New app: TelloFPV for Android

[volate!lo]

Is it possible to add a function that can limit distance away from home? I lost sight and orientation at 87m today and clipped a tree???. The tello miraculously didn't crash and kept its position. I think I must limit myself to the 50 or 60metre distances.

Why? Ar the trees shorter in 50m distance?
Realistically you can either fly in close proximity so you really know the position, heading and speed. Just LOS doesn't cut because while I may be able to "see" tello at 50m distance I can't identifiy its exact position or heading relative to surrounding trees.
Or you can fly FPV but in that case it doesn't really matter how far you are away. Far more important -and a limit won't help here- is that you keep LOS between wifi extender and Tello so your Wifi signal stays intact.

 

[volate!lo]

Today I started with everything facing north and the results was fantastic.

North or not should not matter. Well in theory. Orientation of Tello certainly doesn't matter. With the phone's compass I am not so sure.
Some seem to be very accurate in one direction but not in another. Key is I think to have a spot with a known bearing so you can check in the camera view if the phone compass is OK.

 

[Koedoe888]

Why? Ar the trees shorter in 50m distance?
Realistically you can either fly in close proximity so you really know the position, heading and speed. Just LOS doesn't cut because while I may be able to "see" tello at 50m distance I can't identifiy its exact position or heading relative to surrounding trees.
Or you can fly FPV but in that case it doesn't really matter how far you are away. Far more important -and a limit won't help here- is that you keep LOS between wifi extender and Tello so your Wifi signal stays intact.

Haha. I was getting over confident. And at the road crossing the wind pushed it into the tree. After that it was in a stable hover and I thought it was actually stuck in the tree? only realized it wasn't when I saw the land and not takeoff button.

 

[hea-kun]

Thank you very much for the exciting feature.

The flight log details are useful, but depending on the mobile phone model, it is not possible to display the last position of Tello, and to open the KML file with the sharing function of android, an error "Can't show KML_file:Calling startActivity() from outside of an Activity context requires the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag. Is this really what you want?" is displayed.
I can see the flight details I see on Google Earth.
Do you need any Android settings?

 

[raulvolador]

Hi,

Yesterday I had a good time testing TelloFPV 1.2a in the countryside. Tello flew great and Flight LOG was correct after flight. I succesfully tested new "lock on pilot" mode for POI AP.

​

I liked a lot new icon for vGPS showing North, West, East and South indicators. Amazing "green man" pointing Pilot (me) too.

​

But I'm still suffering an annoying "13.7 meters red satellite issue" I said you. After succesfull vGPS calibration I can fly for about one minute, then suddenly sat icon goes red and stays stuck into 13.7 meters even there are a lot of satellite connected.

​

From that time, I can't start FollowMe or any other vGPS feature anymore. Despite issue, the KML route is recorded correctly. Previously started FollowMe session keeps working great, but if canceled it's not possible to start it again.

I'll send you a private message giving more details.

All the best

Raul

 

[volate!lo]

Thank you very much for the exciting feature.

The flight log details are useful, but depending on the mobile phone model, it is not possible to display the last position of Tello, and to open the KML file with the sharing function of android, an error "Can't show KML_file:Calling startActivity() from outside of an Activity context requires the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag. Is this really what you want?" is displayed.
I can see the flight details I see on Google Earth.
Do you need any Android settings?

Thank you , fixed!

 

[volate!lo]

Hi,

Yesterday I had a good time testing TelloFPV 1.2a in the countryside. Tello flew great and Flight LOG was correct after flight. I succesfully tested new "lock on pilot" mode for POI AP.

View attachment 4013​

I liked a lot new icon for vGPS showing North, West, East and South indicators. Amazing "green man" pointing Pilot (me) too.

View attachment 4014​

But I'm still suffering an annoying "13.7 meters red satellite issue" I said you. After succesfull vGPS calibration I can fly for about one minute, then suddenly sat icon goes red and stays stuck into 13.7 meters even there are a lot of satellite connected.

View attachment 4015​

From that time, I can't start FollowMe or any other vGPS feature anymore. Despite issue, the KML route is recorded correctly. Previously started FollowMe session keeps working great, but if canceled it's not possible to start it again.

I'll send you a private message giving more details.

All the best

Raul

If you move around, maybe the 13.m problem goes away?
It seems that some phone go into some sort of GPS sleep mode if they stay on one place, and only report position if the are moved.

 

[raulvolador]

If you move around, maybe the 13.m problem goes away?
It seems that some phone go into some sort of GPS sleep mode if they stay on one place, and only report position if the are moved.

I just reviewed screenrecording videos. Sometimes issue solves by itself after a few minutes into the air, but I (pilot) always remains still in the same place.

I noticed issue always fixed as soon as I land and takeoff again (touch-and-go maneouver)

Raul.

 

[lifescanner]

Hello again,
i know that every new Flight have to recalibrate vGPS.
Every new Flight and initiating vGPS, the TelloFPV wants a new Compass calibration to !
I dont change the Startingplace.
My Question: is this Compass calibration a MUST DO for initiating vGPS ?


p.s. Sorry for my bad English, my last School-Lesson ends 40Years ago

 

[raulvolador]

If you move around, maybe the 13.m problem goes away?
It seems that some phone go into some sort of GPS sleep mode if they stay on one place, and only report position if the are moved.

Oops !
I discovered 13.7 meters issue has nothing to do with TelloFPV.
I realized same problem into another Android app called GPSTest from Play Store.
It seem a failure of my smartphone. I have to dig a bit more into this problem.

 

[volate!lo]

Hello again,
i know that every new Flight have to recalibrate vGPS.
Every new Flight and initiating vGPS, the TelloFPV wants a new Compass calibration to !
I dont change the Startingplace.
My Question: is this Compass calibration a MUST DO for initiating vGPS ?


p.s. Sorry for my bad English, my last School-Lesson ends 40Years ago

Compass calibration is required if it reports mdeium or low accuracy. If you have to re-calibrate on every flight its because the compass sensor gets confused between flights.
The reason may be a flipcover case on the phone, your fat Rolex watch, or the controller attached to the phone, etc. Depends on the phone and your environment but basically anything metal or electrical can trigger the compass sensor to be inaccurate.

 

[volate!lo]

Oops !
I discovered 13.7 meters issue has nothing to do with TelloFPV.
I realized same problem into another Android app called GPSTest from Play Store.
It seem a failure of my smartphone. I have to dig a bit more into this problem.

View attachment 4026

It appears that your phone just drops accuracy down to 13.7m for some reason.

My guess (just a guess) is this is for power saving. It puts the power hungry GPS to sleep and just relies on less hungry gyro sensor to get notified if the phone moves significantly. Once a movement is detected it wakes up the GPS again.
Or maybe I'm completely wrong.

 

[UKPhil]

Thanks for this amazing app...Glad to pay for it, can't believe I can do such good fpv on such a cheap drone, a phone, a madkatz controller and cheap headset!
I'm flying more now in a day than in the last month just because of this.
Thanks from the North East UK!

 

[Ansia]

Hello everyone. It's been a while. Hope you all are doing well.

I have a small question. I read on a recent update of TelloFPV that it includes in app purchases. I have looked around, but can't find any. What are they and what for?

 

[hea-kun]

Thank you , fixed!

I am looking forward to fixing it.
By the way, it is a suggestion, but if synchronization of "vGPS" is possible, what about displaying a change on the screen that the color of the compass icon on the screen changes or the display of "vGPS" appears?

 

[volate!lo]

Hello everyone. It's been a while. Hope you all are doing well.

I have a small question. I read on a recent update of TelloFPV that it includes in app purchases. I have looked around, but can't find any. What are they and what for?

The menu has an option "unlock vGPS", which allows you to test or purchase vGPS.
vGPS fuses the onboard VPS and the phone GPS & Compass so TelloFpv has an idea of Tello's true position and true heading.

Added features: True heading compass, POI Lock can frame the pilot, last known position is shown in Google Maps, and flight in the flight log can be plotted in Google Earth.
There is an experimental FollowMe but I'm not happy enough with results to officially release it.

I am looking forward to fixing it.
By the way, it is a suggestion, but if synchronization of "vGPS" is possible, what about displaying a change on the screen that the color of the compass icon on the screen changes or the display of "vGPS" appears?

I thought about this, too. The earlier versions had the compass Icon change colors but that wasn't really intuitive so I dropped it. Need to think about it some more.

 

[Ansia]

The menu has an option "unlock vGPS", which allows you to test or purchase vGPS.
vGPS fuses the onboard VPS and the phone GPS & Compass so TelloFpv has an idea of Tello's true position and true heading.

Added features: True heading compass, POI Lock can frame the pilot, last known position is shown in Google Maps, and flight in the flight log can be plotted in Google Earth.
There is an experimental FollowMe but I'm not happy enough with results to officially release it.

I'm guessing these are only available in the beta? I have the official release and was not able to find these options.

 

[volate!lo]

Currently beta only. Maybe Monday or Tuesday this will become final.

 

[volate!lo]

Exactly what my Idea is: turning the direction by headtracking ????
Forward/backward up/down and sideways should be made by gamepads.
In the Way that you explained I think it will be weird. To
"Look out of the Window" will be strange and dangerous, if you dont look in the direction you fly.
I didnt fly by headtracking before, but it results in the same Way like my 360° degree Videos. You always will Watch it in the direction the cameraman Walks. Looking backward in a 360degree Video make strange Feelings. Sometimes you Watch a bit to left and right, but mostly you follow the direction forward.
May be you can implement both versions: Headless Mode with headtracking(look out of Window) and the "Captain Pilot Mode". I prefer the "Captain Pilot Mode" ?
And this should be done in VR Mode with Glasses ?

v1.2c has been released as beta. This should be the last iteration before going public with this version

brick72's interpretation of headtracking is implemented. I called it headcontrol, you will find it in the controller mapping so you can map this function to a controller button.
Look left and tello turns slowly left, look further left and tello turns faster. Look ahead and tello keeps its heading.
That is how DJI implements headtracking to controls a drone.

Personally I prefer headtracking to control the gimbal only, but thats a different thing, and seems impossible with Tello.

 

[GabrielK]

Volate!lo one idea on AP Boomerang:

- set POI
- fly up and away
- Circle arround POI
- came back 90 % (optional)

What do you think?
Regards
Gabriel