APAS system - useful?

[peros550]

Do you guys believe the APAS system is any useful?

Has anybody used it in Mavic Air? Or just it's another smart feature that you may choose to use once to see how it works but then forget about it?

 

[ed956]

Funnily enough I used it for first time last week, was using follow me mode (or whatever it’s called) to follow my mate on his Ducati, it’s great! The new version is even better looking at some of the reviews!

 

[Chris Baish]

I've had my Mavic Air for 5 months and used it about 3 times. Unless I'm missing a setting, I've found one annoyance that ruins it for me. I've tuned down a lot of the stick and gimbal inputs, especially yaw, to make movement more gradual and cinematic. However, when you switch on APAS it sets them all back to default, meaning I find it impossible to get smooth movements having been used to the slower inputs. This has always been a deal breaker for me. Aside from that one issue, it does provide peace of mind when navigating through tight spaces or close to objects.

 

[peros550]

I've had my Mavic Air for 5 months and used it about 3 times. Unless I'm missing a setting, I've found one annoyance that ruins it for me. I've tuned down a lot of the stick and gimbal inputs, especially yaw, to make movement more gradual and cinematic. However, when you switch on APAS it sets them all back to default, meaning I find it impossible to get smooth movements having been used to the slower inputs. This has always been a deal breaker for me. Aside from that one issue, it does provide peace of mind when navigating through tight spaces or close to objects.

But, when you turn it off, do your settings go back as you had them set before switching it on?

 

[Chris Baish]

But, when you turn it off, do your settings go back as you had them set before switching it on?

Yes, sorry I realised that might have been slightly misleading. When you turn off APAS again they do go back to your own custom settings, so you don't have to reprogram them. Just a pain while you're actually flying in APAS more than anything.

 

[Upthecreek]

Does APAS work in tripod mode, this will slow things down for a cinematic look.

 

[Chris Baish]

Does APAS work in tripod mode, this will slow things down for a cinematic look.

I must admit I haven't tried that.

 

[Turn11]

follow my mate on his Ducati

Said with a smile, Fast M2 or slow Duck

 

[Talley]

Apas is off in tripod mode.

I don’t trust it period. No way it can react fast enough

 

[ed956]

Said with a smile, Fast M2 or slow Duck

Sadly he was crawling! I sped up the footage to make it look better!

 

[DanMan32]

I tried APAS, it works quite well. It didn't detect and avoid a horizontal utility wire going into a building though. Found that out the hard way. Only damage though was two broken props, some scrapes on the other two props, battery top, and top front of body. Also battery popped out.

Note that APAS will have the quad navigate around an obstacle if it can. With APAS turned off, obstacle detection still operates but your quad will stop rather than go around.

 

[kei888]

Hi folks!

When I turned ON APAS on my MA,

Location: 120 meters up in the sky with NO obstructions but High wind velocity is present.

I'm receiving the following prompts on my screen:

- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- High wind velocity. Fly with caution and land in a safe place ASAP.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.

Are these prompts Normal?

I though APAS should use sensors but how come I'm receiving such prompts?

 

[DroneTone]

My guess is that if there are high winds, (as you mentioned), the aircraft will have to tilt into the wind in order to hold it's position.
Along with the aircraft body the avoidance sensors will also be tilted in a direction that cannot provide adequate obstacle sensing.
This is what warning prompt could be relaying.
Regardless if there are any obstacles around, the aircraft is likely just alerting you that the avoidance sensors are not positioned in a way they can detect obstacles.

I have gotten similar warnings when I command the aircraft to move at a high speed and
the resulting tilt of the aircraft causes the software/firmware to disable avoidance sensors.

 

[DanMan32]

That's my suspicion

 

[CanadaDrone]

Hi folks!

When I turned ON APAS on my MA,

Location: 120 meters up in the sky with NO obstructions but High wind velocity is present.

I'm receiving the following prompts on my screen:

- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- High wind velocity. Fly with caution and land in a safe place ASAP.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Forward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.
- Exit Backward,Forward Sensing system
- Backward Obstacle Sensing is not functioning.

Are these prompts Normal?

I though APAS should use sensors but how come I'm receiving such prompts?

That happens when Attitude (not altitude) is too great, and the sensors are no longer oriented in a way that they can do their job. Completely normal - it's actually helping you by giving you that warning, not telling you something is wrong. Same reason you don't get it in sport mode. The high wind warning you got is the dead give away - the drone has to tilt so far to fight the wind that the sensors can no longer function as intended and you get that warning.

 

[Turn11]

UAV Forecast is a good app IOS/Android for wind at ground and at various altitudes.

 

[CanadaDrone]

UAV Forecast is a good app IOS/Android for wind at ground and at various altitudes.

View attachment 50409
View attachment 50410

The idea of the app is really good, but I have used it many times locally in Canada and also while traveling abroad (USA, Europe) and have found it to be so wildly inaccurate, particularly with wind and wind direction, to the point I don't even use it anymore because it can't be trusted. Even cloud cover is often wrong (easy enough to verify haha).

Either it tells me I'm good to fly when there are extreme winds (I also have a physical wind meter), or it tells me not to fly when it is dead calm. I just find everything is always off by a huge margin - temperature, wind, rain chance, etc. I don't know where it gets it's data from but I stopped using it. I rely on my own observations, weather forecasts I trust, and my own instrumentation and so far so good. The app would be fantastic if it worked!

 

[Turn11]

It took me forever to find this thread after this long.

Two days ago I started having a disparity between UAV, what it felt like (subjective) and Weather Bug.

I went to FB and searched for UAV FORECAST and sent them a PM and explained problem. We exchanged a couple of PM. NET, he ask me to go to settings and “reset to default”. It fixed whatever it was.

Give it a try. If that doesn’t work give them a PM through FB.

 

[kei888]

It took me forever to find this thread after this long.

Two days ago I started having a disparity between UAV, what it felt like (subjective) and Weather Bug.

I went to FB and searched for UAV FORECAST and sent them a PM and explained problem. We exchanged a couple of PM. NET, he ask me to go to settings and “reset to default”. It fixed whatever it was.

Give it a try. If that doesn’t work give them a PM through FB.

Hi @Turn11 ,
I also did 'Reset to Defeault' on my MA, seems problem was resolved.

Have to observe for couple of flights

Thanks!

 

[Turn11]

Have to observe for couple of flights

Glad it worked, thanks for the feedback.
Larry