Tutorial on how to use

DJIFlightPlanner
and
DJI Ultimate Flight
INITIAL STEPS:

- Install DJIFlightPlanner (DJIFP) on your Windows PC. A 30-day fully-functioning

demonstration version is available, and full single-PC licenses cost US$99.

- Contact info@djiflightplanner.com for help with the purchasing of and/or

technical support for the DJIFP software

- Purchase DJI Ultimate Flight (DJIUF) from the Google Play Store and install on
your Android 4.4 (or higher) Android phone or tablet. Licenses cost US$20.

- Contact support@djiultimateflight.com for help with the purchasing of and/or

technical support for the DJIUF app.
Install DJIFlightPlanner (DJIFP) on your Windows PC and follow the licensing instructions.

On your Android phone or tablet, purchase the DJI Ultimate Flight (DJIUF) app from the
Google Play Store. You should also install the DJI Go app if you haven’t already. Both DJI
Ultimate Flight and DJI Go allow you to accomplish a compass calibration, which is
recommended if the drone is largely-geographically relocated from the last time it was flown.

The Internal Storage\DJI_Ultimate_Flight\GS folder is created when you run

the DJI Ultimate Flight app for the first time. Below is an example of five “name.csv”
files that were created in DJIFP and transferred to the GS folder on the Android device. In this
example, the directory path shows “VK810 4G” (a Verizon Tablet) - it will be different for your
device.

Your objective will be to create & export a flight plan from DJIFP, and copy it to the GS folder
on your Android device so it is available in DJIUF. You can do this by simply USB tethering your
Android device to the PC. Let’s go through these processes now, with illustrations on how to
accomplish the tasks required.

Figure 1
Launch DJIFP on your PC. Use the “Search” and enter the approximate address or optionally
enter Latitude / Longitude coordinates for area you wish to fly.

In this example, we searched for “60 Acres Park, Redmond, WA”. DJIFP shows a small “red +”
in the middle of the screen. Place the cursor near the + and zoom in (as illustrated in the next
slide).

Figure 2
Use the “Polygon tool” and click (fence around the area) the desired area where you want the
UAV to fly autonomously. In our example, we are selecting a portion of the parking area and a
gravel – area, adjacent lot.

The polygon tool is highlighted by the red arrow below.

Figure 3
Once your area has been marked, press the Enter key, and then the “Camera, imaging &
miscellaneous paramet…” dialog box is presented. There are several parameters that can
be entered, but in this example, the only parameters we changed were the pull-down arrow
for the DJI Phantom 4, and the Altitude, revised to 100 feet for our flight. Change the param-
eters to match your needs, then press the green ACCEPT button.

Figure 4
The “Choose flight line calculation method” dialog is now presented. This dialog is used to set
the flight line orientation & subsequent waypoints in the flight plan. In our example. We
selected “EAST-WEST”. Another option is to use “AUTOCALC” and let DJIFP present the most
optimal flight path/s for your area. You can also manually enter an orientation in degrees.

The next slide will show all waypoints that were automatically calculated by DJIFP.

Figure 5
The flight lines and waypoints are now illustrated on the screen. The white node-points on
each line represent approximate camera trigger locations to achieve the desired overlap/s.

As seen here, the flight path/waypoints encompass a larger area than initially “fenced”. You
can marquee-drag the mouse over the waypoints you don’t want, or alternatively select the
entire line and then press the Delete key on the keyboard to remove unwanted points/lines.

Figure 6
After tidying up the plan by deleting any unwanted points/lines, observe the left-hand-side
of the screen which shows various parameters for your planned flight path. In this example,
the flight path requires three “turns” with a quantity 52 frames to be captured. The ground
sample distance (GSD), or ‘pixel size’, will be approx. 1.3cm. The next slide illustrates how
you can export the flight plan in .csv format for use in DJI Ultimate Flight.

Figure 7
Under the Export menu, select “CSV for DJI Ultimate Flight”. The “Flight plan export
options…” dialog box is presented. There are two different methods for triggering the
camera “Position-based” and “Time-based”. If you select position-based, the drone will stop
at each waypoint and trigger the camera. If you select time-based, the drone will fly through
the flight path and trigger based on time such that you achieve the planned forward
overlap. In this example, we are selecting time-based triggering. Then press the OK button.

Figure 8
As a final option the “Time-based export option” dialog is presented, where the user can
select if they desire to fly “Nadir-only” (top-down) or “Nadir & oblique” (mixture of top-
down and oblique images). The latter increases the flying time by a factor of 5, but it is
useful if the images are to be processed for 3D product generation later on. For most
aerial surveying purposes, nadir-only will be the desired option. Please be aware that DJI
drones have limited battery capacity and it might not be possible to complete large flight
plans on a single battery cycle.

Figure 9
The “Save As” dialog is now presented, and one needs to assign a name for the exported
.csv file. TIP: for good file management, it is suggested to name the .csv file so that it is easy
to remember for the actual flying in DJIUF. Also, as you can see in the red rectangle, we
created a folder on the Desktop, called “GS”. You do not have to name this folder “GS”, but
it may help you better organize your DJIFP .csv files for use in DJIUF. The next slide numbers
steps 1 to 4 for this task.

Figure 10
 How to copy .csv file(s) onto your
Android device for use in DJIUF
1) Tether your Android phone or tablet to your PC via USB cable.
2) Your PC should provide you the option to open the “Internal storage” folder, see
Figure 1. If you do not see this choice, refer to the user manual for your Android
device.
3) Drag the .csv file(s) from your PC to the Internal Storage\DJI_Ultimate_Flight\GS
folder on your Android device.

The .csv file(s) are now on your Android device, ready to be imported by DJIUF.

Now we will discuss use of DJIUF, with an

imported .csv flight plan file from DJIFP.
Please note: there are some settings in DJIUF you should change before attempting
to fly for the first time. Refer to the next slide for more information.
DJI Ultimate Flight settings to change (1)

Make sure this is OFF

DJI Ultimate Flight settings to change (2)

Set these 3 values to ‘0’

for unlimited.
 1. Press the DJI Ultimate Flight icon on your Android phone or tablet device.
2. Press the center of the screen in DJI Ultimate Flight, as illustrated in Figure 11 below.

Figure 11
3. Press the “Import” icon in the lower left of Figure 12 (see the red arrow). All available
.csv files will now be displayed in a list.
4. Select the .csv flight plan file that you want to fly, it will be highlighted in magenta.
Then press the LOAD button.

Figure 12
5) The MODE (vertical red arrow below) needs to be set to “Waypoint”.
6) Press the green arrow “Play” button and the flight will commence. See the “NOTE” below.

NOTE: for this tutorial, the above indicates “disconnected”.

The assumption is, you already have the DJI UAV powered on,
and have the Remote Controller correctly tethered to your device.

Refer to your DJI drone user manual for information on how to connect
everything correctly and in which order, also read the following slide.

Figure 13
 Some final thoughts on the “order” of
system-component start-up ….

- Make sure everything is off to start with

- Place the aircraft on the ground at your desired take-off location

- Turn on the remote control first & wait until it's powered up

- Then turn on the aircraft & wait until it's powered up

- Finally, connect the Android device to the remote controller with the USB cable

- Start DJI Ultimate Flight and follow the instructions in this tutorial.

© 2017 All Rights reserved. Prepared by DeChant Consulting Services – DCS Inc., website: www.iwitnessphoto.com
Visit the DJIFlightPlanner website at http://www.djiflightplanner.com