Inspire 1 firmware 1.4 upgrade not working as advertised

[Raymondo]

Having updated everything, I flew several missions in the simulator to get familiar with the new modes - great. This morning I tried those modes in the real world, and they did not work as advertised. Also, towards the end I got a Ultrasonic Fail message in normal flight, telling me to land as soon as possible. 1) Track mode - sort of OK, but it drifts off course during the first pass, getting progressively worse as I repeat the move. 2) Home mode - flying away from home the controls seemed strange. Once I had returned home, I found that the left/right move on the right stick, was reversed. When I went back to P, it behaved correctly. 3) POI - this seems to work fine, though it drifts a bit. I would like an easy way to set Zero speed, so that if I control the speed manually, the bird will stop when I let go the controls. 4) Waypoints - Way Wrong. Very imprecise way points. Follow Track for the camera does not line up quickly as it does in the Simulator. Heights go all over the place. It came back to the final waypoint then raised up about 5M from where I had set it. Would like to be able to use the controller for the speed, rather than the on-screen slider.

 

[Scotflieger]

Having updated everything, I flew several missions in the simulator to get familiar with the new modes - great. This morning I tried those modes in the real world, and they did not work as advertised. Also, towards the end I got a Ultrasonic Fail message in normal flight, telling me to land as soon as possible. 1) Track mode - sort of OK, but it drifts off course during the first pass, getting progressively worse as I repeat the move. 2) Home mode - flying away from home the controls seemed strange. Once I had returned home, I found that the left/right move on the right stick, was reversed. When I went back to P, it behaved correctly. 3) POI - this seems to work fine, though it drifts a bit. I would like an easy way to set Zero speed, so that if I control the speed manually, the bird will stop when I let go the controls. 4) Waypoints - Way Wrong. Very imprecise way points. Follow Track for the camera does not line up quickly as it does in the Simulator. Heights go all over the place. It came back to the final waypoint then raised up about 5M from where I had set it. Would like to be able to use the controller for the speed, rather than the on-screen slider.

Remember the simulator is just that - a simulator. It represents the ideal world not necessarily what the I1 will do in the real world.

The Course Lock (you called track mode) and Home Lock modes can drift especially if you have not fully calibrated your RC. Any left/right input can be seen as drift. The Home Lock is not perfect. It takes its reference from when you make you input and tends to fly a tangent rather than fly at a constant distance from the Home Point (HP). Once you remove your stick input, it gets its bearing again. Remember that for both modes the left/right stick inputs are relative to the heading of the I1 and the HP to I1 axis respectively when you tap Apply. The beauty of these 2 modes is that you can spin the aircraft while keeping it on the same track. Try this, select Home Lock sending it flying away and put in a yaw input.

In POI mode the I1 will fly a perfect circle but the camera does drift with higher orbit speeds and bucks considerably in high winds (8-10m/s). It is no where near as accurate as Autopilot with its bespoke flight rules in maintaining subject lock.

I have found the Waypoint mode extremely accurate in track waypoints. It does, however, fly a curved path linking from one track to the next. It will also fly between the heights the aircraft was as each waypoint is set. If the 2 points are close together (min 5m) the height change can be dramatic. I have not seen the change in height at final waypoint you report.

 

[Raymondo]

Thanks for your extensive explanation. Some I understand, some I will have to experiment with.

I realise that the real world is different to the simulator, but expect some things to behave the same.

What calibration should I do apart from getting GPS lock, home set and compass calibrations? I do all this before any flight. (BTW do I have to redo the compass every time I change batteries in one session?)

With Home lock, how do I control the direction of the aircraft if yaw has no effect?

I really like Course Lock, especially being able to control yaw. This gives me shots that I would otherwise use a camera operator for. But, it does seem very sensitive to the slightest wind, and will progressively rotate the course axis if I go back and forth along it.

I really would like the waypoint mode to go from point to point. This is for overhead shots of cars and bikes following a road or track. A curved path is in danger of hitting objects to the side of the track. As home point is remembered so accurately, couldn't waypoints be accurate as well. The waypoint height feature is great for tracking up a hill, or to establish a particular viewpoint.

(would be nice to have a repeat feature for waypoints, rather than going through the menu to re-select the path just flown. Why can't the I1 go back near the start on a one-way waypoint set? It knows where it started)

Orbit was not flying a perfect circle even in Zero wind at very slow speed. Set about 8M up on a radius of 10M with slow manual speed control, or auto at about 0.7M/s, the POI moved to about 20% from one edge on one side of the circuit.

I will do some more tests.

Thanks again, Raymondo

 

[Scotflieger]

What calibration should I do apart from getting GPS lock, home set and compass calibrations? I do all this before any flight. (BTW do I have to redo the compass every time I change batteries in one session?)

As a once-only action (with a new aircraft or after updating the firmware), you should calibrate the IMU, compass and the RC stick and gimbal controls. Before flight, you need to confirm that the sensor values (IMU and compass) are with range (IMU = 0 or +/- 1 and compass X = 1350-1450 and Mod = 1450-1550 approx), that you have a stable GPS satellite count and aircraft position on the map. You will see on this forum that calibrating the compass is not recommended before every flight.

With Home lock, how do I control the direction of the aircraft if yaw has no effect? I really like Course Lock, especially being able to control yaw. This gives me shots that I would otherwise use a camera operator for. But, it does seem very sensitive to the slightest wind, and will progressively rotate the course axis if I go back and forth along it.

With Home Lock you use the right stick (in Mode 2) to move the aircraft away (stick forward) and towards (stick backward) the Home Point (HP). Moving the right stick left and right will move the aircraft left and right. These movements are regardless of which way the aircraft is pointing. If you find the inputs too sensitive then you need to set the RC gains to about 0.4. This will make it move controllable.

As home point is remembered so accurately, couldn't waypoints be accurate as well. The waypoint height feature is great for tracking up a hill, or to establish a particular viewpoint.

I have found the waypoint position and the aircraft's ability to fly via them very accurate. However, if there is a large change in the direction between waypoint tracks then the curved flight path connecting the 2 tracks will not pass through the waypoint. If you want to fly a tighter turn then use several waypoints near other.

(would be nice to have a repeat feature for waypoints, rather than going through the menu to re-select the path just flown. Why can't the I1 go back near the start on a one-way waypoint set? It knows where it started)

Yes it would.

Orbit was not flying a perfect circle even in Zero wind at very slow speed. Set about 8M up on a radius of 10M with slow manual speed control, or auto at about 0.7M/s, the POI moved to about 20% from one edge on one side of the circuit.

You might want to try a larger radius for a smoother orbit.

The best way to learn is to try out the options for yourself.