Flying Over Water with P3. Will ground avoidance system cope?

[ForegoneConclusion]

Hi
I'm an owner of a P2v+ and i think it rocks... but.... my eye has been caught by the obstacle avoidance system. I live on the coast of Wales .UK and the opportunities for beautiful scene capture are boundless.. we have cliffs, dunes, beaches of all sorts, old oak woodland etc.. I want to fly my drone through woodland out onto- more like over the estuary and up the creek to more woodland problem is.. i would probably crash it...or dunk it... Will the p3 help me realise my dream? Is it possible to set the drone to fly at say 1 m above ground level and then manoeuvre laterally manually? Should i trade in my p2 v+ or add to my fleet.... How have you P3 owners been getting on with the avoidance system,?

 

[RoyVa]

Sorry but it doesn't have any crash avoidance systems. None of these have that very expensive item. The main difference in the P3 is the vision Positioning system that gives better stability for hovering both indoors and out. Plus the 3 used two GPS positioning systems to help give it rock solid Global Positioning.
Some of the P3 owners can better discuss the pluses of that craft.

 

[EnronCEO]

Hi
I'm an owner of a P2v+ and i think it rocks... but.... my eye has been caught by the obstacle avoidance system. I live on the coast of Wales .UK and the opportunities for beautiful scene capture are boundless.. we have cliffs, dunes, beaches of all sorts, old oak woodland etc.. I want to fly my drone through woodland out onto- more like over the estuary and up the creek to more woodland problem is.. i would probably crash it...or dunk it... Will the p3 help me realise my dream? Is it possible to set the drone to fly at say 1 m above ground level and then manoeuvre laterally manually? Should i trade in my p2 v+ or add to my fleet.... How have you P3 owners been getting on with the avoidance system,?

I hear you can but it is not as stable as solid areas, a friend of mine showed me a trick where place a broom under the sonar and moved it around and it followed the broom. haha just a side note.

 

[ForegoneConclusion]

Thanks for the replies guys, I obviously misunderstood the technology, i thought the doppler system stopped you ploughing with it as well as enabling you to fly it indoors etc. Hey Enron , how do you get on with your p3? Why did you choose it over the P2 v+

 

[Fplvert]

The P3 looks like a P2V+, but that is about all they have in common.

I have both. I trust my Vision + much more since I've flown it almost a year. Never had any significant problems or crashes.

The P3 is much more powerful. The stability and speed is amazing. Lightbridge is super fast, and the range is estimated 1.2 miles! The camera has a flat lens, so better pictures and videos.

The DJI Pilot app is also very cool. It has features and settings I'm still finding, and I've flown 7 charge cycles 2.5 hours flying. It keeps track of everything! You can play back your video, your flight on Google Earth map, even your pictures without removing the sd card from the bird.

I will grow to trust the P3 over time, but until I get more than 1 battery, it probably won't be traveling extensively.

 

[ForegoneConclusion]

Thankyou again. So the positioning system doesn't prevent it from hitting the ground whilst moving, that is a shame. The rest of the rig sounds fantastic. I do get frustrated by the lens distortion on my v+ but on the flip side the bug count is low and the new apps appearing for it are really pushing the envelope

I see there is a start-up company that has made a retrofit shell and electronic add on that will fit the phantom which reportedly will prevent running into the ground or other solid objects... at a price of course. ebumper.. any thoughts? I doesnt mention water of course but ground avoidance is a big deal surely..

 

[Meta4]

I doesnt mention water of course but ground avoidance is a big deal surely..

I don't think ground avoidance is a big deal at all.
That's why the Phantom has 4 props - to keep it in the air and they do very well at it.
Collisions with the ground are rare for Phantoms unless they have serious problems that would defeat any collision avoidance system anyway.

Panoptes or ebumper will only work at low speeds and has a long way to go to be really useful for general flight.

DJI never suggested the VPS is for object avoidance.
Lots of real planes don't have any collision avoidance syatem so it's not unusual that the Phantom doesn't either.
Your disappointment with the VPS is because it doesn't come up to the expectations of your imagination rather than any deficiency with the system.
An understanding of what it is and what it does would be beneficial.

Outside the GPS system provides stability in flight but indoors this is not dependable. The VPS is to provide similar stability indoors where GPS reception is not an option. It has some limitations and these are explained in the manual.

 

[robinb]

I don't think ground avoidance is a big deal at all.
That's why the Phantom has 4 props - to keep it in the air and they do very well at it.
Collisions with the ground are rare for Phantoms unless they have serious problems that would defeat any collision avoidance system anyway.

Panoptes or ebumper will only work at low speeds and has a long way to go to be really useful for general flight.

DJI never suggested the VPS is for object avoidance.
Lots of real planes don't have any collision avoidance syatem so it's not unusual that the Phantom doesn't either.
Your disappointment with the VPS is because it doesn't come up to the expectations of your imagination rather than any deficiency with the system.
An understanding of what it is and what it does would be beneficial.

Outside the GPS system provides stability in flight but indoors this is not dependable. The VPS is to provide similar stability indoors where GPS reception is not an option. It has some limitations and these are explained in the manual.

Has yours arrived yet ?

 

[Meta4]

Has yours arrived yet ?

No ... I'll be discussing it with the dealer this week.

 

[robinb]

No ... I'll be discussing it with the dealer this week.

Urgggggggg !

Only good thing it is worth waiting for on the bright side

 

[ForegoneConclusion]

I don't think ground avoidance is a big deal at all.
That's why the Phantom has 4 props - to keep it in the air and they do very well at it.
Collisions with the ground are rare for Phantoms unless they have serious problems that would defeat any collision avoidance system anyway.

Panoptes or ebumper will only work at low speeds and has a long way to go to be really useful for general flight.

DJI never suggested the VPS is for object avoidance.
Lots of real planes don't have any collision avoidance syatem so it's not unusual that the Phantom doesn't either.
Your disappointment with the VPS is because it doesn't come up to the expectations of your imagination rather than any deficiency with the system.
An understanding of what it is and what it does would be beneficial.

Outside the GPS system provides stability in flight but indoors this is not dependable. The VPS is to provide similar stability indoors where GPS reception is not an option. It has some limitations and these are explained in the manual.

Ok. Fair play.

Thankyou for the wiki/ manual bit.

Now i understand what it was designed for and its limitations.

If there are any deficiencies it is in my understanding of the system. Thank you for politely pointing that out.!

I guess you have a point about the low ground collision incidences. I guess i have got into the mindset that the platform is so good and the automation so seamless for making filming a stress free activity that i had assumed ground avoidance would be on the list of "things to do" for later models like the p3 and when i saw vps on the p3 i got all excited..

Anyhow thankyou for letting me down gently and i look forward to hearing about your P3 s (assuming they get delivered...)