DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise vs DJI Phantom 4 RTK
The DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise drone is the latest flagship compact sub-2kg photogrammetry surveying drone from DJI. It supersedes the DJI Phantom 4 RTK aircraft which is an extremely popular surveying drone solution and it has been used by surveyors in Australia since it was first launched in 2018. Overall, the new Mavic 3 Enterprise (a.k.a M3E) is a more efficient compact survey-grade mapping drone solution with improved technology and portability. This article is geared towards comparing both drones from a surveying capability perspective.
With respect to surveying efficiency, the Mavic 3 Enterprise is up to 8 times more efficient than the P4 RTK at a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 1cm. This dramatic increase in mapping efficiency stems from the M3E’s improved battery life, larger camera pixel size, and a shorter camera shooting interval of 0.7s. Other tests have shown that the orthophoto efficiency of the Mavic 3 Enterprise at 5cm GSD can reach 220 hectares, which is 1.9 times more than the Phantom 4 RTK.
The table below shows a general comparison of the key specs for the M3E and P4R:
|
M3E |
P4R |
|
|
Weight |
915g |
1391g |
|
Cameras |
Wide Camera: 4/3 CMOS 20MP CMOS Tele Camera: ½” CMOS 7-56x Zoom |
Wide Camera: 1” CMOS 20MP CMOS |
|
Portability |
Foldable |
Not Foldable |
|
Diagonal Length |
380mm |
350mm |
|
Max Ascent Speed |
6m/s (N Mode), 8m/s (S Mode) |
6m/s (Mission Flight), 5m/s (Manual Flight) |
|
Max Decent Speed |
6 m/s |
3m/s |
|
Max Wind Resistance |
12m/s |
10m/s |
|
Max Flight Time |
45 min 42 min with RTK Module |
30 min |
|
Operating Temp Range |
-10-40℃ |
0-40℃ |
|
APAS |
5.0 |
Not Supported |
|
Beacon |
Included |
Not Supported |
|
Obstacle Avoidance |
Omnidirectional binocular vision system, supplemented with an infrared sensor at the bottom of the aircraft |
Forward/Rear/Downward binocular vision system, with infrared sensors at two sides |
|
Image Format |
JPEG/DNG(RAW) |
JPEG |
|
Pixel Size |
3.3um |
2.4um |
|
Camera Shooting Interval |
0.7s |
2.5s |
|
Max Flight Speed of Mapping Mission |
15m/s |
13m/s |
|
Controller |
DJI RC Pro Enterprise |
Standard RC SDK RC Option Available |
|
Transmission |
8km – O3 Enterprise |
5km - OcuSync |
|
Propeller |
Foldable, Quick Release |
Not Foldable, Quick Release |
|
Additional Module Support |
Yes, RTK Module & Loudspeaker. PSDK Payload Support. |
No |
Cameras
Both drones are geared towards capturing high-resolution images with survey-grade accuracy. However, the Mavic 3 Enterprise includes a number of notable camera upgrades compared to the DJI Phantom 4 RTK as listed below:
Both drones feature a 20MP camera, but the M3E has a larger 4/3” CMOS sensor compared to the 1” CMOS sensor of the P4 RTK. The benefit of having a larger sensor size means that the sensor can house larger pixels. Larger pixels improve the camera’s capability of capturing more information, which leads to better low-light performance and a reduction in overall noise. For comparison, the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise has a 3.3um pixel size compared to a pixel size of 2.4um on the P4 RTK.
The DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise has a shorter shooting interval of 0.7 seconds compared to the 2.5 seconds interval of the Phantom 4 RTK. This allows the M3E aircraft to fly faster during mapping missions and improve the overall efficiency in terms of how much area the aircraft is capable of covering per battery.
DJI has included a tele camera on the Mavic 3 Enterprise which can zoom up to 56x. This opens up the M3E to potentially being used for asset inspection tasks in addition to mapping missions.
Another plus for surveying applications includes the use of mechanical shutter-based cameras which reduces image distortion at high speeds caused by vibrations and other factors. Electronic shutter-based cameras can introduce rolling-shutter distortion (a.k.a the “jello” effect) which can negatively impact relative surveying accuracy. Both the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise and the DJI Phantom 4 RTK drones include a mechanical shutter.
Surveying Efficiency
The key selling point of the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise, when compared to the DJI Phantom 4 RTK, is that it is a far more efficient aircraft due to its improved battery life, higher quality sensor and faster shooting interval. Below is a summary of the key specs of the M3E that contribute to the aircraft’s overall improved surveying performance compared to the P4 RTK:
Improved flight time of 42 minutes (with RTK module)
The shutter speed is 0.7 seconds
Max mapping speed of 15 m/s
Larger sensor size (4/3” CMOS)
Bigger pixel size (3.3um)
Ability to capture over 200 hectares in a single flight
With the new included 100W charging hub, it only takes 70 minutes to fully charge a single battery. When in the field with only 4 sets of batteries this can fulfil a full day of flight operations.
The DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise is supplied with the DJI RC Pro Enterprise remote controller which is preloaded with DJI Pilot 2 software for manual and mission flight. The DJI Pilot 2 app features Smart Oblique Capture for the M3E drone, which automatically rotates the gimbal of the aircraft to capture images at various angles while flying in a cross-hatch pattern. The M3E needs to fly two flight grid patterns only whilst the P4 RTK needs to fly up to five flight patterns to collect the same data essentially.
DJI has included TimeSync on both drones. This is a crucial feature that offers the survey-grade metadata for the images captured by both drones by continuously aligning the drone’s flight controller, its camera and the RTK corrections. This ensures each image is captured with centimetre-level accuracy.
DJI has run a few tests comparing the P4 RTK to the M3E and they have put together the graph below highlighting the comparison in the surveying efficiency between the two aircraft:
Mapping Accuracy
The following accuracy results were achieved by DJI when testing the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise as a GSD of 3.3cm without ground control points:
|
Index |
dx(m) |
dy(m) |
dz(m) |
|
1 |
0.002 |
-0.002 |
0.017 |
|
2 |
0.011 |
-0.005 |
0.02 |
|
3 |
0.007 |
0.002 |
0.068 |
|
4 |
-0.004 |
-0.007 |
0.048 |
|
5 |
0.019 |
0.015 |
0.085 |
|
6 |
0.03 |
-0.015 |
0.013 |
|
7 |
0.015 |
-0.002 |
0.056 |
|
RMSD |
0.016 |
0.009 |
0.051 |
The accuracy is similar to the DJI Phantom 4 RTK and DJI Matrice 300 RTK + DJI Zenmuse P1 payload.
Remote Controller
The DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise is supplied with the DJI RC Pro Enterprise controller, which is a successor the DJI Smart Controller for the DJI Mavic 2 Series. The RC Pro Enterprise includes a high-brightness display rated to 1000 nits for improved outdoor visibility. Unfortunately, the screen size remains small at 5.5”. It does not have the option of using a tablet with the remote controller for a larger screen size unless you use a screen mirroring app or potentially connect the RC to a larger screen via HDMI for viewing purposes only.
The Phantom 4 RTK can be operated with either the standard RC that includes a built-in 5.5” screen, or you can purchase the Phantom 4 RTK SDK version which can be used with other mobile devices.
Luckily, the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise was launched MSDK support from DJI, making the drone compatible with 3rd-party flight planning apps such as DroneDeploy. You can even use desktop-based flight planning software such as UgCS and export flight plans to the DJI RC Pro Enterprise. Otherwise, the RC Pro Enterprise comes included with the DJI Pilot 2 app which is sufficient for most flight planning scenarios with the addition of terrain following.
The DJI P4 RTK’s remote controller is pre-installed with the GS RTK (GSR) app. Unfortunately, going forward there will be limited support for this app by DJI.
Flight Planning Using Native Apps
The following flight planning functionality is currently available on the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise and DJI Phantom 4 RTK
|
M3E - DJI Pilot 2 |
P4R - DJI GSR/GS Pro |
|
|
Mapping |
•Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
Oblique |
•Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
Linear |
•Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
Waypoint |
•Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
Terrain Follow |
•Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
Detailed Inspection in Terra |
•Coming Soon
|
•Supported
|
|
Panorama |
•Supported
|
•Not Supported
|
|
Linear Flight (Adjust Height) |
•Not Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
Double Grid |
•Not Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
Angled Flight Route |
•Not Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
Block Segmentation |
•Not Supported
|
•Supported
|
|
RTK Rover |
•Not Supported
|
•Supported
|