DJI M300 with Zenmuse H20T Flight Guidelines
Flight guidelines for inspecting solar farms with a DJI M300 series drone and Zenmuse H20T
The DJI M300 series drone with a Zenmuse H20T with 640x512 resolution and 13.5 mm lens can meet the data requirements quickly and efficiently. It is possible to collect 70% front lap and 20% side lap thermal and RGB imagery.
Equipment
Drone: DJI M300 series
Camera: DJI Zenmuse H20T
Computer: Smart Controller
Flight Planning Software: DJI Pilot
Camera Settings
Camera Model: DJI Zenmuse H20T
Palette: White Hot
Magnification: 1x
Photo Mode: Radiometric JPEG
Flight Mission Planning Settings
Basic:
Shooting Angle: Perpendicular to Main Path
Capture Mode: Capture at Equal Time Interval
Flight Control Mode: Inside Mode
Speed: Set shutter interval to 2.0 SEC
Height: See table below
| Type of Inspection | Raptor Overview | Raptor Standard | Raptor Comprehensive |
| Description | Ideal for rapid drone flights and string-level outages | Ideal for annual preventative maintenance | IEC TS 62446-3 thermography standards for Absolute Temperature Accuracy |
| Smallest visible features | Module | Diode, Hot Spot, and Cell | Diode, Hot Spot, and Cell |
| Ground sample distance | 15.0 ± 5.0 cm/pixel | 5.5 ± 0.5 cm/pixel | 3.0 ± 0.5 cm/pixel |
| Maximum speed | 30 mph | 12 mph | 7 mph |
| Altitude with 13.5mm lens | 555 ± 185 ft (169.0 ± 56.5 m) | 203 ± 18 ft (62.0 ± 5.5 m) | 111 ± 18 ft (33.5 ± 5.5 m) |
Note: Altitude is calculated from panels, not from ground. Check local laws and regulations to determine maximum allowable altitude.
Prior to flying, check available irradiance using a meter. This video explains how.
Image Capture
Front Overlap Ratio: 70%
Side Overlap Ratio: 20%
File Format: RJPG
Obliques
Note: Obliques / High flys are required as part of the flight. For information about how to correctly fly and take oblique images, please see Capturing Oblique Images
Data Example
The long edge of the solar row aligns with the long edge of the image.
The following animation is a great example of Standard-level imagery collected with a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 5.5 cm/pixel with good overlaps.
Video
The following video has step by step instructions of how to setup a flight plan using DJI Pilot. (GS Pro coming soon!)
Updated 6 months ago