Let us track. Let us avoid. Let Us Drone. Today we are going to be looking at one of, if not the post popular DJI intelligent flight mode: ActiveTrack! I would say that this flight mode was definitely a crowd favorite when I was showing my family and friends my new DJI drone. 

ActiveTrack allows the drone to automatically track and follow the selected subject. This post will explain how to enable ActiveTrack, the different types of ActiveTrack, and precautions you should take when using this intelligent flight mode. 

What is ActiveTrack?

As I mentioned above, ActiveTrack is an intelligent flight mode that DJI created to allow the drone track and follow a subject. 

Once the subject is selected, the drone will autonomously follow it until the pilot hits cancel, or the drone loses the target. 

By having the drone follow the subject on its own, this allows you to make gimbal adjustments to record that buttery-smooth video that would otherwise be difficult to capture. 

DJI recently came out with the Mavic 2 Pro and Zoom, which have ActiveTrack 2.0. That is an upgraded version of ActiveTrack which I will dive into at a later time. This post focuses on the original ActiveTrack. 

When to use ActiveTrack?

So you may be thinking, “well, that sounds cool, but when would I use a flight mode like this?” 

Well, there's a whole slew of applications for ActiveTrack, but here are a few examples of when this flight mode could be useful. You could use ActiveTrack to follow someone doing one of the following activities:

• Walking/running 
• Biking 
• Surfing
• Water skiing 
• Driving a vehicle (slow moving)

If you were attempting record video of someone performing one of the above activities without using ActiveTrack, you would have to make gimbal adjustments in addition to using the right and left sticks to keep the drone close to the subject. 

Having ActiveTrack engaged makes it so you can focus on getting that high-quality usable video that makes these drones so popular. 

How to use ActiveTrack?

Now that we've discussed what ActiveTrack is and some situations where it comes in handy, let's talk about how to find and enable it. 

The first thing you will need to do is launch the drone, as ActiveTrack can only be enabled when the AC is airborne. 

Ascend to a height of at least 6 feet (2 meters). 

Ensure that you are in an open area, free of obstructions that could be in the flight path of the drone. 

Next, make sure that the drone is in P-mode, as intelligent flight modes are not accessible while you are in Sport or ATTI modes. Check out this post I wrote about P-mode, ATTI mode, and Sport mode. 

With the drone airborne in an open area and in P-mode, you are ready to access ActiveTrack. To do this, tap on the remote controller icon while in the camera view of the DJI GO 4 app. 

Tapping on the remote controller icon will bring up the list of intelligent flight modes. Find ActiveTrack and tap on it. 

You are now ready to select the subject you would like to track. There are some objects (people, boats, etc.) that are in DJI's preset recognized list. If you are tracking one of those subjects, simply tap on it and the app will recognize it, as you can see in the image below. 

Once the drone has the subject locked, it will continue to track the subject until you cancel ActiveTrack by tapping on that red “x” you see on the lefthand side of the screen. 

While in ActiveTrack, you can control the behavior of the drone with the following stick movements:

Ascend/descend: You can change the drone's height just as you would normally, but remember that the drone needs to be at least 6 feet off of the ground for ActiveTrack to work. If you ascend to high, the drone has a better chance of losing the subject as well. 

Yaw: You can adjust the yaw, but this will be limited as the drone will need to keep the tracked subject in the frame. 

Pitch: Adjust the pitch as you would in any other mode to bring the drone closer or further away from the tracked subject. 

Roll: If you “roll” right, the drone will proceed to circle you, maintaining its distance, and elevation. Same thing when you “roll” left. You can also tap on that small circle on the screen and drag it in either direction to have the drone circle the subject. Here is a short video clip of what that looks like in action. 

Trace sub-mode

If the app doesn't recognize the subject, use your finger to trace a box around the object and tap “go” when the desired subject is highlighted in green. As an example of this, I traced a section of the grass in front of me which you can see the drone tracking in this picture. 

If ActiveTrack loses the subject you traced, you will need to trace it again. Here are a couple of tips when tracing the subject:

• Try to trace the angle of the subject you plan to track it in. For instance, when tracing a car, don't trace its profile, then proceed to follow from behind in ActiveTrack as the size difference could cause the drone to lose the subject. 
• Trace the subject at the height and distance away from it that you intend to stay in for the duration of ActiveTrack use. Again, tracing a subject 20 feet away and proceeding to fly 50 feet away could cause problems. 
• This applies to every mode in ActiveTrack, but color contrast really helps keep the drone from losing the subject. If I was wearing all green in the image above, my Phantom would have a tougher time tracking me as I was in the middle of a grass field. 

Profile sub-mode

If your friend was standing in the middle of a parking lot and you enabled ActiveTrack, the drone would follow him from behind if he turned and walked away from the drone. 

Profile mode keeps the drone at the side (profile) of the subject. So in the illustration above, if you were in profile mode and your friend was walking away from the drone, the drone would fly along next to him instead of trailing from behind. 

This comes in handy if you are recording someone on a bicycle or a car where you want the drone to keep the profile view in the frame at all times. Below is a video clip of what profile mode looks like in action. 

Obstacle avoidance is not available in profile mode. 

Spotlight sub-mode

Have you ever gone to a play and seen how a spotlight often follows around the actor/actress that is currently talking? That is essentially what's going on here with your drone. 

In spotlight mode, the drone stays stationary but the camera moves to keep the subject in the frame. I think it would be cool to hover above a soccer field and use spotlight mode to track your kid as he/she runs all around. That is, of course, assuming that all of the other parents are okay with a drone hovering above ;).

Another way to use spotlight mode is to track a static object while you fly the drone around. If there was a cool statue or something you could get a lock on that and maneuver the drone in various directions to get some good shots. 

Like in profile mode, obstacle avoidance is not available in spotlight mode. 

Here is a quick video of me walking around a grass field to show you what spotlight mode looks like in action. 

Enable dynamic home point 

Under home point settings, you will see the option of enabling the dynamic home point on some DJI drones. This automatically updates the home point every time the remote controller is moved more than 6 meters from its previous position. 

Why enable dynamic home point? Well, if you are using ActiveTrack to follow a moving boat that you are on, it's important that the drone come back to your current location if an RTH sequence is initiated. 

When would you not need to enable dynamic home point? If you are standing on the beach and using ActiveTrack to follow your buddy while he is surfing, there is no need to enable dynamic home point. Basically, if the tracked subject has the RC, then it's advisable to enable dynamic home point. 

Here is a video that explains how dynamic home point works. 

I should note that not every DJI drone has dynamic home point. Simply look below home point settings to see if your drone has dynamic home point. Refer to the image below to see what it looks like. 

100 meter max distance

If you have one of DJI's drone (like the Spark or Mavic Air) that is able to be controlled via WiFi with just your phone or tablet, then this is very important for you. If you choose to fly your Spark using your phone without the RC, you will not be able to fly any further than 100 meters away from the takeoff location. 

If you start ActiveTrack and jump on your bicycle with just the phone in your hand, the drone will stop in its tracks when it has flown 100 meters from the takeoff location. You can manually update the home point, but this takes pressing a few buttons on the screen which will be difficult to do if you are doing something active. 

Remember, this only applies to those using WiFi (no RC). If you have the RC with you, the 100-meter max limit does not apply.  

Will the drone avoid obstacles in ActiveTrack?

Your drone will avoid obstacles in its path while in ActiveTrack if you ensure that obstacle avoidance is enabled. It's important to note that obstacle avoidance is not available while in profile and spotlight modes. 

To enable obstacle avoidance in ActiveTrack, go to settings>visual navigation settings>enable obstacle avoidance in ActiveTrack.

Remember that each DJI drone is different when it comes to obstacle sensing. A Spark is only going to detect and avoid obstacles that are in front of and below the drone, whereas a drone like the Phantom 4 Pro has side, bottom, front, and rear sensors. Refer to your manual to see what kind of obstacle sensing your drone is equipped with. 

I should note that on some drones you will have to enable backward flying while in ActiveTrack. I've seen a few videos on the internet of drones flying into something behind them while tracking a subject. 

To enable backward flying, go to settings>visual navigation settings>enable backward flying. 

Unless you have a DJI Inspire 2, your drone will not have sensors on the top of it. Why is this important? If the drone is tracking a subject that is going up an incline, the drone will adjust its height to remain the appropriate distance away from it. Well, if there is a power line or something above the drone, you're going to have a bad day when that Phantom ascends right into it. 

Tips for where to use ActiveTrack

We have already talked about how you need to use caution while flying around areas with a lot of obstacles, even if obstacle avoidance is enabled. 

If addition to having to be careful not to have your Mavic fly into something while in ActiveTrack mode, you need to be cognizant of what is above the object being tracked. The drone may be well above any obstacles, but if there are objects between the drone and the subject, ActiveTrack is going to struggle. 

If I ride under some trees while on my bike, there is a good chance that the drone will lose me. Remember that the drones use their cameras to track the object in ActiveTrack, whereas GPS is used during FollowMe mode (in which case, the drone would have a better chance keeping a lock on me while I ride my bike under the tree). 

If your DJI drone loses the subject being tracked, it will attempt to find the lost subject; and will sometimes pick up the subject again if it's still in the frame. 

It's best to use ActiveTrack while in an open area, free of obstructions. To give the drone its best chance of maintaining a lock on the subject, you should avoid being in an area that has other people/things that are of a similar shape/size as the tracked subject. 

Here are some settings where your drone will have a hard time maintaining a lock on a subject while in ActiveTrack:

• Trees.
• Shadows.
• Large objects between the drone and subject.
• Other subjects nearby that are similar shape/size.
• Drone too far away from the subject.
• Drone too close to the subject.
• Subject traveling too fast for the drone.
• Subject makes quick directional changes. 

Top speeds while in ActiveTrack

So you may be wondering if your drone will be able to keep up with the subject you intend to track. The answer to that depends on a couple of things. 

Your drone should be able to track a subject as fast as the drone can fly in P-mode. Now, there are different top speeds for P-mode. What I mean is that your drone will be able to travel at a quicker speed with obstacle avoidance turned off. Obviously, you need to think through it before making the decision to turn off obstacle avoidance. 

The Spark will only fly at about 7 mph with obstacle avoidance turned on, but that speed almost doubles when those OA sensors are disabled. 

Let's review

So we've covered a lot in this post. I'll go ahead and do a recap on some of the main points. 

• ActiveTrack is an intelligent flight mode that allows the drone to track a subject, allowing you to focus on getting those cinematic shots. 
• Trace mode allows you to draw a box around a subject if it is not automatically recognized by the app. 
• Profile mode will have the drone follow alongside of the subject, allowing it to get the profile view. 
• Spotlight mode keeps the subject in the frame at all times, and the drone will only move if you use the sticks. 
• Obstacle avoidance is available in ActiveTrack, but not in profile and spotlight modes. 
• ActiveTrack works best in open areas, free of obstructions. 
• Enable dynamic home point if your drone has that feature. 
• You will only be able to fly up to 100 meters away from the takeoff location if you are using WiFi to fly the drone, unless you manually update your home point.  

Below is a YouTube video I made where I walk you through setting up and using ActiveTrack. You will also get visual demonstrations of everything we've discussed in this post! 

Trevor's Take

I have to say that although it's imperfect and downright infuriating at times, ActiveTrack is probably my favorite intelligent flight mode. Nothing entertains me more than getting a lock on my wife and then prompting her to run all around for the sake of “good footage”. What's your experience with ActiveTrack? Have you used it in any unique ways? Comment below!