Plan and launch a mission
Route, preflight checks, approval and the mission status flow.
Missions are planned in Missions → Planner. A mission ties a route on a site map to one unit, a time and a set of flight parameters.
1. Draft the route
Pick a site and a unit, then draw the route with Waypoints, add POIs and check Geofences. The planner shows distance and estimated time as you draw. Set altitude, speed, payload and battery reserve.
Grounded units are hidden from the unit picker.
2. Preflight checks
The planner runs the preflight checks every time something changes. Blocking checks must pass before a mission can be approved or launched; warnings are shown but do not block.
| Check | Passes when | Blocking |
|---|---|---|
| Unit assigned and airworthy | A unit is set and it is not grounded, in maintenance or offline | Yes |
| Battery reserve | Reserve is between 20 % and 60 % | Yes |
| Altitude limit | Altitude is at most 120 m, or a waiver reference is set | Yes |
| Route | The route has at least 2 waypoints | Yes |
| Geofences | The route does not cross an active keep-out zone | Yes |
| Battery charged | The unit is charged to at least 60 % | No |
| Wind | Wind at most 36 km/h and gusts at most 45 km/h in the launch hour | No |
All limits come from LIMITS in the shared rules package; the database enforces the same reserve and altitude rules with check constraints.
| Limit | Value | Key | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max altitude | 120 m | maxAltitudeM | Higher needs a waiver reference. Blocking. |
| Min battery reserve | 20 % | minBatteryReservePct | Reserve kept for the return leg. Blocking. |
| Max battery reserve | 60 % | maxBatteryReservePct | Upper bound of the reserve setting. Blocking. |
| Min speed | 1 m/s | minSpeedMs | Planner setting range. |
| Max speed | 20 m/s | maxSpeedMs | Planner setting range. |
| Max wind | 36 km/h | maxWindKmh | Weather warning, not blocking. |
| Max gusts | 45 km/h | maxGustKmh | Weather warning, not blocking. |
| Min charge at launch | 60 % | minLaunchBatteryPct | Warning, not blocking. |
3. Approval before launch
A mission cannot go from ready straight to the air. Someone with publish on Missions approves it first, then someone with publish launches it. The database records who approved and who launched as the people who actually did it; a forged name is overwritten.
- A mission planner with
editcan draft, schedule and mark ready, but cannot approve or launch. - Agents are capped at
edit. The Preflight Agent can draft and check missions; it can never approve or launch.
4. Status flow
| From | Can move to | Needs |
|---|---|---|
draft | scheduled, ready, cancelled | edit |
scheduled | draft, ready, cancelled | edit |
ready | scheduled, approved, cancelled | approved needs publish |
approved | in_flight, ready, cancelled | in_flight needs publish |
in_flight | completed, aborted | publish |
cancelled | draft | edit |
completed and aborted are final. When a mission completes, the system writes an append-only flight log for Compliance.
In demo mode, Launch shows a demo notice. Nothing is flown and no vehicle is contacted.
The Advisor
Missions → Advisor gives a go / no-go for each upcoming mission from weather, battery and geofence conflicts. It is a rule-based preview; see AI features.