Perimeter scan in Autopilot

Oyibo VFX · Jul 15, 2019

Donnie Frank · Jul 16, 2019

As an interesting side note with Autopilot...

I have observed that a dubious VIDEO connection will cause erroneous flight behavior! This is demonstrated in your video with the red vs. orange drone (arrow) icons.

Two days ago I was flying a construction shoot. This is downtown where there is a LOT of WiFi (Microwave) interference.

Upon launching I immediately noticed that video reception was horrid. I usually find a good channel in the Go App BEFORE I launch, but had forgotten to do so on this day. I thought, "What the hell...the entire flight is Line of Sight, so having great video feed isn't a huge priority." So I allowed my Inspire 1 to take off and head to the first waypoint. Upon starting the mission, I immediately noticed for the first time ever that the normally orange arrow icon in Autopilot had a red shadow. Interesting! I allowed the flight to continue. Within a couple seconds I observed that the flight behavior of my Inspire 1 was very erratic. It would stop for a second, then start, then stop and start. This is no good, because I was taking video, which needs to be smooth. And as I'm sure you're aware, during these types of missions the tablet becomes the Flight Controller. So poor signal would naturally disrupt operations. What I did NOT know was that, apparently, Autopilot uses the video channel to control the UAS. So weak video signal has a profound effect on mission performance.

I decided to let the short mission complete so I could further observe this anomaly. Sure enough, the worse the video reception got (dropped frames), the more erratic the Inspire 1 flew. The red icon seemed to indicate where the Inspire SHOULD be in space, while the orange icon indicated where the Inspire ACTUALLY was in space. Interesting!

I landed, closed Autopilot and opened the Go App. Though I had 5 bars of reception strength throughout the entire flight, I observed MASSIVE interference in the Go App's "HD" page. This interference was on almost every channel! Fortunately I have employed the 32 channel hack, and was able to find clear channels at the extreme low end of the spectrum. The center 8 channels that DJI normally allows (13-20) were littered with interference. Channels 1, 2 and 3 suffered the least interference, with channel 1 showing the most promise. So I reset the bird to channel 1 and re-flew the flight. Sure enough, the Inspire 1 flew perfectly (as she always has), and the red "shadow" icon was gone.

I notice the same correlation in your video, around the 8 minute mark. The more dropped frames your video feed suffers, the more your Mavic seems to drift off course.

I've been using Autopilot for about 2 years. In all that time I always remembered to check for WiFi interference prior to flight. Two days ago was the first time I had forgotten to do this. The results are pretty amazing.

Keep up the good work.

UPDATE: I had forgotten that I had recorded an iPad video to demonstrate the value of the 32-channel hack. So here it is:

D

Oyibo VFX · Jul 17, 2019

First, you are correct about the difference between a red and orange arrow.
About your reception, the image you receive on your device has nothing to do with the quality of images you record on your UAV (MicroSD or SSD)
DJI is vulnerable for WiFI disturbance but besides effecting the distance, I have had no negative influence so far (except with the Spark).

Donnie Frank · Jul 17, 2019

Oyibo VFX said:
First, you are correct about the difference between a red and orange arrow.

Good to know. 2 years of using Autopilot, last week was the first time seeing that red arrow.

Oyibo VFX said:
About your reception, the image you receive on your device has nothing to do with the quality of images you record on your UAV (MicroSD or SSD)

To be clear, I didn't say it did. The bird kept stopping and starting, which effects the quality of the POI video. This is a cinema issue, not a digital issue.

Oyibo VFX said:
DJI is vulnerable for WiFI disturbance but besides effecting the distance, I have had no negative influence so far (except with the Spark).

The "negative influence" was the bird stopping and starting during flight. I made a video to demonstrate.

D

Oyibo VFX · Jul 17, 2019

OK. I noticed the same but not as bad as yours. And the 32 hack disqualifies your warranty. Be careful

Donnie Frank · Jul 17, 2019

Oyibo VFX said:
And the 32 hack disqualifies your warranty. Be careful

Why would modifying the Go app disqualify a warranty?

1) How would the factory know that you flew your bird with a modified Go app?? How do they know you weren't using a third-party waypoint app? Does this mean that ALL third-party apps disqualify the warranty?

2) I've seen dozens of log files from Flight Controllers AND iPads. As comprehensive as these log files are are, I've yet to see a field that indicates which HD channel the bird was using. Can you show me that?

3) My Inspire 1 has been out of warranty for quite some time (I have mentioned my bird by name at least 4 times in this thread).

Sorry if my comments sound snarky, but erroneous statements tend to get under my skin. I don't know who told you about this "void warranty" crap, but they are wrong. And if you're going by the word of DJI support, well then I have a bridge I'd like to sell ya. I'd want to see something like that in writing.

My P4P suffered 2 crashes last year due to faulty props. There were no Go 4 app log files because I wasn't using the Go App. The bird was flying waypoint flights using Map Pilot. DJI warranted my P4P both times. The first was a factory warranty and the second was via Care Refresh.

Please show me where using third-party apps or modified apps void ANY DJI product.

D

jameyho · Jul 20, 2019

Do you have a good tutorial for the inspire 1 and the 32ch hack? I’ve tried a couple of times. I must be doing something wrong or I’m on the wrong firmware. I am in the latest firmware, do I need to rollback to a specific ver to be able to do it?

Donnie Frank · Jul 20, 2019

jameyho said:
Do you have a good tutorial for the inspire 1 and the 32ch hack?

I do not because it would involve cascading support. Unfortunately, the hack is a multi-layered process that I know works with my App versions, which I know works with my legacy iOS versions, which I know works with my legacy iTunes versions. Most guys don't utilize the power of legacy apps, programs and firmware. They just update everything willy-nilly. The hack may or may not work on these contemporary versions of the apps. I CAN, however, get you started on the right path.

jameyho said:
I’ve tried a couple of times. I must be doing something wrong or I’m on the wrong firmware.

I don't THINK the firmware version matters, as you should see the hack in the app without ever connecting to a UAV.

Here's a screen shot of the Go App with no UAV or RC connection:

jameyho said:
I am in the latest firmware, do I need to rollback to a specific ver to be able to do it?

I don't know if a firmware roll back is necessary for the hack to work, but I can say unequivocally that using the latest firmware versions throttle back your video feed.

The 32 channel hack is achieved by copying a hacked version of the .DJI.configs file to the root directory of the app. Normally this is done in legacy iTunes v12.5.4.42. But as of the latest iOS version (v12.3.xx), legacy iTunes no longer works. So I've had to use a third-party app call iMazing. I use the paid version.

Beware that iMazing looks different from iTunes, in that they have created a "Documents" directory which is ACTUALLY the root directory. If one doesn't know this, one can be confused as to where to copy the .DJI.configs file.

If you have an iPad with iOS 12.1.xx or earlier, you can use legacy iTunes. I was forced into iOS 12.3.xx on my new Gen 3 Air pro, as that is what it came installed with, and there is no option to roll back. I did some LIMITED research on the subject and simply found it easier to use iMazing than to try to roll back the Gen 3 iPad.

Do your Google / YouTube research and let me know how far you get. If I see you've done your due diligence, I'll help fill in the gaps.

D

jameyho · Jul 21, 2019

Donnie Frank said:
I do not because it would involve cascading support. Unfortunately, the hack is a multi-layered process that I know works with my App versions, which I know works with my legacy iOS versions, which I know works with my legacy iTunes versions. Most guys don't utilize the power of legacy apps, programs and firmware. They just update everything willy-nilly. The hack may or may not work on these contemporary versions of the apps. I CAN, however, get you started on the right path.

I don't THINK the firmware version matters, as you should see the hack in the app without ever connecting to a UAV.

Here's a screen shot of the Go App with no UAV or RC connection:

View attachment 26040

I don't know if a firmware roll back is necessary for the hack to work, but I can say unequivocally that using the latest firmware versions throttle back your video feed.

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The 32 channel hack is achieved by copying a hacked version of the .DJI.configs file to the root directory of the app. Normally this is done in legacy iTunes v12.5.4.42. But as of the latest iOS version (v12.3.xx), legacy iTunes no longer works. So I've had to use a third-party app call iMazing. I use the paid version.

View attachment 26041

Beware that iMazing looks different from iTunes, in that they have created a "Documents" directory which is ACTUALLY the root directory. If one doesn't know this, one can be confused as to where to copy the .DJI.configs file.

If you have an iPad with iOS 12.1.xx or earlier, you can use legacy iTunes. I was forced into iOS 12.3.xx on my new Gen 3 Air pro, as that is what it came installed with, and there is no option to roll back. I did some LIMITED research on the subject and simply found it easier to use iMazing than to try to roll back the Gen 3 iPad.

Do your Google / YouTube research and let me know how far you get. If I see you've done your due diligence, I'll help fill in the gaps.

D

Last time I tried, I had been trying to use a Mavic walkthru, thinking I should be able to figure out the differences easily, but then I fell down the firmware rollback rabbit hole and ran out of time to do anything at all. I should have some time this week to work on this, and if I run into issues again, I'll post up my results/issues and see if you can show me the step i missed. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Donnie Frank · Jul 21, 2019

jameyho said:
Last time I tried, I had been trying to use a Mavic walkthru, thinking I should be able to figure out the differences easily, but then I fell down the firmware rollback rabbit hole and ran out of time to do anything at all.

Set aside an entire day for this stuff. There are no quick fixes here.

jameyho said:
I should have some time this week to work on this, and if I run into issues again, I'll post up my results/issues and see if you can show me the step i missed.

You bet. Just keep in mind that my instructions and advice are based on the Inspire 1 platform. It's all different for Mavic. Because this is the Inspire forum, I assume that this is the UAV we're talking about. The fact that you are on FW v11.xx leads me to believe that you ARE talking about your Inspire 1.