Help requested to understand why no CAM messages on VTOL photo mission

jstroup1986 · May 17, 2022, 2:12pm

A colleague from overseas asked me if I could take a look at his VTOL mission to help figure out why no photos were taken.

I’ve not used ArduPlane yet - but have done photo missions with ArduCopter. I thought maybe I could help - and learn something at the same time. So I agreed to help if I could.

I received the BIN file and the Waypoints file for the mission - and have uploaded both to dropbox.

I tried to run the mission in the SITL simulator (plane) but couldn’t get the aircraft to take off. So there’s my first opportunity to learn something.

I ran the geotag routine in Mission Planner against a directory with dummy image files - and it reported no CAM messages. That agrees with no photos taken.

I loaded the BIN file into MavExplorer to list out the MavLink messages - I saw nothing unusual to me.

The mission is set for 20 meters/second and photos every 47.6 meters - one photo every 2.38 seconds - so I doubt the cameras limits were exceeded - and besides - there were no CAM messages.

If anyone has a few minutes to spare - could you please take a quick look at these files and if possible, identify why no CAM messages were issued to trigger the camera shutter?

Thank you for your kind assistance!

jstroup1986 · May 17, 2022, 2:22pm

UPDATE:

My colleague reminded me that some photos were taken - just far fewer than expected.

I don’t understand that because the geotag routine showed no CAM messages. I need to check to see if I’ve received the correct BIN file.

jstroup1986 · May 17, 2022, 6:19pm

UPDATE NUMBER 2:

I discovered that the BIN file I received has “TRIG” messages - not “CAM” messages.

I have a faint recollection that this may because of a different MavLink command to schedule the camera shutter.

In both the mission waypoints file I received, and the ones I’ve personally planned, we both use the DO_SET_CAM_TRIGG_DIST command.

However, my BIN files only have CAM messages. This one I’ve received only has TRIG messages.

So I’m guessing that maybe the waypoints file I received doesn’t match the BIN file I received with it.

It would be helpful to know what MavLink command actually generates these two different messages - CAM and TRIG.

If someone could please help me answer that question, I may be able to continue investigating this problem on my own.

Here’s the TRIG messages in the file I received:

There are hundreds of TRIG entries. I’m guessing if the camera failed to record all these images that maybe there is an issue in the hardware. Just a guess. With the mission planned for a camera trigger event only every 2.38 seconds, I doubt the problem is the camera - but it’s possible. If the camera is being triggered by an aux-port relay - I’m wondering if there is some sort of limitation on the frequency of the relay activations.