Flight parameters for inspection imagery

1. Overlap: 70x70 on RGB

2. GSD: 5.5 cm/pixel

3. If significant glare on panels or metal roof: adjust gimbal angle slightly (+ / -20 deg) to reduce glare effect

4. If flying a carport or rooftop array and taking off from the ground, adjust the flight altitude by adding the height of the building / carport to achieve the specified GSD.

   
   

Drone and flight planning software

1. Instant inspection currently only supports image data collected by DJI M3T / M30T drone and imaging system.

2. While flight can be planned using any software (e.g. DJI pilot), Raptor Flight with supported “Instant Mode” (IIMode) is strongly recommended for flight planning. It automatically sets the required flight parameters and generates flight plan for DJI M3T / M30T drones.

3. RGB imagery must be captured at 4k Wide setting

   
   

Oblique image collection

1. Drone altitude at 400 ft / 122 m (or the highest authorized altitude) capturing large sections or entire site (below 1MW). If the site surrounding areas (buildings, streets close-by) pose a challenge in capturing obliques at this altitude, use the appropriate altitude and adjust gimbal angle that is possible and safe.

   
   

Flight planning:

1. For rooftops or carports, height of the structure should be measured before flight planning so that it is appropriately added to flight altitude for drone

2. Image session should contain at least 6 IR+RGB image pairs, and hence minimum 6 waypoints

3. If the site has different types of mounting: rooftops, carport, ground-mounts: each type should be flown and processed as a separate session

4. If the site is spread across multiple buildings, each rooftop should be flown and processed as a separate session and uploaded to the same inspection using the “Upload More” feature of the UI.