Reverse track mode

[westcoast604]

Just wondering if this might be in the works at some point...

I recently moved up from my 3dr Solo to the mavic. I am loving the compactness and quick boot up compared to the solo. What I miss is the open architecture of the software.

There was a mode that allowed you to reverse track if signal was lost instead of the RTH feature we have. It's great if you accidentally got into an area of poor coverage. The drone would then stop, and reverse its track back until you had a solid connection again.

Do we have this ability? Is it available using other apps? I'm guessing not as it's something that has to be programmed to the onboard software.

Any thoughts?

Gary.

 

[msinger]

Do we have this ability? Is it available using other apps?

No.

 

[BD0G]

No. Not so that the Mavic follows the "exact" course that was flown to get to the point that you wanted it to fly back to you. There is Home Lock however that will fly the Mavic back to your set Home Point (during takeoff). It flys it bck to the home point in a straight line at the current altitude using just the right stick pulled backwards and held in that position. You really would not want to waste extra battery life by flying a zig-zag wonky course back to your home point. Especially in low battery (I gotta get back now) situations.

Addtionally, I saw a recent post that mentioned mapping one of the C buttons (C1 or C2) on the bottom of the Remote Controller to the Home Lock function which would be very quick and useful.

Press the C button assigned real quick and the right stick backwards and hold. Two steps and there is the Mavic returning and flying overhead.

 

[msinger]

No. Not so that the Mavic follows the "exact" course that was flown to get to the point that you wanted it to fly back to you. There is Home Lock however that will fly the Mavic back to your set Home Point (during takeoff).

The OP is referring to the path taken when RTH is initiated on remote controller signal loss. Home Lock is not going to help in that scenario.

 

[BD0G]

True Dat!

 

[SteveCA]

The inspire 2 has this feature. I see no reason why the Mavic and the Phantoms can't do this with new firmware. It is far safer and more reliable than simply elevating to a preset altitude and flying a straight line back. If DJI wants to reduce lost drones, which can be a hazard to people below, they will make this feature available in future firmware releases. In fact, it should be required on all drones to make the skies safer.

 

[msinger]

The inspire 2 has this feature. I see no reason why the Mavic and the Phantoms can't do this with new firmware.

The Phantom 4 Pro has that feature too.

 

[BD0G]

Battery life would be the only concern I would have in given scenarios.

If I am flying at 120 feet AGL and have my RTH set to 120 feet as well I would much prefer a straight line return path to conserve the Mavic's battery life and ensure that I am not forced to land due to low battery.

Have you seen some of the flight paths posted in flight data in which the pilot has been flying loop 'd loops of a flight path. Flying those specific paths back to Home Point seem like it may be much less efficient.

 

[msinger]

Have you seen some of the flight paths posted in flight data in which the pilot has been flying loop 'd loops of a flight path. Flying those specific paths back to Home Point seem like it may be much less efficient.

DJI aircraft are only programmed to retrace the previous flight path for 60 seconds. If the remote controller does not reconnect, they fly directly back to the home point.

 

[BD0G]

Now that appears to be a much better option. 60 seconds to reacquire GPS signal and orient itself seems very reasonable.

 

[msinger]

It won't help with the GPS signal. If GPS is not available when the remote controller signal is lost, the aircraft will auto land at its current location using the default settings in DJI GO.

 

[SteveCA]

Battery life would be the only concern I would have in given scenarios.

If I am flying at 120 feet AGL and have my RTH set to 120 feet as well I would much prefer a straight line return path to conserve the Mavic's battery life and ensure that I am not forced to land due to low battery.

Have you seen some of the flight paths posted in flight data in which the pilot has been flying loop 'd loops of a flight path. Flying those specific paths back to Home Point seem like it may be much less efficient.

The track back feature is the fastest way to regain signal in which case you can regain control and fly it back yourself. Additionally, if you are that low on batteries, the smart RTH would likely have already kicked in before losing signal. There are just too many ways for RTH to result in a lost drone. For example: 1. elevating while under a tree. 2. inability to fly a straight line home due to obstacles, in which case it sits until the batteries run out and auto lands. Yeah I know that if you set the RTH high enough, that wont be a problem but how many pilots consistently remember to adjust their RTH altitude before every flight? My main desire is to regain signal ASAP after a lost signal and that is best achieved with a track back feature.

BTW, my Mavic consistently overstates altitude by as much as 60 feet (others have reported the same thing, one resulting in a crash with a tree that was well below his RTH height). Helping the pilot regain signal quickly should be very high on DJI's priority list imho... and apparently it is with the Inspire 2 and the P4 Pro. hopefully our Mavics will get this feature soon.

 

[westcoast604]

="hopefully our Mavics will get this feature soon.

I second that! I think it would be a great feature for the Mavic to initially try to regain a loss of signal. And as you stated earlier if after 60 secs of back tracking, no joy, then initiate an RTH.