Arctic compass issues DJI drones

Arnie in the Sky · Dec 6, 2018

HI - I'm posting here in part because its gotten harder to search for this issue due to the "Arctic White" models.

My issue is flying in North Greenland - we're well above the magnetic pole. I'm currently using a Mavic Pro, and have the same issue many working this far north do. The compass error, where you can really only fly in ATTI mode. This is very difficult in even slightly windy conditions and in my case I use the drone for photogrammetry, so I have other programs like Pix4d to run transects at regular intervals.

I really need a drone that will overcome this compass error. I can fly in ATTI mode no problem, but I need it to hold a pre-planned flight plan. I'd be happy to upgrade to another model, but I'm just not confident they don't have the same issues. Can anyone advise on this -- is there some kind of firmware upgrade that can help, or is there a forum on this issue you can direct me to?
Thanks!

sar104 · Dec 6, 2018

The earth's magnetic field is not very useful that far north. I'm not sure that there is any way around that problem, although a custom firmware might allow the sensor fusion scheme to function with reduced weighting given to the magnetometer data.

Arnie in the Sky · Dec 6, 2018

Much appreciated -- I suspect that would be the way to go. There are occasions where I might get 3-4 minutes of steady GPS flight mode before it switches to ATTI, and usually have great satellite contact. But its erratic enough that I can't do any sort of pre-planned paths I need, and it is particularly noticeable if its windy - i.e. occasions where ATTI is even more difficult. It seems to me there is a moment where it chooses to suddenly rely on the magnetometer, and its at that point it goes into ATTI mode and can't seem to return to GPS even if it has 18+ satellites.

In terms of a custom firmware.... I'm a complete ludite on that side. Is that the sort of thing I could hire someone to do, or perhaps find a community where someone has already done that? Much appreciated.