Idea to increase speed of GPS sat link acquisition on the Mav 3

[Don Testme]

I covered a large piece of wood with tinfoil and placed my Mavic 3 on top of that and started it up. I also did the same without any tinfoil. The tin foil, at least for me, cut the acquisition time to 12 sats by about 1.5 minutes. I assume the tinfoil may have acted like a tiny signal collector bouncing the signal back up at the drone instead of just having the signal come from above. Now the signal comes down and bounces up. It seemed to work for me. IF I COULD ASK OTHERS, PLEASE TRY THIS AT HOME. It's cheap and inexpensive. Maybe we should start making helipads with radio reflective material in them that causes the signal to also bounce off the ground. I hope you all try this. Let everyone know if you notice a difference. Let us know if satellite acquisition gets shorter or longer and by how much. Your participation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[zeusfl]

This is a known issue, the Mavic 3 is taking up to 6 minutes to acquire satellites and sometimes even more from cold boot. DJI promised will address the issue in the next firmware.

 

[Meta4]

Other DJI drones quickly acquire signal from more sats without any reflector.
The Mavic 3 used to as well, and should be able to when/if DJI get around to fixing whatever they did to it.

 

[Don Testme]

Lets try to keep this thread on the subject of the reflector idea. If you do it, and it works, or not works, just let this thread know.

 

[PHZ]

My guess is has something to do with China’s proprietary gps system being added to the M3.

 

[Meta4]

My guess is has something to do with China’s proprietary gps system being added to the M3.

Many have suggested that, but it's not that simple.
Beidou is a perfectly good navigational sat system.
The drone works with sats of two other systems as well.
The Mavic 3 GPS worked normally before the December firmware update.

 

[chuck1026]

So I buy a $2K drone to "upgrade" from the awesome Mavic 2 Pro to need to modify it? While I like your innovative idea and am curious if it works I am not pleased that I spent $4K for a kit that sits while I still fly my Mavic 2 Pro!

 

[chuck1026]

Many have suggested that, but it's not that simple.
Beidou is a perfectly good navigational sat system.
The drone works with sats of two other systems as well.
The Mavic 3 GPS worked normally before the December firmware update.

@Meta4 I can't confirm that to be true or not. I know Billy Kyle noted that you could fly quickly at 100 or so feet AGL with insufficient satellites locked, so take that for what it is worth. I'm pretty sure the problem was there from the release. The M3 was not and is not really "ready" for us consumers. It was rushed and now we are all guinea pigs. Fortunately compared to the stuff in Ukraine (God bless them and I hope they find peace soon) this is a 1st world problem.

 

[Meta4]

I know Billy Kyle noted that you could fly quickly at 100 or so feet AGL with insufficient satellites locked, so take that for what it is worth.

No mystery in that - see p62 of your manual.

I'm pretty sure the problem was there from the release.

It wasn't and many users who bought early can confirm that GPS acquisition was fine before the first firmware update in December.

 

[chuck1026]

No mystery in that - see p62 of your manual.


It wasn't and many users who bought early can confirm that GPS acquisition was fine before the first firmware update in December.

Well if that's the case then it should be corrected soon. I can be a bit more patient I guess... This drone is not what it was marketed to be yet.... Ugh.