Mission Planning
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      Scanning a stope

      Note

      Please bear in mind that every situation is unique. These practices are a guideline only, and may need to be adjusted for your specific environment.

       

      Flying in a stope is the perfect scenario for using Hovermap in Autonomous Waypoint mode. This is because a stope is inaccessible and often has an unknown shape. They also usually have plenty of distinct geometric features, which is ideal for Hovermap.

       

      Scenario - Stope scan

      Scanning a stope

       

      We recommend that you follow this process for the best results.

      Step 1: Pre-mission checks

      Set SLAM as your primary navigation method and INS as your secondary method. (Go to Understanding Hovermap for more information on choosing the best navigation method.)

      Step 2: Perform your mission

      1. Take off in Pilot Assist mode. The reason for this is that the minimum VESH settings are smaller in this mode than in Autonomous Waypoint mode. This allows you to fly through small gaps to enter the stope.

      2. Enable VESH and then test it by trying to land the drone. VESH should prevent you from landing.

      3. Fly the drone within line of sight to the center of the stope.

      4. Change to Autonomous Waypoint mode and set a rally point (go to The Hovermap App for more information). This is essential, as the drone will treat this rally point as a temporary return to home point. This will allow you to reestablish communications if they are lost during the mission.

      5. Wait for the LiDAR points to be streamed to your tablet. When this happens, you can start to plan your mission. When planning, keep in mind that the LiDAR has a range of up to 100 m. It will easily capture sufficient data at a range of 20 m to 30 m, so you will not need to get any closer to obstacles than that.

      6. While scanning, check the live point cloud to ensure that your data is being collected correctly. Do this in the Hovermap App or the Waypoint UI (go to The Hovermap App for more information). You can also do this by connecting to the Hovermap’s Wi-Fi, opening a web browser (on any laptop or Android device), and then navigating to hover.map:8082.

      7. When the mission is complete and the drone has returned to its rally point, switch back to Pilot Assist mode so that you can fly back out of the stope.

      8. Fly the drone back out of the stope and land safely.

      Warning

      Don’t fly into a stope within 24 hours of blasting, as certain gases can absorb the LiDAR light. If this happens, you will have no return points and Hovermap will be unable to build a map of its surroundings.