1.1.3 Creating a Flight Path

✅ On-site monitoring requires many people to visually inspect and record data on-site, which creates time and cost inefficiencies. Drones can solve these inefficiencies and dramatically reduce time and cost, especially in the data collection phase.

Mesa Flight is a solution that makes drone filming and data collection easy without the need for specialized technical personnel. With just a few clicks through the Mesa Flight app, your drone will fly autonomously with an optimized flight path and return after filming.

💡 Key Features of the Mesa Flight Solution

• Easy to use without specialized technical staff
• Autonomous flight and filming with optimized flight paths
• Shoot whenever and wherever you want, as soon as you want
• Quickly view high-resolution 2D / 3D footage
  
  

Autel Drones

How to create a new mission

1. Select Polygon → create a project and draw an area according to the size of the desired shooting area.

   

   ℹ️ [Tip]

   • You can drag the white dots at each vertex to draw them in any shape you like.
   • If you want to add more dots, click the + you see between the dots to create them.
   • You can create as many additional points as you want.
2. Tap the first icon on the screen to set the camera angle, path angle, redundancy, altitude, and flight speed.
   
   
   ℹ️ Altitude: Set the flight height of the drone relative to the ground at the home point. The higher the altitude, the shorter the photo duration, but for accuracy, a setting of 80-120m is usually recommended. You must manually check the height of the tallest building, crane, terrain, etc. in the path to set the appropriate altitude.
   
   Front Overlap: Adjust the overlap of photos taken while flying the drone forward. The higher the overlap, the longer the photos will last, but we recommend setting it to 75% or higher for accuracy.
   
   Side Overlap: Adjust the spacing and number of paths you fly. You can increase accuracy by allowing more overlap between paths and photos between paths. We recommend setting this to 75% or higher.
   
   Course Angle: Adjust the angle of the path the drone flies. By adjusting the angle, you can find the optimal flight path and reduce flight time.
   
   Speed: Adjust the drone's flight speed. We recommend the10m/s or 36km/h setting.
   
   
3. Set and save the camera angle, path angle, redundancy, altitude, and flight speed.
4. Check GPS reception, camera, and controller connectivity, and select the Fly button.⚠️ After the drone health check, it is essential to manually fly the drone to ensure that the automatic flight path location is safe to fly!
   
   • Be aware of nearby tall buildings, cranes, and tall terrain, as these can easily cause a crash.
   • Make sure to carefully check the area on the ground that is included in the expected flight range.
     
     
5. Before you fly, do a final check of your SD card capacity, battery, etc., and press the FLY buttonto start your flight.
   

   ⚠️ The drone pilot must ensure that the drone is staying on the autonomous flight path they have set.

   ⚠️ The drone operator must also constantly check the battery status of the drone via the pad. If the battery is low, the 'Fail Safe' function will be activated, which may cause the drone to return to the original take-off site mid-mission, so constantly check the battery status to ensure that this does not become a problem for the flight.

   ⚠️ Make sure there are no obstacles between the drone and the controller - flying indoors, in a car, under a bridge, or if there are buildings or mountains too close to the controller in the direction the drone is flying, you risk losing the signal and not saving your photos or crashing.

6. If you have a large area to cover, you will need to change batteries halfway through and continue flying. Here's how to bring your drone home when it has 25-30% battery left.

   ⚠️ The drone will land as close as possible to the home point from which it initially took off, but if there are obstacles around the home point, you will need to manually adjust the landing point.

   • Manual controls are available once you are above the home point
7. After the drone lands, if the pad says “Last mission not completed, continue or not?”, select “NO”.

   ⚠️ If you press the 'YES' button, the recorded information will be reset and you will not be able to continue flying. If you want to continue flying, please click the 'NO' button!

8. Power off the drone, replace the batteries, turn it on, and repeat steps 4 and 5 above.

   
   Then, when the pad says “Last task not completed, please choose the next action.”, be sure to select the “Resume” button.

   ⚠️ Pressing the 'Re-execute' button will reset the previously recorded information, and you will not be able to continue flying. If you want to continue flying, please click the 'Resume' button!

9. When you're done flying, power off the controller and drone, remove the SD card, and upload it to the platform.

How to create 3D paths

How to Create Polygon 3D Paths

1. Create a Polygon.

   

   💡 [Tip]

   • Drag the white dots at each vertex to draw them into the shape you want.
   • If you want to add a dot, click the + you see between the dot and the point to create it.
   • You can create as many additional dots as you like.
     
     

2. Create a boundary that aligns with the site construction boundary line.

3. Click the first button on the left side of the screen, as shown below.
   

   
   ℹ️ Altitude: Set the flight height of the drone relative to the ground at the home point. Be sure to check the height of the tallest building, crane, terrain, etc. in your path to set the appropriate altitude.

   
   Front Overlap: Adjusts the amount of overlap in taking photos as the drone flies forward. The higher the overlap, the longer the photos will last, but we recommend a setting of 75% or higher for accuracy.
   
   Side Overlap: Adjust the spacing and number of paths you fly. You can increase accuracy by allowing more overlap between paths and photos between paths. We recommend a setting of 75% or higher.
   
   Speed: Adjust the drone's flight speed. We recommend a setting of 10 m/s or 36 km/h
   

4.  You can set the Gimbal Pitch by dragging the numbers in the bottom black box to the right, which will adjust the angle to "60˚".
   

5. Set Dual Grid to "on" and Elevation Optimisation to "off".
   
6. Click the Save button and then click the Fly button on the right.

How to create Obilque 3D paths

1. Drag the New Mission to the right side to create a route with "Obilque".
   
   ⚠️ When setting the flight path range, make sure to create a range smaller than the construction boundary line. If you create a scope that is closer to the construction boundary line, you may experience interference from tall buildings in the area!
   
   

2. Click the first button on the left side of the screen, as shown below.
   

3. Set your flight altitude, speed, overlap, and more.
   

   ℹ️ Altitude: Set the flying height of the drone relative to the ground at the home point. Oblique Altitude: Set the angular flying height of the drone relative to the ground at the home point. You should check the height of the tallest building, crane, terrain, etc. in the path to set the appropriate altitude.
   
   Front Overlap: Adjust the amount of overlap that the drone will take photos while flying forward. Oblique Front Overlap: Adjust the amount of angular overlap that the drone will take photos while flying forward. The higher the overlap, the longer the photos will last, but we recommend a setting of 75% or higher for accuracy.
   
   Side Overlap: Adjust the spacing and number of paths you fly. Oblique Side Overlap: Adjust the spacing and number of angular paths you fly. You can increase accuracy by making the paths and the photos between them overlap more. We recommend a setting of 75% or higher.
   
   Speed: Adjust the drone's flight speed. Oblique Speed: Adjust the drone's oblique flight speed. We recommend a setting of 10 m/s or 36 km/h. 
   
   
4. Click the Save button and then click the Fly button on the right.

DJI Drone (M3E)

💡 Mavic 3 Enterprise needs to be connected to the internet by default.
You need an internet connection to get GPS information.

How to activate your M3E Care code

1. Tap 'DJI CARE'.
2. ‘Press 'Bind'.
3. Choose the care that fits your condition.
4. Please enter the 'Activation Code'.
5. Please enter your aircraft serial number.
6. Please enter the aircraft owner information.
7. Done

Manual flight method

1. Startup
   
   • Pull both joysticks on the controller inward (bottom right on the left and bottom left on the right) to start it up.

     ❗ When starting, the drone's propellers spin, so make sure you start the drone when there are no obstacles or people nearby.

2. Aircraft ascent & descent
   
   • The left joystick up and down on the controller is used to raise and lower the drone.
3. Airframe Rotation
   
   • The left joystick left and right controls on the controller rotate the drone left and right.
4. Airframe Directional Movement
   
   • The up, down, left, and right controls on the right joystick of the controller move the drone forward, backward, left, and right.
5. Adjusting the camera angle
   
   • You can adjust the angle of the camera with the top-left dial on the controller.
6. Camera zoom in/out
   
   • You can adjust the camera's zoom in/out with the top right dial on the controller.
7. Take a photo
   
   • You can take a photo with the top right button on the controller.
8. Shooting video
   
   • You can shoot video with the top-left button on the controller.

How to fly a route

Create a path

• Click 'Flight Path'
• Click the '+' button
• Click 'Create Route'
• Select the mission you want to perform

ℹ️ [Tip]

• Zone Path: Fly your most used mission flights in a grid of shooting zones.
• Linear paths: used when shooting long, thin scenes such as rivers, roads, etc.

 

1-1. Zone Path

1. Adjust the grid area to customize the mapping area for your site, and click the check button in the top left corner.

   ℹ️ [Tip]

   • You can move the dots to adjust the grid area.

   • You can add points via the + and - buttons, and delete selected points via the trash can button.

2. Please select your Airframe and Camera (If using the Mavic3 Enterprise model - select DJI Mavic 3E - WIDE)
3. Set up a path

   ℹ️ Altitude: Set the flight height of the drone relative to the ground at the home point.

   Higher altitudes will decrease the length of the photo, but for accuracy, we usually recommend a setting of 80-120 meters, and you should always manually fly to check the height of the tallest buildings, cranes, terrain, etc. in your path to set the appropriate altitude.

   Course Angle: Adjust the angle of the path the drone flies. Adjusting the angle to find the optimal flight path can reduce flight time.

   Speed: Adjust the flight speed of the drone. We recommend a setting of 15 m/s.

   

   ℹ️ Advanced Settings

   Front Overlap: Adjusts the amount of overlap in taking photos while moving forward. The higher the overlap, the longer the photos will be taken, but we recommend a setting of 80% or higher for accuracy.

   Side Overlap: Adjust the spacing and number of paths you fly over. You can increase accuracy by having more overlap between the paths and the photos between them. We recommend setting this to 75% or higher.

   Margin: Allows you to extend the set area by a specified distance. The borders of the shooting area may be less accurate due to fewer overlapping images. Please set the grid to be 2 rows wider than the field area.

4. Once you're done setting everything up, hit the Save button.

1-2. Linear

1. Setting up flight zones
   
   • Set the area to the length of the field with the field centerline, and expand the right side menu.
   • Select your camera (if using the Mavic3 Enterprise model - select DJI Mavic 3E - WIDE)
   • Please specify the left and right extension lengths to match the width of your site.
   • When you specify a flight band split distance, one mission is created for each distance.

     ℹ️ [Tip]

     • For example, if you are shooting a 10-kilometer field, setting the flight band split distance to 2000 meters will create five missions spaced 2000 meters apart.
     • If there are no mountains or tall buildings around the site that could break the signal between the drone and controller, set the flight band split distance to 2000 meters and fly in the middle of each mission. Set the band split distance according to your site conditions.
      

2. Setting a flight path
   
   • Set flight path altitude
   • Setting your flight speed
   • Set the overlap percentage, and save the mission.

     ℹ️ Altitude: Set the flight height of the drone relative to the ground at the home point.

     Higher altitudes will decrease the length of time you can take photos, but for accuracy, we typically recommend a setting of 80-120 meters, and you should always manually fly to check the height of the tallest buildings, cranes, terrain, etc. in your path to set the appropriate altitude.

     Speed: Adjust the flight speed of the drone. We recommend a setting of 15 m/s.

     Front Overlap: Adjusts the amount of overlap in taking photos while moving forward. The higher the overlap, the longer the photo will last, but we recommend setting it to 80% or higher for accuracy.

     Side Overlap: Adjust the spacing and number of paths you fly over. You can increase accuracy by having more overlap between the paths and the photos between them. Again, we recommend a setting of 75% or higher.

Flight Paths

• With the drone and controller powered on, open the saved mission to see the 'normal' status at the top and press the play button.
• If the area shown in the image below is not green, please click on it to determine the cause.
• The detailed status of the drone can be found at the location shown in the image below.
• If all is well with your drone, select the 'Next' button.
• Check your SD card capacity, flight duration, number of images, etc. and select the 'Upload flight mission' button.
• Finally, check your SD card capacity, flight time, number of images, etc. and select the 'Start' button.

⚠️ Ensuring that the drone is on course is the responsibility of the pilot who flies it.

• You should also constantly check the status of your drone via the controller - if the battery is low, the 'Fail Safe' feature will kick in and allow you to return to your initial launch site mid-mission, but be sure to constantly check the battery status to make sure it doesn't become an issue for your flight.
• There should be nothing in the way between the drone and the controller. If you are flying indoors, inside a vehicle, under a bridge, or if there are buildings or mountains too close to the controller in the direction the drone is flying, you risk losing the signal and crashing.

How to update

• After powering on the drone and controller, and connecting to the internet, you can check the controller initialization screen for the latest firmware version. Press the appropriate button to proceed with the update.
• Pressing 'Update All Devices' will update both the drone and controller to the latest firmware.
• Please keep the controller and drone powered on until the update is complete.
• Done