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Using Propeller PPK with WingtraOne

If you fly a WingtraOne drone, you can use the Propeller PPK workflow to process the images accurately. For most sites, the Phantom 4 RTK (P4R) with the Propeller PPK workflow will be sufficient, but for certain sites or situations, a vertical take off and landing (VTOL) drone, such as the WingtraOne, is the better solution.

Data Capture

When using a WingtraOne there are some considerations you must make to produce as accurate of a model as possible. Here is a list of the items you should consider.

Ground Control

Although AeroPoint 2s are required for most situations, there are circumstances where a model can be produced using AeroPoint 1s, such as sites located in the Propeller Corrections Network (PCN) and set up on a published coordinate system. Please see the figure below for specific ground control requirements for Propeller PPK with WingtraOne.

PPK Workflow Flow Chart.png

Camera and Mission Settings

For any questions on troubleshooting, drone setup, using WingtraPilot, etc, please refer to the Wingtra Knowledge Base. Please see our WingtraOne Support article for support responsibilities.

Propeller recommends the following mission settings: 

 

Setting Set To Question to Ask Yourself Reason
Geofence radius around Home 10,000 ft How far away from my home location is too far for the drone to fly? The geofence constrains the distance the drone is allowed to fly from the takeoff location. This is primarily for safe and legal operation of the drone.
Geofence altitude above Home 500 ft How high is too high for my drone to fly? The geofence constrains the altitude that the drone is allowed to fly above the takeoff location. This is primarily for safe and legal operation of the drone.
Minimum RTH altitude above Home 400 ft What is the minimum elevation that the drone should reutrn to home? This ensures that the drone does not return to the takeoff point at too low an altitude. This is primarily for safe operation of the drone.
Connection loss timeout 30 s If the drone loses connection with the controller, how long before the drone should return to home automatically? This ensures that the drone retuns to home even if there is a loss of connection between the drone and controller. This is primarily for safe and legal operation of the drone.
Minimum ground clearance 100 ft How low is too low for the done to be near the ground? This ensures that the drone does not fly any closer to the ground than the specified value. This is primarily for safe operation of the drone.
Transition height Varies How high above my home point do I want to the drone to switch to horizontal flight? This should be set to at least 60 ft above any nearby obstacles. An increase in the transition height will reduce the total flight time.
Transition Direction Varies Which direction should the drone turn at the transition height? This helps prevent collision with any obstacles during the transition. You should not transition in the direction of any obstacles.
Terrain Following Enabled Do I want my drone to consider the existing terrain when adjusting its flight heights? You should enable for safety. Always check altitude graph before starting any mission (arrow in bottom right corner).
Height Above Ground Varies How high do I want my drone to fly? This determines the Ground Sampling Distance and prevents collision with any stationary obstacles during the flight. Set this at least 250 ft above the highest point on site.
Ground Sampling Distance Varies How many points per unit distance do I want the drone capturing? This figure will auto-adjust given the set Height Above Ground.
Flight Direction Varies Which direction should the drone fly relative to the ground? Adjust the flight direction based on the site conditions. If the wind speed is above 20mph (9m/s), fly perpendicular to the wind. If flying steep hills/mountains, fly in a switchback pattern up or down the slope.
Side/Front Overlap 75/75 How much overlap do I want in my images? This provides enough overlap to build a contiguous model even if some images are missing or poor quality. The lower the detail on the surface below, the higher the overlap should be. 75/75 is generally sufficient.

 

The recommended camera settings change depending on your hardware.

These settings should produce the most accurate final model, but adjustments may be necessary depending on weather conditions, lighting, etc. 

Data Upload

After creating a site, you can then begin the upload process. 

You do not need to geotag the images in WingtraHub when using Propeller PPK.

Upon the drone’s first upload, you will be prompted to register the drone in Propeller.

The WingtraOne saves GPS information necessary for PPK processing in .SBF and .JSON files. You can either drag both the DATA and IMAGES folders for each flight, or drag the entire project folder(s), into Propeller during the upload process, as shown below.

Wingtra SBF and JSON Upload.png

If you have already geotagged in WingtraHub, additional files will be created and placed in the DATA folder.  Please do NOT include these additional files when uploading using Propeller PPK. The only two files from the DATA folder that should be uploaded with your images are FlightName WingtraOne.SBF and FlightName.JSON.

WingtraHub

In most cases, if you use the WingtraOne PPK drone with Propeller AeroPoints, you do not need to use WingtraHub to geotag your images before uploading. You could simply proceed with Propeller’s PPK workflow. 

However, there are some situations where you would use WingtraHub, including: 

  • You do not use AeroPoints.
  • You have your own base station.
  • You have only AeroPoint 1s and you are not within the Propeller Corrections Network (PCN). 
  • You have only AeroPoint 1s and are on a local grid site.

Please talk to your assigned customer success engineer or Wingtra Support about any other situations. 

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.

For AeroPoint issues, please contact the Propeller hardware support team by emailing hardwaresupport@propelleraero.com.au. For WingtraOne questions, please contact Wingtra Support at support@wingtra.com.

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