Hermes Mission Setup

Mission Planning Workflow

1. Define Survey Area: Use polygon tool to draw survey boundaries (max 10 km² for real terrain data)
2. Set Takeoff/Landing: Use line tool to draw takeoff/landing arrow (direction matters for flight planning)
3. Generate Mission: Click "Generate Mission" to create flight path with current parameters

3D Viewer Controls:

• Mouse drag to rotate view around mission center
• Scroll wheel or +/- keys to zoom in/out
• Arrow keys or WASD for camera movement
• Q/E keys for vertical movement
• Space bar to toggle fullscreen 3D view

Mission Statistics

Displays calculated mission metrics based on your current flight parameters:

• Distance: Total flight path length including takeoff, survey, and landing
• Flight Time: Estimated mission duration at typical UAV cruise speed
• Area: Total survey area coverage in square kilometers
• Waypoints: Number of navigation points in the complete mission

Note: Statistics update automatically when mission parameters change.

Terrain Data Settings

Configure how elevation data is obtained and used for mission planning:

• Resolution: Trade-off between detail and processing speed
• Terrain Following: When enabled, aircraft follows ground contours at specified height
• Fake Topo Data: Uses synthetic elevation for testing (no internet required)
• Test Slope Data: Generates artificial slope for algorithm testing

Real terrain data: Uses OpenTopoData API for accurate elevation information.

Essential Flight Parameters

Core settings that define your survey mission characteristics:

• Flight Pattern: Choose between systematic lawnmower survey or perimeter tracing
• AGL Height: Aircraft altitude above ground level (affects image resolution and coverage)
• Camera FOV: Field of view angle of your camera sensor (determines image footprint)
• Overlap Percentage: Image overlap between adjacent photos (higher = better reconstruction)

Tip: Start with these basic parameters before adjusting advanced settings.

Advanced Flight Settings

Fine-tune mission parameters for specific aircraft capabilities and requirements:

• Min Turn Radius: Minimum turning radius for your aircraft (affects flight path smoothness)
• Sea Level Height: Reference elevation for terrain calculations and 3D visualization
• Max Survey Angle: Maximum slope angle for survey lines (steeper = rejected)
• Max Climb Angle: Maximum climb/descent angle for altitude changes
• Metres per Waypoint: Distance between navigation waypoints (affects precision vs. file size)
• Aircraft Speed: Cruise speed for flight time calculations and animation timing

Note: These settings should match your aircraft's physical limitations.

Low-Pass Filter Smoothing

Multi-pass smoothing filter that removes high-frequency changes and sharp turns from flight paths.

• Filter Weight: Controls blending with neighbor points (0.1 = subtle, 1.0 = aggressive)
• Passes: Number of smoothing iterations (more passes = smoother path)
• Kernel Size: Number of neighbor points to average (larger = more smoothing)

Note: Smoothing only affects 3D visualization, not the actual flight path shown on the map.

3D Visualization Color Coding

Understanding the color-coded waypoints in the 3D flight path visualization:

• Purple: Takeoff and landing approach segments (transition phases)
• Green: Active survey waypoints (camera capture points)
• Yellow: Turn and transition waypoints (between survey lines)

Each color represents a different phase of the mission, helping you understand aircraft behavior and camera operation throughout the flight.

Tip: Use the animation feature to see how the aircraft moves through each phase.