Understanding Dock for X10 Flight System Media Files

When flying from a Skydio Dock for X10, video footage is automatically segmented into multiple files based on flight phases and setting requirements. This helps optimize system performance during autonomous launching and landing, while also preserving your preferred camera settings during flight. 

[note] For our public safety customers: This additional video content (digital evidence) must be managed within your Digital Evidence Management Systems (DEMS), such as Axon’s Evidence.com. This includes adding the appropriate categories, applying relevant metadata, and ensuring they are shared with prosecution stakeholders as needed. Refer to the DFR Command section below for recommendations on uploading media to Evidence.com [/note]

What to Expect

For each Dock-based flight, Skydio X10 will generate five separate color (EO) video files:

1. Launch 
2. Flight 
3. Landing 
4. Postflight
5. Low Resolution (LRV)

If your sensor package has thermal capabilities, an additional thermal video file will be created, for a total of six separate video files.

If you change camera modes or settings during the flight, such as switching to Photo Mode or enabling Low Light, Skydio will create additional video files to reflect those changes.

*May be split into multiple segments if camera modes/settings are changed inflight

Why Multiple Files?

To ensure safe autonomous operation, specific video settings are required during launching and landing.

Skydio automatically splits these segments into separate video files, allowing the system to apply optimal settings for each flight phase without affecting your custom recording preferences.

Quickly identify the primary flight video based on its duration. Launching, landing, and postflight videos are typically much shorter than the full flight video(s), so we recommend locating files based on duration.

DFR Command Customers

Evidentiary Considerations

Agencies should be prepared to share all video files from a mission and, if needed, explain the segmented file structure for evidentiary purposes.

Media Syncing to Evidence.com Recommendations

To streamline the process of managing and disclosing segmented video files in Evidence.com, we recommend the following workflow for pilots and agency evidence managers when preparing flight videos for review, tagging, or legal disclosure.

Use Filters to Narrow Results

Begin by applying filters within Evidence.com to isolate the relevant files. Helpful filter options include:

• Date and Time
• User or Group
  [note] There is a known issue where the user sometimes defaults to the Axon admin email. [/note]

Don’t forget to explore Advanced Filters to further filter down and surface only the flight segments of interest.

• Device Serial Number (if known)
• Source Type

Multi-Select All Flight-Related Files

Once filtered, identify and select all video segments that correspond to the flight in question (e.g., takeoff, main flight, landing, post-landing, thermal, and LRV).

You can use the thumbnail previews and duration as quick reference points to confirm related files.

Use the “Review” Feature to Confirm File Grouping

With the relevant files selected, select Review to open them in a unified viewer. This allows you to validate that:

• All segments are related to the same incident
• There is no duplication or cross-contamination with other flights
• The full flight timeline is represented across the selected files

Close the “Review” Panel and Edit Metadata

After verifying the files belong together, exit the review.

With the verified files from the flight multi-selected, choose:

“EDIT METADATA”

Apply an Identifier in a Shared Metadata Field

At this point, we strongly recommend using a consistent naming strategy. Use a metadata field such as ID to assign a unique identifier - such as CFS/CAD number or incident number -  to the group of files. This makes it easier to:

• Locate the grouped files later
• Ensure consistency in records management
• Support internal or external audit trails (e.g., discovery, subpoenas, case reviews) 

Add the new metadata for the flight or incident:

• Choose the field you wish to bulk edit
• Enter the identifier you wish to use for the group of files

The new field will now be searchable to easily locate the video content when needed:

Skydio, Inc. A0597