Before You Start
This mission plan is currently in the development phase, with ongoing testing. By participating in this trial, you acknowledge that you do so at your own risk.

Scope of this Guide
This guide is based on the document Automatic Image Acquisition With Scanlink and only describes those aspects of the rooftop antenna capture that differ from a standard tower capture with Scanlink. For additional information (e.g. on safety and risk management, equipment requirements, when to fly, using the in-flight controls, etc.), please refer to the latter.

For Rooftop captures the pilot or spotter is required to be present on the roof during the marking and capture of the mission. DO NOT Attempt mission without access to rooftop area.

When changing batteries, ensure the drone lands and takes off from the same location as the first launch. There is no way to recenter the mission and account for a different home location.

Implementation Scenarios 

This flight plan should be used when there are multiple installation structures present on a single rooftop site. The example below has two groups of structures.

For locations where a general cell tower has been constructed on a rooftop the standard cell tower mission can be used instead. The MSA can be marked slightly lower on the tower to capture more of the ground/building. The example below can use the standard mission without any issues, the MSA can be marked approximately 6-8m from base of tower. The pilot or a spotter is still required to be present on the roof during the capture.

Capture Components

A rooftop capture mission consists of four components:

1. Roof Capture
2. Equipment Capture
3. [Optional] Panorama Capture
4. [Optional] Orthomosaic Capture

Roof Capture

This will complete four facade boundary orbits around the roof. 

"Facade Boundary orbits" refer to path flown along the edges marked on the roof 

1. First Facade (Overview) is at 30m above set MSA and 11m away with a gimbal angle of -65 degrees 
2. Second Facade (Top) is at 25m above set MSA and 11m away with a gimbal angle of -55 degrees 
3. Third Facade (Mid) is at 22m above set MSA and 11m away with a gimbal angle of -45 degrees 
4. Fourth Facade (Lowest) is at 19m above set MSA and 10m away with a gimbal angle of -45 degrees 

Note that you as the pilot do not need to set these values if using the Dronelink mission planner as that is done for you. The numbers are present for pilots reference so they can mark obstacles more effectively (e.g nearby buildings, tree etc)

Equipment Capture

This consists of orbits starting from the same height as the Lowest Facade then moving down to the Equipment and Mid Equipment Height marked

Panorama and Orthomosaic Capture

These are optionally component that will depend on the requirements of the site. Follow the instructions 

Expected Mission Visualised

Refer to image below showing all of the components and how a successfully marked mission should look like

Capture Procedure

A Demo recording of this steps can be found on SiteSee's youtube channel. Found here.

Planning and flying a mission consists of the following steps:

1. Accept the mission task(s)
2. Start the RC
   1. Set up Obstacle Avoidance on DJI Go
   2. Start the Dronelink app
3. Set camera exposure
4. Mark parameters
5. Capture the mission

These steps are described below in the order they must be performed.

Step 1 - 3

Please see the SiteSee Tower Guide for instructions on accepting the mission and setting the camera settings (Shutter Speed, fstop and ISO).

When setting the camera, ensure the shutter speed has been slightly increased to account for the additional reflection from the roof. For additional information on setting up the histogram see here.

(e.g. from 1/2000 sec to 1/1500 sec)

Check that the Obstacle Avoidance is on using the DJI Go / Pilot app. Refer to screenshot below for expected set up.

NOTE: Ensure you close the DJI app properly after set up before moving onto the Dronelink app as only one of them should be open at a time to ensure no errors. Refer here for more information.

Step 4 - Mark parameters

1. Start the task. Tap the 'Get Started' button. The app will guide you through marking the rooftop boundary and the tower locations step by step. In these docs the term "Tower" can include an equipment cluster or other antenna structures present. 

2. Enter a unique mission name for the capture. It is recommended to be related to the capture site/location and/or the SiteSee job number. The date (DD.MM.YYYY) is automatically appended to the mission name when generated.

3. Set the Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA). With the gimbal at 0 degrees, fly up to the desired MSA and mark the height. It is recommended that this will be set as the height of the roof or obstacles around the roof. Do not set this as the height of the tower/equipment. The example has the MSA set to 25m.

4. Mark Facade Boundary. With the gimbal set to -90 degrees, fly above the roof height and mark the edges of the building. Ensure the points are marked in a CLOCKWISE direction.Ensure you mark the lowest possible number of points and only the external points are marked on the building, see additional information below. The example has 7 points marked.

Mark point in CLOCKWISE direction 

If the points are not marked in the correct direction then the mission will generate an incorrect flight path. See below:

Only mark the maximum external points of a building.

If the points are incorrectly marked with concave points then the mission will generate an incorrect flight path. See below:

5. Orthomosaic Component Required. Select if an Orthomosaic component is required to be complete at the site.

6. Panorama Component Required. Select if a Panorama component is required to be completed at the site.

7. Add Additional Component or Finish. (NOTE: The word "Tower" is used interchangeably with the word "Antenna" and/or "Equipment") Select what component to mark. Select Tower to add tower points, Obstacle to mark an obstacle. The Panorama and Orthomosaic components options will be visible only if they were selected as required. Select Finish when all towers and obstacles are marked. Select Next to move to the selected state (Review).

The order the towers are marked will be the order it will complete them during the mission. The order of the obstacles are not important. The Panorama and Orthomosaic will always be completed last.

The Default Component Options with no Panorama and Orthomosaic requirements

Drop down list if Panorama and/or Orthomosaic components are required

7.1.Tower - Mark Mid-Equipment Height. With the gimbal at 0 degrees, fly to the center/middle of each equipment and mark the height. The example has 1 equipment height, at 6.4m.

As mentioned in the prompt on screen, if there are multiple levels of antennas clustered consider them to be one level and mark the middle point of cluster. This ensures that minimum number of equipment heights are marked. Most, if not all scenarios can be covered with one level only.

7.2.Tower - Mark the Equipment (Tower/Antenna) Height. With the gimbal at 0 degrees, fly to the top of the tower structure or equipment and mark the height. In many situations the height will be the top of the equipment panel. The example the Equipment height is 7.2m.

7.4.Tower - Mark the Equipment (Tower/Antenna) Center. Fly above the tower, with the gimbal at -90 degrees, mark the center of the tower.

7.5.Tower - Mark the Equipment (Tower/Antenna) Radius. With the gimbal at -90 degrees, mark the radius of the tower. For small equipment/structures this may be very similar to the tower center with very little difference.

Repeat these steps for additional towers/structures.

8.1.Obstacle - Mark Obstacle Height. With the gimbal at -90 degrees, fly above the highest point of the obstacle and mark the height. It is recommended to be approximately 3m above the point. The example has a height marked at 50m, the obstacle is approximately 46m high.

8.2.Obstacle - Mark Obstacle Boundary. With the gimbal at -90 degrees, mark the boundary of the obstacle. Create a circle boundary by marking two points, the center and the radius or for a polygon boundary mark more than three points of the outer edge area.These are marked with the same technique as a tower Mission.The example has 4 polygon points marked. 

Repeat for additional obstacles. Do not mark the building or the towers. Obstacles can include anything external around the perimeter of the rooftop that may obstruct the facade components or internal on the roof area that may obstruct the transition between components.

9.1.Panorama - Mark the Panorama Height. With the gimbal at 0 degrees, fly up and mark the highest point of the point of interest. This is typically the Tower on site or the center of the rooftop. The panorama will be complete 15m above this marked point. In the example the marked point is 30m high. 

9.2.Panorama - Mark the Panorama Center. With the gimbal at -90 degrees, fly up and mark the center of the point of interest. This is where the panorama will be completed.

10.1.Orthomosaic - Mark the Highest Point. With the gimbal at 0 degrees, fly to the highest point in the area and mark the height. Typically this will be the top of the tower or obstacle in the area. in the example the highest point is 40m high. The orthomosaic will be complete 20m above this point.   

11.0 Review the parameters. Review the selected parameters and tap continue to generate the flight plan.

The mission flight plan will fail to generate if an equipment orbit is set below the MSA height, if this happens, go back and increase the specific equipment orbit height or decrease the MSA. It will also fail and warn the user if the Panorama and/or Orthomosaic component is selected but the required parameters have not been marked. If this happens go back and add the required parameters.

12.0 Review Flight plan. Review the generated flight plan. In the example, three different tower/equipment structures have been identified and marked. Check the 3D flight plan and the transition between components to minimise the possibility of an obstacle collision.

Red: Marked Obstacle Area

Blue: Marked Building

Green: Marked Tower/Equipment

2D Mission View - Flight Path view in 2D with marked restricted zones

With-out Panorama and Orthomosaic components	With Panorama and Orthomosaic Component

3D Mission View - Restricted Areas and Flight Path view in 3D.

With-out Panorama and Orthomosaic components	With Panorama and Orthomosaic Component

Step 5 Capture Mission

Start the mission as normal, the inflight controls can still be used if needed to make small adjustments in flight. See tower capture instructions for more details.

When changing batteries, ensure the drone lands and takes off from the same location as the first launch. There is no way to recenter the mission and account for a different home location.

For Rooftop captures the pilot or spotter is required to be present on the roof during the marking and capture of the mission. DO NOT Attempt mission without access to rooftop area.