Compass calibration failures

[wco81]

I was in a small Italian town in the north and it's usually the case when I try to fly in Europe to have to calibrate, especially the first time after arriving from the US>

But it kept failing over and over again. I was in a modernized boardwalk with some kind of metallic frames and guardrails but wooden plants, though with big metal bolts.

It would keep telling me to try recalibrating again. I did so 2 or 3 times, finally canceled. But then the status was all green so I took off. I hit the 120 meter ceiling but didn't stray too far from home. The furthest I went was about 300-400 meters from home.

It did flash a Class D airspace message. In the Italian D-flight map, the area is in the clear, no restrictions whatsoever. No civilian airports or heliports nearby.

In any event, I flew about 300-400 meters out and I started getting low signal or no signal warnings. Video wasn't updating either as I tried to turn around and fly back home.

I initiated RTH and landed without incident. In the resulting video at the time I got the signal warnings, just some erratic swings as I probably was trying to turn the aircraft around with the unstable video feed.

I swapped batteries and got calibration error again. Same thing, calibration failed but eventually I was able to take off again and this time I didn't venture as far but probably ran a 15-20 minute hyper lapse and I ended it well before it reached the same point where I had the signal errors before.

It's over the center of town where the signal errors occurred. There's a long marina and just normal buildings, roads in the flight path.


I wouldn't think compass calibration errors would be related to RC signal loss?

Maybe some kind of radio interference?

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

It could be a number of things happening at once, mag interference from metal, but also strong radio broadcasting nearby that several limits your RC to AC distance. Or the strong radio could be the cause of both mag interference and low range.

In know there's this one place along the waterfront of my city where I always get that. I also have trouble acquiring satellites there. It happens to be near where the cruise ships dock. I took off there once thinking that I would get stronger satellite acquisition once I was up in the air (as sometimes is the case), but that never happened and it was very windy, so I had to land with strong wind in ATTI mode (hand catch), thankful for all the ATTI experience I've had in the past. But when I went a few blocks down the waterfront, I didn't have the same level of problems.

Chris

 

[Meta4]

it's usually the case when I try to fly in Europe to have to calibrate, especially the first time after arriving from the US

There's no physical reason that you should need to recalibrate the compass, no matter where you've travelled to/from.
Compass warnings are almost always related to magnetic interference where you've placed the drone, rather than something to do with the drone itself.

It would keep telling me to try recalibrating again. I did so 2 or 3 times, finally canceled.

And that is most likely related to where you were doing this.

I wouldn't think compass calibration errors would be related to RC signal loss?
Maybe some kind of radio interference?

The compass is 100% unrelated to signal loss.
Local interference is the most common cause.

 

[dart106]

I’ve experienced compass calibration failure when trying to accomplish it in the back of an suv with the hatchback open and on flat trailer with a metal edge. Moving the drone away from either allowed for a successful compass calibration.

 

[Ralph thompson]

With older drones like the Inspire, it was recommended (and usually necessary) to calibrate the compass if you travelled more than 50 kms. I still find with the M2P that compass calibration is necessary if I travel a distance and also get the feeling that if it gets bumped around in the car or riding the bike, that this usually causes compass issues. but it’s so quick and easy to recalibrate it in an open space that it doesn’t bother me

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I'm fairly confident that the M2P has a built-in compass calibration requirement when the recorded GPS location of the last flight is over x number of miles away. I believe they do this to compensate from the change in compass declination due to changing location on the globe; even if you don't believe this is necessary, it's what DJI does.

The compass itself has no moving parts, so bumping / jostling around during travel should have no effect on it.

Chris