s cameras and how it will capture photos.
– Parameters
Use this tab to view and configure drone parameters.

• Secondary Viewer
When you connect a drone to eMotion 3 or run a simulation, one of the
following can appear here:

– Artificial horizon
Use to monitor the drone’s pitch, roll, yaw, air speed, bearing and al-
titude while in flight.
– Map
Use to monitor the drone’s position on the map when a camera feed
is in the Main Viewer. Double-click the Secondary Viewer to toggle
its content with the Main Viewer. See Choosing what to display in the
Main Viewer on page 168.

7
Getting Started

– Camera feed
Use to control the drone and monitor its ground speed, altitude, pitch,
bearing and surroundings. See Capturing photos and video on page 156.

8
 eMotion 3’s features

• Navigation Bar

Navigation bar

Use to activate and monitor the feeds from a rotary drone’s sensors. Only
appears when a rotary drone is connected.

– Navcam selection
Choose the navcam feed you want to view.

– Navcam feed
The feed from the selected navcam.

– Ultrasonics panel
Shows the drone’s distance from surrounding objects. Use to select a
sensor.

9
Getting Started

Showing, hiding and resizing the Navigation Bar and side pan-
els

To resize a panel, click and drag the edge of the panel, marked > .
To show or hide one of the panels:

• Click the edge of the panel, marked > .

• Click and drag the edge of the panel to make it smaller until it disappears.

2.4 About eMotion 3’s Toolbar

You’ll see these buttons on the toolbar when you have the map in the Main Viewer:

Choose your background map source

Show/hide layers
Toggle between 2D and 3D map
Automatically keep the drone in the centre of the map
Centre the map on the drone once

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 eMotion 3’s features

Move the map to a specific place or coordinate

Zoom out of the map
Zoom in on the map
Activate the measurement tool
Toggle photo footprints on/off
Clear current photo footprints

You’ll see these buttons when you are connected to a rotary drone and you
have a head camera feed in the Main Viewer:

Put the head’s navcam feed in the Main Viewer

Put the head’s HD video feed from the Main Camera in the Main Viewer
Put the head’s Thermal Camera feed in the Main Viewer
Zoom out (Main Camera)
Zoom in (Main Camera)
Reset the head so that it is pointing forward (0°) and zoomed out
Trigger autofocus
Toggle video recording on/off
Toggle automatic photo trigger on/off
Take a photo now

You’ll see these buttons if you have the Thermal Camera feed in the Main
Viewer:

Toggle thermal edge overlay on/off

Toggle temperature range lock to scene
Calibrate Thermal Camera pixels

11
Getting Started

2.5 About eMotion 3’s Navigation Bar

Navcam selection

Navcam feed Ultrasonics panel

You’ll see these buttons if a rotary drone is connected and the Navigation Bar
is visible:

View head navcam feed (in Navigation Bar)

View left navcam feed (in Navigation Bar)
View right navcam feed (in Navigation Bar)
View bottom navcam feed (in Navigation Bar)
View rear navcam feed (in Navigation Bar)
Switch ultrasonic feedback sound effects on/off
Select ultrasonic beam

12
 eMotion 3’s features

2.6 About the Control Bar

Control bar for fixed-wing drones

Control bar for rotary drones

The Control Bar appears when connected to a drone. Use the Control Bar buttons
to send commands to the drone. Use the first button (WARNING) to acknowledge
Warnings². Additional buttons can be added³. Some buttons are only active when
needed or appropriate.
During a fully-autonomous flight the drone will control its flight itself, from take-
off to landing, and you do not need to use any of the control buttons. They can,
however, be useful in unexpected situations. Use the simulator to test the effects
of the buttons on the drone.

² see Warnings on page 218 for a list and description of possible in-flight warnings
³ see Dealing with an Emergency on page 86

13
Getting Started

Button Action

WARNING/
ACK. WARNING/ Acknowledge a Warning if one has been raised (ACK.
CRITICAL FAILURE WARNING displays).

INTER-
ACTIVE Toggle interactive ScreenFly on/off.

TAKE
OFF Trigger rotary drone motor start and take-off.

GO TO
HOME Send the drone to Home, where it will wait for the
next command.

GO TO
START* Send the drone to Start, where it will wait for the next
command.

HOLD* Put a rotary drone into a hover, or tell a fixed-wing

drone to hold (start circling its current location) and
wait for the next command.
The drone creates a temporary waypoint.

RESUME
MISSION Send the drone to the last visited waypoint in an in-
terrupted mission and continue the flight plan.

14
 eMotion 3’s features

START
MISSION* Send the drone to the first waypoint in the mission
block and start or restart the mission† .

RESTART
BLOCK* Send the drone back to the beginning of the current
mission block and restart it† .

GO
LAND Send the drone to Home, where it will land.
Land if already on Home.

ABORT
LANDING Abort the current landing.
Rotary: In interactive flight, the drone hovers. In au-
tonomous flight it returns to Home and waits for a
command.

LAND NOW
Click 3x Land immediately at the current location.
Fixed-wing: initiates a circular landing.
Rotary: Use this button to abort take-off.
Triple-click to engage.

EMERGENCY
LDG Click 3x Immediately initiate a parachute-like descent.
For rotary drones only. Triple-click to engage.

15
Getting Started

MOTORS OFF** All 4 propellers immediately stop spinning.

Click 3x For rotary drones only. Triple-click to engage.
CAUTION: ACTION CANNOT BE CANCELLED.

* these actions can only be carried out once you have acknowledged and dealt
with any Warnings
** this button is hidden when eMotion 3 is installed⁴
†
START MISSION and RESTART BLOCK reset the block’s progress bar.

2.7 Warnings and Critical Failures

If the drone detects an issue it will do one of the following:

• Raise a Warning and, if necessary, automatically carry out a Safety Action.

• Signal a Critical Failure.

Warnings are raised when a dangerous or unexpected situation is detected, for

example, low battery, strong winds or a fault. If your drone raises a Warning, the
WARNING button on the control bar turns yellow and the text changes to ACK.
WARNING.
If no Safety Action has been triggered, acknowledge the Warning by clicking ACK.
WARNING and carry out the action recommended in Warnings on page 218.
Critical Failures occur if the drone’s ability to fly is severely compromised, for ex-
ample, the battery is empty. The WARNING button will turn red and read CRITICAL

⁴ to show this button, choose User interface in the Options function tab

16
 eMotion 3’s features

FAILURE. A Critical Failure cannot be dismissed. If a Critical Failure arises, the drone
immediately performs an autonomous emergency landing.

Warning button states

Caution: We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the Warn-

ings to have a better understanding of what happens if they occur in
the field. See Warnings and error messages on page 210 for a list of
Warnings and Critical Failures and the drone’s reaction to them.

Note: It is important to keep track of the location of the drone during

a Critical Failure until the moment it reaches the ground. Its coordi-
nates can aid in finding it afterwards. See your drone’s user manual
for details.

2.8 Notifications and actions

Notifications appear at the bottom of the left, Mission panel when some part of
your mission plan will, or might, prevent the drone from successfully completing
it. Notifications are separate from the vetoes, Warnings and Critical Failures that
appear on the Control bar.

Some notifications

17
Getting Started

There are 3 levels of notification:

Level Colour

Advisory Blue A reminder; something you need to do or be aware of

Caution Yellow An issue that puts your mission or drone at risk
Critical Red An issue that will cause mission failure and/or your
drone to crash

Some notifications have an action. Trigger the action and eMotion 3 will auto-
matically resolve the problem.
If you carry out an action that resolves a notification, eMotion 3 will remove that
notification from the list.
Click Acknowledge to hide a notification. Doing this does not resolve the un-
derlying issue. The notification will reappear if you cause the underlying issue
again.

2.9 Keyboard shortcuts

The following are available:

Ctrl+k Connect a drone

Ctrl+Shift+k Disconnect drone
Ctrl+t Auto-centre map on drone
Space Abort landing

18
 eMotion 3’s features

2.10 Mission wind and Mission weather

eMotion 3 features integrated weather forecasts⁵.

When you place or move your Working Area, eMotion 3 displays the current weather
and forecast for that location in the left-hand, Mission panel and sets the Estimated
Mission Wind to the current wind conditions (wind speed and direction).

2.11 About the drone icon and status panel

The animated drone on the map in the main viewer indicates the live position of
your real or simulated drone.

Status
panel
Wind
direction

An arrow indicates wind direction as measured by the drone. Its size varies ac-
cording to wind speed.
The Status Panel that follows the drone displays basic flight information including
battery charge, elapsed flight time and altitude, both above the take-off location
(ATO) and above mean sea-level (AMSL).
If the drone is off the map, the status panel appears on the side of the map. A line
between the map centre and the status panel will lead to the drone’s position.
Click the drone on the map to toggle the status panel on and off.

⁵ sourced from openweathermap.org

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Getting Started

2.12 Elevation data and 3D mapping in eMotion 3

eMotion 3 is supplied with Improved SRTM elevation data and uses this elevation
data to display the map in 3D.

Note: Improved SRTM elevation data uses a 3 arc-second (approx.

90 m resolution) digital elevation model derived from the SRTM
(Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) dataset version 2.1 combined
with other data sources (ASTER GDEM, SRTM30, cartographic data,
etc.). This data covers nearly all emerged land except the territories
below 56◦ S latitude and the territory of the Russian Federation above
60◦ N latitude.

Caution: The supplied elevation data may contain inaccuracies of

several meters, and does not contain data on obstacles such as build-
ings or trees. We highly recommend that you check your flight plan
thoroughly, in 2D and 3D, to ensure sufficient clearance between the
flight plan and the ground. senseFly provides no guarantee regard-
ing the accuracy of the elevation data and it is the operator’s sole re-
sponsibility to ensure a safe flight trajectory and altitude.

How to select the nearest elevation data server

When it is first launched, eMotion 3 will automatically download the Improved
SRTM elevation data from senseFly’s servers⁶ and store the tiles locally so that they
can be used offline. There are several servers around the world.
Choosing the nearest server will improve the speed that elevation data loads. Do
not attempt to plan an autonomous flight without elevation data.

1. In the Options function tab, choose the nearest server in the Elevation
data options.

⁶ eMotion 3 must be connected to the internet

20
 eMotion 3’s features

2. Restart eMotion 3.

2.13 Displaying elevation data

Using the Show/hide layers Toolbar menu, you can display the elevation data
height as a colour-coded overlay on the background map.
When an elevation data layer is switched on, a tool appears on the map (right-
hand, bottom corner), allowing you to control its colour range and opacity.
Click the colour bar on the tool to pop up a dialog box version of it.

On-map
Dialog box

How to display the elevation data as a colour-coded map

From the Show/hide layers menu on the Toolbar:

• Choose Elevation Color Map to display the SRTM elevation data.

• If you have imported custom elevation data (DSM), choose it from the list.

A tick appears in the list next to elevation data colour maps that are currently
switched on.
To switch a layer off, click it again in the Show/hide layers menu on the Toolbar.

21
Getting Started

How to automatically set elevation data display colour range

Click on the elevation data tool.

The colour range is adjusted so that blue represents the lowest point within the
area currently visible in the Main Viewer, and red the highest.

How to set the elevation data display colour range yourself

1. Click the on-map elevation data colour tool’s colour bar.

2. In the dialog box, adjust the Min. elevation and Max. elevation.

3. You will see a preview of the opacity level in the Main Viewer. Click OK when
done.

Terrain at the Min elevation height you chose will be coloured blue. Terrain at the
Max elevation height will be coloured red.

How to set the elevation data display opacity

1. Click 50%
the on-map elevation data colour tool’s colour bar and choose the
opacity level you want.

2. In the dialog box, click 50%

.

3. You will see a preview of the opacity level in the Main Viewer. Click OK when
done.

2.14 Displaying AirMap data

With its AirMap integration, eMotion 3 can indicate whether you risk flying within
or close to the following:

22
 eMotion 3’s features

Layer 1 Layer 2
Airport School
Heliport Hospital
Controlled airspace Wildlife
Special use airspace Park
Temporary flight restriction Powerplant
Prison

If, in the active AirMap layer, one of these zones is within 5 km (3 miles) of the
edge of your working area, eMotion 3 will display it on the map.

How to display an AirMap layer

In the Show/hide layers menu in the Toolbar, click the layer you want to display.
A tick appears in the list next to layers that are currently switched on.
An AirMap tool appears in the bottom right corner of the map.
To switch a layer off, click it again in the Show/hide layers menu on the Toolbar.

How to refresh AirMap data

Click . eMotion 3 will fetch the latest data from AirMap. The date and time the
data was last refreshed appears on the AirMap tool.

How do clearly view AirMap zone labels

Sometimes AirMap zones overlap and the label cannot be read. Click the zone’s
label to bring it to the front so that you can read it.

23
Getting Started

2.15 Displaying air traffic

With a uAvionix PingUSB ADS-B/UAT receiver connected to your computer, eMotion 3
can show, in the Main Viewer, and alert you to the presence of air traffic in the area.

• Only aircraft transmitting ADS-B/UAT signals on 1090 MHz and 978 MHz
can be detected.

• Aircraft further than 15 km (9 miles) from the edge of the working area are
not shown.

• Aircraft that are more than 2000 m (6500 ft) above the working area ceiling
are not shown.

• If an aircraft’s signal cannot reach the receiver (for example, the receiver is
inside a vehicle or building, or there is no clear line of sight between them),
it will not be shown.

Traffic identifier ABC123D

+100 m Altitude
Alert TRAFFIC separation

Traffic
Speed indicator
Direction of travel

Traffic is within the Main Viewer

• Traffic identifier
The identifier the aircraft’s ADS-B or UAT transmitter is transmitting. This
might be its callsign, identification or registration number.

24
 eMotion 3’s features

• Altitude separation
The vertical distance between the traffic and your drone. A positive value
means that the traffic is above the drone.

• Alert
Indicates the level of alert—yellow when caution is required, red when
there is the possibility of collision.

• Traffic
Indicates the location of the traffic.

• Speed indicator
The length of the white line is the distance on the map that the traffic will
travel (based on its current ground speed) in the next 15 seconds.

Traffic is in this direction

ABC123D
+100 m
TRAFFIC
If traffic is outside the Main Viewer, its position at the edge indicates its direction.

eMotion 3 will also raise an air traffic alert based on all of the following conditions:

• Separation
How far away, in a straight line from the drone, the traffic is.

• Vertical separation
How far above or below the drone the traffic is—the vertical separation.

25
Getting Started

• Time before possible collision

How long before they would collide if they turned towards each other and
maintained their speed.

There are 2 levels of air traffic warning, Caution (yellow) and Warning (red):

If the separation is...

Less than 3000 m (10000 ft) Less than 1000 m (3000 ft)

...AND vertical separation is...

Less than 300 m (1000 ft) Less than 100 m (300 ft)

...AND time before possible collision is...

Less than 45 s Less than 15 s

Caution Warning

TRAFFIC TRAFFIC
“Traffic” “Traffic, traffic”

Installing the uAvionix PingUSB ADS-B receiver

Using the cable supplied, connect the uAvionix PingUSB receiver to your com-
puter’s USB socket.
The uAvionix PingUSB will install itself automatically⁷.
⁷ to install manually, go to http://www.uavionix.com/products/pingusb/

26
 eMotion 3’s features

The receiver works best if kept vertical and positioned outside with a clear view of
the sky. If you need to use a longer cable, do not use one that is longer than 2 m.

How to display air traffic information

Connect the uAvionix PingUSB receiver to a USB socket on your computer.
When you have a mission open a Show/hide air traffic button will appear on
eMotion 3’s Toolbar. Any detectable air traffic will be shown on the map and air
traffic alerts will be activated.
Click Show/hide air traffic to hide air traffic and stop any alerts.

Note: You do not need to acknowledge air traffic alerts. They are sep-
arate from eMotion 3’s drone-related warnings and error messages,
which do need to be acknowledged⁸.

Caution: An absence of air traffic alerts in eMotion 3 does not mean

that there is no traffic. The drone pilot is responsible for ensuring that
they comply with local regulations concerning traffic separation.

Caution: Due to environmental factors, notably variations in air pres-

sure, an aircraft’s true separation and vertical separation may differ
from that reported in eMotion 3.

⁸ See Warnings and error messages on page 210

27
Getting Started

2.16 Coordinates and altitude references in eMotion 3

ATO AMSL AED

Elevation data

vel
sea le
Mean

This schematic represents a local elevation dataset that references a standard lo-
cal ellipsoid being used for AED values. As long as eMotion 3 recognises the pro-
jected coordinates, it transforms them to WGS 84 on import using the GDAL⁹ li-
brary.

Altitudes in eMotion 3
eMotion 3 displays altitudes in different ways according to the situation:

• Above the Take-off Altitude – metres (m/ATO) or feet (ft/ATO)

ATO altitudes are relative to the place your drone started its motor just be-
fore taking off.
• Above Mean Sea Level – metres (m/AMSL) or feet (ft/AMSL)
AMSL altitudes are relative to a standard mean sea level geoid. Your drone
⁹ the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library – www.gdal.org.
Note that eMotion 3 cannot convert manually defined references in non-standard coordinates.

28
 eMotion 3’s features

uses the EGM96 mean sea level standard. 0 m/AMSL (0 ft/AMSL) on land is
very close to where the sea level would be if the land was absent.

• Above Elevation Data – metres (m/AED) or feet (ft/AED)

AED altitudes are relative to the currently active elevation data model. If,
for example, you are using the supplied SRTM elevation data, this is approx-
imately the altitude above the ground¹⁰.

Terrain height and altitude can be given relative to a geoid or an ellipsoid. A geoid
represents the shape of the earth in a way that takes into account local changes
in gravity. A geoid is not a regular geometric shape.

Note: If you are using the SRTM elevation dataset supplied with
eMotion 3, terrain height is relative to the EGM96 geoid.

Note: Altitudes below take-off, sea level or below 0 m (0 ft) in the

current elevation dataset are expressed as negative values, for exam-
ple, if the drone is at -10 m/ATO (-33 ft/ATO) it means that it is 10 m
(33 ft) lower than the point it took off from.

Caution: senseFly cannot guarantee the accuracy of the elevation

data supplied. It is the operator’s sole responsibility to ensure a safe
flight trajectory and altitude.

Coordinates you enter into eMotion 3’s user interface

eMotion 3 assumes that any coordinate you enter is in the WGS 84 reference
frame.
If you are using a local or national geoid (MSL) or geodetic coordinate system, you
must convert coordinates into WGS 84 before entering them into eMotion 3.

¹⁰ see Elevation data and 3D mapping in eMotion 3 on page 20

29
Getting Started

The way you do this conversion depends on the geoid and the tools available
to you. Online or downloadable conversion tools may be available, for example,
from a national geodetic society.

Terrain following using elevation data

When planning an autonomous mapping mission, eMotion 3 uses, by default, el-
evation data to set the altitude of the ends of each flight line (when flying a fixed-
wing mapping mission) or each mission waypoint. This improves the ground res-
olution and increases mission safety, especially in uneven terrain, by keeping a
constant distance between the drone and the ground.
To ask the drone to follow the terrain during a mapping mission, open the map-
ping mission block and choose Elevation data from the Plan above: pull-down menu.
Elevation data will then be used to set each mission waypoint altitude:

1. The planner uses the elevation data to find the terrain elevation under the
waypoint or the ends of the flight line.

2. The target altitude is added to this maximum value and the result is set as
the waypoint or flight line altitude.

Note: If you need to, you can then adjust each waypoint’s altitude
manually. See How to move waypoints on page 68

Select a mission block to display the altitude of each flight line.

Caution: A dotted flight line indicates that it passes below the ele-
vation data and you at risk of crashing your drone.

Caution: An indication, in eMotion 3, that your flight will be clear of

the ground is no guarantee that it will be once a real drone is in flight.
Always check your flight plans carefully against the real terrain.

30
 eMotion 3’s features

2.17 Planning above take-off altitude

By default, eMotion 3 plans your blocks above elevation data (AED).
You can also choose to plan above take-off (ATO). Before take-off, eMotion 3 uses
the altitude of the elevation data at the centre of each mapping mission block
to set that block’s flight lines’ altitude approximately. Then, at the moment the
drone takes off, eMotion 3 adjusts your flight lines’ altitudes, recalculating them
so that they are above the real take-off altitude.

Choosing an alternate altitude reference for your mapping mis-

sion block
If you do not want the drone to follow the terrain, or you do not have confidence
in the elevation data you are using, you can choose another way to set waypoint
altitudes.
Open your mission block and click Edit. Choose an option from the Plan above:
pull-down menu. Flight line and waypoint altitudes will be set above:

• Take-off
The altitude that the drone measures itself to be at the moment it takes off.

• Elevation data
The altitude of the terrain according to the active elevation data at that
location.

• Fixed altitude
Waypoint altitudes will be set above the AMSL altitude you set here.

Caution: Always check carefully to make sure your drone will stay
clear of the ground, especially if you are not using elevation data. Do
not rely solely on the drone’s ground avoidance feature.

31
Getting Started

2.18 How to set the fixed altitude reference to the drone’s al-
titude
If, for example, your elevation data is unreliable, you can tell eMotion 3 to plan
your mission above the altitude the drone is currently at.

• Power on the drone and place it at the take-off location.

• Edit the mission block and choose Plan above: Fixed altitude.
• Click Set to drone altitude.

2.19 Using a custom elevation model

By default, eMotion 3 uses the supplied SRTM elevation model as an altitude ref-
erence for mapping.
You can also import another elevation dataset or create your own.
Choose Elevation data from the Options function tab to:

• Add datasets
• Remove datasets
• Activate and deactivate them
• Change the order

Note: eMotion 3 uses the elevation data that is (out of those avail-
able at a given location) the highest in the list to calculate altitude
for each waypoint. The Improved SRTM elevation dataset supplied is
always considered the bottom layer.

Note: eMotion 3 displays custom elevation data with 1 cm vertical

and approximately 12 cm horizontal resolution. eMotion 3 brings
higher-resolution data down to this resolution for display.

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 eMotion 3’s features

How to import an elevation dataset

1. Click Import custom elevation data... in the Elevation data options.

2. Browse to the location of your elevation data (GeoTIFF format) file and click
Open.

Note: eMotion 3 cannot import DSM files if the part of the file
name before .tif contains punctuation or special characters. The
file’s name must contains only letters, numbers and underscores (eg,
abc_123.tif).

How to enable an elevation dataset

1. Activate or deactivate the elevation data layer using the checkboxes in the
Elevation data options.

2. Use the arrows to move your elevation data up or down the list.
If one dataset appears above another in this list, it will be used to display
the map in 3D and set drone altitude whenever those datasets overlap.

3. Click Ok.

4. Enable your new elevation model using the Show/hide layers menu in
the Toolbar. eMotion 3 will then use your custom dataset (in areas where
it is available) to display the map in 3D and set waypoint altitudes.

Caution: Always very carefully check that your elevation dataset has
been imported in the way that you expected. Unexpected altitudes
can be set if, for example, a custom elevation dataset was created
using a different ellipsoid. Carefully check your flight plan in 3D and
before flying.

33
Getting Started

How to create and use your own elevation data

One way to increase the resolution and accuracy of the elevation data is to create
your own elevation data:

1. Fly a mission at high altitude, process this data and create a DSM¹¹.

2. Enable your new elevation model using the menu in the Toolbar. eMotion 3
will then use your custom dataset (in areas where it is available) to set way-
point altitudes.

Caution: Always carefully check that elevation datasets you have cre-
ated appear as expected on the 3D map and have the expected AMSL
altitudes.

Caution: eMotion 3 assumes that any data you import is in the

WGS 84 reference frame. It transforms it into AMSL. See Coordinates
and altitude references in eMotion 3 on page 28

Note: If, for example, you are using Pix4Dmapper to create elevation
data, you can transfer it directly to eMotion 3. Choose Send DSM to
eMotion from Pix4Dmapper’s Process menu.

2.20 Using custom map sources

eMotion 3 is supplied with a series of maps. You can also import maps or create
your own.
Choose Maps from the Options function tab to:

• Add maps
¹¹ your drone’s camera must be suitable for DSM creation

34
 eMotion 3’s features

• Remove maps
• Activate and deactivate them
• Change the order

How to import a map

1. Click Import custom map... in the Maps options.

2. Browse to the folder that contains your map tile files and click Open.

How to enable a custom map

1. Activate or deactivate the map layer using the checkboxes in the Maps op-
tions.

2. Use the arrows to move your map up or down the list.

If one map appears above another in this list, only the top map will appear
in areas that both maps cover.

3. Click Ok.

4. Enable your new map using the menu in the Toolbar.

Custom map tiles are added as a layer in eMotion 3. Tile sets must be TMS-compatible
sets of files.
Note: Custom maps, including associated icons or photos included
within them, are not copied to the eMotion 3 directory and will no
longer therefore appear in eMotion 3 if you move or delete the orig-
inal files.

35
Getting Started

Note: Some software can generate TMS-compatible, eMotion 3-

compatible tile sets from the photos taken by your drone or an-
other senseFly drone. Using these, you can create your own map
background. In, for example, Pix4Dmapper, choose Generate Google
Maps tiles and KML, then Send Map to eMotion from the Process menu.

2.21 About photo footprints

Whenever the drone takes a picture, eMotion 3 records the location and orien-
tation of the drone and computes the approximate outline of the photo on the
ground (its footprint).
When you move your mouse over a waypoint, footprints of photos taken by the
drone are shown as a shaded polygon on the map. Each polygon represents an
estimate of the area that has been photographed by the drone at that moment.
Wind conditions and imprecisions in the elevation data will affect the estimation;
the photo taken may not be the exact size or exactly where the footprint appears.
You can show or hide footprints with the button on the Toolbar. When hidden,
eMotion 3 still keeps and creates new footprints, but doesn’t display them on the
map. Unless you clear them, they are saved with the mission.
Clicking removes all footprints from the map and deletes them from the mis-
sion. If you then change or save the mission, it will have no footprints.

Note: Clearing or hiding footprints does not affect the captured pho-
tos or video, their geotags or any other data logged by eMotion 3 and
the drone during the flight.

2.22 Using the measurement tool

You can use the measurement tool to measure, along a line (made up of a series
of line segments):

• the total length

36
 eMotion 3’s features

• the lowest and highest altitude of the terrain (using the elevation data)

• the total positive and negative elevation change

The results of your measurement appear on the Toolbar:

• 2D distance
The sum of the point-to-point lengths of each line segment.

• 3D distance
The line’s length, along the earth’s surface, following the elevation data ac-
tive in that region.

• Min alt
The lowest altitude, above mean sea level, that the terrain reaches along
the line.

• Max alt
The highest altitude, above mean sea level, that the terrain reaches along
the line.

• Up slope

• The total positive elevation change along the line, using the elevation data
active in that region.

• Down slope

• the total negative elevation change along the line, using the elevation data
active in that region.

To carry out a measurement:

1. Click .

2. Click on the map at the point at which you want to start your first line seg-
ment.

37
Getting Started

3. Click again on the map at the end of your first line segment. The measure-
ments appear on the toolbar.

4. Continue clicking to add more line segments.

5. Press the Escape key to stop adding line segments. The line you have made
will stay on the map and the measurements will stay on the toolbar.

6. Click again to exit the measurement tool and remove the line and mea-
surements.

You can zoom the map with your middle mouse button while using the measure-
ment tool and you can navigate using the toolbar and the arrow buttons on your
keyboard, but you cannot pan using the mouse.

2.23 How to change unit system

eMotion 3 can display lengths and measurements, and you can enter them in
metric or imperial units. To switch units:

1. Click the Options function tab.

2. Choose the Local preferences panel and select the Unit system.

2.24 How to change coordinate system units

eMotion 3 can display coordinates, and you can enter them in decimal degrees
(DD) or degrees, minutes and seconds (DMS). To switch coordinate units:

1. Click the Options function tab.

2. Choose the Local preferences panel and select the Coordinates.

38
 eMotion 3’s features

2.25 Sharing your working area with AirNavigation Pro

You can share some of your mission parameters with users of AirNavigation Pro.
They will be able to see your working area and activity, along with the activity of
other senseFly drone users, and will be warned if entering your airspace, or if you
enter theirs.
To enable publication to AirNavigation Pro:

1. With the drone on the ground or disconnected, choose Airspace/Traffic in

the Options function tab and, under Advisories, check the Send Working
Area advisory to AirNav Pro© checkbox.
2. Enter the email address and password you use to log in to AirNavigation
Pro.
3. Click Check and eMotion 3 will check, with AirNavigation’s servers, that
your credentials are correct.

Note:
Your activity is not shared when using the simulator.

2.26 Uploading your flight to DroneLogbook

You can build your DroneLogbook flight log by uploading your flight trajectory
and key flight parameters from within eMotion 3.
To enable upload to DroneLogbook:

1. Choose Clouds in the Options function tab and, under DroneLogbook,

check the Enable DroneLogbook connection checkbox.
2. Enter the email address and password you use to log in to DroneLogbook.
3. Click Check and eMotion 3 will check, with DroneLogbook’s servers, that
your credentials are correct.

39
Getting Started

The option to upload will appear in the last step of flight data treatment with the
Flight Data Manager. See Part VI.

2.27 Using Pix4D Cloud

If you have a Pix4D cloud account, you can upload your geotagged photos from
within eMotion 3 and have them processed using Pix4D’s Cloud service. The op-
tion to Upload images to Pix4D cloud appears at the end of photo and flight data
treatment in the Flight Data Manager. See Part VI.
To activate this option:

1. Choose Clouds in the Options function tab.

2. Under Pix4D, check the Enable Pix4d Cloud connection checkbox.
3. Enter your Pix4D Cloud Login (user name) and Password and click Check.
eMotion 3 will ask Pix4D’s Cloud service to check your credentials, and if
they are correct, it will activate the option in the Flight Data Manager.

2.28 About your Project Folder, eMotion 3 and Drone Flight

Logs
During flight, senseFly drones record flight data in a special Drone Flight Log file
(.bb3), stored on your drone or on a rotary drone’s SD card. In it, the drone logs
important information such as sensor data, control inputs and its location.
At the same time, eMotion 3 also records the flight data that it receives over
the communications link with the drone. It stores this on your computer in the
eMotion 3 Flight Log (*em.bb3)¹². This serves as a backup in case the Drone Flight
Log file cannot be recovered.
After your flight, you will process all your flight data using eMotion 3’s Flight Data
Manager (see Part VI). During this, you will create a Project Folder into which all
¹² if there is an issue with your senseFly drone, both flight logs will be needed for technical support.
See your drone user manual.

40
 eMotion 3’s features

of your flight data, including the flight log you used (.bb3 or *em.bb3), will be
copied. In this way your Project Folder contains everything you need to create, or
recreate your data products (eg, orthomosaics or DSMs) if need be.
Flight log files are given a filename that contains the serial number of the drone
that either created the log or was flying when it was created, plus an index number
that increases by 1 each time the drone is flown. They are saved by eMotion 3 on
your computer in eMotion 3’s Data Folder. You can choose how these files are
named and organised.

How to choose how your logs are named and organised into
folders
In the Log panel within eMotion 3’s Options function tab, choose from the
following options:

• Flat
That is: logs/yyyy-mm-dd hhmm.ss/serial-number_index_em.bb3
A folder is created for each flight, without separating them by date or time.
Example: logs/2018-01-31 08h00.00/EB-01-0001_0001_em.bb3

• By year
That is: logs/yyyy/yyyy-mm-dd hhmm.ss/serial-number_index_em.bb3
A folder is created for each flight within a folder for each year.
Example: logs/2018/2018-01-31 08h00.00/EB-01-0001_0001_em.bb3

• By month
That is: logs/yyyy/mm/yyyy-mm-dd hhmm.ss/serial-number_index_em.bb3
A folder is created for each flight within a folder for each month, within a
folder for the year.
Example: logs/2018/01/2018-01-31 08h00.00/EB-01-0001_0001_em.bb3

• By day
That is: logs/yyyy/mm/dd/yyyy-mm-dd hhmm.ss/serial-number_index_em.bb3
A folder is created for each flight within a folder for each day, within a folder

41
Getting Started

for each month, within a folder for the year.

Example: logs/2018/01/31/2018-01-31 08h00.00/EB-01-0001_0001_em.bb3
• Hierarchical
That is: logs/yyyy/mm/dd/serial-number_index_em.bb3
A folder is created for each day within a folder for each month, within a
folder for the year.
Example: logs/2018/01/31/EB-01-0001_0001_em.bb3

2.29 About eMotion 3’s Data Folder

eMotion 3 stores its data files in the Data Folder.
This includes:

• The flight database

• Flight logs
• Saved missions
• Custom maps, KML files and elevation data

How to set the location of eMotion 3’s Data Folder

If you haven’t changed it, it is called eMotion and is in your Windows Documents
folder.

1. Click the Options function tab then choose the Folder panel.
2. Edit the path to the folder, or click Browse... and select a folder.

2.30 How to activate RTK/PPK

The eBee Plus includes built-in RTK/PPK functionality that can be activated straight
away or later, when required.

42
 eMotion 3’s features

You will download an activation file during drone registration, then use eMotion 3
to activate PPK/RTK on your drone:

• Register your drone in my.senseFly. During the registration process, you

will be given the opportunity to download the activation file.

• Download the activation file to the computer on which you have installed
eMotion 3.

• In eMotion 3, open or create a mission¹³.

• Click Connect and connect your eBee Plus to eMotion 3¹³.

• Under eBee Plus upgrade in the right-hand Drone panel’s Parameters tab,
click Browse.

• Locate, on your computer, the activation file you downloaded from my.senseFly.

• Click Start upgrade.

Note: You do not need to purchase or register the RTK/PPK feature

to use it with a simulated drone. To active RTK/PPK for a simulated
drone, check the Activate upgrade for simulator checkbox under eBee
Plus upgrade in the right-hand Drone panel’s Parameters tab.

2.31 Enabling advanced functions

A number of connection options are made available to expert users by clicking
Advanced.. in the Connect dialog that appears when you launch eMotion 3. The
options vary according to the Connection type you choose.
In addition, eMotion 3 can be run in advanced mode by checking the Enable ad-
vanced functions in the Advanced version of the Connect dialog.
¹³ see How to connect eMotion 3 to your drone on page 46 for full instructions

43
Getting Started

Caution: Only Enable advanced functions if advised to do so by a

senseFly drone expert from senseFly or your reseller. Enabling the pa-
rameters that are made available in advanced mode may lead to un-
stable flight. Unauthorised enabling of advanced functions will void
your warranty.

Advanced connection options

You can change the frequency and channel that the ground modem uses to con-
nect to a rotary senseFly drone:

1. Click Advanced.. in the Connect dialog.

2. Choose the albris Connection type and click Channel settings....

3. Select the region in which the channel is authorised for use.

4. If you wish to use a channel that is restricted to indoor use only, check the
Indoor use only to attest that you will only fly indoors.
5. Choose the Channel from the pulldown menu.

6. Click Apply.

44
 Part II

Flying your senseFly drone with

eMotion 3
You can fly fixed-wing senseFly drones:

• Autonomously
For aerial mapping. The drone follows the flight plan you have set up, au-
tonomously managing its position, stability and photo capture.

• Manually with the Remote Control

For use only if necessary by the safety pilot. Commands from the Remote
Control move the drone’s flight surfaces and control power. See your drone’s
user manual for details.

You can fly rotary senseFly drones:

• Autonomously
For automated inspection and aerial mapping. The drone follows the flight
plan you have set up, autonomously managing its position, stability and
photo capture.

• Interactively with the ScreenFly Controller

Ideal for inspection, capturing photos and video. Fly your senseFly drone
semi-automatically using the ScreenFly Controller and eMotion 3. Only ba-
sic piloting experience is required. The drone looks after flight stability, flies
where you direct it to fly and looks where you direct it to look. You can ask
it to cruise at a fixed speed or lock its distance from a surface. Commands
are passed to the drone through its ground modem.
Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

• Manually with the Remote Control

Only for situations where you need to use advanced piloting skills. Com-
mands go directly to the drone from the Remote Control. See your drone’s
user manual for details.

A complete autonomous senseFly drone flight plan is divided into two separate
phases:

• Take-off and landing

Take-offs and landings are usually planned directly in the field and are de-
scribed in detail in Take-off and landing on page 61.
• Mission
The mission phase includes waypoints and actions related to mapping and
capturing images, and is generally planned in advance.

3 How to connect eMotion 3 to your drone

1. Connect your ground modem to your computer using the USB cable pro-
vided and allow it to start up.

Note: It can take approximately 30 s for your computer to recognise

the ground modem as a USB device. It can take another 30 s to 2 min
before your ground modem detects your drone.

2. Prepare your drone for flight. If you have a rotary drone, insert the SD card
and battery. If you have a fixed-wing drone, install the camera and power
on your drone.
You can do this while the ground modem is starting up. See your drone’s
user manual for full instructions.
3. Launch eMotion 3 and create or open a mission¹⁴.
¹⁴ see Opening, creating and saving missions on page 53

46
 4. Click Connect.

1. Select drone
2. Click

When your drone has been successfully detected by the ground modem
and recognised by eMotion 3, its serial number¹⁵ will appear in the Fly your
drone pulldown menu on the Connect dialog and your computer will make
a sound.
5. Click Connect to your drone.

When a connection is established, the Connect button will change, eMotion 3 will
display the right-hand, Drone panel of its flight monitoring and control interface
and the drone’s status will be visible in its / Flight Monitoring tab.
Once it has set its position using satellite signals, a drone symbol will appear at
its location on the map. If you cannot see the drone on the map, click on the
Toolbar to centre the map on the drone.

Note: In rare cases it may be necessary to set connection parameters

manually. Click Advanced... on the Connect dialog. To return to the
simple connection screen, click Advanced... again.

Note: Each drone is paired with the ground modem it is delivered

with, and will only work with that ground modem. The name that
appears in the Fly your drone pulldown menu of the Connect dialog is
the serial number of the drone that the connected ground modem is
paired with.

¹⁵ printed on a label inside the drone’s battery compartment

47
Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

Your drone’s colour in eMotion 3

Unless you change it, your drone and assigned flight lines will appear in a factory-
set colour.
Each time you connect to a simulated drone, eMotion 3 will give it one of a set of
different colours.
To change the colour:

• Click at the top of the right-hand, Drone panel.

• Right click anywhere on the right-hand, Drone panel and choose Set color....

Your drone’s name in eMotion 3

To edit the drone name that appears at the top of the right-hand, Drone panel,
right click anywhere on that panel and choose Set name....
The next time you connect that drone, it will have the name you chose.

4 Simulating your drone’s flight

Use the simulator to familiarise yourself with your drone and its features so that
you can more efficiently plan and execute mapping flights, save time and improve
your results. eMotion 3’s simulator is designed to help you test the various fea-
tures of the drone and to better prepare a mapping mission before performing
it in the field. It gives you an idea of the position and size of images that will be
taken during the flight and allows you to learn to use advanced functions, such as
in-flight waypoint editing and camera control, without putting your real drone at
risk.

48
fast-forward re-position take-off
play take off
pause recharge battery

The simulator controls appear at the bottom of the right-hand, Drone panel’s
/ Flight Monitoring tab when you connect to a simulated drone. You will find
the simulated drone itself at the previously simulated drone’s final location. The
simulated drone will go through the same pre-flight checks as a real one.
Feel free to modify the wind speed, waypoint positions and other parameters to
see their effect on your drone while it is in flight. Explore the effects of the vari-
ous buttons in the Control Bar on the behaviour of your drone. Don’t be afraid to
push the boundaries! Aborting a flight or causing an emergency landing in the
simulator will better prepare you for unexpected circumstances while in the field.

Simulator controls

Button Description

Pause Pause the simulation. Useful when you wish to

change parameters or mission blocks while the sim-
ulated drone is already in flight. Note: this is a sim-
ulated action that is not possible with the real
drone. You can use the ‘HOLD POSITION’ function
to better simulate real flight conditions.

Play Run the simulation, or return to normal speed if fast

forward was used.

Fast forward Run the simulation at 4x true speed. This allows you
to shorten the time required to complete a simulated
mission.

49
Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

Reposition Click this button then click a location on the map. This
take-off simulates the action of connecting the battery to the
drone in a new location. The drone is returned to the
ground at the new location and runs through its pre-
flight checks before entering Idle mode.

Take off Click to simulate a fixed-wing drone’s take-off se-

quence and hand launch. To simulate a rotary drone
take-off, click TAKE OFF on the Control Bar.

Recharge battery Click to instantly recharge the drone’s simulated bat-

tery.
Note: Not possible with a real drone in flight.

Caution: The simulator is a tool designed to aid with flight plan-

ning and to familiarise you with the advanced functions of your
senseFly drone. The simulated physics do not always accurately
reflect the true behaviour of the drone in flight. In particular, esti-
mates of battery level and reactions to wind are difficult to simu-
late with high accuracy. Never rely on behaviour seen with a sim-
ulated drone to be reproduced exactly in real flight.

4.1 How to run a simulation

1. Launch eMotion 3.
2. Open or create a suitable mission¹⁶
3. Click Connect.
4. Under Start a simulation in the Connect dialog, choose a drone.
¹⁶ see Opening, creating and saving missions on page 53

50
 5. Click the large simulator button on the right to select it, then click OK, or
double-click the large button.

How to simulate the wind

In the Estimated Mission Wind section of the Mission panel’s Briefing tab:

• Use the wind tool to change the simulated wind direction.

• Change the wind Speed.

Your changes take effect after a few seconds.

5 senseFly drone missions

A typical mission can be divided into the following phases:

• Preparing to fly
Every mission begins with careful planning and preparation, whether it is
a quick inspection or a multi-stage mapping mission over complex terrain.
With eMotion 3 you can plan and simulate your missions well ahead of the
flight. All eMotion 3’s planning tools are available offline, and don’t need
the drone to be connected. Once in the field, flight plans can be easily ad-
justed to the terrain, or created, even with the drone in the air.
Autonomous flight with eMotion 3 on page 82 describes how to use eMotion 3
to quickly generate a flight plan for autonomous flight.
See your drone’s user manual to learn how to prepare your drone for flight.

• The flight
Once planning and preparation is complete, it’s time to fly. senseFly drones
are capable of following a flight plan without intervention from take-off to
landing. You can also control rotary senseFly drone’s with ScreenFly. You

51
Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

can modify a flight plan or send commands at any time during a planned
mission.
Your drone user manual describes flying your drone with the remote con-
trol. If you have a rotary drone, its user manual describes how to use Screen-
Fly to take control of your drone.
During the flight the drone can automatically take pictures at predefined
moments based on the parameters that were defined during mission plan-
ning. The estimated area captured on the ground is displayed in the form
of a footprint on the map.

Note: The drone will not take a picture if it is too far from the
planned flight line and altitude. This can be caused, for example,
by a strong gust of wind. A message appears in the Status Panel if
a picture is not taken.

• Processing
The next step is to import, view and process photos and video. They can
then be converted into valuable products such as index maps, precise geo-
referenced orthomosaics or 3D models.
Part VI leads you through the process of obtaining the photos and video
the drone has captured.

Note: You can find supporting documentation and technical FAQs

in our Knowledge Base, part of my.senseFly¹⁷.

5.1 About senseFly drone missions in eMotion 3

Before flying any senseFly drone with eMotion 3, you must:

• Select the drone or drones you will use.

¹⁷ http://my.sensefly.com

52
 • Open or create a mission.

• Set an appropriate working area.

• Place an appropriate Start.

• Place an appropriate landing location and its corresponding Home.

To fly autonomously, you must then create and assign at least one mission block
to the drone.
Note: If only flying a rotary drone interactively, you need to
set Start and Home, but your mission can be empty (contain no
blocks)

5.2 Selecting drones and cameras

eMotion 3 can adapt to the drones you own or are using. It will also stop you from
connecting or simulating the wrong drone.
Select the drones and cameras you have or are using on eMotion 3’s Welcome
screen. Check the checkboxes in the Select drones pulldown menu in the NEW
MISSION panel.
The next mission you create will only show options that apply to those drones and
cameras and will allow you to simulate only them.
If you create a mission without selecting a drone, then try to connect or simulate
that drone, you will see the message You are trying to connect a drone type that your
mission does not use. You must connect the right drone, or create your mission
with the right drone’s selected.

5.3 Opening, creating and saving missions

Missions are saved automatically just after you make a change.
When eMotion 3 saves a mission, it saves:

53
Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

• All the mission blocks, all their parameters and any waypoints.

• How much of each mission block had been completed.

• The Take-off and landing parameters that were set.

• The Safety Actions that were enabled or disabled when you saved the mis-
sion.

• The mission footprints.

• The working area.

Missions are saved with the mission’s name as .mis3 files in a missions folder within
your Data Folder¹⁸.

How to create a new mission

Select drones
for mission

Name mission
Create mission

1. On the Welcome screen, choose the drones and cameras you will use in your
mission.
¹⁸ a folder called eMotion within your Windows Documents folder, unless you have changed it (see
About eMotion 3’s Data Folder on page 42).

54
 2. Enter the name you want to give your mission.
3. Click Create mission.

How to create a mission based on another

• On the Welcome screen, click Open a copy of this mission on a Recent or
Favourite mission. Name your new mission and click OK.
• With a mission open, click Save as..., enter a new name and click OK.

Note: You can only have one mission open at a time. Creating a
new mission clears the current mission.

Note: If you create a new mission with the same name as an ex-
isting mission, you still obtain a new mission. A number is added
to the name of the mission file (.mis3).

How to open a saved mission

You can use the Welcome screen to open saved missions:

• To open a mission you recently worked on, click Continue this mission in
the RECENT section.
• To open one of your mission favourites, click Continue this mission in the
FAVOURITES section.
• Click Browse file... under LOAD MISSION on the Welcome screen. Locate the
mission file (.mis3) you want to open and click Open.

To open a mission (.mis) files from the left-hand Mission panel, click .
The saved mission will open and restore the progress made at the moment the
mission was saved.

55
Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

How to rename a mission

Click Rename the mission on the Mission panel’s toolbar, enter a new name and
click OK.

How to add and remove favourite missions

You can add up to 3 favourites to the Welcome screen.

• On the Welcome screen, click to add a RECENT mission.

• In the Mission function tab’s left-hand Mission panel, click to add the
current mission.

To remove, click in the FAVOURITES on the Welcome screen.

5.4 Navigating around the map

Zooming in and out

Use one of the following:

• Click on the toolbar to zoom in. Click to zoom out.

• Place your mouse pointer on the map. Roll the scrollwheel up to zoom in
and down to zoom out.

• Place your mouse pointer on the map then press and hold the right-click
button. Move the mouse up to zoom out, down to zoom in.

• Double-click to zoom in, right double-click to zoom out.

56
Panning and tilting the map

Use the toggle switch on the 3D map to control the way that you move
around the map. Clicking and dragging with the left mouse button or a trackpad
will either pan around the map, or will tilt/turn your view of the map.
Press C on your keyboard to toggle between pan and tilt/turn modes.

How to pan around the map

• Click on the map to switch to pan mode, then click and drag the map
to move it around.

• Click the map then use your keyboard’s arrow keys to move around.

How to tilt and turn the map

Activate 3D mode using the button, then:

• Click on the map to switch to turn/tilt mode, then click and drag the
map to move it around.

• Press C to toggle between pand and turn/tilt mode, then click and drag the
map to move it around.

• Place your mouse pointer on the map and click and drag with the middle
mouse button.

Move the mouse pointer to the left to move your vantage point to the right, cir-
cling the centre of the map. Move your mouse pointer to to move your vantage
point to the left.
Move the mouse up to tilt the map down (move your vantage point down). Move
your mouse down to tilt the map up.

57
Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

How to find the drone on the map

Click on the Toolbar to centre the map on the drone.

How to lock the map onto the drone

Click to lock the centre of the map onto the drone. When activated, you can
zoom in and out, but cannot move around the map.

Setting the working area

You can set the working area’s radius and ceiling in the Mission panel’s Briefing
tab.

How to place the working area

1. Move the map so that the area in which you want to put your working area
is visible.

2. Click in the Mission panel’s Briefing tab.

3. Click the map at the place you want to put the working area’s centre.

How to centre the working area on the drone

With a real or simulated drone connected, and not in flight, click in the Brief-
ing tab’s Working Area Parameters.

5.5 How to centre the map on the working area

Click in the Briefing tab’s Working Area Parameters.

58
How to move the working area
1. Click the working area’s boundary on the map to select it.
2. In 2D mode, click and drag the circular handle at the centre of the working
area. In 3D mode, tilt the map so that you can see both the circular and
square handles. Click and drag the circular handle.

How to change the working area’s height

You can change the working area’s height using the map or in the Mission panel’s
Briefing tab.
Using the map:

1. Activate 3D mode using the button.

2. Click the working area’s boundary on the map to select it.
3. Tilt the map so that you can see both the circular and square handles. Click
and drag the square handle.

Using the Briefing tab:

Change the value in the Ceiling field in the Working area parameters. You can either
enter a new height or use the and buttons to change the height.

Note: You can move the working area on the map and change its
radius and ceiling with the drone in the air.

5.6 How to download maps

If you plan on performing a flight away from an internet connection, you can load
map tiles into eMotion 3 for offline use.
Once your Working Area has been set, click Download map data on the Mission
panel’s Briefing tab.

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Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

eMotion 3 will download maps within your working area from the currently se-
lected background map source. Maps from the zone around your working
area will also be downloaded. You can change the zone and the depth of the
downloaded map layers in the Map Options.
More details on how to take advantage of the various map sources available in
eMotion 3 can be found in Using custom map sources on page 34.

5.7 Assigning Start, Home and mission blocks to the drone

Assigning Start, Home and mission blocks to a drone transfers their flight lines and
instructions, through the ground modem connection, to the drone’s autopilot,
then keeps them synchronised if you make a change.
Once in the air, the drone will then follow these instructions and carry out your
mission autonomously.
The assign button next to Start, Home and mission blocks changes according to
your drone and settings.

Assign button icon Meaning

Cannot assign to connected drone

Can assign to fixed-wing drone
Can assign to rotary drone

If you cannot assign something to your drone, check that:

• eMotion 3 is connected to the drone.

• The drone has determined its location (it has a GNSS fix).
• The drone is equipped with the camera you have chosen for your block.
• The block doesn’t have too many flight lines or waypoints¹⁹
¹⁹ there will be a notification. See Notifications and actions on page 17.

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5.8 Take-off and landing
The Take-off and landing phase of a flight includes the waypoints and actions re-
lated to the drone’s take-off and landing and includes the following locations:

• Take-off location:
The point from which the drone is launched, automatically set to the loca-
tion calculated from GNSS signals by the drone. This location defines the
altitude of 0 m/ATO (0 ft/ATO) where /ATO stands for above take-off; the
altitudes of all other waypoints, when defined in m/ATO (ft/ATO), are refer-
enced to the altitude of this location.

• Start:
Start is the first point that the drone goes to when it starts an autonomous
flight.

• Home:
Home is the point that the drone will head to at the end of an autonomous
mission. It is also the point it will head to if it encounters a problem during
flight²⁰.

• Landing location:
The point at which the drone will land at the end of an autonomous mis-
sion, after having visited Home.

You must assign a take-off and a landing to your drone before an autonomous or
interactive (rotary drone) flight.
You can create several take-off and landing locations per mission, but you can only
assign one of each to your drone.
Fixed-wing senseFly drones can autonomously carry out a linear or circular de-
scent. See Fixed-wing drone linear landings on page 120.

²⁰ see Warnings on page 218

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5.9 How to place take-off and landing locations

First, find your planned take-off location on the map...
Move the map so that the area in which you want to put your take-off is visible,
for example:

• Use on the Toolbar to centre the map on the drone.

• Use to go to a specific location.

Next, create take-off and landing locations...

In the Mission function tab’s Take-off and landing tab:

• Under Take-offs, click Add new Start to create a Start.

• Under Landings, click Add new Home to create a Home/landing location.

Depending on the drones you have selected for your mission, you may see the
following options:

Choose At this location:

Take-off (fixed-wing) You will launch a fixed-wing drone

Take-off (rotary-wing) A rotary drone will take off
Linear landing (fixed wing) A fixed-wing drone will approach and land
Circular landing (fixed wing) A fixed-wing drone will spiral down and land
Landing (rotary wing) A rotary drone will land

Caution: You should almost always use a linear fixed-wing land-

ing. Only use a circular landing if a linear landing is risky or impos-
sible.

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Finally, click the point on the map at which you want to place your take-off
or landing.

Note: You can click in the Start or Home you created to centre
it on the drone.

Caution: Take great care when placing take-off and landing loca-
tions. Always have your fixed-wing drone take off and land into
the wind.

Caution: Always make sure that Home is well clear of the ground
and clear of any obstacles before flying.

Caution: Always place Home so that the direct path leading back
to it, from any position the drone could be during its mission, is
well clear of any obstacles.

Placing Start and Home using the notification

A notification will remind you that you don’t have a Start or a Home. Click one of
the Actions within the notification to manually or automatically place them:

• With eMotion 3 connected to a drone, click . Start and/or Home will be

placed next to your drone at the default altitude.

• Click then click on the map to place Start and/or Home.

5.10 Selecting and expanding take-off or landing locations

Click a take-off or landing location on the map to select it. eMotion 3 will switch
to the Take-off and landing tab and expand the take-off or landing you selected.

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Click a take-off or landing in the Take-off and landing tab and eMotion 3 will
move the map and zoom in on that location.

5.11 How to move a take-off or landing location

Click the circular handle at the centre of the take-off or landing location, then click
and drag it to move it.

How to change the altitude of Start and Home

• Expand the corresponding take-off or landing location in the Take-off

and landing tab and edit the altitude.

• As with any waypoint, click to select the waypoint on the map, then drag
the waypoint itself up and down.

Note: You can reduce the altitude of the downwind landing leg
by lowering Home, but not below 50 m (160 ft) above the landing
location

5.12 How to assign a take-off or landing to your drone

Note: If you do not have a Start or Home when you connect your
drone, they will be created at the drone’s location and assigned to
the drone for you.

With a real or simulated drone connected to eMotion 3, click the / Assign

button for the take-off or landing location you want to assign. The button back-
ground turns dark grey when assigned.

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5.13 Take-off parameters

Take-offs have the following parameters:

Altitude
Use to set Start’s altitude and the altitude reference.
Latitude
Longitude
The coordinates of the point on the ground directly under Start. Use the map to
place the waypoint.
Transition altitude
Use to set the altitude the drone will fly up to before heading to Start.

Caution:
Setting the take-off transition altitude too low may cause a rotary
drone to perform a change of direction too early and may result in
a crash. Setting the take-off transition altitude too high may cause
the drone to drift sideways after take-off if there is too much wind.

Directional
Use to activate directional take-off for fixed-wing drones. When active, an arrow
on the map shows the take-off direction. Immediately after launch, the drone will
try to stay on the course shown by the arrow.
Click the arrow to select it, then click and drag its base to move it and its tip to
change take-off direction.

Note: Once a drone is connected to eMotion 3, the base of the

arrow must be less than 5 m (16 ft) from the drone. If it isn’t, you
must move it before the drone can take off.

Heading
Use to set the direction of a directional take-off.
Radius
Use to set the distance at which your fixed-wing drone will circle the waypoint.

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5.14 Landing parameters

Landings have the following parameters:

Altitude
Use to set the altitude of Home and the altitude reference.
Latitude
Longitude
The coordinates of the point on the ground directly under Home. Use the map to
place the waypoint.
Home altitude
Use to set the altitude of Home.
Landing altitude
Use to set the altitude of the point your drone will land at.
By default it is set to the same altitude as take-off (0 m/ATO (0 ft/ATO)). You must
edit this altitude if you are flying over uneven terrain, and the point at which your
drone will land is at a different altitude to take-off.
Caution: Incorrectly setting the landing altitude will decrease lin-
ear landing accuracy and may result in damage to the drone.

Use ground sensor for landing

A fixed-wing senseFly drone will use its ground sensor together with its estimate
of the wind speed during its landing manoeuvre to calculate the ideal moment to
flare (reverse thrust and pitch back) and land.
Uncheck this checkbox if there is a risk that the ground sensor will incorrectly mea-
sure the drone’s height above the landing spot as it comes into land, for example,
if the landing approach is sloping or there is an abrupt change in terrain height.
The drone will ignore the ground sensor and assume that the landing location is
at the exact altitude set in eMotion 3. Landing precision will decrease and will
depend on the strength of the wind.
See the following Knowledge Base article for a guide to disabling the ground sen-
sor:

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https://sensefly.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/214941638
Turn direction
Use to set the direction a fixed-wing senseFly drone will turn when it arrives at
Home.
Your choice will change the drone’s trajectory when it heads out from Home to set
itself up for a linear landing.
Your choice will set the direction the drone turns during a circular landing.
Approach sectors
Use to guide a fixed-wing drone’s landing. You can define up to four approach
sectors, each of which has its own heading and span.

5.15 How to delete a take-off or landing location

1. In the Mission panel’s Take-off and landing tab, expand the Start or Home
you want to delete (double-click it or click See the details).

2. Click Delete.

Note: You cannot delete an assigned Start or Home.

5.16 About waypoints

Waypoints are points in 3D space at which the drone is instructed to carry out
an action such as capturing photos, carrying out a manoeuvre, proceeding to the
next waypoint or landing.
An autonomous mission is made up of a series of waypoints. eMotion 3 automati-
cally calculates the best place to put the waypoints for your autonomous mapping
mission.

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5.17 How to move waypoints

Note: Changes to an assigned Start, Home and a holding point are

immediately transferred to the connected drone and will cause an
in-flight drone to move. Changes to assigned mission block way-
points are also immediately transferred to the drone, changing the
mission even if it is already in progress.

To move a waypoint, click to select it, then:

• in 2D click and drag it to a new position.

• in 3D, click and drag the base of the waypoint (the point on the ground
directly under the waypoint) to a new position.

To change a waypoint’s altitude, click to select, then:

• in 2D, Ctrl+click and drag the waypoint itself up and down.

• in 3D, click and drag the waypoint itself up and down.

Caution: When the map is in 3D and you are viewing your mission
from above, a small change in the on-screen position of a way-
point can result in an unexpectedly large change in the waypoint’s
altitude. Always check your flight plan carefully before take-off.

5.18 How to change a waypoint’s radius

Click and drag the handle on a fixed-wing waypoint’s perimeter. Fixed-wing drones
will circle the waypoint at that distance.

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5.19 About background & custom maps

eMotion 3 is supplied with several background maps. You can also import your
own custom maps (see Using custom map sources on page 34.
Select the background map source from the pull-down menu on the Toolbar.
The following are included with eMotion 3:

Map Content Provider

senseFly Satellite Satellite imagery senseFly

senseFly Terrain Roads and features senseFly
Digital Globe Satellite Satellite imagery www.digitalglobe.com
Mapbox Road Roads and features www.mapbox.com
Mapbox Satellite Satellite imagery www.mapbox.com
Microsoft Hybrid Roads and features www.microsoft.com
overlaid on satellite

5.20 Waypoints and their properties

senseFly drones use a flight plan consisting of a list of waypoints to navigate. A

waypoint is a position in space along with information that defines how the drone
should behave when it reaches that position. The entire list of waypoints is stored
in the drone autopilot and can be remotely edited using eMotion 3.

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Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

R ad to next
ius waypoin
t
us Directio
re vio n
p oint
m
fro ayp
w Altitude
(ATO, AMSL or AED)

Position (coordinates)

Figure 2: A fixed-wing waypoint

In eMotion 3 waypoints have the following parameters:

• ID: Mission waypoints have a unique ID. Take-off and landing waypoints do
not have an ID.

• Altitude AED: The altitude of the waypoint above the elevation data.

• Altitude ATO: When given as m/ATO (ft/ATO), the Altitude value is an above
take-off (ATO) altitude. The altitudes of take-off and landing waypoints
(Start and Home) are always in m/ATO (ft/ATO).

• Altitude AMSL: The absolute altitude. When given as m/ATO (ft/ATO), the
altitude value is an Above Take-off (ATO) altitude. When m/AMSL (ft/AMSL),
the Altitude value is Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL).

• Radius: The distance at which fixed-wing drones circle around the

waypoint. These drones have a limited turning radius. Setting this param-
eter lower than 20 m (66 ft) may cause a fixed-wing drone to significantly
deviate from its desired flight path.

• Position (coordinates): The precise latitude and longitude of the centre

of the waypoint.

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 Note: Waypoints for fixed-wing drones are represented in the
Map Area as circles that show their radius.

Traversed flight line Flight line altitude*

Current status

Selected
waypoint**
Waypoint**

Future flight line *Select block to show

**Can only be made visible if block is unlocked

Rotary drone waypoints are single points. The flight path of the drone around and
in between waypoints is shown in eMotion 3.
Click a waypoint to select it and show its properties.
Changes to your mission are sent immediately to the connected drone and update
its on-board waypoint list. If the drone does not acknowledge the change (for
example due to a temporary loss of communication link), the waypoint will return
to its previous state, so that its depiction in eMotion 3 reflects the waypoint list
stored within the drone’s autopilot.

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Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

Note: In-flight changes to your flight plan can cause the drone
to react in unexpected ways. In particular, the drone may have
trouble following its flight path if waypoint radius is set very small,
or in high wind. You should test your entire flight plan using the
simulator to get familiar with the drone’s behaviours before going
out into the field.

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5.21 About mission blocks
There are different types of mission block:

Horizontal Mapping
Define a mission area and eMotion 3 will automatically set out
the waypoints and flight lines.
See Horizontal Mapping mission blocks on page 100.

Horizontal Mapping From File

Import a KML file or Shapefile and eMotion 3 will create a hori-
zontal mapping mission block from each polygon in the file.
See Horizontal Mapping mission blocks on page 100.

Around POI (point of interest)

Identify a point of interest and have the drone fly around it cap-
turing the object in detail from different angles.
See Flying POI mission blocks with rotary drones on page 176.

Cylinder mapping
Capture photos of a tower or other tall structure.
See Cylinder Mapping mission blocks on page 177.

Panorama
Capture photos of the drone’s surroundings.
See Panorama mission blocks on page 189.

Corridor mapping
Create a series of route sections and define the width, and the
eMotion 3 will design a mission block to map the corridor.

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See Corridor Mapping mission blocks on page 106.

Custom route
Create waypoints and edit their position and properties to guide
the drone between blocks.
See Custom Route mission blocks on page 110.

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5.22 About the mission block list
Block flight time
Block progress bar
Ground resolution
Block area
Mission explorer

Assigned blocks

Unassigned blocks Click to assign

The blocks in your mission appear in the lists in the Mission panel’s Mission
blocks tab. The list is split into two: assigned blocks and blocks that are not as-
signed to a drone.
The progress bar indicates the progress that the real or simulated drone has made
on that block. Real drone progress is shown with a dark grey progress bar, light
grey is used for simulated drone progress. Flying a real drone resets any simulated
drone progress. You can also reset progress using the block’s Reset progress
button.

5.23 How to create mission blocks

To create Horizontal Mapping and Around POI mission blocks...

1. In the Mission panel’s Mission blocks tab, click the mission’s name.

2. Click Add block and choose the type of block you want.

3. On the map, the pointer changes to , showing that it is ready for you to
place your mission block.

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Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

4. Click where you want to place the mission block on the map.
Your mission block will appear at the location you clicked.

If you are creating a Custom Route or Corridor Mapping mission block:

• After creating the block, you can immediately start placing route sections
(the mouse pointer switches to ).

• You can activate the mouse pointer and add route sections at any time
by clicking Add new section.

• Your first click on the map places the beginning of the route. Carry on click-
ing on the map to place each waypoint along the route.

• When you have finished adding route sections, press Escape, right-click the
map in the Main Viewer or click Done in the mission block. Your mouse
pointer returns to normal.

eMotion 3 displays the flight lines on the map with their altitudes. If needed, you
can then adjust the mission blocks and their properties, before assigning them to
a drone.

How to view mission block details

Within the mission explorer:

1. Click >.

2. Choose the block you want to view.

Within the block list:

1. If another block is open, click to close it or click the mission to move to

the top level in the mission explorer.

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 2. Double-click the block itself, or click .

On the map:

• Click the block to select it. The details appear in the left-hand Mission panel.

How to edit mission block properties

Changes you make to a block take effect immediately. However, if you edit a block
that is in progress, that block will be restarted.

Caution: If you edit in any way²¹a block that is in progress, the

drone will fly in a straight line back to the beginning of the block.
Before editing, make sure the drone’s path back to the beginning
is free of obstacles.

1. Use the Mission explorer, double-click the block, or click to expand it.
2. Rename the block, adjust the ground resolution and other mapping param-
eters in the Mission planning tab to suit your terrain and quality require-
ments.

How to reorder mission blocks

Click and drag mission blocks up and down in the list to change their order.
If several mission blocks are assigned to your drone, they will be flown in the order
they appear in the list.

Note: Reordering mission blocks with the drone in the air will not
affect the mission.

²¹ except modifiying a waypoint or adding another block while flying an Around POI or Corridor
Mapping blocks; doing these will not cause the drone to restart the block

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How to align flight lines perpendicular to the wind

In general, flying perpendicular to the wind increases the time that your drone
can fly per battery charge.
Once you have created some blocks, click Crosswind mapping blocks in the Brief-
ing tab’s Estimated Mission Wind section. All flight lines in all your mission’s blocks
will align so that the drone is flying perpendicular to the current wind direction.

Caution: Always carefully verify the altitude of your flight lines.

How to remove a mission block

1. Use the Mission explorer, click , or double-click the block to expand it.
2. Click Delete.

How to use a mission block as a template for new blocks

• Create the mission block that you will use as a template and set its param-
eters.
• Click Make default for new blocks.

All mission blocks of the same type and with the same camera as the template
block will be created with the template mission block’s settings.

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 eMotion 3’s Flight Monitoring tab

6 eMotion 3’s Flight Monitoring tab

Click the / Flight Monitoring tab on the right-hand, Drone panel to monitor
your drone during its flight.

Drone Status
What your drone is currently doing and any messages or active Warnings²² are
shown here.

Autonomy

• Battery (voltage)
Shows battery charge level in percent with battery voltage in brackets.

• Flight time (mission time estimate)

Current flight’s duration so far in minutes and seconds (mm:ss), the esti-
mated number of flights needed to complete the mission, and the esti-
mated time to complete the planned mission (mm:ss in brackets).

• Home distance
The straight-line distance to Home with the estimated time to reach Home
in brackets. The colour indicates the ease with which the drone can reach
Home with the remaining battery power.

• Link quality
Ground modem radio data link quality in percent with data transfer rate in
brackets.

²² see Warnings and error messages on page 210

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Caution: Lithium polymer batteries are chemical devices whose

performance depends on a number of parameters, including tem-
perature, lifetime, number of cycles, mechanical integrity, etc. The
remaining capacity shown in eMotion 3 may therefore be inaccu-
rate. It is the operator’s responsibility to monitor battery voltage
and flight time in addition to the battery level to make sure that
endurance is sufficient to complete the mission.

Flight data

• Ground speed
Your drone’s speed relative to the ground.

• Altitude
Your drone’s altitude above mean sea level (AMSL).

• Latitude
Longitude
Your drone’s absolute position as reported by its on-board GNSS receiver.

• Ground sensor height

Your drone’s height above ground (if the ground is within ground sensor
range).

Instruments

• Temperature
The warmest part of the drone, and that component’s temperature:

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 eMotion 3’s Flight Monitoring tab

Autopilot The drone’s main circuit board

Electronics The main circuit board
Processor The main CPU
Motor The motor controller (LLAP)
Battery The battery
IMU The inertial measurement unit
Magnetometer The compass
Barometer The barometer
Payload The camera (if able)

The symbol changes colour and a Warning is raised if the temperature

gets too high.
Air: The ambient temperature.
• GNSS
Satellites: The number of satellites from which your drone’s GNSS receiver is
receiving signals (and the average signal to noise ratio in dB/Hz).
Accuracy: The amount of error you should expect in the drone’s reported
absolute position.
Mode: The current GNSS receiver mode.

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7 Autonomous flight with eMotion 3

Note: We recommend that you perform your first mission in a

large obstacle-free area and limit the length of the mission in or-
der to familiarise yourself with the drone in flight.

If you want your drone to fly all or part of its flight autonomously, you must assign
it one or more mission blocks.
A senseFly drone mission is made up of one or more blocks. Each block you plan
in eMotion 3 contains the flight lines and instructions the drone needs to carry
out its mission. Once a block is planned and ready to fly, you assign it to a real or
simulated drone.
A mission is shown on the map in the Main Viewer using:

• In 2D, circles to represent waypoints.

• In 3D, squares to represent the waypoint itself, in the air, and circles to rep-
resent it’s position on the ground.

You can only plan one mission at a time. A mission can be made up of many mis-
sion blocks. Each block can have a different purpose. A mission might include, for
example, several blocks to study some structures or points of interest, a horizon-
tal mapping block to gather mapping data of the surrounding area and a series of
custom routes to guide the drone between them.
When they are ready, you assign mission blocks to your drone.

7.1 Controlling your drone during an autonomous flight

senseFly drones can control their flight autonomously from take-off to landing
and in many cases you will not need to use the control bar. It can and sometimes
must, however, be used in unexpected situations, for example:

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 Autonomous flight with eMotion 3

• Press HOLD and the drone will temporarily hold position.

• Press GO TO HOME or GO TO START to send the drone to one of these loca-
tions.

How to move the drone by moving a waypoint

When the drone is on Start, Home or holding, you can click to select that location
on the map and:

• move the waypoint. The drone will follow.

• with the map in 2D, change the altitude at which the drone is circling by
Ctrl+clicking and dragging the waypoint itself up and down. item with the
map in 3D, click and drag the handle in the centre of the waypoint up and
down.

When the drone is on Start or Home, you can change the radius the drone is cir-
cling by changing that radius in eMotion 3.

7.2 Repeating or skipping part of an autonomous flight

You can ask the drone, during an autonomous flight, to go to a certain mission
block waypoint. If the drone has already been there, it will go back and repeat
part of the block. If the drone hasn’t yet visited the waypoint, it will skip part of
the block.

How to ask the drone to go to a waypoint

If not done already, prepare the mission block for a change in the mission:

1. Click to select the mission block on the map in the Main Viewer, or, in the
Mission blocks tab on the Mission panel, double-click the block or click to
expand it.

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Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

2. If they aren’t already shown, click the block’s Show waypoints button to
display the waypoints.

Then, in the Main Viewer, right-click the waypoint you want to send the drone to.

• To send the drone along the highest route to the waypoint (either straight
up then across, or across then straight down), click Go to wpt (high).

• To send the drone on a more direct route to the waypoint (climbing or de-
scending in the direction of the waypoint at an approximately 30° trajec-
tory, then levelling off, climbing or descending), click Go to wpt (direct).

Go to wpt (high)—up then across Go to wpt (high)—across then down

Go to wpt (direct)—higher, far away Go to wpt (direct)—lower, far away

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 Autonomous flight with eMotion 3

Go to wpt (direct)—higher, close Go to wpt (direct)—lower, close

Caution: If you ask the drone to fly further than the initially

planned mission, make sure it has enough battery power.

7.3 Flying missions with more than one flight

When you assign your mission blocks to the drone, eMotion 3 estimates the num-
ber of flights your mission will take²³ and displays this in Autonomy section on the
right-hand, Drone panel’s / Flight Monitoring tab under Flight time.
If your mission is too big for a single battery charge, the drone will automatically
return to Home mid-mission and land when the battery level gets low ²⁴. Change
the battery and take off again and the drone will automatically resume the mission
from the point it left off. The drone will also do this if you use the Control Bar to
ask the drone to LAND NOW during a mission, then take off again.
You can also click RESUME MISSION on the Control Bar at any time to send the
drone to the point it left off.

²³ assuming a full battery for each flight

²⁴ unless you have disabled the safety action—see Safety actions on page 91

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7.4 Dealing with an Emergency

Despite careful planning, unexpected situations might place people, property,
animals or your drone in danger, for example:

• Unexpected intrusions into your drone’s airspace, for example, low-flying

aircraft or other UASs.
• Flight planning errors.
• Unexpected intrusions into the landing zone.
• Birds approaching or attacking your drone.
• Unexpected changes in wind conditions.

If this happens, consider doing one or more of the following:

• Hold and move

Click HOLD on the Control Bar. Move the hold waypoint or Ctrl+click and
drag to change its altitude. The drone will follow.
• Carry out an emergency manoeuvre
• Take interactive or manual control

As a precautionary measure to be used only when absolutely necessary, senseFly

drones have also been programmed with a series of emergency manoeuvres:

• Land now ( )
A fixed-wing drone immediately initiates a circular landing around a 30 m
(98 ft) radius waypoint at its current location.A rotary drone descends from
it current location and lands.
• Abort landing ( )
The drone aborts its landing, climbs up to a safe altitude and waits for a
command.

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 Autonomous flight with eMotion 3

• Roll ( )
The drone performs a roll along a linear flight path, then resumes its mis-
sion.

• Fast climb ( )
The drone suddenly climbs with full thrust approximately 40 m (131 ft) then
gradually descends (at approximately 4 m/s (780 ft/min) back to its initial
altitude.

• Fast descent ( )
The drone enters a spinning dive. It then pulls out of the dive, resulting in
between 15 and 40 m (50 and 130 ft) of lost altitude, and climbs gradually
back up to its initial altitude.

• Emergency landing ( )
The drone immediately descends in a parachute-like manner to the ground.

• Motors off ( )
The drones motors immediately power off.

Activating Emergency Manoeuvres

The land now and abort landing buttons are always available on the control bar.
To show roll, fast climb, fast descent and motors off:

1. Click the Options function tab.

2. Choose the User interface pane and activate the buttons.

Buttons that trigger the manoeuvres are added to the Control Bar:

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Flying your senseFly drone with eMotion 3

Note: To trigger LAND NOW and MOTORS OFF, click the button 3
times in quick succession (within half a second).
A landing can only be aborted in the absence of Critical Failure.

When to use the Emergency Manoeuvres

You might need to use an emergency manoeuvre in these situations:

Presence of birds
Birds approach your drone out of curiosity, or they consider it a threat and attack
it.

• To try and escape an isolated incident, consider using the fast climb or de-
scent manoeuvres.

• To try and startle the birds and dissuade them from approaching your drone,
consider using the roll manoeuvre.

• In the even of a sustained attack, or a situation that may put the birds at
risk, land your drone.

Note: Consult with your local authority or wildlife conservation

association before flying in sensitive areas. Avoid flying near
known nesting sites, especially when young are present in spring
or early summer. Rather than disturb the birds, consider flying at
a different time of year or adapting your flight plan to minimise
your impact on wildlife.

Flight planning oversights

You have moved Home on uneven terrain, but you have not corrected the landing
altitude to compensate for the change in ground level under the new Home.

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 Autonomous flight with eMotion 3

You think there is a risk of a hard landing for some other reason.
Unexpected wind or a flight planning oversight means that your drone will land
on water or in some other unsuitable place.
Consider aborting the landing, correcting the error, and landing again.

Unexpected intrusions into airspace

Your drone is about to collide with, for example, another aircraft or UAS. Consider
a fast descent, fast climb or hold.

Unexpected intrusions into landing zone

A person or vehicle moves into your landing zone during landing approach. Con-
sider aborting the landing.

Caution: You cannot trigger a fast climb or fast descent if it will:

• cause your drone to leave the working area.

• make your drone fly below 30 m (98 ft) and cause a ground
proximity Warning.
• interrupt an emergency landing that was caused by a Criti-
cal Failure.

Caution: Some of these manoeuvres will cause a loss in altitude.

To avoid crashing your drone, do not carry out several emergency
manoeuvres in quick succession. Allow your drone to stabilise its
flight and altitude after each manoeuvre.

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Caution: While your drone is carrying out an emergency manoeu-

vre it cannot capture high-quality images and some images may
be missing at the end of the mission. In addition, these manoeu-
vres use up battery power, shortening the available flight time.
If, after activating a manoeuvre 3 times, the issue has not be re-
solved, consider landing and waiting (for example, until birds have
left the area) before restarting or resuming your mission.

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 Safety Parameters

8 Safety Parameters

If mission circumstances require it and you perceive an acceptable level of risk,

you can enable or disable some of the automated Take-off Checks the drone will
make before, and Safety Actions the drone will take during an autonomous flight.

8.1 Safety actions

Uncheck a checkbox in the left-hand Mission panel’s Safety parameters tab to

disable a Safety Action. The drone will instead raise a Warning and attempt to
continue its mission. Check a checkbox to enable the Safety Action.

Factory default
Return to Home if strong wind detected + On
If disabled, the drone will continue to report the estimated wind speed, but will
not return to home in high winds.

Caution: Strong wind can force rotary drones to lose altitude. Dis-
abling this increases the risk of a crash or an emergency landing
and potential loss of the drone. Flying in high-wind conditions is
at your own risk.

Return to Home in case of camera malfunction + On

When enabled, the drone will return to Home if any of its cameras (a fixed-wing
drone’s camera bay camera or any of a rotary drone’s cameras – Main Camera,
Thermal Camera, or any navcam) malfunctions.
You may want to disable this Safety Action if there is a problem with a camera that
you do not need for your mission or you know that the camera problem will not
affect the results of your mission.

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Caution: Disabling may result in missing, corrupt, or incorrectly

captured photos.

Return to Home in case of low endurance + On

When enabled, the drone will return to Home when a Low endurance Warning is
raised²⁵. If this happens during an autonomous mission, the drone will abandon
the mission and head for Home.

Caution: Disabling this means flying with the risk that, if the
drone’s battery runs out before reaching Home, it will carry out
an emergency landing and you may lose it.

Return to Home if ground proximity detected On

If your mission takes the drone into close proximity with the ground, disabling
this increases the risk of a crash.
If ground proximity is detected because the drone is landing, it will continue to
land. If ground proximity is detected while the drone is already returning to Home,
it will raise a Warning and continue, risking a collision.

Caution: Always make sure that Home is well clear of the ground
before flying.

Return to Home if ground modem link is lost for 30 s + On

Note: 30 s is the default and can be shortened — see How to make

the drone return home sooner if link is lost on page 95.

Without a link to the ground modem, no commands from eMotion 3 can reach
the drone.

²⁵ see Warnings on page 218

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 Safety Parameters

Caution: Disabling this means flying with the risk that, if in-
tervention is required and commands cannot be sent through
eMotion 3, the Remote Control must be used.

Note: If enabled, and the ground modem link has still not been
recovered 3 min after reaching Home, the drone will land.

Return to Home if GNSS accuracy degrades On Off

If GNSS accuracy degrades, the drone may not be able to calculate its position
accurately. It may take photos in the wrong place and could unexpectedly drift or
change position in flight.

Caution: If enabled, the drone will immediately attempt to return

to home if GNSS signals are lost. There is a risk of collision if there
is an obstacle between the drone and home.

Note: If a rotary drone loses GNSS completely for more than 30 s,

or when battery is below 20% charge, it will carry out an emer-
gency landing at an unknown location and you may lose it.

Climb if ground proximity is detected On

If the drone is unexpectedly reporting ground proximity even though you are cer-
tain that your mission is well clear of the ground, it can be useful to uncheck this.

Caution: If your mission takes a fixed-wing drone into close prox-

imity with the ground, disabling this increases the risk of a crash.

If ground proximity is detected because the drone is landing, it will continue to

land.

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8.2 Take-off checks

Uncheck a checkbox in the left-hand Mission panel’s Safety parameters tab to
disable a Take-off Check. You will be able to launch the drone even if the check
has failed.

Factory default
Wings detection check On
If disabled, the drone will allow take-off even if it detects that the wings are miss-
ing. Useful when the wing detection mechanism is unreliable.

Note: Only applies to eBees, not eBee Plus’ or eBee SQs.

Caution: Always make sure that the wings are properly installed
and the servos are fully engaged.

GNSS accuracy check On

The drone will allow take-off even if the accuracy of its GNSS position is low. Useful
when taking off from underneath or close to a large structure.

Caution: When flying with imprecise GNSS positioning, the drone

is likely to drift, especially when hovering.

Caution: Flying manually with imprecise GNSS positioning re-

quires a higher level of piloting skill.

Video Sub-system warnings check On

If disabled, the drone will allow take-off even if it detects that one or more of its
cameras or navcams is unable to provide an in-flight feed.

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 Safety Parameters

Caution: Disabling means flying without live pictures of the

drone’s surroundings, increasing the risk of a collision.

Official SD card check On

If disabled, the drone will allow take-off even if an unapproved SD card has been
inserted.

Caution: Flying with an unapproved SD card increases the risk of

lag when taking photos and drone CPU overload.

8.3 How to make the drone return home sooner if link is lost
In the Safety actions, use the and buttons next to if ground modem link is lost
for to change the time that the drone will continue without a communication link
before returning Home.

8.4 How to save your own default Safety Parameters

If, for example, you disable the same Safety Actions every time you fly, you can
save a set of defaults.
Next time you launch eMotion 3, your saved default Safety Actions and Take-off
Checks will be set.
Click Save as default in the Mission panel’s Safety parameters tab.

8.5 How to reset Safety Actions

If, for example, you have unchecked some Safety Actions or saved your own de-
faults, you can restore the set of Safety Actions and Take-off Checks that were
enabled when eMotion 3 was first installed (the factory settings).

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Click Restore factory settings in the Mission panel’s Safety parameters tab.

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 Mapping missions

9 Mapping missions
Define the zone you wish to map and eMotion 3 will automatically create a flight
plan that captures the images you need for your mapping project.

Note: Ground resolution is directly linked to the flight altitude: a

higher resolution (fewer cm/px or in/px) requires a lower altitude,
a lower resolution (more cm/px or in/px) requires a higher one.

Note: For most mapping purposes, between 60% and 80% over-
lap is usually required. Higher overlap values may increase the
mapping quality, but will also increase flight duration for the same
area.

Note: When you create a mapping mission block in eMotion 3,

its waypoints’ altitudes are automatically set. After assigning the
block to a drone, you can change the altitude of a waypoint²⁶.
If, however, you then move the mission polygon, or change the
ground resolution, all waypoint altitudes will be reset to the initial
altitude.

Caution: Neither eMotion 3 nor its automatic mission planning

tool are aware of obstacles in the area. They cannot tell if there are
differences between the elevation data and the real world. They
are not aware of any legal restrictions (such as minimum or maxi-
mum altitude) that may apply in your region. The resulting flight
plan should be carefully reviewed in order to avoid any collision
with uneven terrain or tall objects such as buildings, and to com-
ply with local regulations.

²⁶ see How to move waypoints on page 68

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Note: Because there is less image overlap around the edges of

a mapping mission, flight lines extend beyond the mission poly-
gon to ensure complete coverage and therefore high quality re-
sults over the actual project area.

Use eMotion 3’s Horizontal Mapping mission blocks to fly your senseFly drone
over extended areas and create aerial maps. Create a polygon that defines the
area you want to map, set the resolution (ground sampling distance�GSD) you
want and eMotion 3 will automatically create the mission waypoints.
For instructions on creating, viewing and editing a Horizontal Mapping mission
block, see About the mission block list on page 75.

9.1 Mapping mission properties

All mapping mission blocks have the following properties:

• Name
The name you have given to the block.
• Camera
The drone camera, mode and resolution that will be used.
• Plan above
Choose the reference above which you want eMotion 3 to set the drone’s
altitude.
By default, eMotion 3 plans flights above elevation data (AED). You can also
plan above take-off (ATO) and at a fixed altitude (AMSL).
• Resolution
The size, on the ground, you want the finest distinguishable detail in the
photos to be (the ground resolution). The size of one photo pixel on the
ground.
• Lateral overlap
The percentage you want the side of one photo to overlap the next.

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• Longitudinal overlap
The amount you want the top of one photo to overlap the bottom of the
next one.

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9.2 Horizontal Mapping mission blocks

How to create a Horizontal Mapping mission block

First, locate on the map the zone you want to map.
Next, add a Mapping mission block to your mission.
Use the Add mission block button in the Mission blocks tab and click on the
map where you want to place your mapping mission block. A mission polygon,
including the required waypoints, is automatically calculated and displays on the
map.

Change shape
Add corner

Reorientate Move
flight lines

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To change the shape of the mission polygon, select it then...

1. Click and drag the corners ( ) of the polygon to adjust its size and shape.
2. Click and drag the middle ( ) of the polygon to move it.
3. Click just inside the edge of the polygon to add a new corner.
4. Right-click a corner ( ) to remove it.

To change the orientation of the flight lines...

Click and drag the orientation handle ( ).
As you adjust the block, eMotion 3 recalculates the flight lines and waypoints.
To move individual waypoints, see How to move waypoints on page 68.
Once your mission block is complete, you can assign it to a drone.

9.3 Horizontal Mapping mission block properties

Expand the Advanced section of the mission block to set the following properties:

• Reverse flight
If left unchecked, eMotion 3 sends the drone to the farthest waypoint in
the mission block first. If checked, the drone will begin the mission nearby
and finish far away²⁷.
• Perpendicular lines
If checked, the drone will fly a second time over the block with flight lines
perpendicular to the first pass.
This significantly increases the overall photo overlap and can improves your
results over terrain with low contrast.
• Interlaced flight lines If checked, the drone will fly across the block on
alternate flight lines (eg, 1st, 3rd... 9th), then fly back, covering the others
²⁷ Ensure that there is enough battery power to return to Home at the end of the mission.

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(eg, 10th, 8th... 2nd).

This can help reduce flight time and the distance the drone flies at the ends
of flight lines for large or complex missions.

eMotion 3 displays the following results:

• Area
The area covered by the mission.
• Altitude
The altitude at which the drone will fly in order to achieve the ground res-
olution you set.
• Number of photos
The number of photos needed to complete the block.
• Estimated flight time
The estimated time needed to complete the block.
• Estimated flight distance
The estimated distance the drone needs to fly to complete the block.

Expand the More section to show the following:

• Flight lines spacing

The distance between flight lines.
• Distance between photos
The distance, along the flight line, between photos.
• Single image coverage
The dimensions, on the ground, of each photo.
• Number of waypoints

Click the block’s Show waypoints button to display all the waypoints. Select a
waypoint to display its altitude, radius and action.

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9.4 Around POI (point of interest) mission blocks

Use an Around POI mission block to concentrate photo capture on an object,

structure or point of interest. These photos can then be used to build a detailed
3D model.
Move the map to your point of interest, create the Around POI mission block,
then set the block’s parameters to tell the drone how to circle the point of interest
and capture the photos you want.
A fixed-wing drone will fly around the point of interest in figure-of-eight pattern,
swooping down so that its camera is at an oblique angle. In this way, photos are
taken of the sides of any captured structures and not just the top.
A rotary drone will circle the point of interest with it’s head tilted at the angle you
want.
Along with the common mapping mission block properties, you can set the fol-
lowing:

• Latitude
Longitude
The coordinates of the point of interest.

• Altitude
The altitude (AMSL or AED)²⁸.

²⁸ see Coordinates and altitude references in eMotion 3 on page 28

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• Mode
Choose the way you want to set up the drone’s trajectory around the point
of interest.
Choose Resolution/angle to set the photo resolution you want and the angle
at which you want to set the drone’s head.
Choose Distances to set how far away from the point, horizontally and ver-
tically, you want the drone to fly.
Based on your choices, eMotion 3 will calculate the appropriate trajectory.

• Start heading
Set the absolute heading (from point to drone) you want the drone to start
its circuit of the point.

• Stop heading
Set the absolute heading (from point to drone) you want the drone to end
its circuit of the point.

• Picture interval
Set the gap, in degrees, between each photo captured.

Using these properties, eMotion 3 calculates:

• Number of photos
The number of photos needed to complete the block.

• Altitude of the photos

The altitude at which the drone will fly with the parameters you have set.

• Estimated flight time

The estimated time needed to complete the block.

• Estimated flight distance

The estimated distance the drone needs to fly to complete the block.

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How to create an Around POI (point of interest) mission block

1. In the Mission planning tab in the Mission panel, click the mission.
2. Click Add block and choose Around POI.
3. On the map, click where your point of interest is located.

The point of interest is placed at the point you clicked, at ground level (AED).

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9.5 Corridor Mapping mission blocks

Use eMotion 3’s Corridor Mapping mission block to fly your senseFly drone
along an elongated zone or structure and take the photos you need to create
aerial maps. Create a series of corridor sections that define the route you want
to map, set the corridor width and the ground sampling distance (GSD) you want
and eMotion 3 will automatically create the mission waypoints.

How to create a Corridor Mapping mission block

First, locate on the map the zone you want to map.
See About eMotion 3’s Toolbar on page 10 and Navigating around the map on
page 56.
Next, add a Corridor Mapping mission block to your mission.

1. Click Add mission block button in the Mission blocks tab.

2. Click on the map where you want to place the beginning of your corridor.

3. Continue clicking to add sections to your corridor.

4. Press Escape, right-click on the map or click Done in the mission block to
finish.

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The corridor apexes appear in a list at the bottom of the mission block in the
Mission blocks tab.

Mapped zone
Direction
Move apex
Move end

Direction

• To move an apex, select the block then click and drag the apex handle ( ).

• To remove an apex, right-click it.

• To reverse the direction the drone will fly along the corridor, check the Re-
verse flight checkbox in the Mission blocks tab.

• To ask the drone to fly only a single flight line along the corridor, check the
Single flight line checkbox in the Mission blocks tab.

• To ask the drone to fly across a corridor section rather than along it, expand
that section in the Mission blocks tab and check the Perpendicular lines
checkbox.

As you adjust the block, eMotion 3 recalculates the flight lines and waypoints.
To move individual waypoints, see How to move waypoints on page 68.
Once your mission block is complete, you can assign it to a drone.

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How to extend a Corridor Mapping mission block

1. Open or select the Custom Route mission block.
2. Click .
3. On the map, click where you want to place the end of the new section.
eMotion 3 will add the new section to the end of the existing corridor.
4. Press Escape, right-click on the map or click Done in the mission block to
finish.

Corridor mission block properties

Along with the common mapping mission block properties, you can set the fol-
lowing:

• Width
The width of the zone along which your photos will overlap and a mapping
product can be produced.
• Reverse flight
If left unchecked, the drone starts the block at the first corridor section you
defined, then flies along the corridor. If checked, the drone starts at the last
section you defined.²⁹.
• Single flight line
If checked, the drone will fly only one flight line along your corridor³⁰.

eMotion 3 displays the following results:

• Number of sections
• Number of photos
²⁹ always ensure that there is enough battery power to return to Home at the end of the mission.
³⁰ the corridor Width you have set is ignored

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• Altitude
The altitude at which the drone will fly in order to achieve the ground res-
olution you set.
• Corridor length
• Estimated flight time
The estimated time needed to complete the block.

Expand the More section to show the following:

• Flight lines spacing

The distance between flight lines.
• Distance between photos
The distance, along the flight line, between photos.
• Single image coverage
The dimensions, on the ground, of each photo.
• Number of waypoints
• Estimated flight distance
The estimated distance the drone needs to fly to complete the block.

About corridor section and apex properties

The properties of a corridor section are defined at its apexes.
You can set the width of the corridor at each apex. The corridor’s width will in-
crease or decrease to the next apex’s width.
If you set the width of an apex, this width overrides the overall corridor width, and
the overall width value becomes invalid.
You can set the following properties:

• Latitude
The latitude of that apex.

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• Longitude
The longitude of that apex.
• Width
The width you want the corridor to be at that apex.
• Perpendicular lines
Check this checkbox and the corridor section following the apex will be
flown with perpendicular flight lines³¹.

9.6 Custom Route mission blocks

Custom Route mission blocks are made up of a series of waypoints. The drone will
fly to each waypoint in order.
To build a Custom Route, create a Custom Route mission block, then add way-
points.
You can use Custom Routes to, for example, guide your drone around obstacles to
the beginning of a mapping mission block, or to guide the drone from one mission
block to another.

Note: You cannot ask the drone to automatically carry out any ac-
tions, for example, capture a photo, on Custom Route waypoints.

³¹ reversing flight lines puts the perpendicular lines on the other side of the apex

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How to create a Custom Route mission block

Locate on the map the place where you want to build your route, then create a
Custom Route mission block and add waypoints to it.

1. In the Mission blocks tab in the Mission panel, click the mission.
2. Click Add block and choose Custom Route.

About Custom Route waypoints

Custom Route waypoints are simple waypoints that have only the following prop-
erties:

• Altitude
You can choose to set the altitude as ATO, AMSL or AED³².
• Coordinates
Latitude and longitude in the WGS 84 coordinate system.

As with any waypoint, you can move it and change its altitude by clicking and
dragging the waypoint on the map³³.

How to add a waypoint to a Custom Route

1. Open the Custom Route mission block.
2. Click .
3. On the map, click where you want to place the waypoint.
4. Press Escape, right-click on the map or click Done in the mission block to
finish.
³² see Coordinates and altitude references in eMotion 3 on page 28
³³ see How to move waypoints on page 68

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How to view and edit Custom Route waypoint properties

With the Custom Route mission block open, open the waypoint in one of the fol-
lowing ways:

• In the mission explorer, click on Custom Route mission block and choose
the waypoint from the list.

• With the mission block open, double-click the waypoint.

• With the mission block open, click on the waypoint you want.

Edit the waypoint’s properties. Your changes are immediately saved.

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10 Readying your drone for the mission

Once you have completed your mission blocks it’s time to assign them to a real or
simulated drone. Power on and connect eMotion 3 to your drone.
When you assign the mission blocks you want to fly to your drone, they are copied
to the drone’s autopilot through the ground modem connection.
Once assigned, the block’s waypoints change colour in eMotion 3, and any change
you make to a waypoint is immediately transmitted to the drone.

How to assign mission blocks to a drone

In the Mission planning tab:

• Click the / Assign button on the blocks you want to assign.

• If a block has already been assigned, you can click and drag other blocks
into the assigned block section of the block list³⁴.

The drone icon takes on the colour of your drone and the button background turns
dark grey for assigned blocks.
If you cannot assign a mission block, there might be a problem. See Assigning
Start, Home and mission blocks to the drone on page 60.

Caution: Always carefully review the flight plan before take-off

to ensure that there is sufficient clearance between the flight plan
and the ground. Click on the Toolbar to toggle 3D mode on
and off. We recommended that you double-check waypoint AMSL
altitudes against another source of elevation data.

³⁴ see About the mission block list on page 75

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How to unassign mission blocks from a drone

1. Click the field’s / Assign button again to unassign a block.

How to take off and start your mission

Once you’ve planned your mission, you are ready to prepare for take-off.
See your drone’s user manual for a guide to preparing and launching your fixed-
wing drone. See on page 137 for rotary drones.
After take-off, the drone switches into waypoint navigation mode and flies to
Start.
Once the drone has arrived at Start, if needed, click START MISSION.

Note: If the drone detects an issue that prevents take-off or makes

take-off dangerous or unwise, it will raise a take-off veto. A mes-
sage will appear in the Status panel in eMotion 3 and the drone’s
status LED will shine red. Take-off vetoes on page 210 describes the
possible take-off veto messages and the user action that should
be taken to remove them.

10.1 After take-off

Use the After take-off setting in Transitions within the Mission panel’s Take-off
and landing tab to tell the drone what to do after take-off.
You can tell the drone to:

• Don’t wait – immediately start the assigned mission, or resume from

where it left off
Set After take-off to Start or resume Mission.
Missions that have never been flown will be started from the first waypoint.

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Missions that have already been partially flown will be restarted from the
point the drone left off.
• Don’t wait – immediately restart the assigned mission from the first
waypoint
Set After take-off to Restart Mission.
Partially completed missions will be restarted from the first waypoint.
• Wait at Start
Set After take-off to Stay on Start Waypoint.

Note: Once the drone is in the air, you can use the Control Bar
to START MISSION, RESUME MISSION and RESTART BLOCK. With the
drone on the ground you can use each block’s Reset progress
button.

10.2 After the mission

Use the After mission setting in the Mission panel’s Take-off and landing tab to
tell the drone what to do at the end of a mission.
You can tell the drone to:

• Return to Home and land³⁵

Set After mission to Land.
• Return to Home and wait there
Set After mission to Go to Home waypoint.
• Go to Start and wait
Set After mission to Go to Start waypoint.
• Go back to the start of the mission and fly the blocks again
Set After mission to Restart Mission.
³⁵ this is the default action

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10.3 Flying to Start and Home

Both rotary and fixed-wing senseFly drones will fly straight to Start, but fly the
higher path to Home.

Flying to Home

HOME

START

MISSION

If Home is higher

HOME
MISSION

START

If Home is lower

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Whenever your drone flies autonomously to Home (for example, after a mission
or if you click GO LAND):

• If Home is higher than the drone, it will first climb, then fly to Home.

• If Home is lower than the drone, it will first fly to a point directly above
Home, then descend.

If you want it to fly straight to Home at the end of a mission, use a Custom Route
mission block. See Custom Route mission blocks on page 110.

Flying to Start
HOME

START

MISSION

When flying an autonomous mission, the drone will fly in a straight line from the
take-off location to Start.
Make sure there are no obstacles between the take-off location and Start. If there
are:

• Move Start. For example, place it above the take-off location at the same
altitude as the first mission waypoint.

• Place Start near the drone, then create a Custom Route mission block
to guide the drone to the mission. See Custom Route mission blocks on
page 110.

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How to land after a mission

If After mission in the Mission’s panel’s Take-off and landing tab is set to Land,
the drone will return to Home and land automatically.
If After mission is not set to Land, click GO LAND on eMotion 3’s Control Bar.
Once on the ground, a rotary drone’s propellers will stop.

Note: The ground sensors must have sufficient light and texture
to accurately detect the drone’s height above the ground. Ensure
that the sensors are clear of dirt or other obstructions before flying
again.

Allow eMotion 3 to finish copying the flight logs and power your rotary drone off
before removing the SD card. Remove the battery from the drone before picking
it up.

Note: We recommend you import the photos and flight data

straight away after each flight (see Part VI), before putting the
drone back in its case for storage.

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 Part III

Flying fixed-wing drones with

eMotion 3
Unless there is an issue that requires the use of the Remote Control by the safety
pilot, fixed-wing senseFly drones will fly their mission and land autonomously.
The way that you set this up is described in senseFly drone missions on page 51.
In some ways, a fixed-wing drone landing, and the way you prepare for it in eMotion 3,
differs from a rotary drone landing. This is described in the following sections.
Flying fixed-wing drones with eMotion 3

11 Fixed-wing drone linear landings

keep obstacle-free wind

direction
Approach

60m
Take-off
15m
40m
Landing/Home

take-off
transition
Start altitude reached

Caution: Always place Start and Home well clear of obstacles in a

location that allows your fixed-wing drone to be launched, and to
land against the wind. Home for fixed-wing drones must be well
above (at least 30 m) any obstacles.

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11.1 About linear landing approach sectors

Set up one or more approach sectors to guide your fixed-wing drone in for a linear
landing. The drone will approach the landing location within one of these sectors.
Choose obstacle-free approach zones that allow your approach sector(s) to be
made as wide as possible, maximising the chance that the drone can subsequently
land against the direction of the wind. Ensure that the terrain within the approach
sector is flat and contains visual contrast to allow the ground sensor to function
properly during landing.
The drone will measure the wind direction, then choose the ideal landing trajec-
tory within the approach sectors you define.
Select an approach sector to show the expected height of the drone above the
landing location.

11.2 How to create an approach sector

eMotion 3 automatically gives fixed-wing, linear landing locations one approach

sector. To create additional approach sectors:

1. Select, on the map, the fixed-wing, linear landing location to which you
want to add an approach sector. Alternatively, in the Mission panel’s Take-
off and landing tab, click to expand the landing location.

2. Expand the landing location’s Parameters.

3. Click Add an approach sector for linear landing.

Note: You can define up to 4 approach sectors. Your new ap-

proach sector may appear on top of an existing approach sector.

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Flying fixed-wing drones with eMotion 3

11.3 Moving and resizing approach sectors

Turn approach sector

Resize
approach sector

Move Home Change Home radius

How to make an approach sector wider or narrower

• Click the approach sector to select it then click and drag one of the circular
resizing handles at the ends of the sector’s arc.

• Expand the landing’s parameters and expand the landing sector. Adjust the
Span.

How to change an approach sector’s orientation

• Click the approach sector to select it then click and drag the circular handle
at the centre of the sector’s arc.
• Expand the landing’s parameters and expand the landing sector. Adjust the
Center course.

How to change the radius of Start and Home

Click to select Start or Home on the map, then click and drag the handle on the
circular flight path to change the radius.
A fixed-wing drone will circle at that distance from the waypoint.

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 Part IV

Flying RTK/PPK-capable drones

with eMotion 3
Note: Some of the operating modes of the senseFly drone require
a GNSS/RTK base station or access to a subscription-based Ntrip
stream. These are not provided in the drone package.

Your RTK/PPK-capable senseFly drone’s operating modes

Your drone can operate in some or all of the following modes:

RTK: Local Base, Precisely Known Coordinates

Create DSMs and orthomosaics with high absolute coordinate accuracy using your
precisely measured base station position as a GCP. Useful when a survey has al-
ready been done and reference points are already marked out. No post-processing
is needed to achieve RTK/PPK-level geotag accuracy.

• Place your base station on a known reference point and connect it to your
computer.

• In eMotion 3, select the base station, set the reference point and base sta-
tion height.

• eMotion 3 streams correction data to the drone through the ground mo-
dem.
Flying RTK/PPK-capable drones with eMotion 3

Note: For all photos to have RTK-level geotag accuracy, the

ground modem to drone communication link must remain unin-
terrupted.

RTK: Local Base, Unknown or Imprecise Coordinates

Create DSMs and orthomosaics with geotagging relative to your base station’s
approximate position, then bring the accuracy up later. Useful for green-field sur-
veying when no GCPs have been set, when in-field time is limited or it is imprac-
tical to survey beforehand.

• Position your base station in a convenient location.

• Have eMotion 3 obtain, or set your base station’s approximate position.
• eMotion 3 streams correction data to the drone through the ground mo-
dem.
• Your base station’s position will be corrected to a high level of absolute ac-
curacy in post-processing, by eMotion 3, using raw GNSS/RTK base station
and reference station files, or by an external post-processing service of your
choosing. See Obtaining photos, videos and flight data: RTK/PPK-capable
drones on page 200 for details.

RTK: Virtual Reference Station

Create DSMs and orthomosaics using reference station networks to achieve very
high precision absolute geotags. Used when you want to benefit from the high
absolute precision achievable from sophisticated Ntrip networks, or when survey-
ing equipment is unavailable or inconvenient.

• Configure your drone ’s eMotion 3 software to receive VRS/Ntrip correction

data (Internet connection and VRS/Ntrip subscription required).
• Correction data is streamed to the drone via its eMotion 3 flight control
software and ground modem.

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 Fixed-wing drone linear landings

PPK
Correct your drone’s position in post-processing using RINEX files. Useful in situ-
ations where there is a risk of interference in the link between eMotion 3 and the
drone, or where time is short and it is inconvenient to set up a local base.

• Download the RINEX files that correspond to your occupation time from a
real or virtual base station at or close to the flight location.
• Apply the corrections in PPK post-processing with eMotion 3’s Flight Data
Manager.

Note: PPK only available for eBee Plus.

PPK post-processing does not require an internet connection dur-
ing flight. Any RTK/PPK-activated eBee Plus flight with suitable
camera (that is, with a base station, VRS or standalone) can be
post-processed to high levels of accuracy with PPK.

Standalone
Use to create maps and DSMs when high relative precision is enough or when
corrections are unnecessary or unavailable. With only the drone, ground modem
and computer, high-quality DSMs and orthomosaics are still achievable.

• Operate the senseFly drone without corrections.

• Process your photos and flight data using eMotion 3’s Flight Data Manager.
drone

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Flying RTK/PPK-capable drones with eMotion 3

12 Setting up RTK

12.1 Base station compatibility

With built-in support for the standard RTCM RTK data transmission protocols, RTK-
capable senseFly drone with eMotion 3 can be expected to receive and process
corrections from a wide range of base stations. senseFly has tested a series of
RTCM-compliant base stations from leading brands, checked for non-standard
features that might cause incompatibility, and has thus validated them for use
with RTK-capable senseFly drones and eMotion 3.
Some base station manufacturers also make available proprietary data transmis-
sion protocols, and senseFly has used these to develop additional base-eMotion 3
automation features for some of these bases.
Please refer to the following Knowledge Base article for a list of base stations
that senseFly has validated, and which base-eMotion 3 automation features you
should expect:
https://sensefly.zendesk.com/entries/105423496

Note: This list will change as senseFly enhances eMotion 3, so

please refer to this list regularly, especially if purchasing a base
station, or if considering using one with your senseFly drone for
the first time.

12.2 RTK: Setting up your GNSS/RTK base station

To enable high-precision navigation and in-flight geotagging, connect eMotion 3
to an RTK-capable base station (not provided in the drone package). Corrections
will be sent through the ground modem, and, depending on the camera, your
photos will be precisely geotagged, or geotags will be automatically stored along-
side your photos in the automatically-generated flight logs.
You can set up several base stations in eMotion 3. Once in the field you can then

126
 Setting up RTK

quickly change base station using the Choose RTK Source pulldown menu in the
Mission panel’s / RTK/PPK tab.
RTK RTK
PPK

Step 1 Connect your base station to the computer on which you installed eMotion 3
following your base station manufacturer’s instructions. The way you
connect depends on your base station make and model. eMotion 3 will
accept, for example, serial and USB connections.

Step 2 Click the RTK

/ RTK
PPK Set up RTK/PPK button on the Mission panel’s RTK
/ RTK
PPK RTK/PPK
tab.

Step 3 In the Local Bases tab, click Add Base.

Step 4 Enter the Base Name.

Step 5 Choose your base station’s manufacturer.

Step 6 From the Connection Type menu, choose the way in which you have con-
nected your base station to your computer.

Step 7 From the next menu (USB or Serial, depending on the Connection Type
you chose), choose the link to your base station.

Step 8 If you are using a serial connection, launch your base station’s configura-
tion tool and use it to check:

• that the serial port configuration (Baud Rate and Stop Bits) shown in
eMotion 3 matches the configuration that your computer is using
to connect to the base station.

• whether your base station requires hardware flow control. If it does,

check the Hardware Flow Control checkbox in eMotion 3.

Step 9 Click OK to add the base station.

127
Flying RTK/PPK-capable drones with eMotion 3

12.3 Setting up reference points for your GNSS/RTK base sta-

tion

Note: All coordinates in eMotion 3 are displayed in decimal in the

global WGS 84 reference frame. This is the reference frame used
by GPS satellites.

eMotion 3 assumes that any coordinate you enter is in the WGS 84 reference
frame. If you are using a local or national geoid (MSL) or geodetic coordinate
system, you must convert coordinates into WGS 84 before entering them into
eMotion 3. The way you do this depends on the geoid and the tools available to
you. Online or downloadable conversion tools may be available from your base
station’s manufacturer or a national geodetic society.
Note that the drone’s internal GNSS receiver transforms the GLONASS ellipsoid
(PZ-90) into WGS 84.
You can set up several reference points in eMotion 3. Once in the field you can
then quickly change base station position using the Choose RTK Source pulldown
menu on the / RTK/PPK tab.
RTK RTK
PPK

Step 1 Click RTK

/ RTK
PPK Set upRTK/PPK on the Mission panel’s RTK
/ RTK
PPK RTK/PPK tab.

Step 2 In the Reference Points panel, click Add Point.

Step 3 Enter the name of the reference point.

Step 4 Enter the decimal Latitude, Longitude and Ellipsoid Height of the reference
point and click OK.

To remove a base station or reference point from the list, click for the item you
want to remove. To change the settings, click the one you want to change then
click .

128
 Setting up RTK

12.4 Setting up virtual reference broadcasters

Note: eMotion 3 also allows you to configure a series of connec-

tions to Ntrip streams from public or subscription-based broad-
casters and set up virtual reference stations (VRSs).

Note: A preconfigured set of Ntrip broadcasters is available for

use in eMotion 3, and you can configure a connection to your own
broadcaster. Before using a subscription-based Ntrip stream, or
an Ntrip stream that requires registration, you must first register
or subscribe through the stream provider, for example, on their
website or by contacting them directly. You cannot register or
subscribe using eMotion 3.

Step 1 Find a suitable Ntrip broadcaster and register or subscribe if necessary

before adding the VRS to eMotion 3.

Step 2 Click RTK

/ RTK
PPK Set upRTK/PPK on the Mission panel’s RTK
/ RTK
PPK RTK/PPK tab.

Step 3 In the Virtual Reference tab, click Add Virtual Reference.

Step 4 To use a preconfigured stream, choose the broadcaster’s server domain

from the Server menu. To set up a custom stream, enter the broadcaster’s
domain in the Server menu.

Step 5 Enter the port number on which the broadcaster is streaming. This is of-
ten port 2101 (set by default), however, the caster device may be stream-
ing on a different port. Check with the broadcaster to confirm.

Step 6 If you are connecting to a stream that requires registration or subscrip-

tion, enter your user name and password.

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Flying RTK/PPK-capable drones with eMotion 3

Note: As you enter the broadcaster’s domain, the streaming port,

your user ID and password, eMotion 3 will try and connect to the
server. As long as these details are incorrect or incomplete you will
see an error message on the dialog. The list of remote streams
only appears when you have entered enough correct details to
successfully connect to the broadcaster.

Step 7 Scroll through the list of streams. Click a stream to view its details.
Step 8 Click Add virtual reference. The stream will be added to the list in the
Choose RTK Source menu in the / RTK/PPK tab. If you entered a user
RTK RTK
PPK

name and password, these are stored in eMotion 3 and will be submitted
to the broadcaster when you connect.

Note: To remove a virtual reference, click for the item you want
to remove.

Note: The VRS stream will be consumed, and may therefore be

charged for by your VRS supplier, as soon as the drone is con-
nected to eMotion 3 and until disconnected.

12.5 Setting up PPK

No setup is required in eMotion 3. Make sure that you will have access, for post-
flight processing, to a RINEX file from a suitably-located base station with appro-
priate occupation time.

130
 Using RTK

13 Using RTK
Choose the source of your RTK corrections using the Choose RTK Source pulldown
menu in the Mission panel’s /
RTK
RTK/PPK tab. The message RTK Source Not
RTK
PPK

Defined appears until you either choose a source or choose to fly standalone/PPK

(see Using PPK on page 133.

Set up RTK/PPK
Choose RTK Source

The status of your RTK corrections (if you are receiving them, Format will read
RTCM), directly from your base station, or indirectly from a reference station net-
work, is also displayed on the / RTK/PPK tab:
RTK RTK
PPK

Not sufficient eMotion 3 was not sent the data it needs (position and cor-
rection vector)
Timeout eMotion 3 was getting position and correction data, but is
no longer
OK All is well; eMotion 3 is getting position and correction data
as expected

13.1 Using a local base station

Step 1 Connect your base station to the computer on which you installed eMotion 3
following your base station manufacturer’s instructions.
Step 2 Choose your base station from the Choose RTK Source pulldown menu.

131
Flying RTK/PPK-capable drones with eMotion 3

The Set up Local Base dialog will appear.

Use the Set up Local Base dialog to set the base’s position and open (start³⁶
and retransmit to the drone) the base’s correction datastream.

If your Base Station’s Position is Known:

Step 3 Choose On known reference point.

Step 4 Select the reference point. See Setting up reference points for your GNSS/RTK
base station on page 128.
Step 5 Set the Height reference of the point:

• Ground marker
• Antenna reference point (ARP)

For example, if the point’s Ellipsoid height refers to the bottom of your
antenna’s mount, choose Antenna reference point (ARP).

Step 6 Click Open base-drone datastream. eMotion 3 will start the datastream
on compatible bases and start transmitting corrections to the drone.

Step 7 Click OK. A base station icon ( ) appears on your map at the reference
point coordinates.

If your Base Station’s Position is Unknown or Imprecise:

Step 3 Choose On unknown point.

Step 4 Click Open base-drone datastream. eMotion 3 will take approximate co-
ordinates from the connected base station, start the datastream on com-
patible bases and start transmitting corrections to the drone.
Step 5 Click OK. A base station icon ( ) appears on your map at the base station’s
reported coordinates.
³⁶ depends on the level of base-eMotion compatibility

132
 Using RTK

Note: The absolute precision of the coordinates obtained from

your base station will be greatly improved in post processing.

Note: If the base-eMotion 3 automation features that allow

eMotion 3 to communicate with the base are unavailable, the Set
up Local Base dialog still appears, but you cannot use it to set base
position. You must set the base’s position and start the correction
stream manually using the base’s own functions, then click Open
base-drone datastream in eMotion.

13.2 Using a virtual reference broadcaster

Step 1 From the eMotion 3 Choose RTK Source menu, select the VRS/Ntrip ser-
vice you want to connect to for your flight.
Step 2 If a VRS is successfully created, a base station icon ( ) appears on your
map at its coordinates.

14 Using PPK
If you want to, use eMotion 3’s flight data manager to post-process your drone’s
logs alongside reference data. You will fly your drone in Standalone/PPK mode.
Choose Standalone from eMotion 3’s Choose RTK Source pulldown menu on the
/ RTK/PPK tab.
RTK RTK
PPK

Now that you have chosen your RTK source, or chosen to fly standalone/PPK, you
can plan your mission and launch your real or simulated drone. You will post-
process in eMotion 3’s Flight Data Manager. See Obtaining photos, videos and
flight data: RTK/PPK-capable drones on page 200 for instructions.

133
 Part V

Flying rotary drones with

eMotion 3
15 Take-off and landing: rotary drones
senseFly drones use satellite positioning signals to calculate their position and
accuracy. Soon after it is powered on they start processing satellite signals so that
they are ready to record their position at take-off. This take-off altitude is referred
to as 0 m (0 ft) above take-off (m/ATO or ft/ATO).

15.1 About Start and Home

When all is well, a simple autonomous rotary drone mission will go like this:

1. You power on the drone and connect it to eMotion 3. While it is powering

on, it calculates its position using satellite positioning signals.
2. You click the TAKE OFF button in eMotion 3.
3. The drone takes off.
4. The drone heads to Start.
5. The drone carries out its mission.
6. The drone heads to Home.
7. The drone lands directly under Home.

Unless you have moved it³⁷, eMotion 3 will automatically place Start 30 m (98 ft)
³⁷ see How to move waypoints on page 68
Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

directly above the take-off location. It will place Home 5 m (16 ft) directly above
Start (that is, 35 m (115 ft) above the take-off location).

Caution: Always make sure that Home is well clear of the ground
and clear of any obstacles before flying.

Caution: Always place Home so that the direct path leading back
to it, from any position the drone could be during its mission, is
well clear of any obstacles.

15.2 About rotary drone take-off

Note: Carefully review the position of Start and Home before tak-
ing off. See About Start and Home on the preceding page.

Caution:
Be ready to abort the take-off in case of emergency.

If in interactive mode, after take-off and calibration, the drone hovers at an alti-
tude of approximately 1 m (3 ft), waiting for your command.

If there are mission blocks assigned to the drone, it pauses briefly then flies to
Start.
Use the After take-off setting in the Mission panel’s Take-off and landing tab to
tell the drone what to do next. See After take-off on page 114.
If there are no mission blocks assigned, it pauses briefly then flies to Start and
waits there for your command.
See senseFly drone missions on page 51 for more information about missions and
mission blocks.

136
 Caution: The drone’s ability to maintain its position in a hover de-
pends on the conditions. There must be good lighting conditions
and good satellite positioning signal reception. Be ready to take
control of the drone with the Controller or Remote Control, or land
if necessary.

How to take off and start your mission

Once you’ve planned your mission and the drone’s status LED is solid green your
drone is ready to take off.

• Click TAKE OFF on the Control Bar.

• Allow the drone to take off.
• Allow the drone to fly to Start.
• If needed, click START MISSION.

After take-off, the drone switches into waypoint navigation mode and flies to
Start.
Be ready to abort the take-off by clicking LAND NOW on the Control Bar. If the
drone then lands softly and doesn’t automatically stop its propellers, triple-click
MOTORS OFF³⁸ on the Control Bar or power on the Remote Control then press and
hold the left-hand stick. Do not do this if the drone is in the air.

Caution:
Never attempt a hand-held take-off with a rotary drone.

Caution:
Keep clear of the rotary drone during take-off.

³⁸ to show this button, choose User interface in the Options function tab

137
Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

15.3 Landing a rotary senseFly drone

You can land rotary senseFly drones in different ways, depending on the circum-
stances.
As it is landing, you can control the drone’s horizontal positioning (pitch left, right,
forwards and backwards) using either the ScreenFly Controller or the Remote Con-
trol.

Landing after a completed autonomous mission

senseFly drones can land themselves after an autonomous mission.
Set the After mission options in the Mission’s panel’s Take-off and landing tab to
Land. See After take-off on page 114.

Landing after an interactive flight

After an interactive flight, you can ask your rotary drone to fly home and land
autonomously, or you can pilot the drone to the landing location, then ask it to
land.
To fly home and land autonomously, click GO LAND on eMotion 3’s control bar.
If flying interactively, position the drone above the place you want to land, then:

• Press the button (G) on the ScreenFly Controller.

• Click LAND NOW on eMotion 3’s Control Bar.

Abort autonomous mission, return to home and land

If you need to abort an autonomous mission and land, click GO LAND on eMotion 3’s
control bar.

138
The drone will immediately fly to Home³⁹, then descend vertically, land and power
off its motors.

Land at current location

If you need the drone to land without first returning to Home, do one of the fol-
lowing:

• Click LAND NOW on eMotion 3’s Control Bar.

• Press the button (G) on the ScreenFly Controller.

• Switch on the Remote Control and pull back on the Take off/land slider.

Emergency landing
In rare cases, the drone may malfunction and behave unexpectedly (for example,
fly away, climb, drift or spiral uncontrollably). It may not be possible, or there may
not be enough time to gain control with the Remote Control. In these or any other
emergency situations in which it is imperative that the drone leaves the sky, even
if this risks damaging it, you can trigger an emergency landing. The drone will
immediately descend in a parachute-like manner, drifting with the wind, until it
reaches the ground.

How to trigger an emergency landing

• Rapidly click the EMERGENCY LDG button on eMotion 3 ’s Control Bar three
times (triple-click).

• Press and hold the left-hand stick (D) on the ScreenFly Controller.
³⁹ see About Start and Home on page 135

139
Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

Autonomous emergency landing

If the drone encounters a Critical Failure, it will immediately start descending in a
parachute-like manner, land and cut its motors. You may be able to influence the
drone’s trajectory with the Controller and Remote Control, but you cannot abort
the landing. The drone might drift and there is a risk of damage to the drone and
collision with any objects or people that are directly under it.

Aborting a landing
You can abort ordinary interactive and autonomous landings and interactive emer-
gency landings. You cannot abort an autonomous emergency landing.
If you abort the autonomous landing at the end of a mission, the drone will return
to Home.
If you abort an interactive landing, the drone hovers, waiting for a command.

How to abort a landing

• Press the button (G) on the ScreenFly Controller.

• Click ABORT LANDING on eMotion 3’s Control Bar.

• Power on the remote control and pull back on the take off/land slider.

Stopping the drone’s propellers

In some situations the drone may not detect that it has landed. The propellers will
continue to spin.
This can happen when:

• The drone landed on a very soft surface

• High winds forced the drone down to the ground

140
 • You piloted the drone ’hands-on’ down to the ground

If this happens, in order to stop the propellers, first carry out one of the following:

• Click LAND NOW on eMotion 3’s Control Bar.

• Press the button (G) on the ScreenFly Controller.
• Power on the Remote Control, wait approximately 1 s for it to connect⁴⁰,
then pull back on the Take off/land slider.

If, after 2 s, the propellers have not stopped, trigger a motor cut-off.

• Rapidly click the MOTORS OFF button⁴¹ on eMotion 3 ’s Control Bar three
times (triple-click).

• Power the Remote Control wait approximately 1 s for it to connect, press

the left stick down until it clicks and hold it for 1 s.

If, and only if the motor cut-off fails to stop the propellers, attempt with extreme
caution to power the drone off using its power button.

⁴⁰ it will emit 5 rapid beeps to confirm that it has taken control of the drone
⁴¹ this button can be hidden. To show it, choose User interface in the Options function tab

141
Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

16 Flying interactively with ScreenFly

Goal of this section: This section introduces interactive rotary

drone flight with the ScreenFly Controller.

You can use the controller to approach the target of your inspection and once in
position, zoom in and out, fly around the target, cruise along or across the target,
capturing video or photos. You can use eMotion 3 to recentre the video feed on
objects of interest. Click and hold on the video feed to activate the on-screen
controller and drag the pointer to pan around – the head will automatically move
up and down and the drone will turn, all while remaining stable in the air.

Note:
A flight direction stated here is relative to the drone itself.

Note: This section describes the Controller with its controls set as
supplied, to mode 2. See your drone user manual for more infor-
mation.

142
 Flying interactively with ScreenFly

16.1 The ScreenFly Controller

With the ScreenFly Controller you send commands to the drone through eMotion 3.
The drone’s autopilot interprets flight commands and moves as instructed, all
while maintaining stable flight. Use eMotion 3 and the ScreenFly Controller to
direct the cameras on the drone’ TripleView Head towards the object you want to
film, photograph or inspect. Use the buttons on the controller to select a navcam,
activate and deactivate the automatic photo trigger or take photos as needed.
Connect the ScreenFly Controller to a USB port on a computer that has eMotion 3
installed on it⁴².

Caution: Use of a controller other than the one supplied with your
senseFly drone is not recommended.

⁴² do not press any buttons or move the sticks as you connect it. See Warnings on page 218

143
 TripleView Head : Look down TripleView Head: Look up
Start/stop video recording Take photo
Long press: Auto photo trigger on/off Interactive ScreenFly Long press: Trigger autofocus
on/off
Take off/abort take-off Activate Cruise Control
Land/abort landing (press SHIFT + cruise)
Deactivate Cruise Control
(press SHIFT)
Select navcam: Head
Press with SHIFT: Main Camera: Zoom in
Cruise up/forwards† IF
T
Y
H
+S
SHIFT
Select navcam: Left X Distance Lock on/off
Press with SHIFT: Cruise left
B
MODE

A Switch head camera:

Select navcam: Right
Press with SHIFT: Cruise right Navcam > Main > Thermal

ng
Main camera: Zoom out

S) /ON
HO andi
Select navcam: Bottom/rear

ES OFF
LD
L
cy
n
rge SS ift
-Dr R Press & hold: Reset head/zoom
+
Press with SHIFT: Eme (PRE Anti (P

Cruise down/backwards†
Do not use*

Drone control: Drone control:

Up/down/turn right/turn left Forward/backward/right/left
Press & hold: Emergency landing Press: Anti-drift off/on

∗ Pressing this button swaps the functions on the left-hand controllers. While active, the LED shines red.
If you press it by accident, press it again to swap back – the LED will switch off.
† Cruise direction depends on head angle. See How to set a constant speed (cruise) on page 149.
 Take photo Start/stop video recording
Long press: Trigger autofocus Long press: Auto photo trigger
on/off

TripleView head: X D TripleView head:

Look up Set to X (do not change) Look down
Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

The following button index will be used in the next section:

J L M K

G H Y
Y
C
F
I X
X B
B
MODE

A
A

D E

K J

M L

146
 Flying interactively with ScreenFly

16.2 How to activate and deactivate the ScreenFly Controller

• Press button C in the centre of the ScreenFly Controller.
• In eMotion 3, click INTERACTIVE on the Control Bar.

If your drone is in the air when you activate the ScreenFly Controller, it hovers and
waits for a command.
If your drone is flying autonomously when you activate the controller, it pauses
its autonomous mission and hovers, waiting for a command. If you later deacti-
vate the controller while the drone is in the air, you can resume the incomplete
autonomous mission by clicking RESUME MISSION on the control bar.
If you deactivate the controller while flying interactively, it will hover, awaiting a
command.

16.3 How to take off using ScreenFly

• Press the button (G) on the ScreenFly Controller.
• In eMotion 3, click TAKE OFF on the Control Bar.

Caution:
Be ready to abort the take-off by pressing the button again.

16.4 How to land using ScreenFly

With your drone positioned over the landing location:

• Press the button (G) on the ScreenFly Controller.

• Click LAND NOW on the Control Bar.

The drone will immediately land.

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Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

16.5 How to fly left, right, forward and backward with Screen-

Fly

Use the right-hand joystick (E) on the ScreenFly Controller⁴³. The drone will pitch
according to the direction you move the joystick:

• Push up to fly forward.

• Pull down to fly backward.

• Push right to fly to the right.

• Push left to fly to the left.

16.6 How to turn the drone using ScreenFly

Use the left-hand joystick (D) on the ScreenFly Controller⁴³. The drone will turn
(yaw) in the direction you push the joystick:

• Push right to turn to the right.

• Push left to turn to the left.

16.7 How to climb and descend using ScreenFly

Use the left-hand joystick (D) on the ScreenFly Controller⁴³. The drone will move
according to the direction you push the joystick:

• Push up to climb.

• Pull down to descend.

⁴³ with controls set to mode 2

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Caution: Do not press button I. It swaps the functions on the left-

hand controllers. If you accidentally press button I and the LED on
the controller shines red, press button I again.

16.8 How to hover using ScreenFly

Release the joysticks. The drone will automatically maintain its position and hover.

16.9 How to set a constant speed (cruise)

Press SHIFT (H) + the controller pad (F or ) in the direction in which you want
to cruise.
Cruise direction depends on the head’s orientation:

Head Cruise
Pointing Angle

Between
Forwards Up Down Left Right
-45° and 45°

Up Over 45° Drone flies: Forwards Backwards Left Right

Down Below -45° Forwards Backwards Left Right

For example, with the head pointing down (below -45°), pressing cruise up on the
controller tells the drone to cruise forwards.

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You do not need to hold SHIFT or hold the controller pad down to continue cruis-
ing. If you do hold the SHIFT button (H) down, you can change cruise direction by
pressing that direction on the controller pad.
To stop cruising, press the SHIFT button (H) again.

Note: Changing the head angle while the drone is cruising (for
example, turning it from -90° to 0°) does not change the cruise
direction.

Note: If you have switched the anti-drift off, only

up/down/left/right cruise with the head pointing forwards
is available.

How to change cruise speed

In the drone’s Parameters tab set the Cruise control speed in the Assistance sec-
tion.

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16.10 About Distance Lock

You can ask the drone to maintain a set distance, between 1.5 m (5 ft) and 5 m
(16 ft), from a vertical or horizontal surface.
You can then move the drone parallel to that surface while the drone automat-
ically maintains a fixed distance away. Set the distance you want in the Drone
Parameters tab.
With Distance Lock switched on, only the head ultrasonic sensor is used. You can-
not use other sensors without switching Distance Lock off.
You can temporarily move towards or away from the surface using the Controller.
When you release the controls the drone will return to the Distance Lock distance.

Caution:
Move carefully towards a surface to avoid colliding with it.

Surfaces must be hard, solid and continuous for Distance Lock to work. You cannot
lock onto, for example, trees, open fences or open steel lattices.

How to maintain a fixed distance from a surface

First, set the distance you want the drone to maintain. In the drone’s Parameters
tab set the Distance lock distance in the Assistance section.
Next, set the drone’s head orientation so that it is pointing towards the surface
you want to lock onto.
Press the Distance lock button (B) on the Controller to switch Distance Lock on.
The head will turn and the drone will try and find a surface to lock onto.
Move the drone to within approximately 5 m of the surface you want to lock onto.
When the drone detects the surface, Distance Lock activates and the drone moves
itself into position.

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45˚

-45˚

~5m ~5m

10 10 20 20

0 0 10 10

-10 -10 0 0

-20 -20 -10 -10

-20 -20

1. Head pitch near 0° 2. Distance lock on –

head turns to 0°

20 20

10 10

0 0

-10 -10

-20 -20

3. Surface detected – distance locked

To lock onto a vertical surface, for example, a quarry wall, point the drone’s head
forwards (between 45° and -45°). When you activate distance lock, the head will
turn to 0°.

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~5m ~5m

45˚

-45˚

80 80

70 70

60 60 90 90 90 90

50 50 80 80 80 80

70 70 70 70

1. Head pitch near 90° (or -90°) 2. Distance lock on – 3. Surface detected –
head turns to 90° (or -90°) distance locked

To lock onto a horizontal surface above the drone (for example, the underside of
a bridge), turn the drone’s head up past 45°. For a surface below the drone (for
example, a flat roof), turn the drone’s head down, past -45°. When you activate
distance lock, the head will turn up or down to 90° or -90°.

Using distance lock safely

Do not forget to switch distance lock off when you are finished. If you don’t, it may
unexpectedly lock onto the next object that passes in front of the drone.

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<5m

1. Distance lock off 2. Distance lock on

If, when it detects a surface, the drone is closer to it than the distance lock distance,
it will move itself away from the surface. Ensure that there is enough room.

If the surface profile, and therefore the distance from drone to surface changes
abruptly, the drone will maintain distance lock and abruptly change position. It
may risk colliding with the point at which the surface profile changed. Be ready
to correct its flight using the controller.

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How to switch Distance Lock off

Press the Distance lock button (B) on the controller to switch Distance Lock off
again.

Caution: If possible, move the drone away from the surface be-
fore deactivating Distance Lock. Without Distance Lock, if GNSS
signals are poor, the drone can drift towards the surface.

Note: The head sensor module will continue to be the active one
after Distance Lock is switched off. Consider switching to another
one using the Ultrasonics panel. For example, switch to the bot-
tom sensor so that the drone can better reduce drift using optic
flow.

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17 Capturing photos and video

During an automated mapping mission, photos are automatically captured by the
drone. When flying interactively, you have control over the photos and video cap-
tured.

Note: The zoom level or the use of a navcam feed do not affect
captured photo resolution. All photos are captured using the full
frame of the selected camera.

Note: If you are viewing or capturing video, there will be short

break in the video feed each time a photo is captured.

17.1 How to capture single photos

• With your right hand, press – the upper button on the back of the con-
troller (K).
• In eMotion 3, click to capture a single photo.

17.2 Automatically capturing photos

The drone can automatically capture a photo every few seconds.

How to activate automatic photo capture

• With your left hand, long press – the upper button on the back of the
controller (J) to start or stop photo capture.
• In eMotion 3, click to start automatically capturing photos. Click again
to stop.

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How to set the interval between photos

In your drone’s Camera tab in eMotion 3, move the slider to change the Auto-
trigger interval.

17.3 Focussing a rotary senseFly drone’ Main Camera

You can choose to have the drone focus the Main Camera before every photo, or
only occasionally. While flying interactively, you can also ask it to focus on the
current subject at any time.
The Main Camera always zooms fully in to the centre of the feed to focus. It fo-
cusses on a region in the centre (50 % of the zoomed-in image). It then zooms out
again.
The Main Camera has a large depth of field. Objects more than approximately
4 m from the camera are already at infinity. Focussing once at the beginning of
the flight is often enough to ensure good focus throughout an interactive mission.
You may however need to trigger the autofocus from time to time during a flight
if less than 4 m from the subject or to correct focus changes caused by changing
temperature.

How to focus the Main Camera

To focus on the object at the centre of the feed:

• With your right hand, long press – the upper button on the back of the
controller (K).
• In eMotion 3, click on the Toolbar.

The camera will zoom in, focus, then zoom out again.

To focus on an object that is not at the centre:

• Using your mouse’s scrollwheel, zoom in on the object.

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• Click to focus on the object.

• If you need to, zoom out again. The Main Camera’s focus will not change as
you zoom back out.

How to choose how often the Main Camera focusses

In your drone’s Camera tab in eMotion 3, check or uncheck Trigger auto-focus

before each image.

• If checked, the Main Camera will automatically focus before every photo.

• If unchecked, the Main Camera will only automatically focus at the begin-
ning of each flight line of a mapping mission or before the first photo you
capture on an interactive flight.

17.4 Understanding ISO and exposure display colours

The exposure and ISO used by the Main Camera are displayed on the Main Camera
feed.
Using too long an exposure time can result in blurred photos caused by the move-
ment and vibration of the drone.
Using too high a sensitivity (ISO) can cause noise (patches of random colouration)
on your photos.
You may not be able to create DSMs or orthomosaics using photogrammetry soft-
ware such as Pix4Dmapper if your photos are too noisy or blurred.
To shorten exposure time and reduce noise, consider using the flash.

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Parameter Colour Meaning

Exp. time White Photos will be sharp

Orange Risk of blurred photos

Red Blurred photos likely

ISO White Photos will be noise free

Orange Risk of some noise

Red Noisy photos likely

17.5 Focussing the navcams and Thermal Camera

Rotary senseFly drone’s navcams use wide-angle lenses with a large depth of field
and do not require focussing.
The Thermal Camera used on the drone uses a focus-free design. Objects more
than 0.5 m (1.6 ft) away will be in focus.

17.6 Recording video

You can record video from the drone’s Main and Thermal Cameras.
The drone records the camera feed that is in the Main Viewer when you clicked
. If you change the feed while recording, the new feed is recorded.

Note: You cannot continue to view the Main Camera feed while
recording it. eMotion 3 automatically switches you to the navcam
feed.

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How to start and stop video recording

First, choose the camera with which you want to record a video:

• Choose the Main Camera or Head navcam on the Toolbar if you

want to record the Main Camera feed.

• Choose if you want to record the Thermal Camera feed.

Next, start recording:

• With your left hand, press – the upper button on the back of the con-
troller (J).

• In eMotion 3, click to start video recording. Click again to stop.

Note: If you start recording while viewing the head navcam feed,
the drone will record the Main Camera feed.

Note: If you switch the Main Viewer to Main Camera or

Head navcam while recording the Thermal Camera feed,
thermal feed recording will stop and you will record only the Main
Camera feed.
To continue navigating using the view from the drone’s head while
recording the thermal feed, switch to the Head navcam feed
in the Navigation Bar.

Note: In recorded thermal video, the lower-resolution Thermal

Camera feed is overlaid onto the Main Camera feed.

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17.7 How to turn on the Headlamp

Click the Turn ON button under Headlamp on the drone’s Camera tab.

17.8 Using the flash

Use the drone’s flash to improve the quality of photos taken in low light, and al-
low inspection in zones where light levels are typically low, for example, under
bridges.
The drone automatically controls flash exposure. The flash is effective up to ap-
proximately 6 m.
The darker and the further away the subject, the more flash power is needed to
light it, and the longer the flash will take to recharge.

Note: The flash is intended for use during interactive flight. The
time taken to recharge makes it unsuitable for most autonomous
missions.

Note: If you set an auto photo trigger interval that is shorter than
the time taken for the flash to recharge in the current lighting con-
ditions, the drone will wait for the flash to recharge, and the inter-
val will be longer that the one you chose.

Note: The amount of flash power used depends on the distance to

your subject, measured using the head ultrasonic sensor. If your
subject is out of range of the head sensor, the flash will not fire.
If your subject is made of a material that absorbs or diffuses the
ultrasonic beam, your photos may be incorrectly exposed.

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17.9 How to take a photo with the flash

1. In your drone’s Camera tab in eMotion 3, check the Use flash in low light
conditions checkbox.

2. If you have been using another ultrasonic sensor module, switch to the
head sensor. You can do this by activating distance lock if appropriate, or
by clicking the head sensor in the ultrasonics panel.

3. Wait for the message FLASH NOT READY in the Main Viewer to clear.

4. Press on the back of the controller or click in eMotion 3 to take a

photo.

Note: If the drone cannot measure the distance to the subject

with the head’s ultrasonic sensor, it will not fire the flash.

17.10 About the Main Camera zoom

You can zoom in up to 6 x using the Main Camera.
The drone’s Main Camera uses digital zoom, however, since its resolution is con-
siderably higher than most computer screens, it does not create a zoomed image
by enlarging part of the full image.
Instead, unless fully zoomed in, each pixel on your computer’s screen represents
several Main Camera pixels. It is only when fully zoomed in, that each pixel on
your computer’s screen represents a single Main Camera pixel.

How to zoom in and out with the Main Camera

Using the controller:

1. Press the blue button (X) until you see the Main Camera feed in eMotion 3.

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2. Press the yellow button (Y) on the controller to zoom in. Press the green
button (A) to zoom out.

From within eMotion 3, first click to activate the Main Camera feed.
You can then, zoom in and out in the following ways:

• Click to zoom in on the centre of the feed. Click to zoom out.

• If you have a mouse with a scrollwheel, place the mouse pointer where you
want to zoom. Roll the scrollwheel away from you to zoom in and towards
you to zoom out.

Note:
You cannot zoom with the navcams or Thermal Camera.

Note: When you take a photo or record video, the drone always
uses the full extent of the camera’s sensor, not the zoomed-in view.

17.11 How to move the rotary senseFly drone’s cameras

When flying interactively, you can move the drone’s head cameras, moving the
field of view, in several ways:

Moving the head cameras using the ScreenFly Controller

• To turn the head up, with your right hand, press – the lower button on
the back of the controller (M).

• To turn the head down, with your left hand, press – the lower button
on back of the controller (L).

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• To turn the camera to the left or right, turn the drone by pushing the left
stick on the controller (D) to the left or right.

• To pan the camera to the left or right, fly the drone in that direction. Push
the right stick on the controller (E) to the left or right.

Note: You can also use the drone’s Cruise capability to pan across
an object, capturing photos or video.

Moving the camera using eMotion 3

With a camera feed in the Main or Secondary Viewer, click and hold your mouse
pointer on the video feed. An on-screen controller will appear.

• Drag the mouse pointer up to move the head up, down to move the head
down.

• Drag the mouse pointer to the left and the drone will turn to the left. Drag
it to the right and the drone will turn to the right.

The further your mouse pointer is from the centre of the on-screen controller, the
faster the head or drone will turn.

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17.12 About the Thermal Camera feed

Centre spot

Spot Temperature
temperature scale

Main Camera feed Main Camera parameters Thermal Camera feed

• Spot temperature
The temperature of the object at the centre spot in the Thermal Camera
feed.

• Temperature scale
The range of colours that appear in the feed. The temperature at each end
of the colour range is shown in figures.

17.13 Temperatures in the Thermal Camera feed

Temperatures are represented by a colour scale, as shown alongside the Thermal
Camera feed.
Unless you lock it, the senseFly drone automatically adjusts the feed’s colour scale
so that it ranges from the coldest to the hottest object in the scene⁴⁴. As the scene
in the feed changes, the drone continuously adjusts the colour scale.
If you lock the scale on a certain scene, the colour that represents a certain tem-
perature no longer changes as the scene changes.
With the scale locked, you can adjust the colour range:
⁴⁴ within the resolution limits of the camera

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• Make the range of temperatures covered by the colour scale larger or smaller.
• Raise or lower the set of temperatures covered by the scale.

How to lock the temperature range to the scene

Click Lock thermal scale on the Toolbar. Click again to unlock.

How to adjust the temperature range

Vary the range using the Contrast and Brightness sliders on the drone’s Camera
tab.

• To change the size of the temperature range covered by the scale, use the
Contrast slider. A higher contrast means that the colour scale represents a
smaller range of temperatures.
• To raise or lower the set of temperatures that the colours represent, use the
Brightness slider.

17.14 Thermal Camera calibration

During use, especially if the temperature of the drone changes significantly (for
example, it was stored in a cool place and is flying in a hot place) the temperature
scale can change and needs re-calibration.
The drone’s Thermal Camera automatically calibrates itself when the drone is pow-
ered on. You can also trigger a calibration at any time when flying interactively,
or ask the drone to hold and trigger it during an autonomous mission.
During calibration, the head turns back on itself so that the camera is pointed at
a calibration target of known temperature on the drone’s body.

Note: Different materials emit infra-red light differently. This can

affect the way they appear in the Thermal Camera feed.

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How to trigger Thermal Camera calibration

If flying interactively, click on eMotion 3’s Toolbar.

Note:
You cannot calibrate the camera when Distance Lock is active.

During an autonomous mission:

1. Click HOLD on eMotion 3’s Control Bar.

2. Click on eMotion 3’s Toolbar.

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18 In-flight Monitoring
You can monitor while in-flight through eMotion 3 using the map, video feeds,
ultrasonic sensor readouts and the right-hand, Drone panel’s / Flight Mon-
itoring tab.

18.1 Choosing what to display in the Main Viewer

Double-click

You can display either the head feed in the Main Viewer, or the map. The one that
is not displayed in the Main Viewer appears in the Secondary Viewer.
To change the content of the Main Viewer:

• Click to select the map or select a head feed camera type using the
toolbar buttons , , .
• Double-click the Secondary Viewer to swap between them.

Note: To change the head feed in the Secondary Viewer, first

put the feed in the Main Viewer by double-clicking the Secondary
Viewer, change head feed, then swap them back.

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18.2 Selecting the head feed

You can choose to display the following head camera feeds in the Main Viewer:

• Navcam feed
Click to put the head navcam feed in the Main Viewer.
• Main Camera feed
Click to put the Main Camera feed in the Main Viewer.
• Thermal Camera feed
Click to put the Thermal Camera feed in the Main Viewer. The feed is
overlaid onto the Main Camera feed.

18.3 About the head-up display

A head-up display appears over the camera feeds. The head-up display changes
according to the camera you are using.

Head angle Bearing Main camera

field of view
320 330 340 350 N 10 20 30 40 50
4

Ground Altitude
speed

Main camera settings

The image above shows the head-up display you’ll see when using the head nav-
cam.

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How to read the head-up display

• Ground speed
The ground speed is indicated in m/s (1 m/s is equal to 1.94 kts).
Read the ground speed from the white box in the centre of the scale. For
example, the ground speed indicated above is 0 m/s (0 kts).

• Altitude
The altitude above take-off (m/ATO or ft/ATO) is indicated.
Read the altitude from the white box in the centre of the scale. For example,
the altitude indicated above is 0 m (0 ft).

• Head angle
The scale indicates the angle (up/down) of the head.
0° indicates that the head is pointing straight forwards. Positive angles in-
dicate that the head is pointing up. Negative angles indicate that the head
is pointing down.

• Bearing
The scale indicates the compass bearing of the drone in degrees.
0° indicates that the drone is pointing in the direction of magnetic north,
90° indicates the east, 180° the south and 270° the west.

• Main Camera field of view

The dotted lines indicate the field of view of the Main Camera feed, which
it currently displays.

Note: If you have zoomed in with the Main Camera, the solid rect-
angle indicates the smaller field of view you see now with the Main
Camera. All photos captured with the Main Camera are, however,
full-frame.

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• Camera settings
The following Main Camera settings are shown, if space allows:

– Zoom level (for example, 1.0x)

– Exposure time(for example, 1/250s)
– Aperture (for example, F2.0)
– Camera sensitivity (for example, ISO 100)

Note: Camera settings are given in the way that is standard for
digital cameras, that is, exposure is expressed as a fraction of a
second, aperture is expressed as an f-number (the ratio of the lens
focal length to the opening diameter) and sensitivity expressed
according to the ISO 12232:2006 standard.

18.4 Choosing a navcam

• Click the navcam button in the Navigation Bar for the navcam you want.

• Click the active navcam button again to switch all navcams off. This con-
serves drone-eMotion 3 bandwidth.

18.5 About the ultrasonic sensors

Rotary senseFly drones’ ultrasonic sensors detect the presence of objects within a
series of cone-shaped beams. 2D representations of each of these beams appear
in eMotion 3’s Navigation Bar. Objects can be detected if they are between 0.6 m
(2 ft) and a maximum of 6 m (20 ft) away. If there is an object within this range
of distances, the beam slices, up to and including the one in which the object has
been detected, turn red.
A single sensor beam is active at any one time, providing constant awareness in a
certain direction.

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Use, for example, a beam pointing in the direction of the drone’s motion when it’s
travelling at speed, or if you only anticipate obstacles on one side of the drone.

Object detected 1.5 m away from the Bottom Sensor Module

As you turn the drone’ head up and down, the ultrasonic sensor also turns:

Head pointing forward Head pointing up

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Head pointing downward Head pointing down

Note: Ultrasonic sensors send out a beam of ultrasonic sound and

pick up the reflections. They cannot detect objects that absorb or
diffuse the ultrasonic beam. Soft surfaces such as polystyrene or
foam or diffuse surfaces such as the leaves of a tree may not be
detected by the sensors.

How to choose an ultrasonic sensor

In the Navigation Bar’s Ultrasonics panel, click the beam you want to activate.

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19 Mission planning for rotary drones

19.1 Flying safely around buildings or structures

You can use, for example, an Around POI or Cylinder mapping mission block
to autonomously fly around and inspect a building, tower, or other structure.
Even with careful planning and the senseFly drone’s extensive safety features, ex-
tra care needs to be taken when flying such a mission.

Planning your mission

• Ensure that Home’s position allows the drone to reach it at any time during
the mission without flying into the structure. If possible, place it at a point
higher than the top of the structure.
• Set an appropriately restricted working area, especially if you have disabled
the Safety Action that returns the drone to Home on loss of ground modem
link.
• If inspecting a transmission tower, switch off any antennas whose emis-
sions could interfere with ground modem communication.
• Always set the Start heading or Arc start heading, or place Start so that the
drone approaches the structure from the same side as the first waypoint.
• Minimise the time the drone spends on the opposite side of the structure to
the ground modem, where it is at risk of losing its connection with eMotion 3.
Consider splitting the inspection into 2 or more mission blocks spaced around
the structure.
• Ensure that the path to your structure from any previous mission blocks
avoids the structure.

Resuming your mission

When you resume a mission, the drone flies in a straight line to the next waypoint.

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Do not resume the mission if this will cause the drone to collide with the structure.
Fly the drone interactively to a point on the same side of the tower as the next
waypoint before clicking RESUME MISSION.

Accidental return to Home

If you have not been able to place Home above the structure, and the drone is on
the opposite side of the structure to Home, do not do any of the following. They
will send the drone straight to home, causing it to collide with the structure.

• Do not click GO TO HOME.

• Do not click GO LAND.
• Do not unassign the mission block.

Accidental return to Start

If the drone is on the opposite side of the structure to Start, do not click GO TO
START.
Safety Action: return to Home
Take extra care to avoid situations that might cause the drone to return to Home
and collide with the structure, for example:

• Loss of connection to eMotion 3

Even smaller structures may interfere with the drone’s ground modem con-
nection for long enough to trigger a return to Home.
• Strong wind
• Satellite signal degrades
• Ground proximity

If necessary and safety is not compromised by doing so, consider disabling Safety
Actions. See Safety actions on page 91.
Return to beginning of mission or block

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Take great care when using RESTART BLOCK or START MISSION while the drone is
flying around obstacles. The drone will fly in a straight line back to the start of the
mission or block.
In some cases, if you edit a Around POI block while the drone is still in the
block, the drone will fly in a straight line back to the beginning of the block. If you
are circling a tower, this straight line may cause the drone to approach the tower.
Before editing, make sure the path back to the beginning is free of obstacles.

19.2 Flying POI mission blocks with rotary drones

Adjusting the POI using the drone’s position

If, for example, the drone arrives at your point of interest, and you find that the
subject is not properly framed in the Main Camera feed, you can adjust the drone’s
position and head angle, then have the Around POI mission block adapt to the
drone.

Note: You can only adjust the POI when the drone is near one of
the POI block’s photo capture locations (within 20 m (66 ft)), and
pointed in the general direction of the POI (within 30°). Until then,
the adjust buttons are greyed-out.

Note: You can only adapt the POI’s altitude, the circle the drone
flies around it and the drone’s head angle. To change the POI’s
latitude/longitude, you must move it.

How to adapt the POI to the drone’s altitude

• Open the Around POI mission block you want to adjust.

• Allow the drone to approach the first photo capture location, then activate
Interactive mode.

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• Change the drone’s altitude using the Controller.

• Click Adjust to current drone altitude.

• Click RESUME on the Control Bar to resume the mission.

How to adapt the POI to the drone’s perspective

• Open the Around POI mission block you want to adjust.

• Allow the drone to approach the first photo capture location, then activate
Interactive mode.

• Change the drone’s position and head angle using the Controller to change
its perspective on the subject.

• Click Adjust to current perspective.

• Click RESUME on the Control Bar to resume the mission.

19.3 Cylinder Mapping mission blocks

Use a Cylinder Mapping mission block to capture photos of a tall object or struc-
ture such as a tower or building. These photos can then be used to build a detailed
3D model or high-resolution orthophotos.

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Move the map to your point of interest, create the Cylinder Mapping mission
block, then set the block’s parameters to tell the drone how much of the structure
you want to capture, how much detail you want in the photos and how you want
the drone to move around it.
Starting at the bottom, the drone will fly around the cylinder. You can choose the
flight pattern using the Trajectory pulldown menu in the block details:

• To fly with vertical flight lines – flying up, then across, then down – choose
Vertical.
• To fly with horizontal flight lines – flying around, then up, then back around
in the opposite direction – choose Horizontal.

eMotion 3 sets the drone’s distance from the cylinder so that photos taken of an
object at the surface of the cylinder will have the resolution you set.

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About Cylinder Mapping mission blocks

Waypoints

Dome
Top
Cylinder

Base

Not selected Selected

Cylinder Mapping mission blocks have the following properties:

• Description
Name the mission block.
• Camera
Set the resolution you want the Main Camera to use when taking photos.
• Cylinder diameter
Set the diameter of the cylinder. Photos taken by the drone of objects on
this cylinder-shaped surface will have the resolution you set below.
• Cylinder height
Set the cylinder height – the distance between the bottom and the top of
the section of structure you want to take photos of.
• Cylinder latitude
Cylinder longitude
The coordinates of the centre of the cylinder.
• Cylinder base
Set the height above the ground (AED) or altitude (AMSL) of the bottom

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of the cylinder – the bottom of the section of structure you want to take
photos of.

• Resolution
Set the resolution you want the objects on the surface of the cylinder, at
the centre of your photos, to have.

• Overlap
Set the photo overlap you want.

• Head angle
Set the angle you want the head to be set at. You can only point the head
downwards (negative angle).

• Min. No. of lines

Min. photos/line
Set a minimum number of vertical flight lines, or a minimum number of
photos taken on each horizontal flight line. If the overlap you want needs
fewer flight lines or photos than this, it is ignored.

• With dome
Check the checkbox if you want the drone to fly above the structure with
its head pointing downwards, taking photos of the top.

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 Mission planning for rotary drones

Arc

Start
heading

Vertical

Arc

Start
heading

Horizontal

• Arc start
Set the heading at which you want the drone to be pointing when it starts
the mission block.

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• Arc angle
Set the angle of arc you want the drone to travel around the cylinder. If
this is less than 360°, only a section of the tall object or structure will be
captured.

• Arc direction
Set the way you want the drone to go on its first turn around the cylinder
(if looking down from above).

• Keep
Above
Set the height you want the drone to keep above. If you ask for photos
below this height, the drone will take them with its head pointing down-
wards. See on page 184.
To set this to a single, fixed altitude, set Above to Ground under base centre.
To set a certain height above the terrain (AED), set Above to Elevation data.

Using these properties, eMotion 3 calculates:

• Number of photos
The number of photos needed to complete the block.

• Altitude
The altitude of the base of the cylinder.

• Estimated flight time

The estimated time needed to complete the block.

• Estimated flight distance

The estimated distance the drone needs to fly to complete the block.

• Picture interval
The angle, around the cylinder, between each flight line (vertical) or photo
(horizontal).

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• Stop heading
The direction the drone will be pointing at the end of the block (vertical
flight lines) or of each turn around the cylinder (horizontal flight lines).
• Distance to object
The distance the drone will be from the surface of the cylinder.

How to create a Cylinder Mapping mission block

1. In the Mission planning tab in the Mission panel, click the mission.
2. Click Add block and choose Cylinder Mapping.
3. On the map, click where you want the centre of your cylinder to be located.

The cylinder is placed at the point you clicked, with its base at ground level (AED).

Moving and resizing the Cylinder Mapping mission block

You can move and resize the mission block using your mouse. You can also resize
the mission block by editing it and changing its properties.

Raise/lower top of cylinder

Change diameter
Raise/lower whole cylinder

Change diameter Move cylinder

Move cylinder

3D 2D

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How to move the mission block

With the map in 2D, click to select the mission block. Click and drag the centre of
the cylinder.
With the map in 3D, click to select the mission block. Click and drag the handle
on the ground, under the cylinder.

How to move the whole block up and down

With the map in 3D, click to select the mission block. Click and drag the handle at
the bottom of the cylinder up or down.

How to adjust the cylinder’s height

With the map in 3D, click to select the mission block. Click and drag the handle at
the top of the cylinder up or down.

How to adjust the diameter

With the map in 3D, click to select the mission block. Click and drag one of the
handles on the bottom edge of the cylinder away from or towards its centre.

Avoiding terrain and obstacles around the cylinder

You can ask the drone to take photos of the bottom part of your structure, but
limit how low it is allowed to fly.
To take these photos, the drone tilts its head down.

• With vertical flight lines, it hovers at the bottom of each flight line and tilts
its head downwards.

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 Mission planning for rotary drones

• With horizontal flight lines, it circles the cylinder several times, raising its
head until it reaches the height limit, then sets its head horizontal and starts
to climb.

To prevent the drone from flying lower than a fixed height, set Keep to that height
and set Above to Ground under base centre.
To prevent the drone from flying lower than a certain height above the terrain
(AED), set Keep to that height and set Above to Elevation data.

Keep above a single, fixed height – vertical

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Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

Keep above a single, fixed height – horizontal

Keep a certain height above terrain – vertical

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 Mission planning for rotary drones

Keep a certain height above terrain – horizontal

Adjusting the cylinder height using the drone’s position

If, for example, you do not know the height of the object or structure you want
to inspect, you can use the drone to set the height of your cylinder mission block.
The top of the cylinder will move up or down so that it is at the drone’s current
height.

Note: You can only adjust the cylinder height when the drone is
above the its base’s altitude. Until then, the adjust buttons are
greyed-out.

How to adapt the cylinder’s height to the drone’s altitude

1. Allow the drone to approach the first photo capture location, then activate
Interactive mode.

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Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

2. Open the Cylinder Mapping mission block you want to adjust.

3. Change the drone’s altitude using the Controller.

4. Click Set cylinder height to drone altitude.

5. Click RESUME on the Control Bar to resume the mission.

Choosing horizontal of vertical flight lines

Your choice of flight line orientation depends on several factors:
Time
In general, a cylinder mission block with vertical flight lines will take less time to
complete.
Safety
It is important to minimise the time the drone spends on the opposite side of the
structure to the ground modem, where there is a risk that it loses its connection
with eMotion 3. If this cannot be done by, for example, separating the mission
into several blocks, then using the faster, vertical flight lines will generally lower
this risk.

Creating DSMs and orthophotos from cylinder mission block

photos
If you wish to create a 3D DSM or orthophoto of your object or structure using
photogrammetry software such as Pix4Dmapper, you will have a greater level of
success and a higher-quality photogrammetric reconstruction by:

• Limiting the amount of sky you have in your photos. Consider using the
block’s Head angle setting to point the drone’s head downwards during the
mission

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 Mission planning for rotary drones

Note: Downward-facing surfaces will not appear in the photos

(for example, the undersides of antennas or ledges). The photo
resolution you set is calculated for the centre of the photo; the
resolution in the bottom part of your photos will be lower.

• Using high levels of photo overlap (in general, at least 80%, meaning 20 or
more photos in 360°) , especially for tall, narrow structures

19.4 Panorama mission blocks

Use a Panorama mission block to take a series of photos around the drone’s
position. The drone turns around, taking a photo at regular intervals, with the
head horizontal, turned up or turned down. The resulting images can be stitched
together to create a panorama photo.
Locate on the map the place you want the drone to hover and turn, create and
place the Panorama mission block, then set the block’s parameters to tell the
drone how much to turn, in which directions to take a photo, the angle between
photos and the head angles to set.
Based on the head pitch angles you set, eMotion 3 calculates the number of turns
needed. The drone’s Main Camera automatically focuses at the beginning of each
turn.
Panorama mission blocks have the following properties:

• Name
The name of the mission block.

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Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

• Camera
The resolution setting that the Main Camera should use to capture photos.

• Panorama
The latitude and longitude of the place at which the drone will turn.
Its altitude (AMSL or AED)⁴⁵.

• Start heading
The absolute direction the drone will point to take the first photo.

• Stop heading
The absolute direction the drone will point to take the last photo. It will
turn clockwise (seen from above).

• Horizontal interval
The number of degrees the drone will turn between photos.

• Start pitch
The head angle for the first turn.

• Stop pitch
The lowest head angle you want.

• Vertical interval
The vertical angle, starting from the Start pitch and decreasing, between
turns.

Using these properties, eMotion 3 calculates:

• Number of photos
The number of photos needed to complete the block.

• Altitude
The altitude at which the drone will fly.
⁴⁵ see Coordinates and altitude references in eMotion 3 on page 28

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 Mission planning for rotary drones

• Flight time
The estimated time needed to complete the block.

Note: If you only want a single turn, set the Start pitch and Stop
pitch to be the same.

How to create a Panorama mission block

1. In the Mission planning tab in the Mission panel, click the mission.
2. Click Add block and choose Panorama.
3. On the map, click where you want the drone to stop and turn.

The Panorama position is placed at the point you clicked. Edit the block to set the
altitude and other parameters.

How to move the panorama centre to the drone’s location

If, for example, you are not satisfied with the location you planned for your panorama,
you can move it to the drone’s current position.

• Open the Around POI mission block you want to adjust.

• Allow the drone to approach the first photo capture location, then activate
Interactive mode.
• Change the drone’s altitude using the Controller.
• Click Adjust to current drone altitude.
• Click RESUME on the Control Bar to resume the mission.

• Open the Panorama mission block you want to adjust.

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Flying rotary drones with eMotion 3

• Allow the drone to approach the planned Panorama centre, then activate
Interactive mode.
• Adjust the drone’s position using the Controller.
• Click Adjust to current drone position.
• Click RESUME on the Control Bar to resume the mission.

20 Horizontal mapping with rotary drones

Adapting the mission block’s altitude to the drone’s

If, for example, due to imprecise elevation data, it does not start its mapping mis-
sion at the altitude you expected, you can adjust the drone’s altitude and have the
mission block adapt to the drone.

Note: You can only adjust the altitude in this way when the drone
is within 20 m (66 ft) of the originally planned altitude.

How to adapt the mapping altitude to the drone’s altitude

• Open the Horizontal Mapping mission block you want to adjust.
• Set Plan above to Fixed altitude.
• Allow the drone to climb to the planned altitude, then activate Interactive
mode.
• Adjust the drone’s altitude using the Controller.
• Click Adjust to current drone altitude.
• Click again to finish editing the block.

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 Part VI

Obtaining and treating your photos

and flight data
Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data

21 Obtaining photos and flight data: Fixed-wing

drones

Goal of this section: In this section you will learn how to use
eMotion 3’s Flight Data Manager to obtain and treat the pho-
tos, rotary drone videos and flight data that your drone captured,
readying them for use and for processing.

After your flight you will:

1. Tell eMotion 3 which flight you want to treat.

2. Create a project folder into which eMotion 3 will create the treated files.

3. Tell eMotion 3 where to look for the photos, videos and log files.

4. Check that the photos, videos and logs it found are the ones you want.

5. Choose the type of output you want.

6. Import and treat the files.

Note: The photos and videos that the drone has captured are
not optimised for viewing or for processing with photogrammetry
software. senseFly recommends importing and treating all your
drone data with the Flight Data Manager.

Note: After the landing, always wait for eMotion 3 to finish copy-
ing the flight logs, then power off the drone before removing
the camera. A message in the right-hand, Drone panel’s /
Flight Monitoring tab tells you when copying is complete.

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 Obtaining photos and flight data: Fixed-wing drones

How To launch the Flight Data Manager

Click eMotion 3’s Postflight function tab.

How to import images and data from the drone

• Step 1a - Select a flight

If the flight was monitored from the computer onto which you are import-
ing drone images and data, it will have been logged in the flight database
on that computer. Select the date that the flight took place. A list of flights
(including number of images taken) monitored using the computer on that
date appears in the pull-down menu below the calendar. Choose the one
you wish to treat.

• Step 1b - Create a project folder

Choose a folder name that uniquely identifies your flight (e.g. the date, the
name of the area, etc.).

• Step 2 - Load flight logs

Connect the drone so that eMotion 3 can retrieve the Drone Flight Log:

1. Disconnect and remove the drone’s camera⁴⁶.

2. Connect the battery to the drone.

3. Connect your computer to the drone’s autopilot, marked , using

the USB cable supplied.

⁴⁶ failing to do this may irreparably damage your drone’s autopilot

195
Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data

connect USB cable

to autopilot

eBee

connect USB cable

to autopilot

eBee Plus

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 Obtaining photos and flight data: Fixed-wing drones

4. The status LED will shine white and a new storage drive will appear
on your computer.
5. If eMotion 3 hasn’t found it automatically, click Browse and locate the
flight log (.bb3) on the drone.

If the Drone Flight Log is not available, you must provide the eMotion 3
Flight Log (*em.bb3)⁴⁷ to continue.
• RTK/PPK processing
If you flew an RTK/PPK-capable drone and wish to carry out RTK or PPK post-
processing, there are several more steps before Step 4. See on page 200.
• Step 3 - Load images
Some cameras store photos in their internal memory, some on an SD card,
and some both.

– If you flew, for example, with the Sequoia, and it stored your photos
in its internal memory, connect your computer to the multispectral
sensor’s micro USB device port using the supplied micro USB cable.
– If the camera stored your photos on an SD card, remove the SD card
from the camera, insert it into the SD card reader of your computer
and choose to import from the SD card from the pull-down menu.

See your camera’s user manual for more details.

• Step 4 - Review the import
Confirm that the Drone and eMotion 3 Flight Logs found by the Flight Data
Manager are correct and that the images corresponding to your flight were
found and matched to the Drone Flight Log correctly.
• Step 5 - Select outputs
The Flight Data Manager can compress (losslessly) your raw (.dng or .tif)
photos. This can be useful if you intend to upload them to a cloud service
such as MicaSense ATLAS or Pix4Dag or if disk space is an issue (Pix4Dmapper,
for example, will automatically decompress them).
⁴⁷ stored in eMotion 3’s Data Folder. See About eMotion 3’s Data Folder on page 42

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Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data

It can also create JPEG format versions of your photos.

– Compress raw images

If unchecked, your raw photos will be imported, but not compressed.
– Convert raw images to JPEG
If unchecked, JPEG versions of your photos will not be created. If you
need JPEGs, you must create them in some other way.

Choose the actions to execute and outputs to create:

– Write geotags in image files

Only uncheck the first checkbox if you are sure you do not need to
geotag your images.
Geotagging images is necessary to create geoinfo, KML and .p4d files.
– Create text file with images positions (geoinfo)
Check the checkbox and choose a file format if you wish to export a
geoinfo file. This file contains latitude, longitude, altitude (AMSL and
WGS 84), heading, pitch and roll values for each image captured.
– Create .p4d project file
Uncheck if you do not want to create a Pix4D-ready project.
– Upload images to Pix4D cloud
Check this checkbox if you want to process your images using Pix4D’s
Cloud service⁴⁸.
– Create Trimble project file project file (.jxl)
Check this checkbox if you want to open the project in Trimble’s Busi-
ness Centre software. For help using Trimble Business Centre, please
contact Trimble.
– Create Agisoft PhotoScan project file (.psx)
Check this checkbox if you want to process your images using Ag-
isoft’s PhotoScan photogrammetry software. For help with using Ag-
isoft PhotoScan, please contact Agisoft.
⁴⁸ see Using Pix4D Cloud on page 40

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 Obtaining photos and flight data: Fixed-wing drones

– Create KML flight trajectory

Uncheck if you do not want to create a 3D flight trajectory.
– Create JSON flight log (GUTMA Flight Logging Protocol)
Check if you want to create a JSON flight log (includes trajectory and
flight data).
– Upload JSON flight log to DroneLogBook Cloud
This option is available if you activated DroneLogBook in the Op-
tions function tab.

• Step 6 - Execute the import and processing

Click Next to execute the import and processing you have set up.
• Step 7 - Finish off and tidy up
You may now disconnect the drone. Use your computer’s Eject function to
eject the SD card and the drive created for the drone before removing the
SD card and unplugging the USB cable. Disconnect the battery and USB
cable from the drone.

You can analyse your photos with photogrammetry software. One example of
such software is Pix4Dmapper from Pix4D (www.pix4d.com).
If using Pix4Dmapper, instruct the Flight Data Manager to create a .p4d project.
You can then use Pix4Dmapper to create orthomosaics and DSMs.
You can also analyse the photos taken by Sequoia with MicaSense ATLAS. For
more information, go to www.micasense.com.
Airinov offers a nitrogen fertiliser recommendation service for rapeseed and wheat.
For more information, go to www.airinov.fr.
If you created a KML file, you can open it in, for example, Google Earth.
For more information on processing your flight data, see our Knowledge Base,
part of my.senseFly.

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Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data

22 Obtaining photos, videos and flight data: RTK/PPK-

capable drones

22.1 High precision geotagging with an RTK/PPK-capable senseFly

drone
senseFly drones and eMotion 3 work exclusively in the WGS 84 reference frame:

• Images taken by your drone are geotagged with the precise position of the
drone when the image was taken. Geotags derived from GPS and GLONASS
signals are recorded in the WGS 84 coordinate system.
• Throughout eMotion 3, coordinates are displayed using the global WGS 84
reference frame. When you enter coordinates in eMotion 3, as latitude,
longitude and elevation, they are assumed to be in WGS 84.

In order to create mapping products (for example, DSMs, orthomosaics) that have
their correct absolute positions with respect to your coordinate system, you must
carry out a coordinate transformation:

• Latitude and longitude are converted to x,y coordinates in your coordinate

system.
• Elevation (height above ellipsoid) is converted to absolute z coordinate by
applying a vertical displacement constant, the Geoid-Ellipsoid Separation.

Importing and processing RTK/PPK data

The way that eMotion 3 processes RTK/PPK correction data depends on the way
you set up your flight.

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Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data

RTK: Local Base, Precisely Known Coordinates

1A The known point coordinates were entered into eMotion 3 and used
for the flight.

1B The known point coordinates are found to be incorrect, you can enter
the correct coordinates.

1C If the known point coordinates are found to be incorrect, you can pro-
cess the base station position to obtain the correct coordinates.

RTK: Local Base, Unknown or Imprecise Coordinates

2A You will manually enter the correct coordinates that you obtained
from outside eMotion 3.

2B You will process the base station position to obtain the correct coor-
dinates.

RTK: Virtual Reference Station

You will simply confirm that you want to keep the VRS-corrected geotags.

Standalone/PPK

3A You will post-process your drone’s trajectory with PPK to correct the
geotags’ positions. You can either enter the correct coordinates or
process the base station position to obtain the correct coordinates.

3B You keep the native geotag accuracy without corrections.

Note: In all cases, if you flew in an RTK mode and there was an
issue, you can still post-process with PPK (option 3A) to obtain ac-
curate corrected geotags (as long as the base station was logging
during flight).

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 Obtaining photos, videos and flight data: RTK/PPK-capable drones

Note: A 5-second sampling rate or greater is required on the base

or reference station for satisfactory results.

See the glossary on page 250 for definitions of the terms Base station, Reference
station, RTK correction and PPK when applied to senseFly drones.

22.2 For RTK/PPK-capable drones: Transforming coordinates

eMotion 3 geotags photos using the WGS 84 reference frame and does not deal
with coordinate transformation. If you are using another coordinate system, you
will need to transform coordinates using, for example, your photogrammetry soft-
ware.
If you are using Pix4Dmapper...

First, set up the latitude/longitude to x/y transformation...

If you are using a established coordinate system:

Step 1 Choose Select Output Coordinate System from Pix4Dmapper’s Project

menu.
Step 2 If you know the coordinate system name, click From List and choose the
one you want.
If you know the EPSG code of your coordinate system, click From EPSG
and choose the code you want.
If you have the .prj coordinate system syntax file, click From .prj, browse
to the location of your file, select the file and click Open.
Step 3 Click OK on the Select Output Coordinate System dialog.
Step 4 Pix4Dmapper will create mapping products in the established coordi-
nate system you chose.

To use a custom local coordinate system:

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Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data

Step 1 Obtain or create a coordinate system syntax file (with extension .prj).
See Knowledge Base article number 73776018 for help with .prj file cre-
ation.
Step 2 Choose Select Output Coordinate System from Pix4Dmapper’s Project
menu.
Step 3 Click From .prj, browse to the location of your .prj file, select the file and
click Open.
Step 4 In the Select Output Coordinate System dialog, click OK.
Step 5 Pix4Dmapper will create mapping products in your custom coordinate
system.

Next, convert height above ellipsoid to altitude (z)...

Step 1 Choose Image Properties Editor from Pix4Dmapper’s Project menu.

Step 2 In the Image Coordinate System section, enter the Geoid Height Above
the Ellipsoid and click OK.
Step 3 Pix4Dmapper will create mapping products with a vertical displacement
to match your coordinate system’s altitude.

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 Obtaining photos, videos and flight data: Rotary drones

23 Obtaining photos, videos and flight data: Ro-

tary drones

How to import and treat photos, videos and data from the drone

• Step 1 - Prepare for the data import

Power off the drone, remove its SD card and insert it into your computer.
All photos, videos and flight logs are saved on this SD card.
• Step 2a - Select a flight
If you haven’t already, launch the flight data manager.
If the flight was monitored from the computer onto which you are import-
ing drone photos and data, it will have been logged in the flight database
on that computer.
Select the date on which the flight took place. A list of flights (including
number of photos taken) that were monitored using that computer, on that
date, appears in the pull-down menu below the calendar. Choose the one
you wish to treat.
• Step 2b - Create a project folder
Choose a folder name that uniquely identifies your flight (e.g. the date, the
name of the area, etc.).
• Step 3 - Load the flight logs
eMotion 3’s Flight Data Manager will automatically locate the correct flight
log (.bb3) on the SD card. The flight trajectory appears in the Map View.
This flight log as well as the log from eMotion 3 are copied to the project
folder.
• Step 4 - Load the photos
eMotion 3 will automatically locate the photos and videos (they are stored
in the DCIM folder on the SD card).

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Obtaining and treating your photos and flight data

If it does not, or if you have copied or moved them, choose Select folder...
and Browse to their location. On the SD card, they are in a folder named
with the ID of the flight log you imported.
• Step 5 - Review the import
eMotion 3’s Flight Data Manager shows the number of photos and videos
it will import into the project folder.
• Step 6 - Select outputs
The Flight Data Manager can compress (losslessly) your raw (.dng) photos.
This can be useful if you intend to upload them to a cloud service such as
Pix4Dag or if disk space is an issue (Pix4Dmapper, for example, will auto-
matically decompress them).
It can also create JPEG format versions of your photos.

– Compress raw images

If unchecked, your raw photos will be imported, but not compressed.
– Convert raw images to JPEG
If unchecked, JPEG versions of your photos will not be created. If you
need JPEGs, you must create them in some other way.

Choose the actions to execute and outputs to create:

– senseFly drones automatically geotag their photos in flight. The op-

tion to Write geotags in image files is therefore disabled for photos cap-
tured by RTK/PPK-capable senseFly drones.
– Check Create text file with image positions (geoinfo) and choose a file
format if you wish to export a geoinfo file. This file contains latitude,
longitude, altitude (AMSL and WGS 84), heading, pitch and roll values
for each photo captured.
– Uncheck Create .p4d project file if you do not want to create a Pix4D-
ready project.
– Uncheck Create KML flight trajectory if you do not want to create a 3D
flight trajectory.

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 Obtaining photos, videos and flight data: Rotary drones

– Create JSON flight log (GUTMA Flight Logging Protocol)

Check if you want to create a JSON flight log (includes trajectory and
flight data).
– Upload JSON flight log to DroneLogBook Cloud
This option is available if you activated DroneLogBook in the Op-
tions function tab.

Click Next to execute the import and treatment you have set up.
• Step 7 - Finish off and tidy up
All your results are now in the project folder, ready for further processing.
If you chose to create a .p4d file, you can open it by clicking Open .p4d
project file.
Use your computer’s Eject function to eject the SD card before removing it.

23.1 In-field quality check

If you intend to create orthomosaics or DSMs from your photos, it is best to check
their quality before leaving the field. In this way you can ensure the georeferenc-
ing quality and photo overlap are sufficient and that no further flights are needed.
Some photogrammetry software applications, for example, Pix4Dmapper, offer
rapid processing and a quality report that give immediate feedback on the quality
of the dataset.

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 Part VII

Troubleshooting: all drones

Note: You can also find a wealth of information, tips and trou-
bleshooting on our Knowledge Base, part of my.senseFly.
Troubleshooting: all drones

24 Warnings and error messages

Goal of this section: This section describes the various error mes-
sages that may be displayed during start-up or while the senseFly
drone is in flight and provides some tips on solving the simplest
problems. In the case of a more serious problem, see your drone’s
user manual.

senseFly drones can generate several types of error messages. Some of these
messages are minor and simply need to be acknowledged through eMotion 3,
whereas others require more specific action from the user. If the drone is con-
nected to eMotion 3, error messages will appear in the Status panel on the right-
hand, Drone panel’s / Flight Monitoring tab.
The following error message types are possible:

• Take-off vetoes

• In-flight Warnings

• Critical Failures.

24.1 Take-off vetoes

If, during pre-flight checks and take-off clearance⁴⁹, the drone detects a condition
that prevents it from taking off, or makes taking off unwise, it will raise a take-off
veto. A message will appear in the Status panel in eMotion 3’s / Flight
Monitoring tab.
Once the take-off veto is cleared, the drone is ready for take-off.
The following table presents all the take-off vetoes that can be raised and the
actions you can take to allow take-off. If you cannot clear the veto, please follow
⁴⁹ the self-checks the drone does after starting its motor

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 Warnings and error messages

the instructions in your drone’s user manual on reporting a problem with your
drone.

Take-off vetoes

Drones Description and User action

Message

The drone could not pull enough power from to bat-

Battery tery to take off. User action: Do not use a damaged or
fault swollen battery.

User action: Charge or change the battery.

Battery
too low

The battery was pushed beyond its performance limits

Battery in a previous flight and can no longer be used.
written off User action: Change the battery.

The drone’s internal CPU was asked to process too much

Drone CPU data.
overloaded User action: Unassign then re-assign the mission to the
drone. If the issue persists, restart the drone.

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Troubleshooting: all drones

The drone’s internal memory is nearly full.

Drone log User action: Connect your computer to the drone’s au-
memory topilot, marked , using the USB cable supplied. Your
full drone will appear as a new drive on your computer. Back
up and then manually delete the Drone Flight Log (.bb3)
from the drone’s internal memory. If this fails, format the
new drive.

The drone’s license has not been activated.

Drone not User action: Connect the computer that is running
activated eMotion 3 to the internet. The drone’s license status in
the Drone panel’s Parameters tab will update and no
longer say Not activated. If this fails, contact senseFly or
your reseller.

The drone was not level while it was preparing to take

Drone not off, or there is an issue with the IMU.
horizontal User action: Ensure the drone is on a level, stable sur-
face. If it is, and the issue persists, restart the drone.

The drone must be held horizontally with level wings to

Drone not initiate take-off.
horizontal User action: Hold the drone horizontally.
(roll or pitch)

The drone detected that it impacted the ground after

Drone on take-off.
the ground User action: Always launch the drone properly, follow-
ing the instructions. Always check that the propeller is
properly installed before take-off.

212
 Warnings and error messages

After having been shaken 3x to initiate take-off, the

Drone drone was shaken 3x again, aborting the take-off.
re-shaken
3x

The base of the directional take-off arrow is more than

Directional 5 m from the drone.
take-off User action: Move the arrow on the map.
too far

All GNSS satellite signals were lost.

GNSS User action: Choose a take-off location with open sky
signals above the drone. Hold the drone correctly when launch-
lost ing.

Low GNSS precision caused the position the drone calcu-

GNSS lated for itself, based on GNSS satellite signals, to move.
position User action: Choose a take-off location with more open
drifted sky above the drone. Hold the drone correctly when
launching.

The firmware that has been installed on the drone can-

Hardware not be used to fly the drone using eMotion 3.
not User action: Install the latest firmware on your drone.
compatible
with
firmware

213
Troubleshooting: all drones

You have not assigned Home.

Home User action: Place and assign Home in the Take-off and
waypoint Landing tab.
not set

The drone’s inertial measurement unit was producing

IMU error unexpected values.
User action: Ensure the drone is level as you launch it.
If the issue persists, restart the drone.

There was problem while starting up the low-level au-

LLAP topilot’s IMU.
IMU error User action: Contact senseFly or your reseller.

Excessive motor current draw was detected.

Motor User action: Do not touch the propeller. Visually check
blocked that the propeller is mounted correctly and there are
no obstacles preventing it from turning. Remove the
drone’s battery and check that the motor is freely turn-
ing. Try the take-off procedure again.

An issue with the motor or motor control prevented it

Motor from starting.
didn’t start

214
 Warnings and error messages

One of the drone’s clearance self-checks failed.

No User action: Investigate in eMotion 3 potential reasons
clearance for a clearance failure, for example, does the drone stay
in the Working Area during the entire flight plan? Ensure
that the drone is within communications range.

You are trying to take off outside the Working Area.

Outside User action: Move your drone into the Working Area or
working redefine your Working Area⁵⁰.
area

User action: Allow camera calibration to complete.

Payload
calibration
pending

There was problem while starting up the drone’s head.

Payload User action: Restart the drone. If the issue persists, con-
error tact senseFly or your reseller.

User action: Disconnect the drone’s battery and allow

Payload the camera to cool.
temperature
too high

⁵⁰ see on page 58

215
Troubleshooting: all drones

The pitot probe measured an unexpected on-ground air

Pitot speed (too high or negative). User action: Check that
malfunction the pitot tubes holes are clear. If they are not, carefully
remove any obstacles and restart your drone. If they are,
place your drone on the ground out of the wind and
carry out an Air speed reset using the tool that has ap-
peared in the Drone panel’s Parameters tab. Once
done, restart the drone.

You have chosen a flight mode that requires RTK correc-

RTK source tion data, but none is available.
not defined User action: Check that your GNSS/RTK base station is
powered on and connected to the computer that is run-
ning eMotion 3.
Check that you have selected the correct base station
connection type and parameters in eMotion 3.
Check that you have set up and, if necessary, logged in
to your VRS stream.

Without the SD card the drone cannot capture any video

SD card or photos.
missing User action: Insert an SD card into the slot on the drone.

You are trying to fly an RTK-capable drone in an RTK/PPK

Sequoia is mode with the Sequoia camera. RTK/PPK modes cannot
incompatible be used with this camera.
with RTK User action: Change camera or fly in Standalone mode.

216
 Warnings and error messages

You have not assigned Start.

Start User action: Place and assign Start in the Take-off and
waypoint Landing tab.
not set

A pre-flight check failed.

Take-off User action: Make sure that you have carried out all pre-
vetoed flight checks.

You are trying to fly an RTK-capable drone in an RTK/PPK

thermoMAP mode with the thermoMAP camera. RTK/PPK modes
is cannot be used with this camera.
incompatible User action: Change camera or fly in Standalone mode.
with RTK

The drone has detected a USB cable connected to the

USB cable drone’s autopilot.
detected User action: Remove the USB cable and install the cam-
era bay cover before take-off.

The drone’s wings are not attached correctly or the wing

Wings not struts are damaged.
detected User action: Ensure that the wings are fully inserted
into the main body and that the wing struts are not dam-
aged, as described in your drone’s user manual.

217
Troubleshooting: all drones

24.2 Warnings
While it is in flight the drone can generate two types of alerts: Warnings and Crit-
ical Failures. Warnings occur when there is an event that requires an automatic
response from the drone, or the user’s attention and action, but does not com-
promise the drone’s ability to take off or continue flying.
Warnings appear in yellow in eMotion 3 and cause the WARNING button in the
Control Bar to change to ACK. WARNING, turn yellow and activate.
If a Warning is raised while the drone is flying autonomously, the drone will, in
almost all cases, automatically respond, aborting the mission and heading back
to Home. The drone is flying autonomously when:

• Flying an autonomous mission

• Flying to Start
• Flying to Home⁵¹
• Holding
• Resuming an interrupted mission
• Autonomous landing after a mission

Caution: Always place Home so that the direct path leading back
to it, from any position the drone could be during its mission, is
clear of any obstacles.

Warnings must be acknowledged by clicking on the ACK. WARNING button on

eMotion 3’s Control Bar, after which, to avoid loss of your drone, collision or a
crash, you must carry out the action recommended below. The full list of possible
In-flight Warnings and required User actions can be found in the following table.

⁵¹ see About Start and Home on page 135

218
 Warnings and error messages

In-flight Warnings

Drones Description
Message Automatic response
User action
Prevention

The drone has climbed or been pushed above the work-

Above ing area ceiling. There is a risk of collision, loss or prose-
working cution.
area Automatic response: The drone flies to Home.
User Action: Bring the drone back below the working
area ceiling.
Prevention: Only fly your drone in suitable weather
conditions.

The device that measures the drone’s acceleration has

Accelerometer malfunctioned. The drone may behave unexpectedly.
malfunction User Action: Land as soon as possible. Contact senseFly
or your reseller.

219
Troubleshooting: all drones

The drone’s air speed sensor is recording invalid values.

Airspeed This can be due to sensor damage or a clogged pitot
malfunction probe.
Automatic response: The drone flies to Home and
lands. It uses constant thrust instead of controlled air-
speed, potentially resulting in high or low flight speeds,
depending on the wind.
User action: Provide the maximum possible size and
number of approach sectors to ensure that the drone
can land against the wind. Check the drone’s air speed
sensor (see your drone’s user manual).

None of the approach sectors allow the fixed-wing

Back wind, drone to land into the wind. It is forced to land with the
landing wind behind it.
precision Automatic response: The drone continues its flight.
decreased User action: Add a new approach sector that allows a
landing into the wind and, if possible, abort the land-
ing and try landing again. If this is not possible, prepare
a large obstacle-free landing zone and be ready for the
landing to overshoot.

220
 Warnings and error messages

The drone can no longer use it’s barometer to measure

Barometer altitude. A rotary drone may unexpectedly change alti-
malfunction tude.
Safety Action (fixed-wing): The drone flies to Home
using only GNSS signals to set its altitude. It may sig-
nificantly change in altitude in flight.
User action (fixed wing): Land as soon as possible and
perform the barometer check described in your drone
user manual.
User Action (rotary): Land as soon as possible. Contact
senseFly or your reseller.

One of the drone’s battery cells has developed an inter-

Battery nal fault. There is a high risk of complete power loss.
cell User Action: Land immediately, taking interactive or
damaged manual control to land faster if necessary. Place the bat-
tery in a fireproof bag and discard it appropriately.

The batteries’ cells have unbalanced voltages, indicating

Battery cells a battery malfunction. There is a risk that the battery will
unbalanced run out unexpectedly during flight.
User Action: Land as soon as possible. Discard this bat-
tery appropriately.

221
Troubleshooting: all drones

The drone is unable to monitor the battery. There is a risk

Battery that the battery will run out unexpectedly during flight.
malfunction Automatic response: The drone flies to Home.
User Action: Land as soon as possible. If using a rotary
drone, take interactive or manual control to land faster if
necessary. Remove, recharge if necessary, then reinsert
or reconnect the battery. If the problem reoccurs, stop
using the affected battery.

Your drone’s batteries are overheating (above 75 °C

Battery (167 °F)). There is a risk of battery failure or fire.
temperature User action: Land as soon as possible. Remove the bat-
tery from the drone and place it in a fireproof bag or con-
tainer to cool down. Inspect the battery before charging
it again.
Prevention: Inspect your batteries before each flight.
Store them according to senseFly’s recommendations.
Do not operate the drone outside the recommended
temperature range.

The drone’s camera has malfunctioned.

∗ Automatic response: The drone flies to Home.
Camera
malfunction User action: If the malfunction affects your mission,
land and restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.

222
 Warnings and error messages

There is a problem with the wiring of the fixed-wing

Camera drone’s on-board camera. It has stopped taking photos.
sync Automatic response: The drone flies towards Home.
malfunction User action: Land as soon as possible and restart the
drone. Reset the camera settings as described in your
camera’s user manual.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home in case of cam-
era malfunction.

The fixed-wing drone’s camera is no longer respond-

Camera ing, most likely because it is no longer powered. It has
power stopped taking photos.
malfunction Automatic response: The drone flies to Home.
User action: Land as soon as possible. Check the
cable connection between the camera and the drone
and charge all the batteries before performing another
flight.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home in case of cam-
era malfunction.

The drone cannot maintain the altitude that is being

Cannot asked to. This may be due to a damaged motor, airframe
maintain or ailerons or to a strong downdraught.
altitude Automatic response: The drone continues normal
flight.
User action: If the condition persists during a flight,
land and wait for the wind to decrease. If the problem
occurs in low-wind conditions perform a full airframe
check as described in your drone user manual.

223
Troubleshooting: all drones

Your drone license requires that eMotion 3 be

Cannot connected to the internet at least once every
reach 30 days. That date is less than 10 days away
license and eMotion 3 cannot reach the license server at
server https://sensefly.io/alive.
User Action: Check your computer’s internet settings,
your proxy server or firewall.

The drone cannot write to the Drone Flight Log. It will

Drone be impossible to create an accurate DSM or orthomosaic
Flight from the photos captured.
Log Safety Action: None. The drone continues normal
malfunction flight.
User Action: Land as soon as possible. If the problem
persists, contact senseFly or your reseller.

The drone could not write to the Drone Flight Log. It will
Drone flight be impossible to create an accurate DSM or orthomosaic
log from the photos captured.
start error Safety Action: None. The drone continues normal
flight.
User Action: Land as soon as possible, check the rotary
drone’s SD card and reformat it if necessary.

The rotary drone’s flash could not be detected during

Flash device drone startup.
not User action: Restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
detected problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.

224
 Warnings and error messages

The drone’s autopilot has encountered data it did not ex-

Flight pect, for example, an incorrect waypoint type.
controller Safety Action: The drone flies to Home.
malfunction User action: Land as soon as possible and restart the
drone. If the problem persists, contact senseFly or your
reseller.

GNSS signals have been lost and the drone can no longer
GPS navigate autonomously.
required Automatic response – battery above 20%: If within
but an autonomous mission block, the drone attempts to
unavailable hold its position (hover) but is likely to drift. If signals
return within 30 s, the drone continues its mission.
Automatic response – battery below 20%: If within
an autonomous mission block, the drone immediately
lands.
Automatic response after 30 s in all cases A critical
Localisation failure is raised.
User action Take interactive or manual control.

225
Troubleshooting: all drones

The drone has detected that it is close to the ground. It

∗ risks crashing.
Ground
proximity Automatic response (fixed-wing drone): The drone
circles and climbs up to 60 m (197 ft) above the detected
ground height. Once there, it continues on to the next
waypoint, which will have been raised to 60 m (197 ft)
above the last detected ground height.
Automatic response (rotary drone): If within an au-
tonomous mission block, the drone flies to Home.
User Action (rotary drone): If outside an autonomous
mission block, take interactive or manual control of the
drone and move it away from the ground.
Prevention: Always carefully check Start, Home and
mission waypoints’ position and altitude.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home if ground prox-
imity detected.

The fixed-wing drone’s ground sensor was unable to de-

Ground tect the ground during Linear landing. This can be due
proximity to sensor obstruction, low ambient light or low ground
not contrast.
detected Automatic response: The drone continues landing, but
landing initiates its final braking manoeuvre at an estimated
precision height of 20 m (66 ft) instead of 3 m (10 ft) (assuming
decreased the landing location is at the same altitude at the take-
off location), resulting in decreased landing precision.
User action: Prepare a larger obstacle-free landing zone
and be ready for overshoot.

226
 Warnings and error messages

The ground sensor used to detect the proximity of the

Ground ground is malfunctioning.
sensor Automatic response: The drone continues normal
malfunction flight.
User action: Land as soon as possible and perform a full
airframe check (see your drone’s user manual).

The device that measures the drone’s attitude has mal-

Gyroscope functioned. The drone may behave unexpectedly.
malfunction User Action: Land as soon as possible. Contact senseFly
or your reseller.

The drone is close to using its maximum thrust to main-

Insufficient tain altitude. This can be due to strong wind or low air
performance density.
User Action: Land as soon as possible and recharge the
battery.

Home is beyond or above the working area.

Invalid User action: Place Home in the working area, move it,
home or increase the working area radius.
waypoint Automatic response: The drone flies to last valid
Home.

Start is beyond or above the working area.

Invalid User action: Place Start in the working area, move it, or
start increase the working area radius.
waypoint Automatic response: The drone flies to last valid Start.

227
Troubleshooting: all drones

An issue occurred during in-flight calibration. The drone

LLAP safety may not be well calibrated.
RPMs error User action: Land, restart the drone and take off again
to trigger re-calibration. If this fails to resolve the prob-
lem, contact senseFly or your reseller.

The drone has returned to home after a loss of uplink and

∗ has not received any data from eMotion 3 for more than
Long
Uplink 3 min.
lost Automatic response: The drone lands.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home if ground mo-
dem link is lost for 30 s.

The remaining battery level is getting low – it is risky to

Low continue the flight. For fixed-wing drones, this means
endurance either below 25% or just enough to return Home and
land. For rotary drones, enough to return home and land
safely.
Automatic response: If flying autonomously, the drone
flies to Home and lands.
User Action: Land as soon as is convenient. If using a
rotary drone, take interactive or manual control to land
faster if necessary. Recharge the battery.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home if endurance is
low.

228
 Warnings and error messages

The remaining battery level is dangerously low (below

Low 10% for fixed-wing drones, below 20% for rotary) – there
battery is a high risk that the drone loses power or cannot safely
complete the mission, reach Home and land.
Safety Action: If flying autonomously, the drone flies to
Home then initiates a low-precision circular landing.
User action: Land as soon as possible. If using a rotary
drone, take interactive or manual control to land faster
if necessary. Recharge the drone’s battery before per-
forming another flight.

Detected airspeed is unusually low or close to zero. This

Low may be due to a collision with the ground or a clogged
airspeed airspeed sensor.
Automatic response: The drone briefly shuts off its mo-
tor, then tries to continue its mission.
User action: If the problem is caused by a clogged air-
speed sensor, this can be caused by moisture in the
air. Try commanding the drone to descend closer to the
ground and out of any cloud cover.

The drone’s camera has detected very low light levels,

∗ indicating that the lens cap is probably on.
Low
light User action: Land the drone. Always check that you
have removed the lens cap before take-off.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home in case of cam-
era malfunction.

229
Troubleshooting: all drones

The rotary drone’s Main Camera has malfunctioned dur-

∗ ing startup.
Main
Camera User action: Restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
malfunction problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home in case of cam-
era malfunction.

The rotary drone’s Main Camera could not be detected

Main during drone startup.
Camera User action: Restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
not problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.
detected

The rotary drone cannot record video or photos.

∗ Automatic response: The drone flies to Home.
Media
recording User action: Land and restart the drone. If this fails to
issue resolve the problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home in case of cam-
era malfunction.

A problem occurred while trying to start the motors dur-

Motor issue ing drone startup.
User action: Restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.

230
 Warnings and error messages

The motor is drawing too little or too much current. This

Motor may be caused by damaged wires or connectors leading
malfunction to the motor or by sand or other debris within the motor.
Automatic response: The drone attempts to restart the
motor. If the first attempt fails it raises a Failure: Motor
malfunction Critical Failure⁵².
User action: Land as soon as possible and perform a
motor and servo check (see your drone user manual).

One or more of the rotary drone’s navcams could not be

Navcam contacted during drone startup.
not User action: Restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
detected problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.

The system that handles rotary drone navcam feeds has

Navcam malfunctioned during drone startup.
system User action: Restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
malfunction problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.

The drone encountered an error and cannot continue its

Navigation autonomous mission.
disabled Automatic response: The drone holds its position (en-
ters a hover).
User Action: Land as soon as possible and restart the
drone.

⁵² see Critical Failures on page 238

231
Troubleshooting: all drones

The drone has left or been forced out of the working area
Out of but has not reached the outer security limit. There is a
working risk of collision, loss or prosecution.
area Automatic response: The drone flies to Home.
User Action: Bring the drone back into the working
area.
Prevention: Only fly your drone in suitable weather
conditions.

Detected airspeed is unusually high, possibly due to a

Overspeed loss of control.
Automatic response: The drone applies 50% reverse
thrust to try to slow down.
User action: Keep track of the drone’s position in case it
is unable to slow back down to a regular airspeed.

The drone’s internal temperature is too high (above 75 °C

Over (167 °F)).
temperature User action: Land as soon as possible and allow the
drone to cool.

The drone cannot control its pitch angle. This can be due
Pitch to a mechanical problem, or high winds.
instability User Action: If moving, put the drone in a hover. Pre-
pare for the possibility that the drone will fall.
Prevention: Do not fly when there is a risk of high wind.

232
 Warnings and error messages

Your fixed-wing drone’s orientation sensors detected

Pitch or Roll unusually high pitch or roll values even after performing
instability stabilisation. This may be due to strong winds or dam-
age.
Automatic response: The drone continues normal
flight while trying to stabilise its pitch as much as pos-
sible.
User action: If the condition persists during a flight,
land and wait for the wind to decrease. If the problem
occurs in low-wind conditions, perform a full airframe
check as described in your drone user manual.

GNSS signals are poor and the drone may have difficulty
∗ maintaining its position.
Poor GNSS
coverage Automatic response: The drone attempts to continue
its flight, but is likely to drift.
User action If drifting reaches a level that risks causing
an incident, take interactive or manual control as soon
as possible and consider switching the anti-drift off.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home if GNSS accu-
racy degrades.

The drone cannot control its roll angle. This can be due
Roll to a mechanical problem, or high winds.
instability User Action: If moving, put the drone in a hover. Pre-
pare for the possibility that the drone will fall.
Prevention: Do not fly when there is a risk of high wind.

233
Troubleshooting: all drones

The wind is too strong for your fixed-wing drone to nav-

Strong igate safely.
wind∗ Automatic response: The drone flies to Home.
User action: Land as soon as possible and wait for bet-
ter flight conditions.

A button was pressed, a stick was not straight when you

Screenfly connected the rotary drone controller to your computer,
Controller or the controller has malfunctioned.
error User Action: Unplug the controller then plug it in again.
If this does not solve the issue, move the sticks around
briefly, then unplug it and plug it in again.

The rotary drone can no longer detect the SD card.

SD card User Action: Land as soon as possible, remove the SD
missing card, restart the drone then re-insert the SD card.

The SD card is full.

SD card full User Action: Land as soon as possible. Insert a card that
is not full. Use only SD cards provided by senseFly.

The drone cannot write to the SD card.

SD card cor- User Action: Land as soon as possible. Reformat the SD
rupted card. Use only SD cards provided by senseFly.

234
 Warnings and error messages

The temperature sensor on the drone is registering in-

Temperature ternal temperatures of less than -50 °C (-58 °F) or more
out of than 90 °C (194 °F). This may occur in extremely hot or
working cold environments or if the on-board autopilot is dam-
levels aged.
Safety Action: The drone flies to Home.
User action: Land as soon as possible. If the outside
temperature is above 35 °C (95 °F) or below -10 °C (14 °F),
disconnect the battery and wait until the temperature
changes to within these limits.

The rotary drone’s Thermal Camera could not be de-

Thermal tected during startup.
camera User action: Restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
not problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.
detected

The drone has not received take-off clearance.

Take-off Automatic response: The propeller stops spinning,
clearance and the drone is not allowed to take off.
not User action: Place you drone in the open for 10 seconds
received and try again. When launching, do not hunch over the
drone, blocking satellite signals from the sky. If this does
not solve the problem, try restarting the drone and reas-
signing your blocks.

235
Troubleshooting: all drones

The drone has not received any data from eMotion 3 for
∗ more than the time you chose (30 s by default). This can
Uplink lost
be due to a large distance between drone and ground
modem, a problem with the ground modem, antenna
positioning or interference. RTK/PPK-capable drones
will geotag images with less accurate, interpolated val-
ues until the connection returns.
Automatic response: The drone flies to Home. Unless
the link is recovered, or the battery runs out, fixed-wing
drones circles Home for 3 minutes, then lands.
User action: Try to improve radio signal quality. Use the
remote control if necessary.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home if ground mo-
dem link is lost for 30 s.

One or more of a rotary drone’s ultrasonic sensors has

Ultrasonics malfunctioned. There is a risk of hard landing.
malfunction User Action: Land interactively (pilot the drone to the
ground, then press the take-off/land button) as soon as
possible. Contact senseFly or your reseller.

The rotary drone’s video capture processor malfunc-

Video tioned during drone startup.
subsystem User action: Restart the drone. If this fails to resolve the
malfunction problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.

236
 Warnings and error messages

The system that handles the rotary drone’s video has

∗ malfunctioned.
Video
subsystem Automatic response: The drone flies to Home.
unresponsive User action: Land and restart the drone. If this fails to
resolve the problem, contact senseFly or your reseller.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home in case of cam-
era malfunction.

There is too much wind to maintain stable flight. Ro-

∗ tary drones risk losing height and crashing. Fixed-wing
Wind
too strong drones may be pushed out of the working area or crash.
Automatic response: The drone will try and reach
Home.
User Action: Land as soon as possible.
Prevention: Do not fly when there is a risk of high wind.
Related Safety Action: Return to Home if strong wind
detected.

The sensor used to detect the presence of the wings has

Wings malfunctioned.
detection Automatic response: The drone continues normal
malfunction flight.
User action: Land as soon as possible and inspect the
wing struts as described in your drone user manual.

∗
These Warnings can have their Safety Action enabled or disabled. See Safety
actions on page 91.

237
Troubleshooting: all drones

24.3 Critical Failures

A Critical Failure is an error that occurs in flight that prevents the continuation
of normal flight. This is the most serious type of error that can occur with the
drone. In most cases, when a Critical Failure occurs, flight is aborted and the drone
initiates an Emergency action which immediately directs it to the ground.
The table below describes the Critical Failures that may occur and what action
is taken by the drone. In some cases it may be possible to manually control the
drone using the Remote Control. If a Critical Failure occurs that results in an Emer-
gency landing we recommend that you keep track of the drone’s last known po-
sition in the air and in eMotion 3 if possible.

Critical Failures

Drones Description
Message Effect on drone/drone’s response
Prevention

The drone has received the Motor cut-off command

Emergency (which is actioned by the low-level autopilot).
cut-off Effect: The motors immediately stop.

Your rotary drone’s battery can no longer provide

Empty enough energy to keep the drone airborne.
battery Effect: The drone immediately lands.
Prevention: Do not allow your drone’s battery to run
out.

238
 Warnings and error messages

Your fixed-wing drone’s battery is completely empty.

Failure: Emergency action: The drone turns off its motor and
empty glides towards the ground in the direction of Home. This
battery error is always preceded by low endurance and low bat-
tery Warnings.

There is a failure with the orientation sensors which

Failure: makes it impossible for the drone to stabilise itself and
INS thus initiate a gliding emergency landing.
malfunction Emergency action: The drone turns off its motor and
fully deflects its ailerons which results in an uncontrolled
descent with limited impact energy (deep stall or spin).

Your fixed-wing drone can no longer calculate its posi-

Failure: tion, making it impossible for it to know where it is and
loss of thus to navigate.
GNSS Emergency action: The drone turns off its motor, sets
signals a bank angle and glides in a large circle towards the
ground. If there is a strong wind the drone may be
pushed far from its current position. If satellite signals
are reacquired the drone will start its motor and go to
Home.

Your fixed-wing drone’s motor is not working, even after

Failure: the attempted motor restart triggered by a motor mal-
motor function Warning.
malfunction Emergency action: The drone orients itself in the direc-
tion of Home and glides towards the ground while con-
tinuously trying to restart the motor. If motor restart is
successful the drone flies to Home.

239
Troubleshooting: all drones

Your fixed-wing drone’s autopilot processor is over-

Failure: loaded and can no longer control flight. The drone turns
CPU off its motor and fully deflects its ailerons, resulting in an
Overload uncontrolled descent with limited impact energy (deep
stall or spin).

Your drone has been pushed beyond the working area’s

Far outside outer security limit.
working Automatic response: Unless flying fully manually, the
area drone raises an alert and immediately carries out an
emergency landing.
Prevention: Only fly your drone in suitable weather
conditions.

The remote control was used to trigger a HLAP bypass.

HLAP The drone can only be controlled manually through its
bypass LLAP and, without a restart, control cannot be returned
to the HLAP, making autonomous or interactive flight
impossible.
User action: Pilot the drone manually and land as soon
as possible.

Your rotary drone’s HLAP IMU has malfunctioned.

HLAP IMU User action: Power on the Remote Control, take manual
failure control of your drone and land it. Contact senseFly or
your reseller.

240
 Warnings and error messages

The rotary drone’s low-level autopilot (LLAP) has taken

LLAP control of the drone, which means that the high-level
takeover autopilot (HLAP) has failed.
Automatic response: The drone descends in a
parachute-like way, flashing its motor LEDs and strobe,
and may drift with the wind. 6 s after reaching the
ground, the motors stop and the drone starts beeping.
User action: Either allow the drone to land or, if the
descent presents a risk, power on the Remote Control
(HLAP Bypass Mode will be active⁵³), take manual con-
trol of your drone, land and restart it.
Prevention: Only fly within the drone’s recommended
operating conditions.

Your rotary drone has lost GNSS signals for more than
Localisation 30 s.
failure Automatic response The drone immediately lands. If
GNSS signals return during landing, the drone returns
home.
User action: Take manual control (using ScreenFly Con-
troller or Remote Control) as soon as possible.

One or more of your rotary senseFly drone’s motor con-

Motor troller circuits has malfunctioned.
controller Effect: The affected motors have stopped providing lift.
failure User action: Prepare in whatever way possible for a
falling drone.

⁵³ see your drone’s user manual

241
Troubleshooting: all drones

One or more of your rotary drone’s motors has failed or

Motor a propeller has failed or detached.
failure Effect: The affected motors stop providing lift.
Prevention: Inspect your propellers before each flight.
Ensure they are firmly attached.
User action: Prepare in whatever way possible for a
falling drone.

Your drone is no longer within its controlled flight enve-

Outside lope, for example, its pitch or roll angle is too high.
flight Prevention: Only fly your drone in suitable weather
envelope conditions.
User action: Immediately switch on the Remote Control
and pilot the drone manually.

The drone’s internal temperature has reached a critical

Temperature level (above 85 °C (185 °F)).
critical Automatic response: The drone immediately lands.

25 Troubleshooting: other issues

25.1 A map or elevation data tile is missing

If there was a problem with your internet connection while the map or elevation
data was loading, some tiles may be missing.
To ask eMotion 3 to try again to obtain the missing tiles, click the Options
function tab, then:

242
 Warnings and error messages

• If a map tile is missing, click Reload in the Maps panel’s Reload map data
section.

• If an elevation data tile is missing, click Reload in the Elevation data panel’s
Reload the elevation cache section.

243
 Part VIII

Your drone’s software and firmware

26 Updating the software and firmware

senseFly releases regular software and firmware upgrades for eMotion 3 and the
drone to provide additional features or correct potential issues.

Updating eMotion 3

eMotion 3 will check for new versions during start-up⁵⁴ and will display update
instructions if a new version is available.
You can also check yourself and obtain the latest software from my.senseFly⁵⁵.
It is important that both the drone and eMotion 3 have the same software version
for them to work properly together. Make sure that you keep both up-to-date.

Caution: We are constantly working to improve the performance

of our products and we are dedicated to providing our customers
with the newest software as soon as it becomes available. Since
the highest level of flight safety can only be achieved with the lat-
est software release, senseFly can only offer warranty service for
products that have been properly updated.

⁵⁴ provided that there is an internet connection

⁵⁵ http://my.sensefly.com
Your drone’s software and firmware

How to update the drone’s firmware

Every version of eMotion 3 is packaged with an accompanying firmware revision
which must be installed on the drone before it can be used.
See your drone’s user manual for full instructions.

246
 Software requirements

27 Software requirements

OS 64-bit only Microsoft Windows 7

Microsoft Windows 8
Microsoft Windows 10⁵⁶

CPU Minimum: 2.0 GHz, dual-core 2.5 GHz, quad-core

Recommended: 2.7 GHz, dual-core 2.7 GHz, quad-core

GPU OpenGL 3.3 compatible

NVidia GeForce 8M series
Minimum: Intel HD Graphics (3rd-gen.) 2500/4000
ATI/AMD Mobility Radeon HD 2000 series

Recommended: NVidia GeForce 600M series

Storage Minimum: 5 GB
Recommended: 20 GB

RAM Minimum: 4 GB 8 GB
Recommended: 8 GB 16 GB

USB Minimum 1 port 2 ports

Screen Visible outdoors 1920×1080 (Full HD)

Internet Connected (for map and elevation data download)

⁵⁶ Windows 10 must be correctly configured for use with rotary drones (see our Knowledge Base, part
of my.senseFly, for details)

247
Glossary
AED Above Elevation Data
Your senseFly drone’ altitude can be shown and set in eMotion 3 using AED.
Altitudes in AED are relative to the elevation dataset (a digital model of the
terrain height) that is being referenced at that point.

AMSL Above Mean Sea Level

Your senseFly drone’ altitude can be shown and set in eMotion 3 using
AMSL. Your drone uses the EGM96 mean sea level standard for navigation.

ATO Above the Take-off Altitude

Your senseFly drone’ altitude can be shown and set in eMotion 3 using ATO.
Altitudes in ATO are relative to the place your senseFly drone started its
motor just before take-off.

Base station Base station

This refers to a fixed base station that can be used a) for RTK corrections
when connected to the computer on which eMotion 3 is running and stream-
ing real-time coordinate corrections to the drone through the ground mo-
dem connection and/or b) for PPK corrections when logging..

DSM Digital Surface Model

A 3D digital representation of a surface.

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

A network of satellites that transmit signals that GNSS receivers can use to
calculate their position on the Earth. GPS (Global Positioning System) and
GLONASS are examples of GNSS systems.

ground resolution The size, on the ground, of the finest distinguishable detail
in an aerial image.

GSD Ground Sampling Distance

The distance measured on the ground between pixel centres in an image
 or DSM. The smaller the GSD, the higher the spatial resolution of the image.
For example, a GSD of 5 cm means that one pixel in the image represents
5 cm on the ground.

IMU Inertial Measurement Unit

A component, used in drones and other devices, that specialises in mea-
suring gravitational force, acceleration and attitude.

MSL Mean Sea Level

The average level of the surface of the Earth’s oceans; a close approximation
of the surface in gravitational equilibrium.

Ntrip Network Transport of RTCM data over IP

A protocol used to transport RTK correction data over the Internet. RTK
receivers feed RTK corrections to Ntrip servers or casters. These then en-
capsulate the data inside TCP packets and stream it across the Internet.

orthomosaic A single, corrected image constructed either from several images

taken from different angles, or from several orthophotos. Distortions due
to different camera positions, ground curvature and relief are corrected for
so that the image displays accurately in the given map projection.

orthophoto A photograph in which distortion caused by different camera posi-

tions, ground curvature and relief has been corrected.

photogrammetry A technique in which measurements taken from multiple pho-

tographs are used to reconstruct a 3D surface or a series of points in space.

PPK PPK
This refers to the calculation that applies a global correction, after the flight,
to the precise but inaccurate position of the drone that is recorded by its
on-board GNSS receiver. With the GNSS receiver logs from a nearby base or
reference station on a precisely-known point, the correction needed at the
time the drone recorded its position can be applied..
Reference station Reference station
This refers to a generally fixed base station that is located on a precisely
known position, but is not directly connected to the computer that is run-
ning eMotion 3 and communicating with the drone during its flight. Logs
from such a reference station can be used after the flight to correct a base
station’s, or the drone’s position..
RPAS Remotely Piloted Aircraft System
A term used for drones, UASs or UAVs, the software and technology they
use to navigate.
RTK correction RTK correction
This refers to the calculation that applies a correction vector, during the
flight, to the precise but inaccurate position of the drone that is registered
by its on-board GNSS receiver..

SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

An an international research effort that equipped the Space Shuttle En-
deavour with 2 specialised radar antennas and, during a February 2000 mis-
sion, obtained digital elevation models for nearly the entire Earth’s surface.

UAS Unmanned Aircraft System

A term used for drones or RPASs, the software and technology they use to
navigate.
UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Another term for drone.

VRS Virtual Reference Station

A reference station that does not exist on the ground, but instead is created
by combining correction data (delivered over Ntrip) from several real refer-
ence stations. VRS RTK corrections relative to this virtual reference station
can then be made as if it were a real reference station.
http://my.sensefly.com