GPS MISCONCEPTIONS

[msinger]

FWIW, I'd say about 95% of the crash stories I read on here over the past several months were told by people who either did not read the manual completely and/or did not understand how to fly their Phantom. I think people just like to blame their ignorance on "fly-aways".

 

[rbhamilton]

I had a drone go missing. I don't think it actually flew away so much as it disobeyed a direct order and landed in hostile territory. On top of a crazy mountain. I believe it was some sort of battery issue that forced it to land but I never really figured it out. I was very fortunate to get the drone back and only because I had an extra GPS tracker.

Fly-a-ways do happen. GPS mix-up's happen. Weird landings happen. Noob's smashing their done into trees and blaming DJI for a "fly-a-way" also happen.

Which one is most common? Hard to know.

 

[Prylar Bek]

Not angry But when guys like you don't take into consideration that there are CLEARLY some issues with the odd flight characteristics (e,g, FLYAWAYS) of theses birds ant to put all of them to "pilot error" or inability to differentiate the difference between modes, e.g. ATTI and GPS, it makes by blood boil. Now you may be an expert in flying these birds and may have never had a flyaway, but many, many have and its not because they didnt know that in ATTI mode the angle of flight is different!!!

 

[Prylar Bek]

many, many have and its not because they didnt know that in ATTI mode the angle of flight is different!!!

I never claimed(nor do I believe) that the tilt angle in ATTI contributes to flyaways. That's you not understanding all of the differences between flight modes. Linking to your previous ignorant comments was merely an example of folks who claim to have read the manual still not understanding how their Phantom works.

Having cleared that up for you, I do believe that the difference in behavior between GPS and ATTI mode does play a major role in many "flyaways" though.

p.s. Posting in all caps with numerous exclamation points sure makes it seem that you continue to be agitated and all worked up.

Well, I have wasted too much time on this thread and your arrogant and incorrect statements (opinions) on the causes of flyaways. i will let those who have experienced this re occurring phenomonom weigh in and state their thoughts. Suffice to say, not all of them can be attributed to not understanding the various flight modes as you describe them. Curious,do you work for DJI?

 

[N017RW]

"Fly away" is a verb not a noun.

The events which cause an r/c aircraft to seemingly fly away have been around before I began flying in the 70's.

The technology found in today's Flight Controllers and the self-hovering, GPS augmented, capabilities of multi-rotors has created a false sense of skill and security in many pilots who have never previously flown an r/c aircraft (or any r/c product for that matter).

I attribute my problem-free Phantom experiences to just that, experience.

No matter what you do for a living, hobby, etc. you know how experience can play into your level of success.

 

[IrishSights]

I don't know what history you 2 have had, but chill it. Keep the personal attacks to PM's if you must. Brawling in public is childish...meanwhile the crowd walk by shaking their heads.

Most claimed flyaways that I have helped diagnose here have nearly all been attributed to what can be loosely termed in a non derogatory sense 'pilot error ' there are a few that are not. Lets leave it at that.

As a footnote you can not have an 'incorrect opinion '... by the nature of the meaning of the word opinion, unless off course one is hyper arrogant.

This thread started as a good discussion, lets get back to it or end it.

 

[Prylar Bek]

True and agreed. What I meant to say was ..."incorrect assumptions"

 

[CapnBob]

Thank you. Childish posturing has no place here.

 

[erikgraham]

Alrighty then. Back to the original post.

I would just like to point out that while the number of satellites may vary, they don't vary by much. Maybe by 3 or 4 satellites at most throughout 24 hours. I have a version 2 and a Version 3 Vision+. With the two of them side by side, the Version 3 definetly sees more satellites. Usually about 3 or 4 more satalites (sometimes 5 or 6 more!)

It also seems to hold onto those satalites better, though I admit I haven't flown both together at the same time so it's impossible to say for sure, but It sure does "feel" like it holds onto more. Also, the Version 3 doesn't seem to drop satalites when the camera is turned on.

 

[paulajayne]

WRONG...there are folks who do follow and read the manual and still have flyaways...I figured you would have an asanine comment and you didnt disappoint! Besides the question wasn't directed at you it was for the OP...why don't you go troll somewhere where your comments are more valued.

A bit harsh I think.

 

[msinger]

erikgraham, did you do the copper foil mod on your version 2? That seemed to fix that issue on my Phantom.

 

[CapnBob]

Alrighty then. Back to the original post.

I would just like to point out that while the number of satellites may vary, they don't vary by much. Maybe by 3 or 4 satellites at most throughout 24 hours. I have a version 2 and a Version 3 Vision+. With the two of them side by side, the Version 3 definetly sees more satellites. Usually about 3 or 4 more satalites (sometimes 5 or 6 more!)

It also seems to hold onto those satalites better, though I admit I haven't flown both together at the same time so it's impossible to say for sure, but It sure does "feel" like it holds onto more. Also, the Version 3 doesn't seem to drop satalites when the camera is turned on.

I have seen a variation of as many as 6 satellites during the course of a day. I do not move the bird, and turn it on periodically to take stock.
Again, your mileage may vary, depending on terrain and man-made obstructions. Now, having said that, this is sitting on the ground, where most of us launch from. The number sats should increase with altitude, but sitting on the ground is where the bird gets it's reference.

The sat dropout with camera operation issue has been determined to be a GPS shielding issue on the earlier P2V+. Proper shielding on the upper airframe shell solves that problem.

 

[wildpalms]

A couple of things that I haven't seen mention of.

Whilst DJI says GPS it is almost certain that the receiver is not just GPS but includes GLONASS as well. Almost all receiver manufacturers have added it. It speeds up fix times for one thing making their goods more marketable.

As well as the number of satellites there is another number that is crucial but that doesn't get much mention. You will see it as a standard data parameter on more technically orientated devices and that is HDOP or the horizontal dilution of precision. For example you may see 4 satellites with good geometry and therefore high precision or you may still see 4 satellites but with poor geometry and therefore have poor precision. Urban environments for example may only let you see those directly over head (leading to poor precision).

This thread started out by mentioning the misconceptions of GPS. The biggest I see is that for a lot of the non technical users they think GPS is some magical bulletproof technology that offers amazing precision. It is not bulletproof and can have relatively poor precision.

 

[IrishSights]

Suffice to say, not all of them can be attributed to not understanding the various flight modes as you describe them.

Again, I mentioned four modes of failure, not one. Misquoting me repeatedly will not change that.

Curious,do you work for DJI?

No.

Curious,how long have you been struggling with your petulance?

Guys please take your squabbling off forum. This is not the place to have a scrap.

 

[Prylar Bek]

True Im not responding to him anymore.

 

[msinger]

Whilst DJI says GPS it is almost certain that the receiver is not just GPS but includes GLONASS as well.

It seems like this must be the case since people have reported seeing 12-13 satellites.

 

[N017RW]

No GLONASS.

The u-blox NEO-6 modules are GPS L1 only.

DJI currently uses the NEO-6Q variant.

 

[CapnBob]

Whilst DJI says GPS it is almost certain that the receiver is not just GPS but includes GLONASS as well.

It seems like this must be the case since people have reported seeing 12-13 satellites.

By itself, indicating 12-13 satellites doesn't necessarily mean it's GLONASS enabled.
The government is "committed to maintaining the availability of at least 24 operational GPS satellites, 95% of the time. "

There are actually 31 operational right now, if I'm not mistaken.

The GPS sats have PRN Numbers from 1-32. Anything else would be GLONASS.
It is possible to see a maximum of 16 GPS birds in a hemisphere.

 

[msinger]

By itself, indicating 12-13 satellites doesn't necessarily mean it's GLONASS enabled.

So, how do we figure out if it's GLONASS enabled?

 

[N017RW]

No GLONASS.

The u-blox NEO-6 modules are GPS L1 only.

DJI currently uses the NEO-6Q variant.