Flying in forests - loss of connection at distances over 500m

[ChangeableHawkEagle]

Hi all,
I am new to flying drones and have the Mavic Pro 2. I am using the drone to do forest canopy surveys but have encountered a problem in that I cannot fly further than 500m away without losing signal. I have looked into using waypoints but the limit in the DJI Go app is also 500m. I need to fly about 1-2km to properly map the sites, so this limited range is a problem. Is there a way round this? I have seen a few things about the Litchi app having more range when planning, how reliable is this app? Do you need a good network of GCPs before it can work properly?
Sorry for the noob question!
Cheers

 

[itsneedtokno]

what is your altitude

altitude greatly effects distance

 

[THE CYBORG]

If you take off away from the trees and get your MP2 well above them it should stop the interference of your signal.

 

[ChangeableHawkEagle]

what is your altitude

altitude greatly effects distance

Altitude is between 50m and 100m, can't really go much higher or we lose mapping quality

 

[ChangeableHawkEagle]

If you take off away from the trees and get your MP2 well above them it should stop the interference of your signal.

Thanks! It's quite a dense area so taking off away from the trees is hard, were mostly just relying on large gaps in the canopy. What is the distance range usually like if we were to take off further way from the trees?

 

[E90RAW]

Hi all,
I am new to flying drones and have the Mavic Pro 2. I am using the drone to do forest canopy surveys but have encountered a problem in that I cannot fly further than 500m away without losing signal. I have looked into using waypoints but the limit in the DJI Go app is also 500m. I need to fly about 1-2km to properly map the sites, so this limited range is a problem. Is there a way round this? I have seen a few things about the Litchi app having more range when planning, how reliable is this app? Do you need a good network of GCPs before it can work properly?
Sorry for the noob question!
Cheers

Think of it this way. If you had a light source or beacon on the drone that you could see for miles, would you be able to see it while flying over the forest(or any place). If something blocks the light source, then it is blocking your radio transmission. Trees love to block radio transmission. Building, et cetera. Its like an isosceles triangle, the further away the legs are from you the higher the hypotenuse is. In other words the further the drone is from you the higher it needs to be.

 

[THE CYBORG]

Forgot to put labels on things but you get the idea ?

 

[Robert Mitchell]

Litchi is very reliable, and runs autonomously when signal is lost. I have flown many successful missions using it. That said, good planning and every detail must be correct if going bvlos and risking losing signal. It has been used by many for exactly that purpose.

 

[Biggles846]

Think of it this way. If you had a light source or beacon on the drone that you could see for miles, would you be able to see it while flying over the forest(or any place). If something blocks the light source, then it is blocking your radio transmission. Trees love to block radio transmission. Building, et cetera. Its like an isosceles triangle, the further away the legs are from you the higher the hypotenuse is. In other words the further the drone is from you the higher it needs to be.

Bit confusing here. Isosceles triangle doesn't have a hypotenuse ?
S'funny here too that no mention is made of regulations. Acknowledged 'newbies' , such as is the case here, deserve to be educated by those of us with more experience. The inference is taken that the OP is taking his drone out of VLOS ...which most countries consider to be breaching the rules!

 

[E90RAW]

Bit confusing here. Isosceles triangle doesn't have a hypotenuse ?
S'funny here too that no mention is made of regulations. Acknowledged 'newbies' , such as is the case here, deserve to be educated by those of us with more experience. The inference is taken that the OP is taking his drone out of VLOS ...which most countries consider to be breaching the rules!

OK Mr. Math whiz, a right triangle. Now you know why I don't volunteer to help my children with their math homework.

 

[PHZ]

VLOS is the key here. Your drone operates on a 2.4 ghz signal. It doesn’t go around objects very well. If you cannot have a clear line of sight to the aircraft, your signal is at risk.
Using an app like Litchi or DroneDeploy (I use both, frequently), loads the programmed route in to the bird before takeoff. However, these apps may require a constant communication with the controller or they will follow your loss of signal instructions. I can’t say for sure because I have always had a solid signal, which you can keep an eye on in your dashboard.