Restricted Zones - Jammers?

[spazmonaut]

Hi there - just wondering if anyone has encountered is scenario whereby you drone has behaved with a mind of its own, only to respond lightly to your RC commands whilst in a restricted zone? - I kind of, sort of, accidentally, maybe, flew a little over a boundary into one with a military base nearby (I assume that's the reason for restrictions). Anyway, over 20 second period, and a lifetime, I managed to narrowly avoid the trees it seemed to be so keen on crashing into ad wrestled it back to a safe landing. 3 seconds after touchdown, a helicopter flew overhead and appeared to hold a fleeting moment of interest.

So, yes, I'm an idiot, learnt my lesson and will be much more astute re: zones. But has anyone else encountered this? Or know of instances that are fairly undeniable? (Jammers that is - wether their intent is to startle or destroy)

Cheers.

 

[Meta4]

Hi there - just wondering if anyone has encountered is scenario whereby you drone has behaved with a mind of its own, only to respond lightly to your RC commands whilst in a restricted zone? - I kind of, sort of, accidentally, maybe, flew a little over a boundary into one with a military base nearby (I assume that's the reason for restrictions). Anyway, over 20 second period, and a lifetime, I managed to narrowly avoid the trees it seemed to be so keen on crashing into ad wrestled it back to a safe landing. 3 seconds after touchdown, a helicopter flew overhead and appeared to hold a fleeting moment of interest.

So, yes, I'm an idiot, learnt my lesson and will be much more astute re: zones. But has anyone else encountered this? Or know of instances that are fairly undeniable? (Jammers that is - wether their intent is to startle or destroy)

You would not be able to fly over the boundary of any DJI enforced NFZ. It would be like bumping into an invisible wall.
It's highly unlikely that any jamming was involved in what you observed.
If jamming was employed, it would most likely swamp your control signal which would initiate RTH.
The helicopter probably had no idea of your presence.
If you want to find out what actually happened, the solution is probably to be found in your flight data.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

 

[DOC 1500]

I had something similar, I was up in Massachusetts at a motel, within a half-mile of a very small Air Force Base. I just wanted to fly around the parking lot just to do some practice without the screen. Really no higher than about 30 ft. Turned on the AC turned on the RC and my viewing screen lit up like a Christmas tree.
Asked me a ton of questions that I had to respond to because each pop-up would not let me X out of it. Out behind the hotel was an open
field / Marsh flying at no more than 25 ft AGL was getting all kinds of warnings. I was flying below tree levels that surrounded the marsh.
Similar coincidence or not after I landed a helicopter did fly over.
Believe me I won't be flying there again.

 

[Ripper7620]

Sorry I cannot get a better picture, but there’s this on the back of my RC

 

[sar104]

Sorry I cannot get a better picture, but there’s this on the back of my RCView attachment 99085

That doesn't mean what you think it means - it is simply a labeling requirement of 47 CFR 15.19 (a) (3) for RF devices subject to certification.

 

[spazmonaut]

You would not be able to fly over the boundary of any DJI enforced NFZ. It would be like bumping into an invisible wall.
It's highly unlikely that any jamming was involved in what you observed.
If jamming was employed, it would most likely swamp your control signal which would initiate RTH.
The helicopter probably had no idea of your presence.
If you want to find out what actually happened, the solution is probably to be found in your flight data.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

Hey there, thank you for the info, knowledge and thoughts on this. After the incident I used my AirData subscription to produce a very comprehensive look at that flight. Nothing out of the ordinary other than a warning just prior to landing that it was going to RTH based on battery charge (and I assume the calculated distance required to land back at home point with that charge). However I was still at 90+% (echoed in the report), about 30mtrs away, and the RTH didn’t occur.

I poured over all the stats looking for anything even slightly odd. The battery was the only dataset drawing attention with the many voltage increases experienced inflight of 16v or over.

I then compared those records to many other flights ranging over one year (using the identical report styles). Voltage increases of 16v and over were very common in every flight I reviewed with all three batteries I have and all combinations. So it appears that it isn’t a battery issue at the root.

And over all of this time, I only occasionally got the colour coded warnings from the AirMap summary graphics page, which wasn’t indicating such high increases (ie purple). It was only when I recently checked the comprehensive AirData reports with higher scrutiny that led me to the findings of an apparent systemic issue over the entire lifetime of the device regarding voltage.

Given that I haven’t had a single glitch in the year of ownership, I guess I buried my head in the sand over the past week or so, but I should seek advice on this. Anything off the top of your head?

Cheers.

 

[Nightwolf]

The airdata is not as comprehensive as the folks here can get. Upload your logs as suggested and the data miners here can help figure out what happened. Before it happens again.

 

[spazmonaut]

You would not be able to fly over the boundary of any DJI enforced NFZ. It would be like bumping into an invisible wall.
It's highly unlikely that any jamming was involved in what you observed.
If jamming was employed, it would most likely swamp your control signal which would initiate RTH.
The helicopter probably had no idea of your presence.
If you want to find out what actually happened, the solution is probably to be found in your flight data.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.

ok, cheers, here it is
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[sar104]

ok, cheers, here it is
DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

I'm not seeing the problem that you describe in the log data. Right at the end you were fighting against obstacle avoidance braking but, other than that, the aircraft appears to have responded appropriately to stick inputs.

 

[Imf44]

Hi there - just wondering if anyone has encountered is scenario whereby you drone has behaved with a mind of its own, only to respond lightly to your RC commands whilst in a restricted zone? - I kind of, sort of, accidentally, maybe, flew a little over a boundary into one with a military base nearby (I assume that's the reason for restrictions). Anyway, over 20 second period, and a lifetime, I managed to narrowly avoid the trees it seemed to be so keen on crashing into ad wrestled it back to a safe landing. 3 seconds after touchdown, a helicopter flew overhead and appeared to hold a fleeting moment of interest.

So, yes, I'm an idiot, learnt my lesson and will be much more astute re: zones. But has anyone else encountered this? Or know of instances that are fairly undeniable? (Jammers that is - wether their intent is to startle or destroy)

Cheers.

I had that happen to me,but just the video cut when i was like 12m away from me, i live next to a Casino(in spanish bc i dont know the word in english),the drone wifi just dissapeared,i landed then i restarted the drone and remote,it was perfectly good after

 

[Techguy56]

I read somewhere that Clark Kent is suggesting a No Fly Zone near the Daily Planet.
Not sure why.

 

[Karlos-Kydd]

Back in Sept. 2014 I was flying my P2 Vision+ at a small public park about a mile from Fort Meade, MD which also happens to be the NSA headquarters. I kept the altitude to under 100 feet and mostly was just doing figure-eight loops over the baseball fields. I don't know how developed the DJI firmware was about NFZ's back then, but I did noticed some quirky behavior --- such as odd warning messages popping up on the app and the bird itself doing weird dips and motor revs for no reason. It was really spooky stuff so I only stuck around for about 10 minutes and then left.

As I was packing up the bird, I noticed a cop car pull into the parking lot of the park and just watch me. Not sure if he was "triggered" by my drone flying but it did seem strange that appeared only minutes after I had the bird in the air. To this day, I don't know if he was just doing a routine patrol or did my Phantom pop up on the Fort Meade radars, which I have to assume are more sensitive and sophisticated than most military bases because the NSA is there?

 

[NetDep]

OMG!!!

Just looked at your flight log!! Did you see the crop circles?? Aliens took over your drone out of curiosity.....

You're welcome!!

 

[Daasmangi]

Hi Everyone
I’ve tried flying within the airport area and my AC will not fly.. an error message saying Aircraft cannot fly.. in red appears on the screen
Cheers
Daasmangi

 

[Juiceguy]

I start all missions with DJIGo to set exposures, and then switch to FPV Camera or something else. When my mission is complete, I often try to restart DJIGo. Sometimes, my P4P refuses to listen to my controller even after I switch from P to A and back. I pull the cord out of my IPad and then replug it in. I used to think it was a bad cord, but have upgraded the cord several times and the procedure has saved my butt several times. Try it! what can you lose?

 

[Chris Abram]

I have got used to taking my lead out of the controller and then plugging it in. Nothing wrong with the lead but whenever I get "Disconnected" showing on my Ipad that is the problem.
PS Read my definitive post on taking a drone to Turkey and the incompetence of London Embassy/Consulate