Enable location services???

[Amit Dunsky]

Today, I took the M3P for yet another flight. As I launched it, I noticed there wasn't any "The home point has been updated" call.I was out in an open field, cleae blue skies, I'm highly familiar with the location, so I knew there is nothing there to obstruct GPS reception. Given that, I just had the drone hovering for a few seconds, expecting it to update the home point, bu to no avail.

That was strange, so I opened the Safety menu, and tried to Update Home Point manually. I pressed the RC icon, and the a message poped up:
"Enable location services and app permission for your mobile device to ensure your location van be determined accurately"!
I know this is an Android message, but still, the stripped down version installed on the RC, will not allow enabling location services!

After trying for a few more times, without any success, I just set the home point for the location of the drone (it was there hovering next to me), and went out flying.
The drone had 31 GPS sattelites locked on, so that was yet another indication there wasn't any problem with GPS reception at the location.

I could see the compass display couldn't quite figure out the location of the drone in relation to the location of the RC, but I had the drone in my VLOS, so I had no problem bringing it back.

Fly app version: 1.7.4

Any ideas why that happened? Have you had that happening to your RC?

Thanks.

The attached is a screenshot of my RC screen recording.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Normally applies to your Phone, is that what you are using ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Surely the only way for the controller to know its position is for it to have some form of GPS of its own, possibly aided by 'location services' i.e. wifi signals?
Wouldn't the controller taking it's location from the drone be problematic at best, prone to errors and probably mean that you would have difficulty in assigning a new home point if that was required?

 

[SkyeHigh]

Surely the only way for the controller to know its position is for it to have some form of GPS of its own, possibly aided by 'location services' i.e. wifi signals?
Wouldn't the controller taking it's location from the drone be problematic at best, prone to errors and probably mean that you would have difficulty in assigning a new home point if that was required?

The controller doesn’t take its location from the aircraft but will use the GPS from a connected smartphone or tablet to determine its location and setting a new home point will be based on the location of the controller.

If you have mobile reception, location services could potentially be used to determine the location of the controller if no GPS was available to the controller, that is if the phone/tablet lacked GPS capability.

The DJI Smart controllers (those with a built-in screen) have their own GPS receivers.

 

[scro]

I've got the DJI RC (ie RM330) controller and it definitely has a GPS receiver built in. I find it quite strange that @Amit Dunsky gets an "enable location services..." popup message as per screenshot because there's no way I know of to disable it (or re-enable it) in the first place - it is permanently on.

I wonder if you had any other GPS device successfully get a fix at the time of the incident? The fact the drone 's GPS wasn't providing a home point points towards it not getting a reliable fix. Potentially some interference at the time that intentionally or otherwise jammed the GPS signals in that area?

 

[Amit Dunsky]

Normally applies to your Phone, is that what you are using ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

As I wrote: It happened on the RC. Not on a phone.

 

[Amit Dunsky]

Surely the only way for the controller to know its position is for it to have some form of GPS of its own, possibly aided by 'location services' i.e. wifi signals?
Wouldn't the controller taking it's location from the drone be problematic at best, prone to errors and probably mean that you would have difficulty in assigning a new home point if that was required?

The RC was not connected to any Wifi. I was out in the field.
The drone registered its Home Point using its own GPS. There's nothing wrong with that. The only thing is that RC was unable to use its own GPS for some reason. So the drone knows how to fly home if needed, but the RC isn't sure where it is.

 

[Amit Dunsky]

I've got the DJI RC (ie RM330) controller and it definitely has a GPS receiver built in. I find it quite strange that @Amit Dunsky gets an "enable location services..." popup message as per screenshot because there's no way I know of to disable it (or re-enable it) in the first place - it is permanently on.

I wonder if you had any other GPS device successfully get a fix at the time of the incident? The fact the drone 's GPS wasn't providing a home point points towards it not getting a reliable fix. Potentially some interference at the time that intentionally or otherwise jammed the GPS signals in that area?

The drone had 31 GPS satellites locked on. So there was not GPS interference at the location.
That is exactly what's strange, and I suspect this was something to do with the RC software. Probably, some software service bug.

 

[Meta4]

Today, I took the M3P for yet another flight. As I launched it, I noticed there wasn't any "The home point has been updated" call.I was out in an open field, cleae blue skies, I'm highly familiar with the location, so I knew there is nothing there to obstruct GPS reception. Given that, I just had the drone hovering for a few seconds, expecting it to update the home point, bu to no avail.

That just sounds like the drone recorded it's home point but your volume was turned down or the app somehow didn't play Homepoint Recorded message.

The app needs Location Services to be enabled in the device settings to be able to show the controller location on the map.
But you can fly quite normally without it.
The drone records it's homepoint and you will almost always be located quite close to that.
The exact location of the controller isn't necessary at all.

But if you check the device settings, you should find somewhere to enable location services and not have to worry about that message again.

 

[scro]

Ok thanks for the clarification regarding getting GPS signal. The homepoint is normally set as the drone's location once it gets a reliable GPS fix. It can then subsequently be moved to the current location of the drone mid-flight, the controller location, or a point you choose on the map. It does kind of look like the app did a brain fart and not update the home point properly or have some part of the controller's Android subsystem crashed.

 

[Meta4]

It does kind of look like the app did a brain fart and not update the home point properly or have some part of the controller's Android subsystem crashed.

It's more likely that the drone did have full GPS reception and did record it's home point, but the OP didn't realise this.
The recorded flight data would probably confirm that this is what happened.

 

[Amit Dunsky]

It's more likely that the drone did have full GPS reception and did record it's home point, but the OP didn't realise this.
The recorded flight data would probably confirm that this is what happened.

That is not the issue here.
As I explained: The drone was able to register the home point, and that was indicated by the RC. However, when I tried registering the RC location as the Home Point, that is where I got that error message.

 

[Capt KO]

I fly with an ios tablet wifi only, no gps. Works fine just can’t ‘follow’ my remote. If I need that feature, I use a Bluetooth gps..rarely

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

The controller doesn’t take its location from the aircraft but will use the GPS from a connected smartphone or tablet to determine its location and setting a new home point will be based on the location of the controller.

If you have mobile reception, location services could potentially be used to determine the location of the controller if no GPS was available to the controller, that is if the phone/tablet lacked GPS capability.

The DJI Smart controllers (those with a built-in screen) have their own GPS receivers.

Thanks, that was what I thought.

 

[mobilehomer]

Did you have the blue dot on the compass/attitude indicator? If not, then your controller did not have GPS lock. I have found that backing out of the camera view screen then going back to it will enable the icons to show.

 

[Amit Dunsky]

Did you have the blue dot on the compass/attitude indicator? If not, then your controller did not have GPS lock. I have found that backing out of the camera view screen then going back to it will enable the icons to show.

No, I didn't have the blue dot. That was what initially made me check for the RC GPS lock, and that is how I became aware of the problem. That didn't happen again during my next flights, but should it decide to strike again, I'll try your tip. Thanks!

 

[Dynamic Learning Machine]

Be sure your batteries are updated. It’s a important thing for the battery to talk with the drone and controller.

 

[Amit Dunsky]

Be sure your batteries are updated. It’s a important thing for the battery to talk with the drone and controller.

That is correct, but has nothing to do with this thread

 

[tribar]

Are you using the RC-N1 or the new DJI RC contoller?

If you have the RC-N1 do the following on your phone/tablet:
Go to:
Settings > Apps > DJI Fly > Permissions > Location > Allow....

 

[Amit Dunsky]

it's specified in the post: I'm using the RC.