Anti-collision mechanism doesn't appear to work

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Having flown a P2V and a P3A for a while, I was excited to receive a P4 Pro, partly because of its multidirectional anticollision mechanism. However, I didn't get it to work, and would like to know why. After upgrading the aircraft's and controller's firmware, I set it to fly P mode and tested the collision mechanism by approaching a snowbank at an altitude of about 2-3 ft at a very slow speed. One time the P4 Pro actually followed the snowbank's contour without hitting it but almost touching it! Another time the P4 Pro actually hit the snowbank and crashed! Are there any settings or restrictions I don't know about? Maybe I needed to fly higher than a couple of feet? Thanks!
 
Make sure you go into all the advanced settings and check that all the collision avoidance choices are on. Also the snow bank may not have been registering.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
I agree with bow. There is no contrast with snow and it lacks density. Both are problematic to reflection needed for avoidance. Lack of contrast.... think of the specifics behind the recent headlines in the Tesla crash.
Hope you get things working.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
See pp. 27 - 29 in the user manual around the vision system and infrared sensing system. You may have run into a situation (no pun intended :eek:) where there wasn't sufficient contrast for the forward vision system to detect the snow bank. And if you were flying sideways and hit the bank that way then that was because the infrared sensors aren't active in P mode without also being in beginner or tripod mode. If you aren't getting a sensor alarm then that might be because you have the alarms turned off or aren't in the right mode for the sensors to be active. Hope this helps. :)
 
Having flown a P2V and a P3A for a while, I was excited to receive a P4 Pro, partly because of its multidirectional anticollision mechanism. However, I didn't get it to work, and would like to know why. After upgrading the aircraft's and controller's firmware, I set it to fly P mode and tested the collision mechanism by approaching a snowbank at an altitude of about 2-3 ft at a very slow speed. One time the P4 Pro actually followed the snowbank's contour without hitting it but almost touching it! Another time the P4 Pro actually hit the snowbank and crashed! Are there any settings or restrictions I don't know about? Maybe I needed to fly higher than a couple of feet? Thanks!
The obstacle avoidance system is very good but it's not magic and has a number of limitations you have to be aware of.
Here's a list of some of the situations it has trouble with:
Obstacle%20Avoidance-L.jpg
 
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Hopefully in a future FW update DJI will allow the sensors active in other modes not just beginner or tripod mode.
My other two quads (not DJI) have zero sensors so I'm used to flying quads in tight spots without sensors and so far after 18 months of flying zero crashes. (..knock on wood).
This new DJI P4P+ is my first DJI product so I'm still reading, learning and getting more familiar with things every day.
I love the fact it does have the sensors but there are so many variables in their operation I wouldn't trust them to completely save me (my quad) in most situations.
As you see from my avatar pic I like sunset pics and I've read here on the forums sometimes the front sensors are affected pointing at the sun so I'm sure I'll be disabling them soon under those flying conditions. Lucky for me I live in a pretty wide open area with only a few tall pine trees around.
Good luck and fly safe!
:)
 
Thank you all for your helpful comments! I'm hoping that if the anticollision mechanisms are reliable enough they will enable me to fly closer to the obstacles and get more interesting videos that way.
 

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