Firstly let me caveat, this discussion is not intended to be critical in anyway of APM. APM has moved ahead in strides and I acknowledge the great work of the developers and contributors in this forum.At the moment I am looking to get constructive feedback on a good alternative to APM to test and experienment with in parallel. Could I ask if anyone is willing to share their expereince with using products like, Mikrokopter, Hoverfly, virtualbotics and DJI Wookom to name a few.I am looking for an autopilot that excels in the areas of stable loiter with precison alt hold and most important reproducible Return to home on demand or in failsafe conditions.As good as APM is today it still has reliability issues to risk expensive camera equipment. Also I am not looking for another complex development platform like PX4.For example what is the commercial aerial photographers first choice these days for an autopilot? I am not really talking FPV here more fly to POI clse by and shoot from a stable platform. Also precision control for movie / TV filming is of interest.I started looking at Mikrocopter but the restriction on distance from launch point to where return to home stiil works is fixed at 250m Unless your prepared to pay license fees in the order of 1000-2000 euro over and above the cost of the electronics.
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I'd recommend DJI over Mikrokopter. I have seen the source code of the latter (anyone can go and see) and I can tell you it is not possible to meaningfully and reliably extend upon that for future additions...
The DJI people I know never had crashes because of technical failures. They did however sometimes have to cancel a flight because things would not boot up or fly perfetly, but no crashes.
The professional market is pretty much split between DJI Wookong and Mikrokopter, each has a loyal fan base.
For me, DJI products have proven robust, reliable and worked well. They've certainly had their problems (they've had a couple of GPS problems in the last year) but generally the gear is solid. The waypoint upgrade is $$$ but it works awesome and has (I believe) not enforced restriction, although I also believe a restriction can be set in certain countries for legal reasons.
Of course, LOS flight is the legal requirement of most countries.
Replies
the boss of Zero does not know to do this ...I am a chinese
There's a pretty good comparison list here: http://oddcopter.com/flight-controllers/
ZeroUAV also seems to be one of the best.
I'd recommend DJI over Mikrokopter. I have seen the source code of the latter (anyone can go and see) and I can tell you it is not possible to meaningfully and reliably extend upon that for future additions...
The DJI people I know never had crashes because of technical failures. They did however sometimes have to cancel a flight because things would not boot up or fly perfetly, but no crashes.
Regards
Soren
The professional market is pretty much split between DJI Wookong and Mikrokopter, each has a loyal fan base.
For me, DJI products have proven robust, reliable and worked well. They've certainly had their problems (they've had a couple of GPS problems in the last year) but generally the gear is solid. The waypoint upgrade is $$$ but it works awesome and has (I believe) not enforced restriction, although I also believe a restriction can be set in certain countries for legal reasons.
Of course, LOS flight is the legal requirement of most countries.