Using Propeller PPK with Autel-EVO-II

Recommended Settings: 

Mission Setting	Set to	Question to Ask Yourself	Reason
Altitude	200-300ft (60-90m)	How high should I fly comparative to the takeoff point?	The height is a balance between how quickly you would like to complete your survey (higher makes it faster) and the ground sampling distance that you need. This range satisfies this balance.
Mission Relative Altitude	0	Is the terrain I want to survey at a different altitude than my home point?	Unless the terrain you are surveying is at a very different altitude than your takeoff point, leave this setting at 0.
Speed	50-60% of max allowable	How fast should I fly?	*Unless you're trying to reach the required 10min mission time, increase the speed to minimize overall flight time. In low light conditions, reduce the speed and the shutter speed to ~1/800. We have found that a speed of 3-6m/s with other settings set as recommended yield the best results.
Front Overlap	80%	How much should each of the images overlap each other?	This provides enough overlap for if some images are missing or poor quality, while still building a contiguous model. The lower the detail on the surface below, the higher your overlap should be. If you have a large area to survey, you can look at reducing the horizontal overlap (no lower than 60%) to increase the area you can cover per battery.
Shooting Angle	0°	Which way should the craft orient itself when flying?	We want the camera to take images along the flight path in alternating directions.
Side Overlap	80%	How much should each of the images overlap each other?	This provides enough overlap for if some images are missing or poor quality, while still building a contiguous model. The lower the detail on the surface below, the higher your overlap should be. If you have a large area to survey, you can look at reducing the horizontal overlap (no lower than 60%) to increase the area you can cover per battery.
Gimbal Pitch	90°	What should I point the camera at while flying?	All good surveys start with images facing directly down (nadir). These can then be complemented by angled shots (obliques). 90º is facing straight down, 0º is horizontal facing the direction of the drone.
Finish Action	Go Home	What should the drone do after completing the mission?	Safety and not losing your drone. Once completed, the drone will make its way back to the home point automatically.
Loss Action	Go Home	What should the drone do after if it loses connection to the remote?	Safety and not losing your drone. If connection is lost, the drone will make its way back to the home point automatically.
Course Angle	User Preference	What direction should I fly to cover the survey area?	You want long passes across the site.
Double Grid	Off	Do I need good vertical face imagery?	If VFI is important, we recommend doing an oblique mission.
Elevation Optimization	Off	Is my terrain or altitude expected to vary during flight?	When enabled, the drone will take a few oblique images at the end of the flight. You do not need these to process your data with Propeller.
Weather	Set to conditions	What conditions should I accommodate for?	Adjust the setting to reflect current weather conditions. Setting the white balance incorrectly will result in poor stitching and/or inaccurate coloring of your model.
EXIF Compatibility	Pix4D	How do you want the EXIF data to be written?	Our system expects images with the EXIF data in certain formats.

Camera Settings	Set to	Question to Ask Yourself	Reason
Size	5472x3648 (3:2)	How much of the image should I delete?	3:2 deletes nothing, utilizing the whole sensor. Everything else deletes data.
Format	JPG	How should the images be saved?	Images must be in a JPG format to upload to Propeller.
Exposure Mode	Shutter Priority	How should the exposure be controlled?	To avoid motion blur. Shutter priority tells the camera that a fixed shutter speed must be used. The camera can adjust the exposure with aperture and ISO.
Shutter	1/1000	How fast should the shutter close?	1000 is usually a good place to start for sunny conditions. In low light conditions, reduce the shutter speed to ~1/800 and lower the speed.
ISO Mode	Auto	How bright do I want my images?	You want your ISO to adjust to the conditions of the day.
EV	0	How much do I want to stray from the recommended exposure?	This dial shows you how far away from the recommended exposure settings you are before you take a photo with manual settings.
WB (White Balance)	Set to conditions	What conditions should I accommodate for?	Adjust the setting to reflect current weather conditions. Setting the white balance incorrectly will result in poor stitching and/or inaccurate coloring of your model.
Digital Zoom	1.0X	How much do I want to zoom in on my survey area?	If you want to closer imagery of the ground or features, use a lower mission altitude.
AF (Camera Focus Mode)	AF	Do I want to manually set the focus for each image?	Without adjusting the focus for every image, the images will only be clear on at one particular elevation. Blurry pictures are catastrophic for photogrammetry.
Color	None	Do I want to change the colors in the images?	You don't want to alter the color in the images.
Style	STD.	Do I want to change the colors in the images?	You don't want to alter the color in the images.
Camera Slider Bars	Set to	Question to Ask Yourself	Reason
Lock Gimbal While Shooting	Enabled	Do you want the gimbal to lock in place while it takes a photo?	Leave this on its default setting. This will help prevent blurry images.
Save Location	SD Card	Where should the images and GPS files be saved?	Images and files should be saved to the microSD card.
All Other Settings	Disabled	Do I need any other settings to be changed?	These settings matter for manually-taken images, not planned missions.

FYI: If you utilize AP’s, you will need to utilize at least twice as many – here is the recommendation from Propeller: One Aeropoint will get you to about 5-10cm with the Autel Evo II V3 in that same area (approximately 50 acres). If you wish to get down to 3-5cm, you will need at least 4 Aeropoints with a distance of no more than 350ft between them. You can do the math for larger sites: Just keep the approx. 350ft between them to get the tight accuracy.