Can you fly three drones at once?

[davedrone 178]

Heading to my cousins today and thought I'd bring my Mavic 3, Air 3, and Mini 3 with me. Can we fly all three using the RC Pro, RC-2, and a RC controller at the same time without running into any signal issues. I assume we'll be standing close to each other.

 

[old man mavic]

@davedrone 178 using 3 different RC yes you can ,but be careful not to cross over in front of each while you are flying ,sometimes you can get a signal interference message, if your blocking each others signals ,personally i would stand about 6ft apart, and have a safe area off to one side ,in case one of you needs to land unexpectedly

 

[3rdof5]

Yes you can.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

There is a recent video of two drones, Mavic style?, in a head on collision. It is seen from the camera of one of them, I can't remember the thread title, sorry.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

You just need to be aware that its very easy to mix them up in the sky and think your flying one when your flying the other . Once your aware , you just need to take some precatuions such as stay organzied if your all flying out in the same direction.

Looking forward to the videos of you and your friends flying this way.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water

 

[DJ Wes]

Can we fly all three using the RC Pro, RC-2, and a RC controller at the same time without running into any signal issues.

You definitely can. Just be careful not to cross the streams.

 

[Meta4]

Can we fly all three using the RC Pro, RC-2, and a RC controller at the same time without running into any signal issues. I assume we'll be standing close to each other.

Yes, you can.
If you stand too close together you might find the controllers giving a little interference.
If that happens just step a little further apart.
If you are 10 feet away you'll have no issues.
If I'm flying with another drone, I find it helps to co-ordinate with the other flyer/s about height to ensure some separation and prevent accidental collisions.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Heading to my cousins today and thought I'd bring my Mavic 3, Air 3, and Mini 3 with me. Can we fly all three using the RC Pro, RC-2, and a RC controller at the same time without running into any signal issues. I assume we'll be standing close to each other.

I'm not a fan of buddy drone flying. It's kind of like spear fishing! I prefer to do it alone, rather than with a buddy! That way, I don't inadvertently spear my buddy, and he doesn't inadvertently spear me! Same when going hunting. Our former VP, **** Cheney is a bad guy to go hunting with! He who travels swiftest travels alone! I prefer my drone to be the only drone in the air! Keeps things simple and safer!

 

[Joethedrone]

Heading to my cousins today and thought I'd bring my Mavic 3, Air 3, and Mini 3 with me. Can we fly all three using the RC Pro, RC-2, and a RC controller at the same time without running into any signal issues. I assume we'll be standing close to each other.

Yes you can, I’ve flown with five or six flyers many times, never experienced any signalling issues .

 

[YVRGUY]

Flying 3 drones at once? I’m still working at keeping 10 plates spinning Good luck

 

[dave canada]

what a informative bunch of pilots

 

[jphoto]

@davedrone 178 using 3 different RC yes you can ,but be careful not to cross over in front of each while you are flying ,sometimes you can get a signal interference message, if your blocking each others signals

Do you have any further information on this? And I don't mean to just challenge you, but the physics of signal propagation at drone frequencies don't really allow for signal blocking by another drone. Overloading receiver front ends, sure, but that would happen at any position of close proximity, not by "blocking".

 

[Aquaelie]

I flew my old mini 2 with my Dad’s mini two out in the country once and we experienced controller interference notifications on the flight display. We moved father apart and the message went away. He was about 20 feet to my side when the message disappeared. You should all be able on a phone call together ideally when flying and coordinate your flight altitudes to allow for at least 50 feet ceiling of buffer space between you and the next guy.

 

[old man mavic]

@jphoto i am referring to what happens if a person flying their drone ,happens to pass in front of another person within a couple of feet of them ,and the person at the back, will get a signal interference message on their controller.
maybe blocking was not the best word to use ,in my original post ,so sorry for my error

 

[jphoto]

@jphoto i am referring to what happens if a person flying their drone ,happens to pass in front of another person within a couple of feet of them ,and the person at the back, will get a signal interference message on their controller.
maybe blocking was not the best word to use ,in my original post ,so sorry for my error

Yeah, it's not simply "blocking" though.

What's happening is the transmitted signal from one controller is overloading the receiver of the other. The same thing could happen at the drone. The receiver section is trying to grab a rather small signal from the drone, and the transmitter from the other controller is kicking out a pretty strong one. A strong signal near a receiver will tend to "swamp" the front end making reception of the much weaker drone signal difficult or impossible. Since signal strengths go up with reduced distance (following the law of inverse squares), increasing controller spacing is the solution. It would happen any time two drones or two controllers were very close to eachother, unless part of a system meant to deal with that issue specifically, like the sky show arrays. I haven't looked into how they work, but it's a special system not like what we use.

A person passing in front of another might seem to make the problem worse because at the frequencies used everything blocks and absorbs the signal, which attenuates the weaker drone signal will still leaving most of the controller signal. But the problem will exist anyway. Unless the drone and controller receivers are specifically designed for that situation, it's going to be a problem any time two units are close to each other.

 

[RangerEd]

Heading to my cousins today and thought I'd bring my Mavic 3, Air 3, and Mini 3 with me. Can we fly all three using the RC Pro, RC-2, and a RC controller at the same time without running into any signal issues. I assume we'll be standing close to each other.

I don't see why you can't. The radios are smart enough to choose the best frequency to use. The 2.8Ghz has 3 channels which don't overlap; the 5GHZ has several. So yeah it's a matter of keeping track which drone you're controlling. I presume you will be flying in light of sight.

 

[Donnie Frank]

Heading to my cousins today and thought I'd bring my Mavic 3, Air 3, and Mini 3 with me. Can we fly all three using the RC Pro, RC-2, and a RC controller at the same time without running into any signal issues. I assume we'll be standing close to each other.

I've flown 2 drones at once without issue. They won't interfere with one another. But don't throw caution to the wind. I kept the controllers a good 6'apart. I didn't set them both on the same table.

D

 

[Melvoid]

You just need to be aware that its very easy to mix them up in the sky and think your flying one when your flying the other . Once your aware , you just need to take some precatuions such as stay organzied if your all flying out in the same direction.

Looking forward to the videos of you and your friends flying this way.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water

Yes, that happened to me. I gave my Phantom 1 to a friend when I got a Phantom 3. They look pretty much alike when they're up in the air and we nearly collided at one point because we mixed them up visually... luckily, being a near miss, they survived