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Pushing Distance to the Limit

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Apr 24, 2015
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I'm trying to push the limit on the distance for a one-way flight with my Inspire 1. I have seen some impressive posts with some incredible distances, but the drones are always being returned to where they started. I want to do the opposite by sending the drone as far as it can go without returning to the starting point.

To give a little bit of background, I have a friend who has an Inspire 1 and who introduced me to this very fun hobby! He has been following some forums and installed a set of aftermarket antennas on his remote control. He mentioned that some people have have been able to keep signal with their Inspire 1 up to six miles away. Whether it's true or not, it got the wheels turning in my head.

With some rough math and knowing the average life of a single battery charge, I believe that the Inspire 1 should be able to fly five or six miles without an issue. Ideally, I'd like to set a home point for the drone, take it a long way away from that location while turned on, and simply send it home via the remote. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work that way because it is my understanding that the home point of the drone is set when the motors are started. I don't have any interest in transporting the drone while the motors are running.

Other than taking the remote as far away as possible without losing signal, starting the motors, and triggering the Return to Home command with the controller's location set as home, are there any other ways to accomplish this? I'm honestly not concerned about not making it and landing in a parking lot or something. I would love to film six miles of autopilot footage and just sit back and watch technology do its thing.

Any thoughts would be appreciated! Thank you for your time!
 
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......I'm honestly not concerned about not making it and landing in a parking lot or something. I would love to film six miles of autopilot footage and just sit back and watch technology do its thing.
With people getting out of their cars? Or maybe it would come down on a road/freeway...or a school....or through someone's windscreen.....or maybe even just come down in a crowd of people and cause severe injury?
Your first post on the forum and one of the most irresponsible attitudes I have heard with regards to multi rotor flying.
Whilst everyone is free to destroy their own property and waste their own money, we are also a public forum and are here to try and educate, share experiences and help people and promote safe flying for both the user and the general public.
What you are suggesting is both dangerous and stupid.

The Editor - Forum Moderator.
 
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Hey burowyako..
Welcome to the forum!!
Interesting idea..
The max control range of the option 2 fpvlr antennas are said to be good for up to 6 miles or so but the inspire 1 can reach 7 to 8 miles on a tb48..
You'll need to find a place ,way out in the sticks ,and take off from one point and land in another unless you have a co pilot..
Or if you wanted you could fly to a spot and have your co pilot change out that battery and fly back..
Or have him be however far away you wanted and start it up so you can fly back..
I could see this working out at Bonneville this year if I'm able to get funding..the course is 5 miles long..
Just some food for thought..
Good luck in your adventure!!
Turbo...
 
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With people getting out of their cars? Or maybe it would come down on a road/freeway...or a school....or through someone's windscreen.....or maybe even just come down in a crowd of people and cause severe injury?
Your first post on the forum and one of the most irresponsible attitudes I have heard with regards to multi rotor flying.
Whilst everyone is free to destroy their own property and waste their own money, we are also a public forum and are here to try and educate, share experiences and help people and promote safe flying for both the user and the general public.
What you are suggesting is both dangerous and stupid.

The Editor - Forum Moderator.

I've been reading the other threads that Joola pointed me to and I can see that these kinds of conversations can go the wrong direction in a hurry.

By all means, I wasn't implying that I'm not worried about hurting others or having things go wrong in that kind of way. I was trying to make it a point that I am ok with the device having to land somewhere else if it couldn't make it as far as I wanted. I would definitely want to have control of the device and know its location at all times for several reasons, safety included.

Hey burowyako..
Welcome to the forum!!
Interesting idea..
The max control range of the option 2 fpvlr antennas are said to be good for up to 6 miles or so but the inspire 1 can reach 7 to 8 miles on a tb48..
You'll need to find a place ,way out in the sticks ,and take off from one point and land in another unless you have a co pilot..
Or if you wanted you could fly to a spot and have your co pilot change out that battery and fly back..
Or have him be however far away you wanted and start it up so you can fly back..
I could see this working out at Bonneville this year if I'm able to get funding..the course is 5 miles long..
Just some food for thought..
Good luck in your adventure!!
Turbo...

The FPVLR antennas are exactly what my friend has and he loves them. I would love to get some one day but am going to stick with my stock antennas for now.

I'm simply trying to stretch the limits of the device with a one-way flight instead of requiring it to return. With or without third party antennas, are there any ideas of how to accomplish this using the RTH command? I'd like to be able to do this without requiring me to use the remote the entire time. I'll obviously need to be within signal range to know its location, battery life and so on, but I'd like to watch it fly itself as much as possible rather than requiring me to keep it moving forward the entire time.

Thank you for your help!
 
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I've been reading the other threads that Joola pointed me to and I can see that these kinds of conversations can go the wrong direction in a hurry.

By all means, I wasn't implying that I'm not worried about hurting others or having things go wrong in that kind of way. I was trying to make it a point that I am ok with the device having to land somewhere else if it couldn't make it as far as I wanted. I would definitely want to have control of the device and know its location at all times for several reasons, safety included.



The FPVLR antennas are exactly what my friend has and he loves them. I would love to get some one day but am going to stick with my stock antennas for now.

I'm simply trying to stretch the limits of the device with a one-way flight instead of requiring it to return. With or without third party antennas, are there any ideas of how to accomplish this using the RTH command? I'd like to be able to do this without requiring me to use the remote the entire time. I'll obviously need to be within signal range to know its location, battery life and so on, but I'd like to watch it fly itself as much as possible rather than requiring me to keep it moving forward the entire time.

Thank you for your help!
Thank you for your response which is noted.......
What you are asking for is waypoint flying which is not currently available on the Inspire platform.
This would give you the autonomous flight you are seeking.
 
I've been reading the other threads that Joola pointed me to and I can see that these kinds of conversations can go the wrong direction in a hurry.

By all means, I wasn't implying that I'm not worried about hurting others or having things go wrong in that kind of way. I was trying to make it a point that I am ok with the device having to land somewhere else if it couldn't make it as far as I wanted. I would definitely want to have control of the device and know its location at all times for several reasons, safety included.



The FPVLR antennas are exactly what my friend has and he loves them. I would love to get some one day but am going to stick with my stock antennas for now.

I'm simply trying to stretch the limits of the device with a one-way flight instead of requiring it to return. With or without third party antennas, are there any ideas of how to accomplish this using the RTH command? I'd like to be able to do this without requiring me to use the remote the entire time. I'll obviously need to be within signal range to know its location, battery life and so on, but I'd like to watch it fly itself as much as possible rather than requiring me to keep it moving forward the entire time.

Thank you for your help!
Im really not sure if you could launch from a distance or not..
If you don't have your inspire in direct los you probably won't get a signal so your idea probably won't work..
Max range of stock antennas is around 3 miles in optimal conditions,but that would be at 400 ft altitude.. I don't recommend flying over 400 agl..
I don't fly over 400 agl at any time!!
Looks like your not going to be able to accomplish what your after..
But it got me thinking..
Happy flying..
Tuebo
 
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Thank you for your response which is noted.......
What you are asking for is waypoint flying which is not currently available on the Inspire platform.
This would give you the autonomous flight you are seeking.

I haven't experimented with this much, but am I correct that the home location of the aircraft is set after the motors are started? I'm familiar with the waypoint flying and am anxious for when that feature comes, but I'm wondering if there is a way to accomplish this with the features that are available today.

As mentioned in my first post, my first thought was to turn the device on (without the motors started), move it to a new location and then send it home. This won't work if the location isn't set until the motors are started. A second thought is to start it from a far distance, set the controller as the home point, return it to home, and then move the controller to a new location farther away. Will this possibly accomplish what I'm after? I guess I'm not sure if the location of the remote dynamically updates.

Im really not sure if you could launch from a distance or not..
If you don't have your inspire in direct los you probably won't get a signal so your idea probably won't work..
Max range of stock antennas is around 3 miles in optimal conditions,but that would be at 400 ft altitude.. I don't recommend flying over 400 agl..
I don't fly over 400 agl at any time!!
Looks like your not going to be able to accomplish what your after..
But it got me thinking..
Happy flying..
Tuebo

For this test, I imagine that 200 feet would be more than enough. I would increase the altitude if necessary to help improve the signal if needed. My thought is to have signal with the device but let it fly on its own. Yes, a flight a mile out and a mile back is a two-mile flight, but for some reason I like the idea of going two miles (or whatever distance) in one direction. It's entertaining to me for some reason.
 
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Not currently, no. Dynamic Home Point is not working correctly on the current firmware (weak GPS error) which is being addressed.
 

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