NOTE: Atlas Flight is not supported as of 2019. You are free to still use the app, but please be aware that it may not be compatible with newer drones or cameras and may run into unexpected issues.
Overview
Atlas Flight allows you to quickly and easily plan missions for your DJI drone and MicaSense sensor. With just a few taps, you'll be collecting data: just set your desired altitude, speed, and overlap. Atlas Flight will configure the optimal flight path and camera's settings automatically. Log into your Atlas account and instantly create a flight plan over one of your saved fields. Planning a multi-battery mission? No problem. You can pause, stop, and resume missions right in the app – even after changing the battery.
How it works
Atlas Flight enables you to draw a flight plan which consists of a series of waypoints (x,y,z coordinates) or choose a field from your Atlas account to use as your flight boundaries. Once you input your desired flight settings, Atlas Flight sends the waypoints to DJI, and DJI takes control from there, navigating from one waypoint to the next and landing your UAV.
Interface
The top of the interface shows you the status of the DJI drone and the camera. The drone status includes the remote controller mode, GPS signal, and battery level. The camera status includes the number of satellites and capture status.
The bottom status shows you the drone's current distance from home, altitude, and speed.
The flight box may only be a rectangle/square, but can be rotated and resized to any rectangular/square dimensions.
App buttons
The buttons on the right behave as follows:
Speed, altitude, overlap button - Here you can set the speed, altitude, and desired overlap for your flight. The available values may be restricted by settings in the DJI Go application.
Current location button - This will center the map to your device's current location.
Reset button - This will center the flight box on the screen and reset the width and height to the default.
Preflight button - This opens the preflight dialog and attempts to connect and send the flight parameters to the camera (the iOS device must be connected to the camera's wifi). A mission summary is shown with an option to launch the mission.
Atlas button - If logged in to Atlas and connected to the internet, you can see a list of your farms and fields. If not logged in to Atlas, you will be prompted to log in (internet connection required).
Camera button - This brings up the calibrated reflectance panel dialog and allows you to take a panel photo.
Positioning the flight box
Flights with an estimated completion time under 10 minutes will display a yellow flight path.
Flights with an estimated completion time over 10 minutes will display a red flight path.
Setting altitude, speed and overlap
The available values may be restricted by settings in the DJI Go application.
Calibrated Reflectance Panels
Capturing reflectance panels before and after each flight is essential for calibration. Before each flight, use the camera button to open the dialog, and follow the directions provided.
The Reflectance Calibration dialog will also open automatically after your mission has completed.
Preflight checks and launching a mission
Connect to camera wifi.
Press the preflight button.
The app will attempt to send mission details to the MicaSense camera
Ensure that all of the listed details are correct and that the camera updates have completed successfully.
You may need to adjust the flight mode on the remote in order to launch (for example: F-GPS for Phantom 3, GPS for Phantom 4).
If you interrupted a previous mission and are continuing, you will see "resume" as an option.
After placing the drone in launch position and pressing launch/resume, you will see a warning: Be prepared to take control of the drone.
From there, if you press "Launch" the drone will take off. If you press "Abort" you will cancel the mission.
During Flight
During flight, you can track the location of the aircraft as it flies the designated flight plan. You should be prepared to take control of the aircraft at all times. After launch, the "Preflight" button becomes a "Pause" button. You can pause or stop the flight here, or you can take control of the aircraft using the remote by switching remote modes, or using the "return to home" button.
As the aircraft reaches each waypoint, the path behind it will turn black. If you have to stop the flight for any reason (to change batteries, for example) you can resume the flight later and the drone will continue from the last waypoint.
No Fly Zones
Atlas Flight does not have any fly zone restrictions. It receives all information regarding fly zones from DJI GO. If you receive an error during setup, such as "mission will cross the no fly zone", you will need to check DJI's Fly Safe GEO Zone Map to determine whether you are authorized to fly in that area.
If you have additional questions regarding Atlas Flight, please contact support.