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Auterion Mission Control (AMC) is a ground control station application for pilots. It can be used to fly aircraft, to plan missions, fly missions, and to configure the aircraft. It can run on Herelink and PC.
Auterion's complete documentation is here: https://docs.auterion.com/vehicle-operation/
Definition: The amount that each image overlaps with the previous sequential image; effectively, you are taking pictures more frequently on each straightaway of your mission. Benefit: The higher the front overlap, the more consistent your resulting map will likely be, as the stitching software will have an easier time connecting the discreet images together.
Tradeoff: You will be taking more pictures, many of which are redundant to an extent. This takes up more storage and takes more time to process. When changing this value, keep in mind that your photo interval needs to be greater than or equal to 2.0 seconds. The USB drive cannot save large images any faster. Recommended value: 70%
The amount that each image overlaps with the adjacent images in a parallel leg of the mission. The higher the value, the closer each swath of the mission will be to its neighboring swath.
Like front overlap, higher side overlap increases the consistency of your stitching software by introducing more redundant landmarks that help combine the two photos together.
Due to the increased number of passes over the same area, increasing side overlap will also increase the duration of your mission. Unlike front overlap, increasing your side overlap percentage does not increase your photo interval, though it will still increase the total number of pictures taken.
Recommended value: 70%
The Survey options ask you to select one: Altitude or GSD. These two options are directly proportional and can be selected based on the mission area and your requirements.
GSD, or Ground Resolution, is a general approximation of the fidelity of each image when compared to real-world measurements. For example, a ground resolution of 1 cm/px posits that every single pixel in the resulting map will be approximately 1 centimeter in length. This measurement can be calculated using the camera's resolution and the distance from the object being photographed. It stands to reason that if we have the desired ground resolution and the camera's resolution as known variables, the distance (or altitude of the aircraft) can be calculated as well!
Notice how changing the altitude or GSD sliders will also change the other option automatically. If you are using GSD, make sure that the resulting altitude is still clear of any obstacles.
Pattern Options
Changing these settings requires Advanced Mode, which is not recommended for most pilots. Key safety features and parameters that keep Astro airborne can be disabled if changes are made without understanding their purpose. Keep in mind that changing settings in this mode poses an increased risk to property and safety if not done with careful consideration and care.
To switch to Advanced Mode and see many of these options, repeatedly tap on the AMC icon in the top-left-hand corner of the app. After tapping about 6 times, a popup menu will appear asking if you would like to switch to Advanced Mode. The icon will change once Advanced Mode is active. You can return to Standard Mode by repeating the process of tapping the icon until the menu appears and selecting the option to switch to Standard Mode.
Be very careful about the Autopilot Orientation setting when calibrating sensors in Advanced Mode. It should not be changed from the default value of ROTATION_YAW_270.
Unlock the superpowers of Astro and build your fleet
Manage your enterprise robotics program with Auterion Suite. The Suite is where the data of your fleet is collected, analyzed and presented. Get insights on vehicles, assets and operations to keep control over your robotics program. With Auterion-powered vehicles data is delivered automatically and in real-time from the fleet to the Suite – while the drones are flying and without any manual intervention. Learn more about the Auterion Suite here on Auterion's website.
Astro is built to easily integrate into the Auterion Suite and many of Astro's features are enabled through this platform
Manage your aircraft fleet
Access detailed flight logs, check vehicle status
Direct Freefly customer support with integrated flight log sharing and review
Get software updates
Auterion's documentation covers the Suite in depth.
Watch this Quick Start video showing how to sign up and unlock the powers of your Astro in the Auterion Suite
Using a computer, connect a USB-C cable from your computer to the IO panel on the underside of the Freefly Astro.
Power on the the Astro with one SL8 battery (NOTE: Using only one battery prevents the danger of accidentally arming the aircraft).
This physical connection to the Astro is required for security reasons as the Suite enables location data, live streaming, etc.
Using a web browser, go to the following address to connect to the Astro: http://10.41.1.1
This page will allow the user to sign up for the suite as well as automatically register and claim the aircraft. Click "Register Now" or scan QR code for mobile signup.
Note: This requires the vehicle to be online to generate a signup QR code otherwise it’ll say “internet required” for the registration prompt.
If Astro is connected to the internet and plugged into the computer and http://10.41.1.1 does not show the Register Now button, try refreshing your browser.
Once complete, you should see the Astro unit listed under the "Vehicles" Section on the main dashboard of the Auterion Suite.
Go Fly!
Alternate Signup Methods
Another signup method is to sign up for the Auterion Suite directly from Auterion's website.
If you use this method, you won't have any vehicles registered for your Suite account unless you add them manually!
You can add an aircraft using the Aircraft serial number under the Vehicles page, but note that data sharing will be limited until you physically connect your aircraft to a laptop and validate you have physical access to the drone.
To physically register an aircraft that was added by serial number, you'll need to connect the aircraft to a wifi network as described here, then connect physically to a computer and visit http://10.41.1.1 in your browser. Click the large Register button on this screen and sign in to Auterion Suite to complete the process.
Astro will automatically upload flight log files to the Suite with built-in wifi or LTE connections.
Astro's autopilot automatically creates log files that record the aircraft's flight path, inputs received, outputs sent, and more.
Log files are stored to the onboard SD card. If the aircraft is registered in the Auterion Suite, Astro will automatically upload flight log files to the Suite when a wifi or LTE connection is available. Logs can also be downloaded to a PC.
Flight logging starts when Astro is armed, and ends when Astro is disarmed.
The easiest way to view the logs is with an Auterion Suite account (Basic version is free).
Navigate to a particular flight to see many plots showing data such as angles, position, speed, GPS quality, vibration, etc. It will also show the build information, parameter values, and any errors detected in the flight.
The suite allows sharing log files with the Freefly Support Team.
To ask Freefly about a problem with a particular flight, use the "Share with Manufacturer" toggle.
If you're not able to use the suite, it's possible to download log files from Astro to a PC via USB.
Logs are stored in the onboard SD card in “ulog” format. Use this procedure to download them. Requirements: Astro, 1 SL8 battery, USB-C cable, AMC PC, and an Auterion Suite account (you can create a free account here; an account is required to download AMC PC).
1.
Connect a USB cable from Astro's IO panel to a PC
2.
Install one battery and power up Astro
3.
4.
Navigate to "Analyze" menu, select "Log Download"
5.
Click "Refresh" to load the logs
6.
Select desired files and click "Download"
QGroundControl (QGC) can be used in place of AMC PC for this procedure. However, QGC should not be used for any other purpose with Astro as it may not accurately represent the state of the aircraft and can corrupt Astro's parameters.
If AMC/QGC does not connect to Astro, check that Astro is communicating with your computer by opening a web browser and navigating to http://10.41.1.1. The aircraft's information page should load. If not, try rebooting Astro, remating the cable, and restarting AMC/QGC.
Downloading logs via USB is faster and more reliable. While it is possible download flight logs over a wifi connection between Astro and a PC, it is considerably slower.
If internal storage is full, the earliest logs will be deleted from the aircraft to make room for the latest flight log.
The easiest tool to use is http://logs.px4.io. Simply upload a ulog file. It will present thorough analysis via plots showing data such as angles, position, speed, GPS quality, vibration, etc. It will also show software build information, parameter values, and any errors detected in the flight.
For other purposes, there are a variety of other flight log analysis tools.
Using the Auterion Suite to share aircraft logs with Freefly Support (by clicking on the "Share with manufacturer" button) is the easiest and quickest way to get Freefly support and get your Astro back in the air after an issue.
Freefly and Auterion think of data generated by Astro, including flight logs, as your property. We think it's important that you are in control of your data, are confident in the measures taken to ensure security, and agree with how the data is used.
The Auterion Privacy Policy gives a layperson's description of how data can flow from Astro, through the Suite, and to partners you choose.
Briefly, when Astro is registered with a Suite account, you can choose to have flight logs automatically uploaded from the aircraft to Auterion servers when an internet connection is available. You can review this data in your Suite account. Auterion employees do not have access to your data. You may choose to share individual flight logs with Freefly Support via the Suite, for example to troubleshoot details of a specific flight.
Freefly and Auterion understand the need for full data control and user privacy so we have built this platform for maximum user control.
The Astro comes with hardware to support WIFI and LTE connections to the internet or other devices.
If you do not want the LTE to connect, do not install a SIM card for data connection
If you do not want the Astro to connect to WIFI, do not select any networks or present any passwords. You can also disable WIFI on the pilot handset.
For security purposes the user needs to have physical access/connection to the Astro in order to register the aircraft to the Auterion Suite because the Auterion Suite enables log uploads, live unit status tracking, live video streaming etc.
Please exercise extreme caution before changing parameters. Do not operate Astro with edited parameters unless you are certain you know what you're doing or have been instructed to do so by a Freefly employee.
Parameters are only accessible after
Enable AMC's advanced mode by rapidly tapping the AMC logo in the top left:
A popup to enable Advanced Mode will appear, confirm that you would like to switch to Advanced mode
Tap the AMC icon one more time to open the menu, and more options will now appear. Go into Advanced
Now scroll down to the bottom and choose Parameters, and parameters will now be accessible and searchable in the screen to the right
On occasion you may need to reset the parameters to the vehicle's default. To do this, once you navigate to parameters, click on Tools > Reset to vehicle's configuration defaults
Especially in support situations, we may ask you to load a parameter file. To do this, the file will need to be copied into AMC's visible folder so that it can load the file. AMC will be looking for parameters under Documents > Auterion Mission Control > Parameters
To load the parameter file, go to the parameter page and go to Tools > Load from file. As long as the file is in the right location, it should show up and be selectable to import the parameter changes
Mission import/export: AMC’s .plan files can be imported and exported. This is useful for creating missions on a computer, then importing all of them to Herelink at the same time
KML import: KML files can be imported to AMC. This is useful for creating mission shape definitions in some software, then importing all of them to Herelink at the same time.
Important Note on importing:
Zoom in to maximum level, then create a random survey shape. If you don’t zoom in, survey shape could be very large and could crash AMC
Then click “import KML” on the right toolbar
Survey shape will automatically change to the data defined in the KML import
KML export: This is useful for exporting waypoints outside AMC. You won’t be able to import them back as KML, since these are waypoints, and not a shape definition.
This method may not work as expected on Mac. We recommend using Method 2 on Apple computers.
1) Connect the Herelink via the Micro USB port to a computer.
2) Turn on the Herelink.
3) Drag down from the top to open the drop-down menu. Select “USB Charging this device”.
4) Select “Transfer files”.
5) The Herelink will appear on your computer as a device named “Optimus”.
6) Upload flight plans into the following folder: Optimus > Internal shared storage > Documents > Auterion Mission Control > Missions
If you aren't seeing the files you're expecting on the Herelink or computer, restart the Herelink.
1) Upload flight plans onto the MicroSD card.
2) Insert Micro SD card into the Herelink’s Micro SD Card slot.
3) Drag down from the top to open the drop-down menu and select the Micro SD card device.
4) Select the desired flight plan and select “Copy to…” or “Move to…”
5) Select Optimus > Documents > Auterion Mission Control > Missions.
6) Select “Copy” or “Move” to complete transferring.
The fly screen shows a live feed of either the camera feed or an overhead map view.
This screen includes a live camera feed, telemetry, and camera/gimbal control. You can also launch uploaded missions or take off using the touch screen.
This screen shows the nearby satellite map, as well as the currently uploaded mission when applicable.
An optional checklist to assess the requirements of flying a safe mission or manual flight. This checklist can be accessed by tapping the Vehicle box near the top-left corner of the screen. Tapping the yellow boxes turns them green, allowing you to manually verify each item before takeoff.
Red items represent warnings or errors. Some items will prevent takeoff if there is an associated warning or error, such as insufficient battery power. Others will allow for takeoff with some limited usage. In the example below, there is no GPS signal, so the aircraft will only be capable of taking off in Manual mode.
Open and
This section describes the connection process for Astro's built-in wifi chip. This functionality is useful while the aircraft is on the ground, for admin and setup tasks. Connecting the Astro to wifi is required to complete the initial Auterion Suite setup process.
Connect to the aircraft while in flight with the pilot handset's wifi hotspot.
Open AMC GCU or PC. If using a PC, connect to Astro with a USB-C cable.
Tap on the vehicle status button at the top of the AMC screen (it will be either red, yellow, or green depending on the vehicle's status).
Select Connectivity.
Enable Wifi and disable Hotspot Mode.
Enter the Network SSID and Password for your wifi access point and select Connect.
Unlike the Herelink wifi, which is restricted to the 5GHz band, Astro's wifi chip is compatible with 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands.
Open AMC on the pilot handset or PC. If using a PC, connect to Astro with a USB-C cable.
Power Astro.
Tap the icon in the top-left of AMC. Navigate to Vehicle Setup > WiFi.
Set Wifi Mode to Hotspot, which allows Astro to broadcast a wifi network that other devices can connect to.
If your Astro has an LTE sim card installed, you can utilize online features such as live video, real-time aircraft status, and flight logs through Auterion Suite.
Currently, Astro is only available with an LTE radio suitable for North American markets. Additional LTE compatibility will be available in the future.
Install a SIM card into Astro. Make sure to write down the SIM card number found on the card if you don't have it recorded elsewhere.
Open AMC on the pilot handset or PC
Navigate to Vehicle Setup > Cellular
If you need to access the IMEI number for the vehicle to enable the SIM cards, connect to the Astro with a laptop and USB cable
Power on Astro with one battery only.
Connect the laptop and the Astro by plugging in a USB-C cable to the IO panel on the underside of the aircraft.
Using a web browser, navigate to http://10.41.1.1/ to connect to your Astro aircraft
On the bottom of the page, expand the "details" bar and scroll until you find the listed IMEI information
You can assure that LTE is not being used by removing the SIM card from Astro.
Region
4G LTE Bands
Radio Spec Sheet
North America
B2, B4, B5, B13, B17
EMEA/Australia
Cat-4: B1, B3, B7, B8, B20, B28
Currently, Astro is only available with an LTE radio suitable for North American markets. Additional LTE compatibility will be available in the future.
When switching SIM cards, try leaving the APN field blank. It should be automatically detected. If not, here are a few suggestions.
Carrier
APN
T-mobile
iot.tmowholesale, fast.t-mobile.com
Orange
orange.m2m.spec
Verizon
In most cases, check the "Allow Roaming" box.
After changing the SIM, reboot both the aircraft and AMC.
Provides a brief overview of the main vehicle setup bullet-points that pilots should consider before takeoff. If there is an issue with the sensors or radio, the green dots seen below will instead be red.
Currently, the only functionality of this screen is to change and test the functionality of the physical button on the top-right corner of the controller.
Use the dropdown to select the functionality of the button. Watch the box with the 0 in it while pressing the button to verify that it is working.
Select Compass, Gyroscope, or Accelerometer to recalibrate. Calibration is recommended for any sensors marked with a red dot.
Displays a live view of the radio inputs. Allows you to switch between Mode 1 and Mode 2 control schemes (Mode 2 recommended).
This screen is essential to operating Astro safely. Ensure that the altitude under Return To Launch Settings is higher than the tallest obstructing obstacle. For instance, if your mission takes place near a 65m tree, a return altitude of 60m is insufficient. If an RTL triggers while the aircraft and the landing point are on opposite sides of this tree and you are unable to regain control, it is unlikely that the aircraft will return to the ground safely in this scenario.
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