Aircraft and gimbal attitude / Compass widget - using true or magnetic north?

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Andrew Dittmer
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Does the aircraft and gimbal attitude have yaw values that are true north or magnetic north? And does the UI compass in the HorizontalSituationIndicatorWidget show the same values? Is it configurable via the SDK?

And if it could be either one, is there any way to know at any given time whether the current heading is in relation to true or magnetic North?

Thanks

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  • DJI Developer Support
    The aircraft and gimbal heading should be referenced to true north. The heading displayed on the Horizontal Situation Indicator Widget is obtained using the MSDK interface. However, the gimbal heading undergoes a coordinate system transformation.
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  • Andrew Dittmer

    So if I understand correctly, we can assume any values for aircraft or gimbal heading are referenced to true north and given the Situation indicator widget info is obtained from the MSDK interface, we can also assume the heading shown on the compass in the situation indicator widget are also referenced to true north. Is that correct?

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  • Andrew Dittmer

    On this post, https://sdk-forum.dji.net/hc/en-us/articles/9849286039193-Chapter-15-Flight-controller

    I see that it says that "KeyCompassHeading for compass heading. Its 0 degree means the magnetic North."

    Not sure if the compass widget uses that?

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  • DJI Developer Support
    When you mention the compass widget, are you referring to the HorizontalSituationIndicatorWidget? In fact, the HorizontalSituationIndicatorWidget is not the compass widget. From its name, its main function is to display obstacles in the horizontal direction of the drone. The HorizontalSituationIndicatorWidget just has some icons indicating the orientation of the aircraft and gimbal at the moment, but it does not use **KeyCompassHeading**.
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  • Andrew Dittmer

    Yes, sorry I was referring to the part of the HorizontalSituationIndicatorWidget that shows the orientation of the aircraft. Thanks for clarifying. So in summary, I can be certain that the gimbal attitude, aircraft attitude all return heading in relation to true north with the SDK when using the following?

    GimbalKey.KeyGimbalAttitude
    FlightControllerKey.KeyCompassHeading
    FlightControllerKey.KeyAircraftAttitude

    Even though that true north is what most people would assume, it may be worth adding that detail to the documentation.

    And if KeyCompassHeading values are in relation to true north, perhaps, this link https://sdk-forum.dji.net/hc/en-us/articles/9849286039193-Chapter-15-Flight-controller should be updated to remove the part where it says 0 is magnetic north.

    Thanks,

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  • DJI Developer Support
    If the GPS level of the aircraft is greater than or equal to LEVEL_2, the heading obtained at this time will be true north. If the GPS signal of the aircraft is very poor or there is no signal, the aircraft will only be able to obtain magnetic north at this time. I will submit your suggestion to the documentation engineer.
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