Drone flight calculations

This is an interactive page based on more detailed exploration of drone overlaps.

This gives us the opportunity to plug in flight parameters and back-calculate others. For example, give us the size of the photos on the ground given height, the needed drone flight distance for a desired overlap at a given height, or the speed we need to fly at a given height to yield the right overlap given the photo interval.

Overlap is fixed at 80% for the moment.

Warning: Using `by = character()` to perform a cross join was deprecated in dplyr 1.1.0.
ℹ Please use `cross_join()` instead.

import { aq, op } from '@uwdata/arquero'

droned_aq = aq.from(transpose(droned))
dronev_aq = aq.from(transpose(dronev))
dronei_aq = aq.from(transpose(dronei))

viewof dronetype = Inputs.checkbox(
  ["Mini 2", "Phantom 4 Pro V2"],
  {value: ["Mini 2"],
    label: "Drone"
  }
)

viewof aspect = Inputs.checkbox(
  ["3:2", "4:3", "16:9"],
  {value: ["4:3"],
    label: "Aspect Ratio"
  }
)

viewof overlap_p = Inputs.range(
  [0.7, 0.95],
  {value: 0.8, step: 0.05, label: "Overlap:"}
)

viewof height = Inputs.range(
  [1, 50],
  {value: 5, step: 0.1, label: "Altitude (m):"}
)

viewof velocity = Inputs.range(
  [0.1, 5],
  {value: 1, step: 0.1, label: "Velocity (m/s):"}
)

viewof interval = Inputs.range(
  [0.1, 5],
  {value: 2, step: 0.1, label: "Photo interval (s):"}
)

For the selected values

Ground distances (photo footprints) and needed photo distances to achieve overlap are

dist_h
  .select('altitude_m', 'overlap', 'direction', 'photo_distance_m', 'ground_distance_m')
  .view()

For the selected interval and height, the needed velocity is

vel_h
  .select('altitude_m', 'overlap', 'intervals', 'velocity_ms')
  .view()

For the selected velocity, the needed photo interval is

i_h
  .select('altitude_m', 'overlap', 'velocity_ms', 'photo_interval')
  .view()

distfilter = droned_aq
  .params({
  dr: dronetype,
  ov: overlap_p,
  asp: aspect
})
  .filter((d, $) => op.includes(d.drone, $.dr))
  .filter((d, $) => op.equal(d.overlap, $.ov))
  .filter((d, $) => op.includes(d.aspect, $.asp))

dist_h = distfilter
  .params({
  h: height
})
  .filter((d, $) => op.equal(d.altitude_m, $.h))

vfilter = dronev_aq
  .params({
  dr: dronetype,
  ov: overlap_p,
  asp: aspect,
  inter: interval
})
  .filter((d, $) => op.includes(d.drone, $.dr))
  .filter((d, $) => op.equal(d.overlap, $.ov))
  .filter((d, $) => op.includes(d.aspect, $.asp))
  .filter((d, $) => op.equal(d.intervals, $.inter))

vel_h = vfilter
  .params({
  h: height
})
  .filter((d, $) => op.equal(d.altitude_m, $.h))

ifilter = dronei_aq
  .params({
  dr: dronetype,
  ov: overlap_p,
  asp: aspect,
  v: velocity
})
  .filter((d, $) => op.includes(d.drone, $.dr))
  .filter((d, $) => op.equal(d.overlap, $.ov))
  .filter((d, $) => op.includes(d.aspect, $.asp))
  .filter((d, $) => op.equal(d.velocity_ms, $.v))

i_h = ifilter
  .params({
  h: height
})
  .filter((d, $) => op.equal(d.altitude_m, $.h))

Ground distance

Plot.plot({
  grid: false,
  color: {
    legend: true
  },
  marks: [
    Plot.line(distfilter, {x: "altitude_m", y: "ground_distance_m", stroke: "direction"}),
    Plot.dot(dist_h, {x: "altitude_m", y: "ground_distance_m", stroke: "drone"})
  ]
})

Photo distance

Plot.plot({
  grid: false,
  color: {
    legend: true
  },
  marks: [
    Plot.line(distfilter, {x: "altitude_m", y: "photo_distance_m", stroke: "direction"}),
    Plot.dot(dist_h, {x: "altitude_m", y: "photo_distance_m", stroke: "drone"})
  ]
})

Velocity

Plot.plot({
  grid: false,
  marks: [
    Plot.line(vfilter, {x: "altitude_m", y: "velocity_ms"}),
    Plot.dot(vel_h, {x: "altitude_m", y: "velocity_ms"})
  ]
})

Photo interval

Plot.plot({
  grid: false,
  marks: [
    Plot.line(ifilter, {x: "altitude_m", y: "photo_interval"}),
    Plot.dot(i_h, {x: "altitude_m", y: "photo_interval"})
  ]
})