DJI Fly 1.2.2 compass indicator

[Tomk_]

I've been getting used to the new attitude indicator on version 1.2.2 of the fly app. While I've found it to be a totally usable device (after a little stick time), I have one anomaly that I'm wondering if others are experiencing.

My issue is the little pointer on the blue icon that is supposed to show if the controller is pointing at the drone. What I have found is that the pointer is roughly 90 degrees off. I have searched alot of youtube videos introducing the 1.2.2 app and it looks to me that often the indicator shown in the videos is off also - but I haven't heard any of the presenters mention the anomaly.

It doesn't feel like the indicator is always off by a full 90 degrees...but at least more than 45 degrees. Could it be that the compass indicator is showing the direction that the top of my phone is pointing rather than the direction that the controller is pointing?

 

[DanMan32]

Wouldn't the top of the phone be the top of the RC? Unless you don't have the phone (tablet?) attached and sitting on a table.

The app is using your mobile's compass, so if the mobile is detached and stationary, it can't correspond with how your RC is pointing.

 

[A.O.]

Yeah, mine was the same way, pointing the wrong direction, and not consistently the same wrong direction. I dont think the new indicator is of much use anyway so I haven't used it for quite a while.

 

[icecoldgin]

I rarely use the compass / attitude indicator.

But on the very few times I have used this, when the drone was facing me, the blue arrow as also facing the drone arrow.

I did notice that a few times it was off but after stopping and waiting for a while (in this instance I was walking away from the home point), the blue arrow corrected itself.

 

[Tomk_]

Wouldn't the top of the phone be the top of the RC? Unless you don't have the phone (tablet?) attached and sitting on a table.

The app is using your mobile's compass, so if the mobile is detached and stationary, it can't correspond with how your RC is pointing.

If I use a compass app on my phone, the compass always orients based upon the "top" of the phone which is where the camera is when in the portrait position. If I turn my phone to the landscape position, as it is when installed on my controller, the pictures, text, etc., automatically rotate so that they look right to me... but the compass needle still reads what was the top of the phone. For example if I have my phone in the portrait position and am facing north... the compass points north. but if I rotate the phone counter clockwise to the landscape position... I'm still facing north but the compass reads west.

I do not fly my drone with my phone setting on a table, nor do I fly it with the phone detached.

 

[nick brunswick]

If I use a compass app on my phone, the compass always orients based upon the "top" of the phone which is where the camera is when in the portrait position. If I turn my phone to the landscape position, as it is when installed on my controller, the pictures, text, etc., automatically rotate so that they look right to me... but the compass needle still reads what was the top of the phone. For example if I have my phone in the portrait position and am facing north... the compass points north. but if I rotate the phone counter clockwise to the landscape position... I'm still facing north but the compass reads west.

I do not fly my drone with my phone setting on a table, nor do I fly it with the phone detached.

Hello. I am in exactly the same boat as you. I have an iphone 11 pro and the new tiny blue arrow that leads off the tiny blue dot is about 90 degrees off. I point the rc at the drone and the arrow says the drone is to my far left!
I have never once had this issue until I did the firmware update which renders is pretty much useless as if you take your eye off the drone for a second then you struggle to find it again as the arrow cant be used to help you.
Is there going to be a fix on this?

 

[André Di Urechia]

This is no software related issue. The remote control itself contains strongly magnetized parts, the metal rods of the phone holder assembly, the hulls of the 18650 battery cells and the RF shieldings. You can easily check this with the free app GAUSS METER you will see extreme high readings up to 6 Gauss on the bars. The only way to overcome this is to degauss (de-magnetize) the complete remote control. Once degaussed, both the traditional orientation display and the fancy toy style attitude indicator will display correctly.

Below the device you need to degauss it. Trained old school TV techs will recognize it immediately. ALL DJI remote controls need this when the compass display is misaligned. There is only one R/C you cannot degauss, the Mavic Pro.

 

[Tomk_]

What you say is completely logical. However, magnetism doesn't explain why compass works perfectly under old indicator.

I have taken two identical cell phones, one running DJI Fly 1.2.1 and one upgraded to DJI Fly 1.2.2. On the same controller, old style indicator on 1.2.1 points perfectly. 1.2.2 is way off.

I do not believe that degaussing is the cause this time.

 

[André Di Urechia]

What you say is completely logical. However, magnetism doesn't explain why compass works perfectly under old indicator.

I have taken two identical cell phones, one running DJI Fly 1.2.1 and one upgraded to DJI Fly 1.2.2. On the same controller, old style indicator on 1.2.1 points perfectly. 1.2.2 is way off.

I do not believe that degaussing is the cause this time.

Even identical phones can be a) magnetized themselves and b) not properly calibrated. Please first use Google Maps to calibrate the phone compass and check the orientation to be consistent with the orientation. For me, both display styles showed the same deviation, after degaussing, both worked fine. As I prefer the pilot centric logic over the drone centric model of the new version, I went back to 1.2.1 after a few flights I struggled with the 1.2.2 version.

You may try this out for yourself by up- or downgrading the app on one of your phones while leaving everything else untouched so you can confirm my thesis.

 

[Tomk_]

Both work correctly in google maps... but I'm not sure how compass works on google maps. It just shows location, not how phone is oriented.

How about I add this to the story... the second phone is my fathers, who also has a mini2. Therefore I can try on two different controllers... and the results are the same. On either controller 1.2.1 correct. 1.2.2 wonky.

 

[André Di Urechia]

Both work correctly in google maps... but I'm not sure how compass works on google maps. It just shows location, not how phone is oriented.

How about I add this to the story... the second phone is my fathers, who also has a mini2. Therefore I can try on two different controllers... and the results are the same. On either controller 1.2.1 correct. 1.2.2 wonky.

In my opinion, the whole 1.2.2 display style is wonky. When you perform a fly-by, the attitude indicator is like a stirred vegetable soup. Everything in motion, north, homespot, RC position. Just the drone, the only thing moving, is fixed. I think someone in the programmer team had a terrible idea. Maybe watched the black hole depiction in Interstellar and thought it would be fun to put everything on a circle. In real aviation you never, never change instrumentation design until there are real issues. DJI had the best display style in Go & Go 4 for six years. What a pity they went to re-invent the wheel.

 

[DanMan32]

In my opinion, the whole 1.2.2 display style is wonky. When you perform a fly-by, the attitude indicator is like a stirred vegetable soup. Everything in motion, north, homespot, RC position. Just the drone, the only thing moving, is fixed. I think someone in the programmer team had a terrible idea. Maybe watched the black hole depiction in Interstellar and thought it would be fun to put everything on a circle. In real aviation you never, never change instrumentation design until there are real issues. DJI had the best display style in Go & Go 4 for six years. What a pity they went to re-invent the wheel.

I too prefer the Go approach.
I think the change was for two reasons:

First:
Most didn't pay too much attention to the RC orientation aspect of the Go attitude indicator so there was little squawk if there was a device compass problem or app's interpretation.

But with Fly, orientation indication was put right out front and many had issues. DJI may have gotten tired of the complaints so they shifted focus.

Second:
DJI wanted to graphically show relative location of both HP and RC in the same indicator. That's a challenge if the attitude indicator is not AC centric. Which do you put in the center, RC, or HP?

 

[nick brunswick]

I too prefer the Go approach.
I think the change was for two reasons:

First:
Most didn't pay too much attention to the RC orientation aspect of the Go attitude indicator so there was little squawk if there was a device compass problem or app's interpretation.

But with Fly, orientation indication was put right out front and many had issues. DJI may have gotten tired of the complaints so they shifted focus.

Second:
DJI wanted to graphically show relative location of both HP and RC in the same indicator. That's a challenge if the attitude indicator is not AC centric. Which do you put in the center, RC, or HP?

Thank you all for the replies to my initial question, much appreciated. I am not technically gifted enough to mess with the rc, nor do I feel I should when it worked perfectly well before the new update. For now I will use the map and the red line to show me the direction of the drone in relation to the rc. Far from ideal but hopefully another firmware update is en route which will bring about something similar to how it was before- working!

 

[DanMan32]

Did you mean to quote the post about degaussing the RC? I wasn't making any comments about physically modifying the RC in any way, although degaussing isn't a bad idea.

 

[A.O.]

Thank you all for the replies to my initial question, much appreciated. I am not technically gifted enough to mess with the rc, nor do I feel I should when it worked perfectly well before the new update. For now I will use the map and the red line to show me the direction of the drone in relation to the rc. Far from ideal but hopefully another firmware update is en route which will bring about something similar to how it was before- working!

I agree completely and also use the map and red line if I need to , the attitude indicator is useless!

 

[André Di Urechia]

I agree completely and also use the map and red line if I need to , the attitude indicator is useless!

In fact, the semicircle style position indicator was a suboptimal implementation of the Go 4 radar display, but it followed the same concept. I am the pilot, the display shows me where to aim the RC to get maximum reception. The attitude indicator is just a tribute to the racing scene, where the drone centric display is widely used. These guys often use large antennas on tripods, they don´t care about aiming with a highly directional antenna on their RC. For drones like the Mavic series, the whole attitude indicator is just pointless. You lose the intuitive view on the important stuff for getting some useless information instead. Who really cares about north when flying a drone?

 

[A.O.]

In fact, the semicircle style position indicator was a suboptimal implementation of the Go 4 radar display, but it followed the same concept. I am the pilot, the display shows me where to aim the RC to get maximum reception. The attitude indicator is just a tribute to the racing scene, where the drone centric display is widely used. These guys often use large antennas on tripods, they don´t care about aiming with a highly directional antenna on their RC. For drones like the Mavic series, the whole attitude indicator is just pointless. You lose the intuitive view on the important stuff for getting some useless information instead. Who really cares about north when flying a drone?

EXACTLY!

I actually talked to one of the moderators over at the DJI forum that has a direct line to DJI and asked if we could get the old indicator back, or at least maybe the option to have a choice of which to use. Not sure if it will go anywhere.. but maybe...

 

[DanMan32]

For the Mini especially, attitude indication can help judge wind so not so useless, although I agree it's hard to tell with a small indicator exactly how much tilt there is.

 

[André Di Urechia]

For the Mini especially, attitude indication can help judge wind so not so useless, although I agree it's hard to tell with a small indicator exactly how much tilt there is.

The attitude indicator always existed in DJI Go 4. Instead of the white line the radar screen is half tinted blue. It IS a good tool to judge the wind. I agree. The difference is that DJI Go 4 puts the pilot in the center, the drone moving around him, while Fly 1.2.2 puts the drone in the center, everything else moving around it. Even worse, homepoint, RC position and drone have no proportional distances, north, HP and RC move on the circle outline as if the programmer fell in love with the depiction of the black hole in Interstellar. ****, it´s not an event horizon!

 

[DanMan32]

The attitude indicator always existed in DJI Go 4. Instead of the white line the radar screen is half tinted blue. It IS a good tool to judge the wind. I agree. The difference is that DJI Go 4 puts the pilot in the center, the drone moving around him, while Fly 1.2.2 puts the drone in the center, everything else moving around it. Even worse, homepoint, RC position and drone have no proportional distances, north, HP and RC move on the circle outline as if the programmer fell in love with the depiction of the black hole in Interstellar. ****, it´s not an event horizon!

View attachment 122263

Then I don't understand your comment "For drones like the Mavic series, the whole attitude indicator is just pointless" in post #16.
Go4 is used for earlier Mavics as well as Phantoms.