Air 2s, too "Satellite hungry"?

[pilifida]

Hello all. i have flown a P3S, a MP1 and now an air 2s.

At P3S - the drone needed about 6 GPS Satellites to lock on.
MP1 needed about 8 satellites.
A2s needs at least 12 satellites to lock on. also if i am flying with plenty of satellites, and then i lower the drone in a valley and i drop to 10 satellites, it automaticaly says: NO GPS. with TEN SATELLITES!!!. Does your birds behave the same how come 10 satellites are not enough to safely fly, when my standard and MP1 did ok with 6 satellites after lock on?

 

[Meta4]

Hello all. i have flown a P3S, a MP1 and now an air 2s.

At P3S - the drone needed about 6 GPS Satellites to lock on.
MP1 needed about 8 satellites.
A2s needs at least 12 satellites to lock on.

Your P3 Standard was only able to receive location data from the US GPS satellites
Your original Mavic could also receive data from Russian Glonass sats
Your Air 2S adds the European Galileo sats to receive data from three different satellite systems.

All of those drones require a minimum of six sats and the sats must be spread over the sky, not bunched up close.

also if i am flying with plenty of satellites, and then i lower the drone in a valley and i drop to 10 satellites, it automaticaly says: NO GPS. with TEN SATELLITES!!!. Does your birds behave the same how come 10 satellites are not enough to safely fly, when my standard and MP1 did ok with 6 satellites after lock on?

No GPS doesn't mean no sats.
It means not enough sats and a good enough spread to provide reliable location data.
If you drop into a valley and reduce the amount of sky visible to the drone's GPS antenna, you also reduce the number of sats visible and increase the chance that some of those still visible are bunched up.

 

[tlswift58]

Your P3 Standard was only able to receive location data from the US GPS satellites
Your original Mavic could also receive data from Russian Glonass sats
Your Air 2S adds the European Galileo sats to receive data from three different satellite systems.

All of those drones require a minimum of six sats and the sats must be spread over the sky, not bunched up close.


No GPS doesn't mean no sats.
It means not enough sats and a good enough spread to provide reliable location data.
If you drop into a valley and reduce the amount of sky visible to the drone's GPS antenna, you also reduce the number of sats visible and increase the chance that some of those still visible are bunched up.

Also depends on the "valley" you are flying in. A gentle rolling valley will typically not lose the sats/ GPS as much as say a "gorge" or something similar. I deal with this all the time waterfalling and it's no big deal - at least to me. You get used to flying with no GPS / lock and go about your flight. Sure, I DO PREFER to have a sat / GPS lock as my bird then can fly above the 98 ft limit and ABOVE the trees. Once I've gotten a lock by typically waiting at the 98 ft level - I don't remember ever losing it when I fly lower - but very well could have - yet I'm paying more attention to my drone location (you know - that dreaded VLOS thing) and what my camera is catching on the waterfall / area. Bitching Betty sounds off a lot in my flying locations, so if I'm concentrating on my drone / flying / camera - I don't have the time to see if it's OA / GPS loss / etc. That split second diversion can be the difference between a drone returning to me or ending up in the water / trees / etc.

 

[pilifida]

This sux. I hate they raised the minimum satellite count for this drone. I really enjoyed flying my MP through rocky canyons with ONLY 7 satellites locked with NO WARNINGS and the drone rock solid.
Now i fear i will not be able to do that. And i tested in the same places i have flown my old drone plenty of times with no warning whatsoever. What.s the point to add another positioning system - like galileo when you also incrrase the minimum no. of satellites...

 

[Nostris]

Yes…But… With the drone receiving signals from GPS, Glonas and Galileo, it is receiving signals from vastly greater constellation of available satellites.. It should give it a very high degree of position correction, in most locations.

 

[pilifida]

Haven.t we all flied mavics? Didn.t that drone had a high degree of positioning system? Sorry, for conplaining. From Phantom 3 standard to mavic, it was a big jump. As p3s had only us gps and i strggled to get satellites in narrow canyons. Then i had mavic pro which was a blast: quick lock on with enough sat everywhere. Now, with air 2s - i have a slower lock on, a higher number of sat indeed of i am flying in an open field, a number which drops - still to a satisfactory number [10] in river valleys, but i got that warning. That.s it, i am going to have to cope with this downgrade...

 

[Meta4]

This sux. I hate they raised the minimum satellite count for this drone. I really enjoyed flying my MP through rocky canyons with ONLY 7 satellites locked with NO WARNINGS and the drone rock solid.
Now i fear i will not be able to do that. And i tested in the same places i have flown my old drone plenty of times with no warning whatsoever. What.s the point to add another positioning system - like galileo when you also incrrase the minimum no. of satellites...

You need to read post #2 again.
They haven't "raised the minimum satellite count".
Your idea of the minimum satellite count is wrong.
You were never guaranteed to have full GPS with a minimum satellite count.
You had to have a minimum of 6 satellites and the six sats have to be well spread.
With more sats to play with, you are going to have some that are close in the same part of the sky and although you have more sats, dou don't necessarily have a good enough spread to get a good fix.

 

[Meta4]

Yes…But… With the drone receiving signals from GPS, Glonas and Galileo, it is receiving signals from vastly greater constellation of available satellites.. It should give it a very high degree of position correction, in most locations.

The degree of precision will be about the same as you've been used to.
Any difference won't be noticeable.

 

[Meta4]

That.s it, i am going to have to cope with this downgrade...

It's not a downgrade.
It's just like having the same as you are used to and you get some extra sats as well.
But there's no downside at all.

 

[Bobsing]

I don’t think that is what he is talking about. I also have an Air 2s. When I first start to fly the first time in the day, it takes several minutes to get a gps lock and it takes about 12 to 14 satellites to get that lock. It is very unstable for several minutes and drops the lock even with 14 or above satellites. After several more minutes it keeps the lock with 18 or more. If I fly that battery out and immediately fly again, it immediately get a gps lock and doesn’t drop at all. My Mini 2 and Magic pro, once they get a lock, they keep it. It takes the Air 2s several minutes to get and keep the lock. It will drop out several times though before it eventually keeps it. Both my Magic Pro and Mini 2, once they get a gps lock, they keep it and it doesn’t drop. I think that’s what he is talking about.

 

[pilifida]

@Bobsing: Finally, thank you!!!
Perhaps i confised everyone by mentioning that this drone IS NOT able to keep a lock event it displays a no of 10 sat, whereas MP hold a lock with 7.
@Meta4: its a downgrade if with an older model i had lock on, while a newer model doesn.t keep the positioning locked in exactly the same place

 

[Meta4]

When I first start to fly the first time in the day, it takes several minutes to get a gps lock and it takes about 12 to 14 satellites to get that lock. ... If I fly that battery out and immediately fly again, it immediately get a gps lock

That's how any GPS works .. cold start always takes longer than a warm start.

 

[pilifida]

Dude we know that. We are saying older drones had a shorter first start and were more reliable holding the positioning lock on.
At first i thought i didn.t made myself clear, but now i see that some won.t accept that at least our air 2s models are worse regarding the positioning system...
You soecifically ignored the part were the drone doesn.t hold the lock on. The same problem i am facing

 

[Bobsing]

That's how any GPS works .. cold start always takes longer than a warm start.

On my Mavic Pro and Mini 2, once’s they get a lock, they keep it. On the Air 2s once it gets a lock, it will drop and re-acquire it several times before it becomes steady. It takes a lot longer than normal comparing it to my Mavic Pro, Mavic Mini, Mini 2, Mavic Air 2. Even the Air 2 acquired very quick and kept the lock. The Air 2s doesn’t.

 

[Bobsing]

All I’m saying is on the initial or first flight of the day, you waste about four minutes of flight time waiting to get a stable gps lock. It drops in and out several times before it becomes stable. The other drones I have take a minute or less to get a stable lock and they keep it. This might be normal for the Air 2s. I don’t know. We will just have to wait and see if other Air 2s do the same way. It is very different than my other drones using them at the same location and same time. Maybe others who Actually have the Air 2s will join in and let us know how theirs reacts. I’m a licensed Private Pilot. I have used a gps in boats, aircraft, cars and even have one on my Honda Goldwing. I have traveled to 42 States on a motorcycle using a gps. So I do know how they work.

 

[pilifida]

@Bobsing thx alot for your intervention. I also posted in a FB group and there also everyone was trying to explain me how a gps system works, rather than understanding the problem ?

 

[Bobsing]

Maybe others who have noticed this about the Air 2s will speak up. My Air 2 would acquire the satellites and lock usually before I could turn around from turning it on to sitting down. I hope this is just “normal “ for the Air 2s and not a problem. Have a great day!

 

[pilifida]

Maybe others who have noticed this about the Air 2s will speak up. My Air 2 would acquire the satellites and lock usually before I could turn around from turning it on to sitting down. I hope this is just “normal “ for the Air 2s and not a problem. Have a great day!

I hope they will fix it with a firmware update.
Thanx, you too

 

[ninja_geezer]

flown my Air 2 s about 3 times never seen any difference compared to the 2 x air 2 i owned .

 

[ninja_geezer]

flown my Air 2 s about 3 times never seen any difference compared to the 2 x air 2 i owned .

i will check it out next time i get out .