Draganfly GCS User manual

GCS Aircraft Link GPS/SV PDOP
P1 ---- Set Clear ----
P2 ---- Set Clear ----
P3 ---- Set Clear ----
P4 ---- Set Clear ----
P5 ---- Set Clear ----
Open Mission Clear All Save Mission
Flight time: 00:00
Heading: 0
Distance: 0m
AGL: 0m
Speed: 0m/s
Solo
System Utilities
Disconnect
N
S
E
W
Shutdown Cancel
15.9 16.6 43.0 0.0 0.0
00:00:00 Software build hash number
00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number
Scanning ... 15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Scanning ...
00:00:00 Software build hash number
00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number
GCS USER MANUAL
Handheld Ground Control
System
Version 1.2

Operator Notice
The responsibility to operate in a safe manner, prevent injury to persons or damage to
property, and to take no unnecessary risks falls upon the owner and those whom the
owner authorizes to pilot and operate the Draganflyer helicopter.
Furthermore the onus is upon each owner/authorizer/pilot to comply with all regulations
pertinent to the use of the Draganflyer helicopter and associated components at the
location of operation with regards to the use of airspace as well as radio
communications.
Draganfly Innovations Inc. does not accept any responsibility for damages or financial
compensations which may arise as the result of an owner/authorizer/pilot failing to
comply with any regulations which would lead to a claim against the user.
Page 1

Warning
The Draganflyer helicopter is a precision machine that is vulnerable to misuse and can
prove to be dangerous if not properly maintained or used in an inappropriate manor.
Helicopters by their nature are not positively stable. Although the Draganflyer can
maintain an attitude and a position relative to wind movement without constant control
input; operators should always be aware of its position and be able to take immediate
control of the helicopter to recover from an unwanted position and avoid any mishaps.
Please completely read and understand all Draganflyer helicopter instructional
information before attempting to fly the Draganflyer aircraft.
To provide optimum performance, a Lithium Polymer battery powers your Draganflyer
helicopter and controllers. The same properties that make these batteries extremely
powerful and lightweight also make them dangerous if handled incorrectly. Please read
and understand all information pertaining to the battery before attempting to use or
charge it.
IF MISUSED THIS AIRCRAFT IS CAPABLE OF CAUSING SERIOUS BODILY HARM
TO THE OPERATOR AND SPECTATORS AS WELL AS PROPERTY DAMAGE. ANY
DAMAGE OR INJURY OCCURRING DUE TO MISUSE OF THIS PRODUCT IS
SOLELY THE OPERATOR’S RESPONSIBILITY.
Page 2
Special notice:
Throughout this manual, look for and pay special attention to these information
boxes for tips, tricks, safety information, or serious warnings and risks,
associated with this product.

DO NOT PLACE YOUR HANDS OR ARMS IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE ROTORS
OR ATTEMPT TO STOP SPINNING ROTORS WITH YOUR HANDS AS SERIOUS
INJURY COULD RESULT FROM CONTACT.
THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS CHEMICALS WHICH ARE KNOWN BY THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA TO CAUSE CANCER, BIRTH DEFECTS AND/OR OTHER
REPRODUCTIVE HARM.
Many common materials such as metals, plastics, glues, lubricants and other coatings
contain chemicals in varying amount and concentrations which will cause harm if
introduced into the human body. For further information on toxic or dangerous
chemicals please refer to California’s Health and Safety Codes Sections 25249.5-13
Page 3
Special notice:
We are always shocked, and you might also find it hard to believe, that
upon getting their new helicopter system many people want to take it apart
to see how it works.
Often to their dismay, all they learn is the helicopter and controller are as
beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside but more times than not,
they mix-up the motors or break something so our advice is please, just
enjoy the helicopter, the amazing GCS, and let your imagination soar with
this incredible aerial tool.
- Understand there is no need to lubricate the motors and often people
that don’t listen to us and do it anyway, end up damaging them.
- Please also understand that each motor is coded to a specific position on
the aircraft so don’t get the wild idea to move a motor from the back up to
the front. If you are experiencing a problem with the aircraft please just call
our support line at 1-800-979-9794 or drop us an e-mail to
support@draganfly.com.

Safety Precautions
As the pilot in command you are responsible for the safety of yourself and others
whether it be in the immediate takeoff and landing area, or the general flight path area.
Please take safety very seriously.
•Always wear protective eyewear.
•Do not use batteries other than those specifically designed for the Draganflyer
aircraft; doing so may cause erratic flight performance and void warranty.
•Do not fly the Draganflyer aircraft in excessive winds.
•Do not fly the aircraft system in rain.
•Do not fly near people on the ground or objects in the air.
•Do not fly near pets or other animals.
•Do not fly near high-tension lines, electrical substations, high structures or
communication facilities.
•Be careful where you place the controller and aircraft during flight
preparations, be sure that they will not be dropped or suffer a fall as this may
cause serious damage.
•Never fly this aircraft where damage to property or injury to persons may
result if loss of control occurs.
•Never leave the Draganflyer aircraft unattended with the battery connected.
Make it a habit to always disconnect the battery when not flying.
•When possible fly with a spotter or observer
Page 4

Meet your Draganflyer GCS
Over two years in the making and extra attention focused on the ergonomic layout of
switches, controls, the feel, and overall balance, we believe you will be very happy with
the new handheld Ground Control System (GCS) from Draganfly Innovations.
The feel reinforces control of the aircraft; the spoken audio alarms keep you informed,
and the direct sunlight viewable display provides aircraft telemetry, mapping, and crisp
digital video downlink display from the aircraft payload.
Below you see/learn more about the GCS front side controls.
Page 5
Pitch/Roll
Pitch/Roll trim
Power on/off
Scroll wheel and “D”Pad
mouse click
Return home
Camera tilt
Throttle/Yaw
Ball mouse

The first time you power-on the GCS you quickly realize this is more than just a
controller; this is a full blown, custom made computer. And no, we didn’t outsource the
GCS and just stick our name on it. The GCS was designed from the ground-up by the
engineering and software team at Draganfly Innovations.
Every curve, every button and every pixel was developed by the team so when it comes
time for systems support we can provide premium service.
Below you see the switches along the topside of the controller as well as ports and
connections along the bottom.
Page 6
Not used
Camera shutterEngage motors
Disengage motors
Speakers
Ethernet
Audio Mini USB
USB
Battery test
AUX. power
LiPo charge plug
LiPo balance plug

Backside controls of the GCS fall in-line with your natural grip. A more relaxed grip at the
controls results in confident control of the aircraft allowing you to spend more time
collecting data, shooting photos or searching an area.
One of the primary design goals of the helicopter system and GCS was to equip and
better enable the pilot in command with an effective tool to collect aerial data. By
offloading the stress of flying the aircraft the team can focus their attention on the real-
time analysis of the data provided by the aircraft because in the end, this isn’t all about
flying, it’s all about getting the work done.
Below you see the backside GCS controls.
Page 7
Zoom in control Zoom out control
Altitude hold or GPS position
hold switch
Data-link antennaVideo-link
antenna
Student training switch

Contents
Chapter 1: Understanding the GCS
This is one of the more interesting and important chapters
because we’ll go over each and every screen that makes up
the GCS DraganView System. It’s technical, in-depth, and
we’ll do our best to make it fun too.
Chapter 2: Battery Safety and Charging
The GCS is powered by a Lithium Polymer battery so please
take time to read this chapter. Lithium Polymer (LiPo) battery
technology has improved greatly over the years; but if not
cared for properly, the batteries can be very dangerous.
Chapter 3: Ready for flight
At this point you know where all the switches are, what they
do, and you’re more than ready to get out flying so wait no
more; in this chapter we’ll run through preparation for your
first flight and a typical mission scenario.
Chapter 4: GCS technical data
Here you’ll find the specifications and technical data
required to answer many of the questions asked by your
agency responsible for the National Air Space (NAS) or
neighbor down the street.
Page 8

Chapter 1
Page 9

Chapter contents
There is so much information discussed in this chapter we’re providing a chapter table
of contents to help you quickly find, or get back to, information that you’re interested in.
Understanding the GCS! ! ! P11- 15
Home Screen!!!!!!P12- 15
- screen layout and definition
System Utility screens! ! ! P15- 43
Overview!!!!!!P16- 21
- power-up system!!!!!
- understand the amazing D-Pad! ! !
- full screen video and mapping!!!!
Vehicle screen!!!!!!P21 - 24
- understand parameters and settings
Controller screen!!!!!P25 - 29
- understand parameters and settings
- secondary controller setup
Network Screen!!!!!P29 - 33
- understand networks
- video network
Database screen!!!!!P33 - 41
- mission log files
- exporting log file data
- photo gallery
- single image viewing
Summary!!!!!!P41 - 43
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Understanding the GCS
We know you really want to turn it on so if you haven’t done it already, go ahead and
power it on. The GCS will need to be charged but there should be enough battery for
you to check out the main “Home Screen” and take a look at the battery charge level.
The Quick Start Guide ran you through some of the basics but in this manual, we’re
going to cover the functionality of every button, switch, connector and go through the
various screens of the GCS. Yes, we’ll cover a lot of detailed information. A good way to
cover the material is to first satisfy your curiosity by getting a quick look at the GCS and
then, we ask you to set it aside and charge the battery.
While the GCS is charging we want you to read the manual, take notes, and when the
GCS is charged, go through this section again with your GCS powered on.
To get started, power-up the GCS by pressing the orange “power” button.
Page 11
GCS Aircraft Link GPS/SV PDOP
P1 ---- Set Clear ----
P2 ---- Set Clear ----
P3 ---- Set Clear ----
P4 ---- Set Clear ----
P5 ---- Set Clear ----
Open Mission Clear All Save Mission
Flight time: 00:00
Heading: 0
Distance: 0m
AGL: 0m
Speed: 0m/s
Solo
System Utilities
Disconnect
N
S
E
W
15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Scanning ...
00:00:00 Software build hash number
00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number
To power on, momentarily press power
switch until you hear the GCS beep and let
go.
When the GCS boots-up youʼll here it beep again and you
will be presented with the GCS “Home Screen”.

Don’t be alarmed if you see striped vertical lines on the screen when you first power-up
the system; this is a normal part of the boot-up process. Following the vertical lines
you’ll see the Draganfly logo followed by the presentation of the “Home Screen”.
The software running on the GCS is called DraganView. DraganView first started many
years ago as the base station software designed and developed by Draganfly. Through
the years DraganView has evolved to support digital video down-link, mapping, and
most recently DraganView is at the heart of the GCS system.
Home Screen
This is your “go to” screen to quickly get all the information you need. The screen is
broken down into several clearly defined sections as indicated below.
Page 12
GCS Aircraft Link GPS/SV PDOP
P1 ---- Set Clear ----
P2 ---- Set Clear ----
P3 ---- Set Clear ----
P4 ---- Set Clear ----
P5 ---- Set Clear ----
Open Mission Clear All Save Mission
Flight time: 00:00
Heading: 0
Distance: 0m
AGL: 0m
Speed: 0m/s
Solo
System Utilities
Disconnect
N
S
E
W
15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Scanning ...
Dual purpose: Displays either
live video or displays map
Points of Interest set
points and mission
control
Dual purpose: Status and message
area or when toggled to map view
displays a small live-video window
Aircraft telemetry and
GCS information
Navigate to other
system utility screens
Disconnect GCS from
communicating with
aircraft
Aircraft flight
information
Aircraft heading
and bearing

Points of Interest
At the time of this writing the Points of Interest (POI) section has not been implemented.
In a future software release, this section will be enabled allowing the pilot in command
(PIC) to take full advantage of the “Vision Based POI System”.
The POI system allows you to set mission waypoints using a visual based system and
the ability to save a given mission. This is a powerful feature that will be explained in
more detail after extensive testing and final implementation.
Aircraft flight information
Real-time critical flight information is presented in this area. Flight time, aircraft heading
in degrees, aircraft distance from the GCS, altitude above ground, aircraft speed and the
controller flight mode.
Status and video window
The lower left corner window is multi-purpose. By default it’s your messaging and status
window for the GCS. Often the GCS will verbally announce status or warning messages
but in addition, they are also displayed in this area.
A bit later in the manual we’ll discuss switch functionality but for now, understand that
when the upper right hand window is toggled between video or map display, your live
video feed will be displayed in this window. When you toggle the upper right window to
display video again, the message area is restored.
System Utilities
Selecting this button will take you to the GCS Utility screens. We’ll discuss these
screens in more detail later but in general, you will find detailed information about the
aircraft, GCS, network and GCS database in this set of screens. Whenever you want to
get back to the “Home Screen”, simply toggle the “D-Pad” left.
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Disconnect
The GCS is connected to the aircraft over a wireless datalink. Once the connection is
established you always have the option to “disconnect” from the aircraft. Disconnect is
only allowed when the aircraft motors have been disengaged and disarmed.
For example, when you land the aircraft you will disengage the motors to stop the props
from spinning. The next step is to disarm the motors preventing an accidental restart
and then you disconnect the aircraft before powering the aircraft and GCS off.
Aircraft heading and bearing
This is a multi-function display that can be very useful. A helicopter has the ability to be
pointed one direction, but fly a completely different direction. For example, the aircraft
can be pointed north, but fly sideways in an easterly direction. Unlike an airplane, the
heading and bearing can be wildly different.
The center aircraft canopy symbol indicates the heading of the aircraft. A directional
arrow will become visible when the aircraft is moving to indicate the bearing, or direction
the aircraft is actually moving. Using the same example from above, if the aircraft is
pointed north and flying sideways east, a small arrow will be visible pointing east on the
dial.
Aircraft and GCS telemetry data
In the graphic above the GCS is not connected to an aircraft so the only display shown
is GCS battery health and GPS position accuracy. If you’re indoors when you’re looking
at the GCS it’s very unlikely that you will detect any GPS satellites to establish a
position.
When connected to an aircraft, in realtime you can quickly visually inspect your GCS
battery, helicopter battery, quality of datalink and GPS position accuracy of the aircraft
and GCS.
Page 14

Video and mapping window
This is a dual purpose window used to display either video or mapping information.
Toggling between the two is accomplished by turning the “scroll wheel”.
When the GCS has established a connection with the aircraft video network, the video
window control buttons and indicators are enabled to “play” the video stream, “pause”
the video stream and “record” video to the GCS. The strength of the video network is
displayed in the lower right corner of the video window.
If this is your first pass through the manual please power-off the GCS and get it
charging. To power off the GCS:
• press the power button
• use the mouse and move the computer screen cursor over the “Shutdown” button
in the message window
• use the “D-Pad” to “click” select the Shutdown button
• GCS will power-off
If this is your second time through the manual please keep the GCS powered on and
continue through the manual.
System Utility Screens
If you haven’t assembled your helicopter please do so at this time and install the
helicopter payload but DO NOT install the props. For many of the tests and work that
we’ll be doing it’s a good idea to remove the props and eliminate any danger of the
aircraft taking off, or anyone getting hurt in the process.
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Special notice:
Please remove all four props from the aircraft now.

When the aircraft is powered on, please keep your hands and fingers away from the
motors. Even without props attached you can still hurt yourself if you come in contact
with the prop latch assemblies so during these exercises keep your hands away,
children away and pets away from the aircraft.
And once again - please make certain that all four props have been removed from the
aircraft. If not - please do it now.
Overview
This will be a long section so if you get bored, tired of reading or just want to take a
break please do so. Never walk away and leave the equipment powered on. If you
decide to step away from this for a while make sure to power everything off.
The switches and controls are pretty intuitive and described in the first part of the
manual. Special function controls, or controls with significant or complicated
functionality will be described and illustrated in detail. But otherwise switches like
“shutter control”, are obviously used to remotely control the camera shutter to take a
photo.
In preparation to step through this section please:
• assemble helicopter without any props
• install payload
• install a fully charged flight battery
• GCS battery should be fully charged
• ensure all four props have been removed from aircraft
• power on the GCS
• power on the helicopter
With the GCS booted and the aircraft powered on you should be looking at the GCS
home screen and the helicopter navigation LEDs should be blinking steadily sequence.
Page 16

When it’s first powered on the GCS is always looking for an aircraft to connect with. In
this example just one aircraft is powered on so you will see only one aircraft listed. If
multiple aircraft were powered on and not already connected to a GCS, they would be
listed here.
Select the helicopter to establish a wireless datalink connection by positioning the GCS
mouse cursor over the helicopter name in the status window and “select” the aircraft by
clicking the D-Pad. The D-PAD center switch is your mouse select button.
After selecting the aircraft, the GCS will:
• announce vehicle communication is established
• the aircraft ID will clear the screen
Page 17
GCS Aircraft Link GPS/SV PDOP
P1 ---- Set Clear ----
P2 ---- Set Clear ----
P3 ---- Set Clear ----
P4 ---- Set Clear ----
P5 ---- Set Clear ----
Open Mission Clear All Save Mission
Flight time: 00:00
Heading: 0
Distance: 0m
AGL: 0m
Speed: 0m/s
Solo
System Utilities
Disconnect
N
S
E
W
Aircraft name: Available
Primary: GCS name
15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Scanning ...
Ball mouse
Center button on D-PAD
is mouse click. Push
button in, to select
Available aircraft will be listed in
the status window. Move mouse
over the helicopter ID and select
with D-Pad

• aircraft telemetry data will start streaming to the GCS
Everything will come alive before your eyes and to see that it’s all working, simply pick-
up the helicopter and rotate the aircraft to watch the aircraft heading indicator function.
When the canopy symbol is pointing north, the helicopter is pointed towards “true”
north.
Your GCS screen should look something like this.
Page 18
GCS Aircraft Link GPS/SV PDOP
P1 ---- Set Clear ----
P2 ---- Set Clear ----
P3 ---- Set Clear ----
P4 ---- Set Clear ----
P5 ---- Set Clear ----
Open Mission Clear All Save Mission
Flight time: 00:00
Heading: 0
Distance: 0m
AGL: 0m
Speed: 0m/s
Solo
System Utilities
Disconnect
N
S
E
W
15.9 16.6 43.0 0.0 0.0
00:00:00 Software build hash number
00:00:00 DraganView Software Version Number
15.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Aircraft is unarmed holding altitude
Aircraft telemetry will
come alive to display
real-time values
Heading symbol will
reflect actual aircraft
heading
Status will indicate the aircraft
is “unarmed” and in holding
altitude mode

It’s time to stop and describe in more detail the multi-function scroll wheel and D-Pad
control. This is a fascinating switch because it’s very easy to use and it can do so many
things. The scroll wheel allows you to quickly switch or “scroll” between screens. The D-
Pad is the button in the center of the wheel that moves in five different directions.
The D-Pad toggles up, down, left, right, and when pushed in, functions as a mouse click
to select items on the screen.
So let’s try out the scroll wheel. Right now we should have the home screen displayed
on the GCS. Roll the scroll wheel clockwise one click and you will shift the video window
down over the status window in the lower left corner. At the same time you will expose a
GCS map screen. Scroll the wheel Clockwise another click and you’ll shift the video
Page 19
Pushing straight down is a
mouse click
Rotates either direction to move
between screens
Pushing to the left returns to
home screen
From home screen pushing up
switches to full screen video or
mapping
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