Flying without a cell phone connection

[Calsun]

I am just getting started and in many areas including where I live there is very poor or non-existent cell reception as it needs to be line of sight. Is there a real issue with NFZ and DJI drones and what are the best work arounds that others use?

I thought I could download maps from Google and use a GPS with Bluetooth to enable the iPad to determine its location, but I noticed that Google Maps when an area is downloaded provides a message stating that the download expires in 29 days.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[PaulSouthport]

You don't need cell service to fly.
If you are on new version of DJI Go (and firmware) make sure you log into DJI Go before you leave the house. You won't need to log in again until it asks you - 90 days I heard, but can't confirm.

Your phantom has GPS built in, you don't need GPS on the device, but it helps.

To put that in context, I fly with a iPad Air 2, wifi only, cache maps at home and it works great.

 

[John Locke]

I am just getting started and in many areas including where I live there is very poor or non-existent cell reception as it needs to be line of sight. Is there a real issue with NFZ and DJI drones and what are the best work arounds that others use?

I thought I could download maps from Google and use a GPS with Bluetooth to enable the iPad to determine its location, but I noticed that Google Maps when an area is downloaded provides a message stating that the download expires in 29 days.

Thanks for any advice.

Generally speaking weak cell areas have few NFZ's, but not always of course. If you're in a NFZ the best advice is don't fly there. If you download a map, you should be flying within 29 days, so what's the problem? Just download again if you have no cell coverage in the area.

You don't need a map to fly, it's a convenience. I fly all the times without the aid of a map, never had a problem. The problem is if your drone crashes, a map is helpful to find it. That's why I have Marco Polo on my craft.

 

[PaulSouthport]

....by the way, what device are you using? Android DJI Go (at least fairly recent version) use Here maps, not google maps. IOS DJI Go uses apple maps.

 

[Calsun]

My concern was in reading posts where people were unable to fly as the DJI controller thought they were in a no fly zone. In California the NFZ's are the air force bases and the major airports (those that actually have a manned control tower) and so it is usually obvious where not to fly to me but I have seen electronic devices that rely on data that is bad create problems as a result and this is a lot more common than some might think.

I had the GPS on my car direct me to a place where I could not go left or right or straight ahead without going into oncoming traffic. I made an illegal u-turn and was pulled over by a cop and when I said my GPS put me there he said it was not at all unusual for drivers relying on GPS in that area to get into this situation. People using GPS were usually sent to a spot that was 1/2 mile from my house when trying to navigate to it. The GPS databases use information recorded by people and input by people and in theory at least, verified by people.

Thanks for the tip on Marco Polo.

 

[PaulSouthport]

You can see the NFZ used by DJI here: DJI - Fly Safe: No Fly Zones

 

[Calsun]

Thanks Paul.

 

[jwt873]

FWIW, you don't need a device at all to fly. -- No phone or tablet needed. You can fold down the empty holder and take to the air just fine. Of course, there will be many functions you won't be able to access and you'll need to brush up on how to read the status LEDs under the motors so you know what the drone is thinking.

This leads me to believe that the NFZ coordinates are in the drone's firmware and not on the controller.

 

[Calsun]

As firmware updates are applied to the controller with DJI Go, I would expect that this device has the NFZ coordinates and not the drone. There is a lot that the drone CPU has to manage with respect to controlling the aircraft and the video feeds and I would expect that the DJI engineers would not add the NFZ verification function as well but let the controller take care of it.

I can understand the concern of DJI of getting sued if a drone took down an aircraft. The gun manufacturers induced Congress to give them a blanket exemption from any liability for the products they push without any though of safety issues. No such protection for the drone companies.

 

[ussvertigo]

FWIW, you don't need a device at all to fly. -- No phone or tablet needed. You can fold down the empty holder and take to the air just fine. Of course, there will be many functions you won't be able to access and you'll need to brush up on how to read the status LEDs under the motors so you know what the drone is thinking.

This leads me to believe that the NFZ coordinates are in the drone's firmware and not on the controller.

They are in the drone, I've wondered if P4 was on a litchi mission and mission goes beyond contact with controller(this is a what if now-no debating) and continues mission until hitting the nfz barrier, will it just hover until it runs out of gas. Will smart return to home kick in if activated?

 

[Calsun]

When starting to do the update for the DJI Assistant 2 firmware this notice was provided by DJI:

"After this update, your flight altitude and distance will be limited to 30 m and 50 m, respectively, if you start flying without first connecting to a DJI-compatible app and logging into your DJI account."

I would assume that to log into my DJI account I would need an internet connection, but this would need to be clarified by DJI. "DJI-compatible app" is also unnecessarily vague and so it may mean a version of DJI Go or it may mean a version of DJI Assistant but I do not know and I would not trust someone in tech support to know either for that matter.

So for the time being I am staying with the old version of software and frozen at this rev level and although there may be some important bug fixes or additional functionality I do not want to be unable to fly the drone if I cannot get a good 4G cell phone connection as this would eliminate 80% of the areas within 100 miles of my house and 95% of the places I would want to fly the drone..

 

[PaulSouthport]

Yes, you need to log into DJI Go, whilst connected to the internet.
You don't need to log in before each flight, just don't log out.

So, when you update the DJI Go app on your device, log in. You will already be connected to the internet, you wouldn't be able to update if you weren't.

 

[Calsun]

That means that I need each day to be at a location where I can make a 4G cell connection and then leave my phone on and the DJI Go app running the entire day.

For me the requirement to have a 4G cell connection for my smartphone precludes using the DJI drone in many areas where I travel in the USA, including my home state of California or even at my house in Monterey county, nor could I use the drone abroad (Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Cambodia, etc.). I can either stay at the current firmware level indefinitely and never apply an update with bug fixes or added functionality, or I can return the drone to where I purchased it and buy a drone from another company.

I know that with any tech support issue that when I contact DJI I will be asked if the drone is using the then current firmware version, and if not to first do the updates to see whether that fixes the problem, so not updating the new firmware means no future tech support from DJI.

I expect that the people at DJI are only familiar with urban areas where NFZ are important and 4G cell phone access is never a problem.

 

[PaulSouthport]

No, it doesn't.
You are over analysing it.
Update, log in. done. Forget about it, fly.

 

[Calsun]

Where I live in California there is no 4G cellular service at my house nor in most of the state if you are more than a few miles from a major highway, and this is the case in 90% of the areas where I would be wanting to fly the drone.

If I need to have a 4G cell connection for the smartphone and use DJI Go to login to the DJI server each day then I would need to drive to where there is an adequate 4G signal and do the update before using the drone. I would need to refer to a cell tower location map before making a trip with the drone.

I would also not be able to use the drone in most countries where I travel as 4G service is not available outside of the cities. This is the case even with Costa Rica which overall has better internet access than I find in California but where people are often unable to use Adobe Cloud applications as the connection latency prevents them from getting authenticated.

As my use is going to be 99% of the time in rural areas I need to buy a different drone and return the DJI P4P.

 

[PaulSouthport]

Again....
You do not need to log in every day. you do not need to log in before each flight.
You need to log in after you update the app. That is all.