Indoor Swimming Pool flying

[AwesoM]

I have been asked to help do some filming in a indoor swimming pool facility. It is a olympic pool size and the height to the ceiling is at least 50 to 60 feet. Although the max would have to be about 25 feet since it has fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

The question is what mode (tripod?) and setting should I be using? Should I try to block the GPS on the Mavic?
I tried a quick test run today, it was receiving GPS on and off.. but mostly off, hence thinking of a blocker. Without GPS the max height is 15 feet (perfect for what we are trying to do). Issue is when i flew the length of the pool at one point it started to descend. I stopped the flight and it stopped and hovered and I raised the height again and brought it back. Any thoughts as to why it happened?

Thanks

 

[slimeray]

I've been seeing on here that the vision sensors don't do well at all over the water. That the reflective surface is confusing it.


I can see the earth rotating from up here!

 

[AwesoM]

I've been seeing on here that the vision sensors don't do well at all over the water. That the reflective surface is confusing it.


I can see the earth rotating from up here!

My worry of turning the vision sensor off that the mavic would not be able to hover in place.. any truth in that?

 

[Pushpak]

it was receiving GPS on and off.. but mostly off, hence thinking of a blocker. Without GPS the max height is 15 feet (perfect for what we are trying to do).

Thanks

Putting a copper tape over the GPS module (located at the rear end of Mavic) might most likely block the GPS signal, if that is what you want.

 

[gregw]

I have been asked to help do some filming in a indoor swimming pool facility. It is a olympic pool size and the height to the ceiling is at least 50 to 60 feet. Although the max would have to be about 25 feet since it has fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

The question is what mode (tripod?) and setting should I be using? Should I try to block the GPS on the Mavic?
I tried a quick test run today, it was receiving GPS on and off.. but mostly off, hence thinking of a blocker. Without GPS the max height is 15 feet (perfect for what we are trying to do). Issue is when i flew the length of the pool at one point it started to descend. I stopped the flight and it stopped and hovered and I raised the height again and brought it back. Any thoughts as to why it happened?

Thanks

Any problems when GPS goes on/off? If not, I'd suggest just leaving it unblocked. Since you seem to be experiencing uncommanded descend, I would suggest that you leave VPS off over the pool since this would probably be the sensor causing the problem. Note that this will mean that the Mavic will be in ATTI mode instead of P-OPTI mode. Also note that in ATTI mode with VPS off, max height will be 30 meters (98 feet) instead of 5 meters (16 feet), so you'll need to watch out for fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

ATTI mode means that you will need to counteract any movement in order to make the Mavic stop. e.g. Moving the Mavic forward will cause it to "coast" forward even if you let go of the stick. In order to make the Mavic stop, you will need to move the stick backwards to counter the momentum. At least since you're indoor, you won't have to worry about wind. Good thing about the Mavic is that even without GPS or VPS, it's got a barometer, meaning that it should still keep relatively level.

 

[Strafe1]

I have been asked to help do some filming in a indoor swimming pool facility. It is a olympic pool size and the height to the ceiling is at least 50 to 60 feet. Although the max would have to be about 25 feet since it has fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

The question is what mode (tripod?) and setting should I be using? Should I try to block the GPS on the Mavic?
I tried a quick test run today, it was receiving GPS on and off.. but mostly off, hence thinking of a blocker. Without GPS the max height is 15 feet (perfect for what we are trying to do). Issue is when i flew the length of the pool at one point it started to descend. I stopped the flight and it stopped and hovered and I raised the height again and brought it back. Any thoughts as to why it happened?

Thanks

I think you also want to set RTH to Hover, just in case!

 

[GerdS]

I have been asked to help do some filming in a indoor swimming pool facility. It is a olympic pool size and the height to the ceiling is at least 50 to 60 feet. Although the max would have to be about 25 feet since it has fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

If you are not very familiar with flying in Atti mode by training with other drones, you should not do this!
As you have seen already you cannot rely on GPS and optical sensors in this situation, so the Mavic will fall back into Atti mode sooner or later and not keep its position without heavy support by the pilot.
In this situation you cannot rely on any intelligent flight modes, even tripod mode. You will need the full sensitivity of your sticks to control your aircraft.

 

[Will.i.am]

At least when (if) you lose control, your Mavic will likely land in the water and not get smashed too bad. And it will be easy to find and recover for your DJI Care Refresh claim. I say go for it.

 

[AwesoM]

Any problems when GPS goes on/off? If not, I'd suggest just leaving it unblocked. Since you seem to be experiencing uncommanded descend, I would suggest that you leave VPS off over the pool since this would probably be the sensor causing the problem. Note that this will mean that the Mavic will be in ATTI mode instead of P-OPTI mode. Also note that in ATTI mode with VPS off, max height will be 30 meters (98 feet) instead of 5 meters (16 feet), so you'll need to watch out for fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

ATTI mode means that you will need to counteract any movement in order to make the Mavic stop. e.g. Moving the Mavic forward will cause it to "coast" forward even if you let go of the stick. In order to make the Mavic stop, you will need to move the stick backwards to counter the momentum. At least since you're indoor, you won't have to worry about wind. Good thing about the Mavic is that even without GPS or VPS, it's got a barometer, meaning that it should still keep relatively level.

When it has lost GPS it has just hovered with no issues. I will try to get back out there and turn VPS off and test it over the pool deck first (pretty large one)

 

[AwesoM]

At least when (if) you lose control, your Mavic will likely land in the water and not get smashed too bad. And it will be easy to find and recover for your DJI Care Refresh claim. I say go for it.

That was my thought as well. DJI refresh if something real bad happens.

 

[gregw]

When it has lost GPS it has just hovered with no issues. I will try to get back out there and turn VPS off and test it over the pool deck first (pretty large one)

One of the most important thing to do is to set RTH to hover, just in case the Mavic looses connection. There have already been a few cases where people have flown indoors, but set RTH to go up to the default 30 meters before returning home and have had their Mavics destroyed when it hit the ceiling on RTH.

Let us know how it goes...