Missions

Planning Missions

Manually planning missions is straightforward:

• Switch to the mission view
• Select the Add Waypoint (“plus”) icon in the top left.
• Click on the map to add waypoints.
• Use the waypoint list on the right to modify the waypoint parameters/type The altitude indicator on the bottom provides a sense of the relative altitude of each waypoint.
• Once finished, click on the Upload button (top right) to send the mission to the vehicle.

You can also use the Pattern tool to automate creation of survey grids.

:::tip For more information see the QGroundControl User Guide. :::

Setting Vehicle Yaw

If set, a multi-rotor vehicle will yaw to face the Heading value specified in the target waypoint (corresponding to MAV_CMD_NAV_WAYPOINT.param4).

If Heading has not been explicitly set for the target waypoint (param4=NaN) then the vehicle will yaw towards a location specified in the parameter MPC_YAW_MODE. By default this is the next waypoint.

Vehicle types that cannot independently control yaw and direction of travel will ignore yaw settings (e.g. Fixed Wing).

Setting Acceptance/Turning Radius

The acceptance radius defines the circle around a waypoint within which a vehicle considers it has reached the waypoint, and will immediately switch to (and start turning towards) the next waypoint.

For a multi-rotor drones, the acceptance radius is tuned using the parameter NAV_ACC_RAD. By default, the radius is small to ensure that multirotors pass above the waypoints, but it can be increased to create a smoother path such that the drone starts to turn before reaching the waypoint.

The image below shows the same mission flown with different acceptance radius parameters:

The speed in the turn is automatically computed based on the acceptance radius (= turning radius) and the maximum allowed acceleration and jerk (see Jerk-limited Type Trajectory for Multicopters).

:::tip For more information about the impact of the acceptance radius around the waypoint see: Mission Mode > Inter-waypoint Trajectory. :::

Flying Missions

Once the mission is uploaded, switch to the flight view. The mission is displayed in a way that makes it easy to track progress (it cannot be modified in this view).