Hey everyone,
Does anyone have experience using the Matrice 300 RTK with Zenmuse H20 camera? My employer is looking to purchase this drone in early 2021 and we need to decide if the H20 camera will suffice or do we need to go with the Zenmuse P1.
Thanks in advance for any insights.
Brian
Also, our worksite is an open pit mining operation.
The main usage for the drone will be for stockpile quantities and creating 3D surfaces of the pits/dumps.
Our current survey methods include RTK foot topos and TS scans for pit walls.
Im no expert in this area, We have in house Photogrametrists that do all of our UAV work but just from watching the promo video for the setup you mention it seems like it would be like using a Pile driver to open a walnut. If cost is no issue, hell go for it. Just seems like a pretty high-end machine setup for the purpose. That setup definitely seems pretty awesome with the range and flight time capabilities.?ÿ
@jered-mcgrath-pls
Thank you for the response. We were leaning towards the Phantom 4 RTK, but the weather specs were too low for our work area (only good to 0*C)
I have had lots of experience with all DJI aircrafts (Phantom, Mavic, M600, M210), Parrot Anafi, Delair, Wingtra, and Skyfront. If all you need to do if to fly piles of rocks for volume save yourself a whole lot of money and just buy a handful of Parrot Anafi, or a Mavics. Set permanent target and store the mission. Rinse and repeat. FYI I flew a Parrot yesterday in 23 F - no issues.?ÿ
No need for RTK - its a relative value you are looking for not absolute.?ÿ
May want to check out Skydio 2 along with its dock. You can set it up for full autonomous flights on a routine schedule. Pretty slick!
@stlsurveyor Thanks for your response (sorry I didn't see it earlier). We are looking for use the drone to replace our manual field surveys of the open pit and waste dumps also. We need these to be in our UTM coordinate system with precise elevations.
Based on your previous experience, how do you determine the "base" to compare your volumes?
Also, it is -19?øC here today, which drones do you think could handle flying in these temps? (at least it isn't windy today!)
?ÿ
No need for RTK - its a relative value you are looking for not absolute.?ÿ
Ok, based on that, could we use rtk, to make targets, and then it would be on whatever datum the targets are on?
I want to get in, but there are a Lot of variables.
N
Determine your base by taking ground shots around the true ground of the stock pile. Create a surface for the base. Coordinates are no issue you can convert anything to anything.
Which drone can fly in -19C...Well they all can, but that depends. There will be many factors that will come into play. Altitude density being one of them. Battery operating temps will be the other. "Drones" like manned aircraft can fly in those temperature, but the environmental conditions will effect the aircraft, just like manned aircraft.
As your air density decreases the props will have to spin faster to maintain the same level of lift, which will require motors that can handle the throttle needs, which will dramatically decrease flight time.?ÿ
I do think that DJU Matrice aircraft have heaters that will warm the batteries to combat that issue, at least our M-210 did. Other manufactures do the same.?ÿ
Be advised drone manufactures are all young companies. Very few of them actually test their equipment to truly determine limitations. I would call your local vendor who is trying to convince you to drop 30k on a DJU set-up to come out any fly it on a -20C day with 15-20 knots wind and see how it will does.?ÿ
Fixed wing platforms will perform better in low density situations. But I would stay away from Delair as my experiences with their aircraft was terrible. Windtras are very nice, but still require a rotary lift.?ÿ
@nate-the-surveyor Roger that. The RTK component on the aircraft is sold as a belief that ground targeting will not be required. If you go down that path you will have to test, test, test and the test again against a calibration site and determine a level of uncertainty you are okay to live with.?ÿ
My school of thought is...you're gonna ground truth the project, so why not target and save the money?
@stlsurveyor thanks again for your response. This is all very useful information.
Unfortunately, our "stockpiles" are not nice cone shaped piles. We would need to compare our drone flights to previous topo surveys of the "OG" in order to account for all the material at that location.
Some areas have say 3 feet of "carpet" material remaining that we then stockpile on top of again.
The idea behind having an RTK drone would be to (hopefully) reduce the office time required to get the usable data in a precise real world location (including elevation).
The M300 RTK has spec's down to -20C and 50km/hr wind gusts (it is usually very windy here).
This is the drone we are leaning towards, but unsure what camera we would require (the H20 isn't really "marketed" for surveying applications).
We have received a quote for Wingtra, however the cost associated may ultimately be a factor in the decision making (from the people paying for the drone).
@stlsurveyor do you find setting GCP's and the additional time spent post processing is cost effective though?
The ideal scenario for our site would be to fly certain areas weekly (daily if we can) to get a better comparison between pit excavations and stockpile values.
We are already in the process of trying to determine locations where we can set permanent "checkpoints" that can be seen from each flight. Some areas this can be quite difficult to acheive.
@brian-kirk Don't let the idea of RTK build a false sense of security. Elevations are the weakest component of GNSS. If you are flying over a stock pile within an open pit mine your GNSS signals will be compromised and you need to account for that, especially if you mask has to be increase to 30 degrees, then your strength of figures goes done the pooper and you PDOP, RMS skyrocket.
Many problems with all of DJI cameras are the fact that are design for videos and use spherical (EDIT Rolling) shutters. This causes problems with image blurring and their inability to open and close fast. Some apps such as Pix4D will account for the lag, but take that with a grain of salt. You'd be better off finding one of their old x7 cameras.
Once you have targets placed and base surface created office time is minimal. Spend time setting up your network and the rest is just pushing the money button. Again, remember you are using photogrammetry for DTM data and it will not be true, but only an estimate. If your rocks are very valuable I'd go with an active collection method such as LiDAR.?ÿ
Just buy one of these and all your problem will be solved. Sometimes the best solution is where you are not looking.
http://www.riegl.com/nc/products/terrestrial-scanning/produktdetail/product/scanner/58/
?ÿ
That StLSurveyor is one good dude.
EDIT: ?ÿIf you have found this resource to be valuable, you might consider dropping a 10% tip in the tip jar for our message board creators, Wendell & Angel.
See the link in my signature line below.
