Why Can't I Upload PPK Data? Common Errors and How To Resolve Them


What happens when you get an error when uploading PPK data to the Propeller Platform?

Propeller includes built-in validations to ensure your site model's data is high quality.

  • Ideally, all validations should pass and display green validation text.

Validation Check Green.png

  • Orange validations indicate warnings, but the data can still be uploaded. You'll be asked to confirm you want to continue the data upload, but the accuracy may be affected without addressing the issues detected.

Validation Check Orange.png

  • If a validation shows red, the data cannot be uploaded. In that case, please refer to the error message in the chart below or reach out to your Customer Success Engineer for assistance.

Validation Check Red.png

Your file collection

Error message

Remedy

Tips & support resources

Minimum 10 images

   

Same aspect ratio (n files)

Your photos should all be captured with the same aspect ratio.

Remove the images that have a different aspect ratio

What Is Image Aspect Ratio?

Camera course alignment

The best results in photogrammetry are realized when the camera faces the same direction relative to the flight path.

Set your drone shooting angle to course aligned.

Phantom 4 RTK Shooting Angle: Course Aligned

Single connected area

There are holes in your survey imagery. Separate areas degrade each others' accuracy.

Submit more images to fill the holes, or remove the images that will degrade accuracy.

Getting Started with Composite Surveys

We were unable to read the EXIF or metadata from some of your files. (n files)

Please check your files are not corrupted and remove problematic files.

 

Your drone

Error message

Remedy

Tips & support resources

Drone camera is not recommended

<CAMERA_MODEL> is not a recommended camera model.

You can still proceed with the upload. However, the processing results might be degraded. Certain cameras were tested to produce photogrammetric models reliably

Recommended Camera Models

Unable to detect your drone

Your PPK drone is not registered.

Please renew your PPK subscription to proceed.

How to Register a Drone with Propeller to Use with the PPK Workflow

Unable to detect your drone

Your PPK subscription has expired.

Click here to renew.

Annual PPK Processing Subscription

Unable to detect your drone

Ensure you have uploaded all your files or change the correction method.

 

Registered PPK Drone detected

This drone is registered for Propeller PPK processing.

If you intend to use Propeller PPK with this submission, please add the required PPK files (.bin, .mrk) or change the correction method.

If you intend to use Propeller PPK corrections, change the correction method.

Uploading a PPK Survey with Your Compatible DJI Drones

Uploading a PPK Survey From a WingtraOne

Uploading a PPK Survey With a Quantum Trinity F90+ Drone

Uploading a PPK Survey From an Autel EVO II RTK

Uploading a PPK Survey From an Anzu Raptor

Registered PPK Drone and PPK files detected

You have attached PPK files but opted out of Propeller PPK processing.

Consider switching to Propeller PPK corrections for the fastest and most accurate results.

Change the correction method and make sure you have uploaded all the files.

 

Individual images

Error message

Remedy

Tips & support resources

Compatible geotag (n files)

   

Image resolution <x>x<y> does not match the camera's native resolution <x>x<y> (n file)

Cropping the top and bottom of each photo means there is less material to stitch together and affects the camera calibration.

Set the aspect ratio to <CAMERA_RATIO> (your drone's native aspect ratio).

What Is Image Aspect Ratio?

Motion blur

Some of your images appear to be blurry. This reduces the effectiveness of stitching images, leading to low accuracy in the final model.

Set camera mode to shutter priority and the shutter speed to ~1/1000.

Shutter Priority Mode

Shutter Priority Mode on the Matrice 300/350 RTK Drone

What is Shutter Priority Mode on the Phantom 4 RTK?

High ISO (n files)

High ISO leads to high image noise, which leads to low accuracy in the final model.

What is ISO and How Does it Influence the Images in My Drone Survey?

 

Name less than 255 characters.

 

High accuracy geotags are not detected

You switched the high accuracy geotags toggle on, but we could not detect the high accuracy metadata in all images.

Please confirm that the images provided are captured in RTK mode or have been post processed (PPK) by checking the box below.

Uploading High Accuracy Geotagged Photo Datasets

Image must be at least 8 megapixels

Please remove the images that have resolutions less than 8 megapixels.

 

Image file size must be greater than 75kB (1 file)

Some of your images are too small (under 75KB).

Remove the small files.

 

PPK files

Any drone

Error message

Remedy

Tips & support resources

Flight does not contain any images

Make sure that the images (.JPG ) are added.

 

Flight is invalid due to <n>% of images having 0,0 GPS coordinates

Make sure the images have valid coordinates. Images with invalid coordinates usually result from a slow SD card or outdated drone firmware.

Must refly the mission. Make sure to use the recommended SD card and the firmware is updated.


Flight is missing GNSS observation file

Make sure to include a GNSS observation file per flight.

 

Flight is missing metadata file

Make sure to include an image timestamp file per flight.

 

Flight or surrounding flight has <n> missing images

Make sure that there are as many timestamp entries as there are images.

 

GNSS data time range <GnssStart> -> <GnssEnd> does not cover image timestamps <TimestampStart> -> <TimestampEnd>

Make sure the correct GNSS files are uploaded with the images per flight and that the GNSS observation file contains data for the full duration of the flight.

Remove the images not covered by the GNSS data (only possible if the affected images do not exceed 10% of the flight and are at the start or end of the flight). Please note that parts of the flight covered by the removed images will be missing.

Otherwise, you can process the images with standard accuracy (without PPK).

Refly the mission. Ensure your drone is running the latest firmware and you are using a recommended SD card with a high enough write speed.

Alternatively, you can process your dataset with standard accuracy instead or refly.

File does not contain any metadata entries

Please make sure the timestamp files are not corrupted. Corrupt files usually result from a slow SD card or outdated drone firmware.

Make sure to use the recommended SD card.

File contains duplicate metadata entries: {duplicates}

Remove duplicate entries in the timestamp file.

 

Timestamps are out of order. Timestamp {entryLabel} is earlier than previous entry

Make sure the image file naming convention is consistent with the image capture order.

 

Entry is missing image reference

Make sure that the timestamp entry properly references an image.

 

Entry is missing timestamp

Remove the images with no corresponding timestamp entries (only possible if the affected images do not exceed 10% of the flight and are at the start or end of the flight). Please note that parts of the flight covered by the removed images will be missing.

Otherwise, you can process the images with standard accuracy (without PPK).

You have the option to process with standard accuracy instead or refly, making sure that your drone is running the latest firmware and you are using a recommended SD card with a fast enough write speed.

Entry is missing antenna offset Entry antenna offset is invalid (all 0s)

Remove invalid entries with no antenna offset in the timestamp file and the corresponding images (only possible if the affected images do not exceed 10% of the flight and are at the start or end of the flight). Please note that parts of the flight covered by the removed images will be missing.

Otherwise, you can process the images with standard accuracy (without PPK).

You can process with standard accuracy instead or refly, ensuring that your drone is running the latest firmware and you are using a recommended SD card with a fast enough write speed.

Entry has invalid approximate position

Remove invalid entries with no approximate positions in the timestamp file and the corresponding images (only possible if the affected images do not exceed 10% of the flight and are at the start or end of the flight). Please note that parts of the flight covered by the removed images will be missing.

Otherwise, you can process the images with standard accuracy (without PPK).

You can process with standard accuracy instead or refly, ensuring that your drone is running the latest firmware and you are using a recommended SD card with a fast enough write speed.

Wingtra RGB61

Error message

Remedy

Tips & support resources

Too many images have a high ISO (> 6400)

Ensure that the images have low ISO

 

All Wingtra drones

Error message

Remedy

Tips & support resources

Gap detected between images <img_name> and <img_name>. Please check that there are no missing images.

Ensure that there are no missing images

 

Unable to parse the image number from <n> image(s). Please check the file names.

Ensure that all images follow the image naming convention

 

Images that do not belong to any of the uploaded SBF files detected. Please check your files.

Ensure that all images follow the image naming convention and that there are no files from other projects included in the upload

 

Quantum

Error message

Remedy

Tips & support resources

File does not contain drone serial number

Ensures that .prop (Quantum metadata file) contains the drone serial number

 

Control step

Error message

Remedy

Tips & support resources

Short flight detected; reduced survey accuracy possible

You have uploaded flight data where all your flight(s) are below recommended flight times. This data can negatively impact the accuracy of your survey.

As a reminder, Propeller PPK flights should be at least 2 min. in duration to generate survey data for optimal accuracy.

To proceed, please either replace the data from the short flight(s), or continue with existing data with the understanding that lower survey accuracy is more likely.

How to Use AeroPoints For the PPK Workflow

Insufficient ground control for quality assurance

At least 3 ground control points are required for our Geospatial Specialists to provide quality assurance.

We recommend a minimum of 5 ground control points for accurate results.

Ground Control Placement and Distribution

 


I still can't do it!

We wrote these articles to equip you with everything you need to get the job done on your own, but we understand that sometimes this isn't sufficient.

If you're stuck, you can connect with our support team by clicking the support button on the top right corner of your user portal.

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