Compass GPS conflict

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I know I have spoken about this before and expressed my concerns about fly a ways, but I have been thinking. Is it possible that there could be conflict between the compass and the GPS. Everything is squashed onto a 330 frame and so close that they could interfere with each other.

Steve
 
It has to be said that its all to convenient to just dismiss this theory.Its about the only thing that could be going on. As an experiment what would happen if the landing gear was extended and the compass was put further away from the gps. The reason behind my thinking is that you don't hear so much about the larger hex's or quads doing fly aways.
 
seajunky said:
I know I have spoken about this before and expressed my concerns about fly a ways, but I have been thinking. Is it possible that there could be conflict between the compass and the GPS. Everything is squashed onto a 330 frame and so close that they could interfere with each other.

Steve


There is absolutely no way the magnetometer and the GPS receiver could interfere with one another. It would be like having a normal compass and putting it close to a GPS system for a car etc and expecting an erroneous reading. It just wouldn't happen because GPS works on rf and the magnetometer works with the magnetic flux lines of the earth so there isn't really any way for the two to get cross chatter. the only possible thing on the P2V that could put the compass out of whack is the motors. They are shielded but whose to say the compass isn't picking up some stray magnetic fields coming from the motors while their running.
As for the GPS the only thing that could put it out of whack would be rf interference on the same frequency as the GPS signal which would be highly unlikely, your P2V would almost have to be targeted by say a GPS jammer which i really don't think anyone would bother to do.
 
Thanks for your contribution spazmodic. I am only trying to get my head around this problem. I want one but am concerned about the issues that surround the PV at the moment.

Steve
 
If in doubt, don't get one just yet. If you do you'll be forever waiting for it to run away with you and you won't enjoy it. It might make you so tense that you actually force handling errors.

At $1200 you want to be getting the most out of your investment, so if you have a doubt I'd listen to it - maybe wait for a couple more firmware updates and keep monitoring what people are reporting. Although bear in mind most of the people who are happily flying without a care in the world won't be coming on to forums to shout about it...
 
Pull_Up said:
...bear in mind most of the people who are happily flying without a care in the world won't be coming on to forums to shout about it...
Like many, I discovered this forum looking for info before buying my Vision. Granted since then, some of us have experienced & reported a number of issues but the majority of Vision owners are happily flying. In the meantime we now know that upgrading firmware, recognizing when & how to do a proper compass calibration only when necessary, knowing how to recognize a weak battery & how to land safely, and basic R/C flight skills are pretty much all you need to know. Out-of-box, the native GPS Mode is very stable and great for developing flight skills.

The Vision app telemetry is thorough and gives you plenty of warning plus the LED beacons on the Vision always display current status & any warnings in case your phone dies. The out-of-box control range is more than what most will ever want (it's very difficult to see your Vision over 500' away in the sky), if you want more than 300m/500m range there are plenty of successful & easy upgrades posted on this forum, and if you fly out of range in GPS mode it'll fly back to you and land safely all by itself.

To me, the Phantom Vision is an amazingly mind-blowing combination of model aircraft, AI, drone NAV & avionics, FullHD video camcorder, live radio FPV video, live radio telemetry, and live 1:1 remote-control technologies all seamlessly rolled into one. I'd say not bad for $1299 off-the-shelf ready-to-fly.

iDrone :D
 
Re: Compass GPS conflict-

I completely agree with iDrone. After reading these posts, I was about to say the same thing iDrone so eloquently stated so I will attribute the credit to his/her words. I've had my P2V for three weeks and have not experienced a single issue. Getting the WiFi to work for video inside the Vikings Stadium wasn't the equipment. It was the stadium's jammers at work. Soon as I left, I tried my WiFi outside and it was fine. That's the main reason I bought the P2V was because of how easy it is to fly.

The guys in the Vikings stadium were amazed by it and I can tell you, everywhere I fly it, people come to check it out.

After the stadium flyin, I went and down the road and recorder flight over and around Minnehaha Falls all iced over and the WiFi worked fine there as well. I've flown for 18 minutes at -5 degrees. My P2V flew flawlessly, but my Samsung GS3 froze up in about 5 minutes. As for the firmware, my P2V was up to date right out of the box so I didn't have to do an update. I don't know anyone who has flown their P2V at -5 degress but I can tell you this. When we get our cold snap Monday night, -13 to -15 below zero, I plan to grab the record for the coldest P2V flight. I will post photos with a thermometer in the photo. I'm hoping for a windless -15 degrees........

QJ


iDrone said:
Pull_Up said:
...bear in mind most of the people who are happily flying without a care in the world won't be coming on to forums to shout about it...
Like many, I discovered this forum looking for info before buying my Vision. Granted since then, some of us have experienced & reported a number of issues but the majority of Vision owners are happily flying. In the meantime we now know that upgrading firmware, recognizing when & how to do a proper compass calibration only when necessary, knowing how to recognize a weak battery & how to land safely, and basic R/C flight skills are pretty much all you need to know. Out-of-box, the native GPS Mode is very stable and great for developing flight skills.

The Vision app telemetry is thorough and gives you plenty of warning plus the LED beacons on the Vision always display current status & any warnings in case your phone dies. The out-of-box control range is more than what most will ever want (it's very difficult to see your Vision over 500' away in the sky), if you want more than 300m/500m range there are plenty of successful & easy upgrades posted on this forum, and if you fly out of range in GPS mode it'll fly back to you and land safely all by itself.

To me, the Phantom Vision is an amazingly mind-blowing combination of model aircraft, AI, drone NAV & avionics, FullHD video camcorder, live radio FPV video, live radio telemetry, and live 1:1 remote-control technologies all seamlessly rolled into one. I'd say not bad for $1299 off-the-shelf ready-to-fly.

iDrone :D
 

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iDrone:

I now have over 30 hours of flight time logged on my Phantom 2 Vision without a single problem. Two minor crashes of my own for careless flying early on but that cured me.

No firmware upgrades and GPS/compass has worked flawlessly. I recommend for any newbies to not move your quad after you have located your GPS location. If you do, when you launch, the quad will go wherever it wants to and you may not be able to recover it. Once you flip your switch 6-8 times, do not move it to another location.

Happy flying.

Q
 
Qwadjok said:
...I recommend for any newbies to not move your quad after you have located your GPS location. If you do, when you launch, the quad will go wherever it wants to and you may not be able to recover it. Once you flip your switch 6-8 times, do not move it to another location.

Thanks for the update. Couple points of clarification... You say don't move the aircraft once you've locked HOME and/or done the Compass Dance, is this correct? Have you confirmed (intentionally or unintentionally) that if you do, it will behave erratically and fly off on its own (presumably trying to put itself where it thinks it should be)? This could explain one of the recent reports we've seen.

iDrone
 
iDrone said:
Qwadjok said:
...I recommend for any newbies to not move your quad after you have located your GPS location. If you do, when you launch, the quad will go wherever it wants to and you may not be able to recover it. Once you flip your switch 6-8 times, do not move it to another location.

Thanks for the update. Couple points of clarification... You say don't move the aircraft once you've locked HOME and/or done the Compass Dance, is this correct? Have you confirmed (intentionally or unintentionally) that if you do, it will behave erratically and fly off on its own (presumably trying to put itself where it thinks it should be)? This could explain one of the recent reports we've seen.

iDrone

I've used my phantom in multiple locations without need to re calibrate beyond the first time and my flight performance has been stable and flawless. So basically his above recommendation "not to move it" is wrong. Compass calibration only need be done again if you have erratic flight behavior, it doesn't fly straight or you get a compass error indicator or you relocate to a different part of the world.
 
seajunky said:
It has to be said that its all to convenient to just dismiss this theory.Its about the only thing that could be going on. As an experiment what would happen if the landing gear was extended and the compass was put further away from the gps. The reason behind my thinking is that you don't hear so much about the larger hex's or quads doing fly aways.

It's the numbers.

Bigger drones are more expensive, requires more knowledge to purchase, build and operate, thus there are less of those in the wild.
Just about all of them are operated by much more experienced\knowledgeable person than these RTF phantoms.

Also, due to the target audience (professional, highend hobbyist, etc) and higher price, they get higher grade components and sometimes redundancy in their design.

So....
 
BenDronePilot said:
iDrone said:
Qwadjok said:
...I recommend for any newbies to not move your quad after you have located your GPS location. If you do, when you launch, the quad will go wherever it wants to and you may not be able to recover it. Once you flip your switch 6-8 times, do not move it to another location.

Thanks for the update. Couple points of clarification... You say don't move the aircraft once you've locked HOME and/or done the Compass Dance, is this correct? Have you confirmed (intentionally or unintentionally) that if you do, it will behave erratically and fly off on its own (presumably trying to put itself where it thinks it should be)? This could explain one of the recent reports we've seen.

iDrone

The only thing moving the aircraft after it has registered its home location will do is... move the aircraft away form its home location! The home location is only referenced in failsafe (rth) mode, and in Home Lock (assuming you have enabled NAZA mode and IOC, but only if you're >30ft away). What could well mess up the aircraft is if you switch it on and move it BEFORE it has registered a home location, as this will mean the IMU may not yet have finished assessing what its reference for straight and level is. If you are going to do the compass dance then do it after everything has settled down and indicates it's ready for take-off. Then you can waltz with it all you like safe in the knowledge it will still know what straight and level is.
 
Pull_Up said:
The only thing moving the aircraft after it has registered its home location will do is... move the aircraft away form its home location! The home location is only referenced in failsafe (rth) mode, and in Home Lock (assuming you have enabled NAZA mode and IOC, but only if you're >30ft away). What could well mess up the aircraft is if you switch it on and move it BEFORE it has registered a home location, as this will mean the IMU may not yet have finished assessing what its reference for straight and level is. If you are going to do the compass dance then do it after everything has settled down and indicates it's ready for take-off. Then you can waltz with it all you like safe in the knowledge it will still know what straight and level is.

I've recently went on 2 short trips which I brought my Phantom with me... the schedule was tight and the accommodation was not super good, so I had to be quick when I wanted to pop my Phantom out for a quick flight.

That circumstances coupled with my (increasing) trust of my PV has made me more and more daring in going through my pre and post flight ritual. I'm not trying to tempt fate, but I was getting curious on what the limits were.

Here's a sampling of my naughty list:

- During the two trips, traveling through 1000km in distance and about 2km in altitude changes, not once did I recalibrated my compass.
- Most of the time, I take out my Phantom from my bag (just a cabin roller suitcase thing) and I turn it on while it's still in my hands and walk toward the flight area. Obviously I didn't keep the phantom level as I walked.
- There were a few times where the Phantom was taken out from a warm room and put out to a cold field (not winter though). The camera fogged up for the first 2-3 minutes, but there were no incidences. thankfully.
- There was an area where the view of the sky was very limited... after waiting 5 minutes stuck with 3 satellites, I flew up and hovered to get the required satellites and register my home coordinate. I was ready to switch to ATTI if my Phantom pulled any shenanigans, thankfully it went as planned.

And a couple of days ago, I crashed my phantom from about 10ft.. (cause the strong wind blew a particularly long coconut tree leaf\branch toward my prop). That's my first crash after 50+ flights in the last 2 months of owning it. My heart sank when I saw white pieces flying away from my Phantom... turned out the camera just broke away cleanly and I could reassemble the whole thing in about 2 minutes.

I did a visual check, found out one of the propeller is torn, and just very minor nicks.. after replacing the propeller, I turned it on, didn't see any warnings... it didn't ask for a compass recalibration, so I didn't bother to recalibrate.. and I flew 4 more times that day without any incident.

Brb, let me go find a giant wood to knock on...
 
I think most of the time you'll be fine, but I couldn't afford to replace my Vision so I go by the precautionary principle... If I used it as a tool (for business, say) or knew I had cash for another one or two tucked away I'd probably take a few more short cuts. Although like you I don't calibrate the compass every flight. :)
 
LeoS said:
seajunky said:
It has to be said that its all to convenient to just dismiss this theory.Its about the only thing that could be going on. As an experiment what would happen if the landing gear was extended and the compass was put further away from the gps. The reason behind my thinking is that you don't hear so much about the larger hex's or quads doing fly aways.

It's the numbers.

Bigger drones are more expensive, requires more knowledge to purchase, build and operate, thus there are less of those in the wild.
Just about all of them are operated by much more experienced\knowledgeable person than these RTF phantoms.

Also, due to the target audience (professional, highend hobbyist, etc) and higher price, they get higher grade components and sometimes redundancy in their design.

So....

Expensive Big drone + NAZA... Flyaway...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW0hqzixwsk[/youtube]
 

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