Hello,

Does anyone here use the Point Cloud Manager from Trimble?
I'm trying to convert a point cloud to a smaller size, but i don't know how to do it, and i can't find any helpful information online.

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Hi guys. I was tasked with created a model for automatic UAV navigation through narrow spaces and openings.

I always create models and never worried about deployemnt and this is my project where I need keep the hardware and the deployment in mind. So I am kinda stuck.

My management was not daring enough to give me a drone and develop the model with it. instead I am using Ardupilot SITL in Gazebo Harmonic sim. Tbh, never heard of them before a week. So all of this like control theory, mavlink protocols are all new too me.

I created a window frame of sorts and decided to let my drone pass through it. This is my first minigoal. So I'd love to hear your suggestions and reference materials for:

**Q1. What is best way to detect openings large enough to let the drone pass through it?**

First, I tried canny edge detection using RGB feed but the contours on the world is throwing the detection off.

Then, I tried using depth sensor but the range at which it detects the window frame is sub par. Thought of fusing RGB and depth (heard from claude) but my colleague from Robotics team advised me not to get into that rabbit hole.

Now I trying to use LiDAR but having a tough time integrating that in my sdf file. And I am genuinely don't know how to rectify it.

**Q2. How to control the drone precisely?**

I don't know repeat myself. But I don't know control theory either. I really can't wrap my head around on the PID controller. I'd really would like to know how changes in various gains affect the system like P gain would let the drone sweep faster/slower (tbh idk).

My management specifically asked for MPC controller. So I'd like to how to implement that.

**Q3. what to do to increase the agility/speed of the drone?**

Not a immediate goal. But it's something my management expecting my model to achieve it.

I'd like to properly learn all of these but I am time constrained. ~~My management is like "ask chatGPT and finish the model asap"~~. So I'd appreciate if you recommend materials and references which will help me learn and implement sooner. Also your experienced suggestions are most welcome and appreciated.

Thanks in advance, guys

I have a Mini 5 Pro and Matrice 4E for building and site inspections.

I have also been tinkering with mapping on and off for a year since getting my Matrice.

Whilst on sites I do get asked if I can size up people sites and if I do land surveys.

I hired some professional land surveyors a while back to map out our boundary and was amazed at how varied their data was for the same site. Out of 5 of them only 2 were within .6m of one and other the rest were at least 6-9m out.

When I checked my Matrice maps of our site with a GIS program I noticed that my maps was very accurate, even without GCPs, one of the surveyors mapping points and exactly on the Inspire map they used as a base map.

So I am considering getting training and understanding this work more seriously and Buying a Rover and base station. I'd be lying to saying that budget is a not a factor. Annoyingly my Terra free license has run out so have resorted to WebODM.

I have yet to nail the right setting on the drone to make WebODM match my Terra output. I re-processed maps from Terra in Web ODM and they came out with holes and ghosting. It was even worse with Metashape with lots of swirling patterns.

I have read that GCPs are a critical element to drone mapping, I have never used them instead of using the local Ntrip RTK server via my remote.

I have looked at an Emlid and the DJI RTK-3. Any social media platform I have looked at the majority of posts suggest go for the Emlid. With a few people saying they use DJI RTK-3s.

The current price of the DJI D-RTK-3 is £1369 and the Emlid RS3 £2699.

Is there any reason to still go for the Emlid?

The FAA published the Part 108 NPRM in August 2025 and the requirements for commercial operators are serious.

Detailed flight records for every mission. Pilot certifications tracked and current. BVLOS waivers on file before flying. Incident reports filed within 10 days. Remote ID active and logged. All of it falls on the operator. $75K fine per violation.

Curious how you're actually handling this day to day : pilot certs, flight records, waivers. What does that workflow look like?

I am working on position estimation algorithms for GPS-denied environments; this task focuses on estimating an aircraft’s position using only visual data in situations where GPS is unavailable or unreliable.

The task constraints are quite strict:

Only camera frames are provided (no GPS, no IMU fusion by default)

The goal is to estimate the x, y, z positions in a reference coordinate system

The starting position is fixed at (0,0,0)

The camera is tilted downward (~70–90°), so this is essentially a visual odometry (VIO)-like problem without traditional sensors

For each frame, we also receive inter-frame displacement cues

The system must provide:

Estimated X, Y, Z coordinates (in meters)

A status flag (indicating whether the estimate is reliable)

There’s also a twist:

Reliable reference data is available for part of the sequence

Later, the system enters a “corrupted/faulty” phase, and the model must continue making estimates without reliable signals

The evaluation is based on:

The error between the predicted trajectory and the actual state

Individual axis errors (x, y, z)

Overall trajectory consistency

If anyone has worked on this or has knowledge of it, could you help me?

I recently posted about a plan to use a Parrot drone to take aerial photos to map flower abundance in a nonagricultural setting and now I realize that Parrot is not a good option. In fact it's a terrible option.

I'm limited in funds ($10K, but the possibility for a little more) and limited by the NDAA, so no DJI or Auten drones. Has anyone built their own drone using a Tarot frame? Any camera recommendations (non DJI)? Any good guides out there for doing so? I work in a relatively technical field and I'm pretty handy generally (woodworking, electrical, plumbing, etc.). I also have family and colleagues that have more experience with electronics that can help. I'm open to any advice you can give me. My work won't happen until next growing season, so no real rush at the moment.

I'm hoping to do a study next year using a drone to take high quality photos to estimate floral abundance from orthomosaics. The best set-up for my budget is a DJI Mavic 3 multispectral, but because I'm in the US and I'm funded through the federal government, I can't use DJI products. I'm limited to a budget of $10,000 all-in. I might be able to squeeze some more money out at some point (and a colleague may also be getting a more complicated drone that I could possibly use), but that's what I have to work with at the moment. I've settled on the current system.

1. Drone will be a Parrot Anafi USA drone. It has a thermal camera that I probably won't use, but the price point is within budget. I've heard it's reached it's end of life, but I don't have another good option. I'd love a FreeFly or ACSL Soten or any other better drone, but we don't have the budget. My other alternative was an Aurelia X4 standard drone, but I've heard horror stories about them, they haven't responded to any of my questions, and once I buy the drone and outfit it with a gimbal, camera and lens the price goes over my budget with no wiggle room for other essentials. If someone else has a better option, I'm all ears.
2. Ardusimple RTK Smart Antenna, poles, and ground control points. I was excited about the Mavic 3 not necessarily needing ground control points because of the built in RTK module, but the Anafi USA doesn't have a built-in module, so I have to use a separate base station. It adds time to the work, but like most things, we have to make a trade-off between cost and time. This will allow for PPK corrections, at least in theory.
3. Tablet for internet connection and for reviewing images in the field and uploading them into the cloud.

With these options and a couple other requirements (extra SD cards, training fees, etc.) my costs are just under $10000 with some wiggle room for shipping costs. Does this sound reasonable? Anything I'm missing? Anyone have any experience with the Ardusimple products?

I’m a forester working in the southeastern USA for a private entity (nonprofit). Our last drone guy left and I have had classes in school in remote sensing and aerial mapping using pix4d. Through my job, I do a lot of GIS work (ArcPro desktop and QGIS for some projects) and my main usage for a drone would be aerial survey of site prep and practices, aerial photography for raster data (10-80 acres), and the occasional shot to show my landowners and our social media team the work we’re doing. I’ll be taking a course at my local community college soon to get the certifications needed. When researching a drone that I can use, my boss told me that we can’t use company funds for a DJI due to new regulations. What I’m wondering is would I be breaking any rules if I buy a DJI with my personal funds and use it for work? It’s looking like an NDAA compliant drone would cost way too much for my company to be willing to shell that money out, and it’s not strictly necessary that we have a drone operator, but I would like to add it to my resume and bring it to the company for some job security. If I were to buy a personal drone it looks like I could get a phantom or mavic for the range of $400, and there’s just not anything I’m finding that would be NDAA compliant and budget friendly.

Any help with this would be appreciated.

Exactly like in the title. Took a dinger and was hoping for some recommendations. Drone nerds is one I’ll be looking at but if there other reputable places I welcome the advice. TIA!

I've got ground control set for 1200 acres, Since Terra lacks a visual GCP tagging tool for LiDAR, what is your workflow for actually snapping or aligning your point cloud to your ground control? how are you applying your local ground scale factors? Do you do this in Terra, or process the trajectory and do the scaling/shifting in external software?

Hi I am currently using DJI Zenmuse H30T to map a utility-scale solar farm. It is about 150 hectares and I have collected about 4000 thermal images. I have 2 problems.

1. DJI terra can only stitch the therma images as a 2d map but cannot retain the data embedded in the thermal image.
2. DJI thermal analysis tool is so slow. If I would process each image one-by-one it would take so much time and it would be challenging to locate the PV panels since the images are looking directly downwards to the panel. (Please note that I do not know how to use TSDK but I use GIS)

Has anyone here found a way to create an orthomosaic while retaining all the information emebedded in the thermal images?

Has anyone also found out how DJI calculates the temperature using the the embedded thermal information and the variables such as distance, ambiemt temp, etc. If I can figure out the calculation, I might be able to duplicate the process using GIS raster calculation.

Any advice is welcome. Thank you.

if I create an orthomosaic (from drone imagery) for a person can I put a scale on it for purposes of land measurement? I do work for surveyors but this was not done in that capacity.

I know I cannot add property lines but was unsure of a scale.