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Chapter 5: Mission Planning & Flight Operations

Learning Objectives

After completing this chapter, you will be able to: - Design corridor-based flight zones that efficiently cover 2-3 hole clusters per mission - Configure optimal altitude, overlap, and speed settings for turf-grade multispectral capture - Plan cart-path-aligned takeoff and landing locations that minimize course disruption - Execute automated survey missions using DJI Pilot 2 with consistent, repeatable parameters

Key Concepts

  1. Corridor-based zoning strategy
  2. 2-3 hole cluster mission design
  3. Cart-path-aligned takeoff and landing points
  4. Altitude optimization (220-260 ft AGL)
  5. Forward overlap (75-80%)
  6. Side overlap (70-75%)
  7. Flight speed optimization (~6-7 m/s)
  8. DJI Pilot 2 mission configuration
  9. Waypoint mission vs. mapping mission modes
  10. Terrain-following for elevation changes
  11. No-fly zone management and airspace authorization
  12. Wind speed limitations and go/no-go criteria
  13. Mission templating for repeatable flights
  14. Battery swap planning and coverage estimation
  15. Pre-flight checklists and safety protocols

Summary

Effective mission planning is the bridge between having capable hardware and producing usable data. A poorly planned flight — wrong altitude, insufficient overlap, inconsistent speed — produces imagery that cannot be reliably stitched into orthomosaics or accurately analyzed for vegetation indices. The parameters established in this chapter represent the optimized configuration for golf course turf analytics: 220-260 feet AGL altitude balancing resolution against coverage efficiency, 75-80% forward overlap and 70-75% side overlap ensuring robust image alignment, and approximately 6-7 m/s flight speed maintaining consistent exposure across frames.

The corridor-based zoning approach divides an 18-hole course into manageable mission segments of 2-3 holes each, designed around natural groupings and cart path access points. This strategy accomplishes multiple objectives simultaneously: it keeps individual mission duration within comfortable battery margins, it allows cart-path-aligned takeoff locations that avoid disrupting play, and it creates natural quality checkpoints between segments. A typical 18-hole survey requires 6-8 corridor missions, completable within the optimal morning capture window.

DJI Pilot 2 serves as the mission execution platform, supporting both pre-planned automated mapping missions and saved mission templates for repeatable weekly flights. The ability to save and refly identical flight paths is critical for temporal analysis — comparing this week's NDVI to last week's requires capturing from the same positions and angles. This chapter walks through the complete mission planning workflow from course reconnaissance through template creation to execution-day procedures.

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