Who's the WiFi Boss?

[Paulie1340]

I recently flew about 600 Meters away, lost the video feed, stopped, flew in reverse for a 200-300 meters so that I could see the drone, and was surprised that I had to bring it all the way home with no videoFPV feed.
(I have P3S, stock RC no embellishments, iPad Mini 4, flight control is with the Litchi app)

My understanding...the traffic that moves over the WiFi is of three types:

• Flight commands instructing the drone to take off, go forward, left, right, up, down, yaw left, etc. primarily goes from the remote control(basic stuff)--->drone or from the smartdeviceapp(complex movements, orbits, designed flight plans, etc)--->drone.
• Telemetry information, primarily flows from the drone back to the smartdeviceapp for display to the pilot.
• Video flows from the drone to the smartdeviceapp for display as the pilot's FPV. It can also be recorded along with the telemetry in the smartdevice's storage, does not require the WiFi.
• Video is also captured in the drone's camera on a MicroSD card for post processing after the flight and does not require the WiFi network.

Having said all that...

1. Is my understanding close?
2. When I fly far enough away to lose the video FPV feed (and am now blind), how do I get the video link to reestablish itself? I thought it would be automatic once I got the drone in closer.
3. Can I turn the RC OFF(which will cause RTH to start) and back ON in order to force the video connection to re-establish? Will I be able to reacquire control of the drone and interrupt the RTH?
4. Should I have put the iPad Mini 4 to sleep intending that the it would try to reestablish the video connection when it woke up.
5. Is there an entity on this WiFi network that's in charge of keeping things running properly? Who keeps the video link running?

Thanks for any guidance you might have for me.

 

[WilliamM]

I recently flew about 600 Meters away, lost the video feed, stopped, flew in reverse for a 200-300 meters so that I could see the drone, and was surprised that I had to bring it all the way home with no videoFPV feed.
(I have P3S, stock RC no embellishments, iPad Mini 4, flight control is with the Litchi app)

My understanding...the traffic that moves over the WiFi is of three types:

• Flight commands instructing the drone to take off, go forward, left, right, up, down, yaw left, etc. primarily goes from the remote control(basic stuff)--->drone or from the smartdeviceapp(complex movements, orbits, designed flight plans, etc)--->drone.
• Telemetry information, primarily flows from the drone back to the smartdeviceapp for display to the pilot.
• Video flows from the drone to the smartdeviceapp for display as the pilot's FPV. It can also be recorded along with the telemetry in the smartdevice's storage, does not require the WiFi.
• Video is also captured in the drone's camera on a MicroSD card for post processing after the flight and does not require the WiFi network.

Having said all that...

1. Is my understanding close?
2. When I fly far enough away to lose the video FPV feed (and am now blind), how do I get the video link to reestablish itself? I thought it would be automatic once I got the drone in closer.
3. Can I turn the RC OFF(which will cause RTH to start) and back ON in order to force the video connection to re-establish? Will I be able to reacquire control of the drone and interrupt the RTH?
4. Should I have put the iPad Mini 4 to sleep intending that the it would try to reestablish the video connection when it woke up.
5. Is there an entity on this WiFi network that's in charge of keeping things running properly? Who keeps the video link running?

Thanks for any guidance you might have for me.

The one glaring mistake is flight control is not part of Wi-Fi , it is a separate signal on a separate frequency. As far as reestablishing Wi-Fi for your video feed, that is hit-or-miss as far as it connecting or not. It is setup to reconnect on its own and usually does, but there's always that one time that it does not until you manually reestablish the connection.

 

[ArmyVet]

The one glaring mistake is flight control is not part of Wi-Fi , it is a separate signal on a separate frequency. As far as reestablishing Wi-Fi for your video feed, that is hit-or-miss as far as it connecting or not. It is setup to reconnect on its own and usually does, but there's always that one time that it does not until you manually reestablish the connection.

I find this to be a fascinating subject because I always want to know how or why my toys work.

Question, if the control is not associated with the WIFI, WHY won't my phantom fly without the camera and gimbal attached???

Thanks
Bill

 

[WilliamM]

I find this to be a fascinating subject because I always want to know how or why my toys work.

Question, if the control is not associated with the WIFI, WHY won't my phantom fly without the camera and gimbal attached???

Thanks
Bill

Never tried, maybe the RC needs the telemetry via the wifi signal, also the app on your device would not have much function without video or telemetry. But for sure control is a 5.8 GHz signal, and the connections for those antenna go to the main board in the drone's body.

 

[DanMan32]

Can't speak much for a P3S but a P3A can fly or at least power on normally without the gimbal, though it then reports to be a pro. When having taken apart the AC for motor and crack issues, I take off the gimbal before working on it and do a power on test before putting the top on.
I would be suprised that control would be on 5.8 since that attenuates easily with obstruction so you'd think that would go before video/telemetry. I had encountered a situation where I lost connection and waited 4 minutes to come back. Turned out I had control the whole time according to the DAT file, but TXT file said RC lost signal (video/telemetry)

 

[WilliamM]

For those in doubt about control at 5.8 GHz, read the last page.

 

[dirtybum]

It'll fly w/out a camera. But you can't bind a controller w/out a working cam so make sure a/c & r/c are already binded. You won't have any of the telemetry, you'll have to look at the rear LEDs and wait for them to blink green to know your GPS is ready, and that,in theory, should mean that it established a Home point. So you're flying pretty primitively, but it's doable

 

[Kmb]

DB is right! I recently bought a open box P3S without a camera cheap. Could not bind the bird. Bought a parts P3S. Put the camera on the open box bird. Works great! Just bought another P3S with only 1 hour total flight time on it that the camera gimbal mount broke off in a crash. Not a visible scratch on the camera. Got a good gimbal mount from the parts P3S. Fun stuff!

 

[ArmyVet]

Great Info Guys!!!!!!
I am working thru a P3S repair after a crash and symptoms really don't make a lot of sense without this kind of information.

Have fun!
Bill

 

[RodPad]

The one glaring mistake is flight control is not part of Wi-Fi , it is a separate signal on a separate frequency. As far as reestablishing Wi-Fi for your video feed, that is hit-or-miss as far as it connecting or not. It is setup to reconnect on its own and usually does, but there's always that one time that it does not until you manually reestablish the connection.

Yes, hit and miss.

Rod

 

[RodPad]

Question about Radio, uplink, downlink, frequency, & telemetry

Rod

 

[ArmyVet]

Question about Radio, uplink, downlink, frequency, & telemetry

Rod

Outstanding additional info!
Thanks
Bill

 

[Paulie1340]

OK, so I'm buying the "Hit or Miss" related to whether or not video will reestablish after dropping out. What ways are possible to force it to reinitialize/reestablish WHILE the drone is in the air? Is there a safe way to "jiggle the rabbit ears" and make the players reestablish?