Choose which drone responds
Most runs don't name a drone. An alarm only knows where something was seen, a schedule only knows when to start. Dispatch Rules decide which of your devices answers, for example the nearest drone with enough battery.
Before you begin
- A console account with the organization administrator role.
- At least one drone, real or simulated.
How the rules decide
Open Manage›Fleet Setup›Configuration and select Dispatch Rules.
- The rules are checked top to bottom. The first rule that applies decides. If it finds no suitable device, the next rule is asked.
- At the bottom sits Any Available Asset Fallback: the available device with the most battery. It always stays last and answers whatever no rule above could.
- Each rule reads as one sentence, for example When a drone is detected, send the nearest available asset with at least 30 % battery within 5 km.
- A rule with a lock applies to every organization. Only a system administrator can change it.
- When a rule can never be reached because one above it always applies, the list says so.
Some things hold for every rule:
- An offline device is never chosen, and neither is one that reports no battery or position.
- A device of another organization is never chosen.
- A free device comes before a busy one. A busy device is only taken over by a run of strictly higher priority. See When runs compete for a drone.
Test before you change anything
What would happen? next to the list shows which device the rules would choose right now, and why. Nothing flies.
Describe the run
Choose No target position for a schedule or a manual run, Aimed at a position for a run with a target, or A detection, with an object type, a confidence and where it was seen on the map.
Set its priority
Under Run priority, choose Manual (0), Scheduled (50), Alarm (75) or Highest (100). It decides which busy devices the run may take over.
Run the test
Select Run test. The answer names the device and the rule that chose it. Below, every rule says whether it answered, didn't apply, or wasn't reached, and every device says why it was or wasn't chosen.
The nearer drone is busy with an alarm of the same priority, so the second drone is sent.
The test uses your live fleet and your active rules, exactly as a real run would.
Add a rule
Start from a template
Select New rule and pick a starting point: Nearest available drone, Drone with the most battery, Only drones stationed at a site, Respond to detections of a type, or Blank.
Say when it applies
Answer the four questions. The sentence at the top changes as you go.
Question You choose Where does it apply? Your organization, or one site. When does it apply? Conditions that must all hold, for example the detected object type. With none, every run in its scope. Which assets may answer? Aircraft or docks only, a minimum battery, a maximum distance from the target, or only devices stationed at a site. Which one is chosen? Nearest to the target, or Most battery. Create it and put it in place
Select Create. A new rule is added at the top; drag it to where it belongs. Use the switch next to a rule to turn it off without deleting it.
Schedules and manual runs usually have no target position. A rule that needs one, such as Nearest to the target or a maximum distance, passes them on to the next rule. Keep the fallback, or another rule without conditions, switched on so these runs always get a drone.
What you have now
- Rules that send the right drone to every alarm, schedule and call from another system.
- A way to check the answer before anything flies.
Troubleshooting
- A run was refused, or a schedule shows Skipped. Run the same case in What would happen?. It names each device and why it wasn't used, for example busy with priority-75 work (this run: 50) or offline.
- The wrong drone was sent. A rule higher up applied first. Check the order and the test's "how each rule took part".
- A rule says Never reached. A rule above it always applies. Move your rule up, or narrow the one above.