Multi-facade drone mission template

Geometry, from the planner

Planned by OpenDroneKit with these inputs: L-shaped building 60 x 40 m, wall band 8 to 24 m. The drawing is the planner’s actual output for that test site in Aukerman Park, Ohio, not an illustration. The plan has 693 waypoints; every point is counted above and an even subset is drawn.

Planner output · 693 waypoints (400 drawn)Local metres · north up

Plan · blue: flight path · ring: first waypoint · dashed: drawn area · shaded: structure

Elevation, looking north · x: east–west position (m), y: altitude above take-off (m) · 8–24 m · gimbal 0°

How is the multi-facade mission laid out?

Each edge of the footprint is a face. Defaults apply to all faces and per-face overrides change only the walls that differ, so one mission covers a building whose walls are not all alike.

Inside corners get extra turned shots, spaced by the width one frame spans across the wall.

Also accepted by the planner as: multi_facade_inspection.

Inputs

Parameter	Meaning	Default
`altitude_m`	Flight altitude in metres, relative to the take-off point unless an AMSL terrain model is loaded	60
`front_overlap_pct`	Forward overlap between consecutive photos; with the camera footprint it sets the capture spacing	80
`side_overlap_pct`	Overlap between neighbouring lines or rows; with the camera footprint it sets the line spacing	70
`speed_m_s`	Planned cruise speed, written to every export	5
`camera`	Camera profile used for footprint and ground-sample-distance estimates	mavic2pro
`gimbal_tilt_deg`	Camera pitch; left blank, the template's own default is used	0
`facade_top_altitude_m`	Top of the wall band to photograph	—
`facade_bottom_altitude_m`	Bottom of the wall band to photograph	—
`facade_standoff_m`	Distance from the wall (falls back to 8 m when unset)	—
`facade_face_overrides`	Per-face stand-off, heights and spacing that differ from the defaults	—

Footprint, line spacing and GSD come from the camera profile; the GSD calculator uses the same formulas.

What survives each export?

QGroundControl .plan and .waypoints: every point carries a DO_MOUNT_CONTROL gimbal command; 693 of 693 points are NAV_LOITER_TIME holds; 693 of 693 have a CONDITION_YAW heading lock; 693 DO_DIGICAM_CONTROL captures.
DJI WPML .kmz: gimbalRotate on every waypoint; hover action and toPointAndStopWithDiscontinuityCurvature turns at hold points; heading-locked points use smoothTransition; takePhoto at capture points; speed limited to 1-15 m/s.
Litchi CSV: 693 waypoints exceed the exporter's 99-waypoint split, so the export is written as 7 consecutive files, each starting where the previous one ended.

Each format has known issues, listed on its page: QGC .plan · .waypoints · DJI WPML · Litchi CSV.

Limits

Long multi-facade plans can exceed one battery; the plan estimates batteries needed and warns before flight.
Planned without a terrain model the plan assumes flat ground at the launch elevation, and it says so in a warning.
Not flight-tested on an aircraft as part of these pages; the numbers above are the planner’s estimates.

Source and tests

Compiled by _compile_multi_facade_primitive in mission/planner.py. The function is on public main (1ef6351); this drawing was planned with the development branch (0ae10e4), whose planner is ahead of main.

Tests in the development branch that exercise it:

tests/test_exported_headings_face_the_subject.py
tests/test_mission_exports_carry_the_plan.py
tests/test_mission_types.py
tests/test_standoff.py
tests/test_structure_coverage_is_stated.py
tests/test_structure_missions_keep_clear.py
tests/test_template_inventory_is_derived.py

Camera aimed at a wall, a box, a tower, a turbine or a dome, from a stand-off distance.

Facade: Columns and rows of photos across one wall, at stand-off, camera level and facing the wall.
Facade mapping: A denser facade capture for photogrammetric 3D models of a wall.
Box: A rectangular circuit around a building at stand-off, camera aimed at the building's centre.
Tower: Stacked rings around a tower or mast, each ring photographing the section beside it.
Wind turbine: Tower, nacelle and both faces of each blade of a parked wind turbine.
Dome: Rings that follow a dome's curve, with the camera on the surface normal, for silo caps and domed roofs.

All 22 templates: mission templates · mission planning.