BEBOP2 RTH height update

[hogshawrabbit]

I contacted Parrot this week to enquire if they were ever going to make RTH manual as I read that the Anafi app allows manual RTH adjustment. Here's what parrot said...
Lets hope Parrot come good on this and they are actually going to finally add manual RTH height in the FFP app

Hello Michael,

Thank you for contacting Parrot Customer Support. My name is Adam, and I will be assisting you with your case # 1231582.

Your voice is heard, I have delivered your feedback directly to the concerned department to make sure that we provide our customers with a top quality service, We are working on future plans to develop more features in our applications such as the feature to adjust the return to home (RTH). Again we do apologize for any hassle caused and we once again thank for your patience with us.

It is always our aim at Parrot to provide you, our customer, with top quality service to the best of our ability.


We appreciate your understanding,
Kind Regards,

Adam B.

Parrot Customer Support

[AR.Tommy]

Hello and welcome to the board,

in fact this is* already possible with the Bebop 2. There is a long thread in our german board about this: https://www.drone-forum.de/community/vi ... =39&t=2662

You need to change** the value (unit is meter!) "heightToReturnHome" of the file /etc/colibry/milosboard/reference.cfg

*:To be precise this was possible up to firmware version 4.2.2, newer firmware will ignore this change.

**: Using the vi editor is not very intuitive you should have some shell experience to do it this way, but basically the change is done like:

connect to the wifi of your Bebop
press power 4 times to enable telnet, do so (e.g. Linux or a GUI client of your choice):
"telnet 192.168.42.1"
Make Filesystem writable in the telnet session:
"mount -o remount,rw /"
Edit reference.cfg:
"vi /etc/colibry/milosboard/reference.cfg"
(mykonos3board for b1, Look up vi instruction in the net)
edit the number (default = 20.0) in the value "heightToReturnHome" to your liking, e.g. 50.0.
Then save and finally reboot or switch on/off Bebop:
"reboot"

[hogshawrabbit]

OMG this sounds a little technical and fought with danger for me however I have read about this previously and considered it but then shy'd away fearing I would mess something up I could not recover. As such I am hoping that like the Anafi we can also manually change the RTH height as it seems Parrot have realised that it is an importnat feature by adding it to the Anafi platform.
We live in hope I guess

Thanks Tommy for the info I may well have a go if parrot never make good on the promise.

Mike

[dries_w]

I contacted Parrot this week to enquire if they were ever going to make RTH manual as I read that the Anafi app allows manual RTH adjustment. Here's what parrot said...
Lets hope Parrot come good on this and they are actually going to finally add manual RTH height in the FFP app

Hello Michael,

Thank you for contacting Parrot Customer Support. My name is Adam, and I will be assisting you with your case # 1231582.

Your voice is heard, I have delivered your feedback directly to the concerned department to make sure that we provide our customers with a top quality service, We are working on future plans to develop more features in our applications such as the feature to adjust the return to home (RTH). Again we do apologize for any hassle caused and we once again thank for your patience with us.

It is always our aim at Parrot to provide you, our customer, with top quality service to the best of our ability.


We appreciate your understanding,
Kind Regards,

Adam B.

Parrot Customer Support

As stated in another post from you:
That Parrot reaction is realy crab. In the former Parrot communty we asked for a couple of years for manual RTH input, oure voice was never heard ! !
Of course you can set the RTH in the FW via telnet as @AR.Tommy said but you have to repeat that every FW update and not everybody is familiar with telnet procedure.

[AR.Tommy]

You are right, doing something wrong while messing in the shell could brick your Bebop.

[hogshawrabbit]

Oh no ... I guess I will have to live with the problem it seems ...however a problem known is one solved I guess.
Parrot are pretty bad at customer relations and interaction I have found by experience.
They don't deserve such a loyal and knowledgeable community treating us like this.

Also they should have a formal community BB that gets focus from their dev team and feedback to genuine issues. Especially when they are safety related.

[AR.Tommy]

I'm working on some kind of tool that could do such things automatically with no risk of bricking the Bebop. Can't give ETA right now.

[waterlanding]

I'm working on some kind of tool that could do such things automatically with no risk of bricking the Bebop. Can't give ETA right now.

Oops! I posted this as a reply in a different thread, but it belongs here. An easy way to change RTH altitude.

Well done Tommy! Let me add that there's very simple way to change the RTH setting for the non-technically inclined. Download the app "Bebop Pro" for iOS or A.R.Pro 3 for Android. They're both paid apps (about $15 I think), but they're great apps, and either one will allow you to change the RTH setting.

Now here's the trick... Connect with Bebop Pro to the drone. Change the RTH height with the new app. Close the app and you're done! Since FreeFlight Pro doesn't sent any new (or default) height setting, the new RTH altitude stays where you previously set it - and it works with FFPro! The setting from the other apps are "sticky" and becomes permanent until you reset or update the drone. (and then you just open the new app and set it again).

Aside from being easy and non-technical, this technique allows you to change the RTH height anytime - even in the field.

[asmith61]

Hi waterlanding

That’s seems a lot easier thank you for that I am learning something new every day

[hogshawrabbit]

The Bebop Pro App method sounds like an excellent way to adjust the RTH height. Out of interest is the Bebop Pro app better than FreeFlight Pro ?
There was also a mention that RTH height adjustments would not work after a certain firmware upgrade was it 2.2.2 ? can't remember but does this mthod work fine with the latest firmware on the BB2.

Good advice friend I will look into this option. But wow if its just an app setting why is Parrot being so late to the game ?

Parrot I guess


Mike

[waterlanding]

The Bebop Pro App method sounds like an excellent way to adjust the RTH height. Out of interest is the Bebop Pro app better than FreeFlight Pro ?
There was also a mention that RTH height adjustments would not work after a certain firmware upgrade was it 2.2.2 ? can't remember but does this mthod work fine with the latest firmware on the BB2.

Good advice friend I will look into this option. But wow if its just an app setting why is Parrot being so late to the game ?
Mike

That's what we've all been wondering - for about 2 years now! Yes, it's just a simple setting in the drone and would be incredibly easy to add to FFPro. There's got to be some other reason (Legal? Warranty?) that they refuse to add this simple setting.

Bebop Pro for iOS is an excelent app, with lots of controls and features. And it's stable and current. A lot of pilots prefer it to FreeFlight Pro.

A.R.Pro for Android is also an excelent, stable app. One of it's best features is to be able to save (it's version of) a FlightPlan in a user-accessible directory. This allows users to transfer a FP from one device to another.

Both apps are frequently updated and completely compatible with the current firmware.

[hogshawrabbit]

I contacted the developer for A.R Pro 3 yesterday and here is the response regards support for RTH Height.

So fellow pilots it looks like were all back to square 1 awaiting the release of Parrots official app update.

From Shell Shrader. (Dev for AP Pro 3)
Unfortunately it looks like Parrot nerfed it in the last firmware update. RTH is currently only adjustable for mavlink / flight plans.

[AR.Tommy]

For future references (I wrote it above already): firmware version 4.2.2 is the last one that supported changing the RTH altitude.

[waterlanding]

For future references (I wrote it above already): firmware version 4.2.2 is the last one that supported changing the RTH altitude.

Thanks for the correction, Tommy! I used to use that feature all the time, but we has a hurricane last year (Irma) that cleared out all the tall trees, and the default (20 meters) is now higher than any local obstacles.

Darn Parrot and their unnecessary firmware updates. They always seem to break something. I just checked AR Pro and the setting is grayed out. It's gone from Bebop Pro, Auriga Bebop, and Bebop AP as well. It appears that there's no simple app solution anymore.

[happydrew]

For future references (I wrote it above already): firmware version 4.2.2 is the last one that supported changing the RTH altitude.

Thanks for the correction, Tommy! I used to use that feature all the time, but we has a hurricane last year (Irma) that cleared out all the tall trees, and the default (20 meters) is now higher than any local obstacles.

Darn Parrot and their unnecessary firmware updates. They always seem to break something. I just checked AR Pro and the setting is grayed out. It's gone from Bebop Pro, Auriga Bebop, and Bebop AP as well. It appears that there's no simple app solution anymore.

No need to say sorry Bob. The purpose of a board like this is to complete each other with the knowledge each member has. You had not the knowledge needed to reply and Tommy completed you. I do not feel misled