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1. GOOD PRACTICES AND PRECAUTIONS
Your Loki MK2 is equipped with multiple sensors which aid the pilot during the mission. However, this ge-
nerates some trade-offs and limitations. The operator should always be the person in control and not the
embedded computer; only use your Loki MK2 if you feel confident with it and have learned its limitations.
Position hold (hovering) should only be used if you feel that your UAV is too hard to control or if a steady
position must be held but is too difficult to achieve manually.
a. Hovering
LIMITATIONS: ALL SENSORS AND INDICATORS SHOULD BE DISPLAYED IN GREEN ON YOUR GCS SENSOR STATUS
BAR TO ENABLE STEADY HOVERING. IF ANY INDICATORS ARE YELLOW OR RED, HOVERING IS LIKELY NOT
POSSIBLE.
• SHADOW: If a strong light is shining directly above your UAV, it will generate a shadow on the floor. Under
certain circumstances, the UAV’s shadow will be the highest contrast pattern on the ground, on which the
vertical camera will then focus. In this situation, the UAV will follow its own shadow pattern and be unable
to hold its position or may even drift in the direction of its shadow. This is more likely to occur when your
UAV is close to the ground; the shadow should fade at higher distances.
TIP: For that reason, “Automatic Hovering” should be used with some precautions.
• DUST: Dust will also greatly reduce the ability of the Vertical Camera to focus on high contrast objects,
which in turn, makes hovering difficult.
TIP: When taking off in dusty environments, it is advised to use the “Throw to Take-off” option to minimize
the dust spread.
• REFLECTIVE FLOORS: Highly reflective flooring, snow, ice, water, etc. will make it near impossible for the
camera to focus.
• LOW CONTRAST FLOORS: Low contrast floors or floors with few details to anchor on (polished concrete
floors, monochrome floors, etc.) will be difficult for the camera to focus on, as it gives little feedback to the
computer.
• MOVING OBJECT: If the highest contrast object is moving, the UAV will try to hold its position against the
moving object, which will make it impossible to hold an absolute position.
TIP: Furthering the distance from that object should remedy this situation as the Vertical Camera will be
able to anchor on other objects.
In most cases, your UAV will be able to hold a good and strong position, and “Hovering” should light up on
your GCS. If your Vertical Camera is not able to focus or if the distance cannot be computed, hovering will
not be achieved. This can be caused by any of the above situations, by the minimum altitude not being
reached, or by a defective sensor.
Advice
CAUTION : IF THE “HOVERING” STATUS CANNOT BE ACHIEVED AND THE UAV IMMEDIATELY SWITCHES TO
ALTITUDE OR GAZ, AND IF ALL SENSOR STATUS INDICATORS ARE GREEN, THIS USUALLY MEANS THAT THE
GCS NEEDS A JOYSTICK CALIBRATION.
• When direct light creates a strong shadow affecting the ability to hover, the pilot should gain altitude to
reduce the UAV’s shadow and enable a correct position hold.
• Hovering enables the drone to reset gyroscope sensors and should be used after big impacts or when the
UAV shows abnormal flying behavior.
• Always try to activate Hovering Mode after exiting Floor Mode and reaching the minimum 50cm altitude, as
well as after take-off (hovering is absolutely required when first taking off after battery change).
• Try to keep some distance from walls, objects or the ceiling when Hovering is needed for a long time period
as the UAV might still experience a subtle drift while hovering, and thus end
up against the wall, object, ceiling, etc.
