First Flight
This topic provides a simple end-to-end introduction to using Auterion Mission Control. It takes you through the steps for connecting to a vehicle, and planning, flying and monitoring a basic survey mission.
Fly View
Auterion Mission Control connects to vehicles over a telemetry radio in order to receive vehicle information, upload/download missions, and to send flight commands. For some radios, the same connection is also used for receiving video from the vehicle.
The Pairing Manager is used to manage telemetry connections for the advanced radios recommended by Auterion. The pairing manager is used to first pair (associate) ground control and vehicle based radio modules. Paired vehicle can subsequently be connected when needed.
Pairing Prompt (displayed on startup if the Pairing Manager is enabled)
The pairing prompt appears automatically on startup if the Pairing Manager is enabled. It can also be launched at any time from the Pair Vehicle icon.
To pair and connect a vehicle:
- 1.Switch to Fly View (this is the default view, or it can be accessed from the menu).
- 2.Select the Pair Vehicle icon in the Fly View top status bar.If no vehicles have previously been paired this will launch the pairing dialog.
- 3.Press the pairing button on the vehicle 3 times to put the vehicle into pairing mode (by default the pairing button is the safety switch, which is often a button on the GPS).
- 4.Press the Next button on the prompt to start pairing.The vehicle will display the prompt above. After approximately one minute pairing should succeed.
- 5.You will be prompted to connect to the vehicle.Press Confirm to connect the (now paired) vehicle.
- 6.Once the vehicle is connected the following dialog will be displayed.Press Done.
- 7.The final dialog shows the connected vehicle.Press Done to exit (you can also cancel the dialog).
Before/after connecting to Vehicle 1 (which requires setup before flying)
You can press the pairing manager icon again to connect, disconnect, or pair new vehicles. For more information about managing connections see: Connecting Microhard Radios (Pairing Manager).
This section shows you how to plan and upload a very simple camera survey mission and geofence.
Plan View
Plan View is used to define vehicle plans that may include any (or all) of Missions (survey missions, structure scans, corridor scans, manual missions), GeoFences and Rally Points.
- 1.Open the Plan View (if you're in Fly View, select the Plan tool).
- 2.Select the Mission radio button above the editor on the right.
- 3.Check that the Mission Start item settings are correct for the planned survey. In particular that the altitude (Waypoint alt) is high enough to avoid obstacles when travelling to the survey.
- 4.From the Plan Tools, select File > Survey.
This creates a simple "template" survey mission appropriate for the current vehicle type (clearing any existing mission). For a multicopter mission this consists of a Takeoff item, Survey pattern, and a Return To Launch item.
Note that the Survey pattern has a red border. This indicates that the survey pattern is undefined and must be explicitly set before saving the mission - 5.
- Drag/drop the item to the desired takeoff position
- Ensure the altitude setting (same as in Mission Start editor) is high enough that the vehicle will fly over obstacles on the way to the survey.
- 6.
- 7.Select the Basic button create a survey area starting from a rectangle (you can use the other buttons to create a circular starting region or trace-out the region).
- The filled circles (vertices) and center can be moved where needed (using the map).
- New vertices can be created by selecting the markers between existing vertices, and then moved.
- 8.Select the Done with Polygon button when the survey area is defined (you can still edit the survey area on the map after doing this).
- 9.Select the Camera tab. Choose your camera and orientation (do this before changing the Grid!).
- 10.Select the Grid tab to set the properties of the survey grid. The default values are a good starting point, but you can change the overlap of captured images, altitude or ground resolution. angle of flight path (Transects), etc. if required.
- 11.Sanity check the mission by reviewing the Mission Information in the application top bar. In particular this allows you to assess the feasibility of the current waypoint and/or mission by giving the estimated mission distance and flight time, and the distance from the ground station.
- 12.
Before flying a mission, or manually, it is good idea to create a geofence around your safe/expected flight area. This prevents the vehicle from flying away due to misconfiguration or some other problem.
To create a new GeoFence:
- 1.Select the Fence button to display the GeoFence Editor.
- 2.Select the Circular Fence or Polygon Fence button to create a fence of the appropriate type. The fence will be added to the map along with an entry in the editor (you can define multiple fences).The region can be edited on the map using similar tools to those for defining the survey area.
- 3.New regions are created as inclusion zones (vehicles must stay within the region). They can be changed to exclusion zones (where the vehicle can't travel) by un-checking the associated Inclusion checkbox in the fence panel.
- 4.When finished, press the Upload button to save the fence(s) to the vehicle, along with the associated survey.
Auterion Mission Control enables many more planning features than we cover in this section. For more information see: Planning.
Now your mission and geofence are defined you're nearly ready to fly. Select the Fly tool to switch to Fly View.
Fly View is used for all operations related to flying the vehicle. In this section we provide an overview of how to fly a typical mission.
Fly View
Before every flight you should run through the Pre-Flight Checklist to verify that the vehicle and planned flight path are safe to fly (actual checks depend on the vehicle type).
The tests are grouped into a number of sections,and are colour-coded to indicate their status (passed, failed, manual test) and have a description explaining what is being tested and any action that needs to be taken.
To use the checklist:
- 1.Select the Checklist button in the Flight View toolbar (a vehicle must be connected).The first screen of the checklist will then be displayed.
"Green" tests are automatic tests that have already passed.
- 2.Fix the "red" tests (automatic test failures)
- GPS: Test passes (turns green) when the vehicle has a valid position estimate. If this takes too long, move the vehicle to ensure it has a clear view of the sky and is away from buildings.
- Sensors: If it remains red after the vehicle has booted you may need to re-calibrate the sensors.
- 3.Run the "orange" (manual) tests. Follow the instructions in the description then tap the associated button to mark the test as passed.
- 4.When all the tests in the first section are complete (green), start the second section.
- 5.When all the tests in the final section are green, the checklist is complete.
- 6.You're ready to fly!
Auterion Mission Control automatically prompts you Start Mission when you switch to Fly View (if you have a mission uploaded). To start the mission, all you need to do is move the confirmation slider in the prompt. The drone will arm, takeoff and start the mission without you doing anything else.
If the prompt is not visible you can display it by selecting the Action button on the tools, and then select the Start Mission option.
During the mission you can select the Pause or Continue toolbar buttons, and then acknowledge the confirmation sliders, to pause/continue the mission (these are only visible when they are valid options). You can also select any waypoint to make it the current destination, and click on any point on the map to pause the mission and immediately fly to that location.
While flying, regularly check the vehicle status indicators (top bar) for an overview of status. In particular, note that the high level status should be green and the battery level should be high enough to complete the mission.
You can follow the vehicle progress on the map (the red trace is historical path), the vehicle shows current position and heading.
The Telemetry Panel (bottom right) allows you to monitor the vehicle and flight telemetry: vehicle speed, altitude, direction of travel, total flight time and distances, and time to get back to the ground station etc. Toggle inside the panel to change the set of values displayed.
You can toggle between the map and camera video feed by toggling the video switcher in the bottom-left of the fly view.
Camera Gimbal and Zoom Controls
Generally you won't use them when flying a camera survey mission, but in manual flight modes the Camera and Gimbal controls on the right can be used to capture images or video, change where the camera is pointing, and zoom in/out.
You can check out the captured images and videos in the Photos view (accessed from the application menu).
Photos View: See captured images
Auterion Mission Control can also be used to aid manual flight by providing high level commands to simplify common operations: taking off, flying to a location, flying to a location and orbiting, using the camera and gimbal, returning to the launch point and landing.
For more information see
The rest of this document provides more detailed overview, guide and reference material on how to use all the features.
Last modified 7mo ago