Script for FPV drone

[AlexSin4]

I'm FPV drone pilot. I have 5-inch freestyle drone. Generally, I shoot cable wakeboard athletes. For video shooting I use GoPro 11 mounted on the drone. I don’t use auto GoPro settings and set everything (ISO, shutter speed, ND filter) manually because I believe that after certain amount of practice I’ll be able to I deliver better output than “auto GoPro”. The order of my actions is as follows:

1. Set appropriate ND filter and ISO based on ambient light level.
2. Choose a rider on the cable to shoot
3. Plug the drone battery, arm the drone and follow the rider
   When the battery runs dry or a chosen rider falls down, I return drone, land it, press “rec” button on GoPro to stop recording and start from the Step#1.

Tasks

I have the following tasks for GoPro:
Task 1. Indicate ambient light level so that I can set appropriate ND filter and ISO
Task 2. Start filming only when the drone gets off the ground
Task 3. Maximize battery life

The solution to these tasks:
Task 1.
HIST=1 – shows me the histogram.
EXPS=1 – shows me current ISO and shutter speed. Generally, I shoot with “ISO MAX” equal 100. I temporary set “ISO MAX” to something like 800 and turn camera towards the Sun. If I chose correct ND filter the camera will show ISO in the range of 110-190. After that I set “ISO MAX” back equal 100.

Task 2.
I know there is option to get gyroscope and accelerometer values to start filming but I didn’t find way to combine it with Task 3 solution.

Task 3.
I need to turn off as much GoPro features as possible before filming and turn them on after filming is over. In this way before I start shooting I need to disable histogram (HIST=0), disable display the current ISO and shutter speed (EXPS=0), disable audio recording (DAUD=1), set the display to the lowest possible brightness (oB1), turn off the display immediately (oD0) and I want the disabled features to be recovered automatically after the filming has just finished.

Script

I created three “setup” scripts and one “launch” script.
"Setup" scripts are entered only once as they are permanent (be sure to follow the order: start from the first). The QR code of the “launch” script is shown to GoPro every time after the drone battery is plugged and drone is on the ground but obviously before it is armed.

Setup scripts:

1. aAaSoV7oB9oD4oC30oS1v0oR1oF0*DRPR=""*DRIN="*DROT=""*DRRC=""
2. *DRPR="!B=W0>g45=Z+1+=W1>a0.125=Z+8+=W1<W1=Z0>y1=Z0+!1N+mV2+!X=YZ=Y&36>Y1!S+oDO+^DRRC+!X^DRPR"
3. *DRIN="*EXPS=0*HIST=0*DAUD=1oB1DO=Z0"*DROT="*EXPS=1*HIST=1*DAUD=0oB9"*DRRC=">r1!3N+^DRRC"

Launch script:
^DRIN^DRPR^DROT

Comments to the scripts

Setup script 1
aAaSoV7oB9oD4oC30oS1v0oR1oF0 – this is completely optional. I set back light to 100%, turn off voice control, set all leds on, turn off front LCD, set back LCD off after 1 min, beep volume to 70% etc.
*DRPR=""*DRIN="*DROT=""*DRRC="" – I use 4 marcos (*fourcc) and reset each to zero as I noticed that GoPro sometimes freezes when I try to renew macro without previously resetting it to zero, especially often it happens when macro includes oBx commands.

Setup script 2
>g45 and >a0.125 threshold for gyroscope and accelerometer, suitable for my drone.
>y1=Z0+!1N+mV2+!X – if I need to abort macro after the “launch” script I just press the “mode” button. I shoot in Cinematic preset (mV2) so I want camera to set it again.
=Y&36 – the script waits for 4(four) consecutive triggers of IMU as I noticed that drone arming sometimes triggers IMU and I get 0-30 seconds of too early footage even if I set high threshold.
>Y1!S+oDO+^DRRC+!X – If 4(four) consecutive triggers of IMU happen the record starts, the display is turned off. The script does not stop recording automatically, you have to press "rec" button on GoPro - somehow i found it more reliable, convenient and battery saving.

Setup script 3
*DRIN="*EXPS=0*HIST=0*DAUD=1oB1DO" – get ready for the shooting and turn off histogram, audio recording and display.
*DROT="*EXPS=1*HIST=1*DAUD=0oB9" – the recording is over and I need to recover all the disabled features.
*DRRC=">r1!3N+^DRRC"– checking every 3 seconds that the recording has ended to recover the disable features.

Sorry for the long read. Hope this is useful for someone )

[dnewman-gpsw]

*DRRC=">r1!3N+^DRRC. This is a recursive coding, it is generally a bad practice as you eventually run out of stack.

I think you want, while recording, sleep 3 seconds before testing again, otherwise return. *DRRC=">r0!3N+!R". This does that without any stack issues.

[AlexSin4]

@dnewman-gpsw thank you for your participation in this conversation!
Yes, I know about !R command and I spend a decent amount of time figuring out how it works in macro and realized that it works very strangely (at least with my GoPro11 Black). Therefore, I deliberately refused to use it.

Example
Let's try smth simple, like this =A0<A5=A+1+"A = $A"+!R3~!X - the script increases the value of variable A by one from zero using a loop and prints it until variable A equals 5, then quits a loop.

Now let's put loop part in a separate macro: *ABCD="<A5=A+1+'A = $A'+!R~!X" - according to my general understading and your comment above I need to change !R3 to !R. Then I combine =A0 and with macro *ABCD which result in =A0^ABCD run it ... and and it does not work! I see 'Labs processing' message and 'A = 1' infinitely.

I assumed that the system handles it as follows: it takes the code =A0^ABCD, substitutes all the marco names with real code without any intelligent processing, so =A0^ABCD will turn into =A0<A5=A+1+"A = $A"+!R~!X and and only after that executes the code.

If I change macro from *ABCD="<A5=A+1+'A = $A'+!R~!X" to *ABCD="<A5=A+1+'A = $A'+!R3~!X" and run code =A0^ABCD it will be executed as expected (the same way as direct set of commands =A0<A5=A+1+"A = $A"+!R3~!X).

Because of this macro handling, I don't use the !R command in macro and have to do recursive coding instead.
Is it issue specifically with my GoPro?

[dnewman-gpsw]

Yes, loops in macros are not working perfectly on all models. R-x was introduced to help for relative offset jumps, not yet on H11. An update for H11 is in the works.

Thank you for experimenting with all of this, the command set is still evolving. Ideas are welcome.

[AlexSin4]

David, thanks!
Apparently I'll have to upgrade to GoPro13(14) after all ))

[dnewman-gpsw]

The Labs tools are typically better on the latest model, although H11 should see a command update in Q1

[AlexSin4]

Yes, loops in macros are not working perfectly on all models. R-x was introduced to help for relative offset jumps, not yet on H11. An update for H11 is in the works.

It seems H11 firmware v2.32.70, January 2025 fixed the issue with the loops. Great!