Interference from industrial laser

[Rchawks]

I recently tried flying from an area I know has a laser cutter and the map function was non functional I opted not to risk it. I remember a while back a drone service was hired to film inside the plant. They also decided not to fly at the time. Anyone have experience with this type of issue?

 

[DanMan32]

Sounds like the equipment was causing GPS interference.
Actually any indoor location, whether it has equipment or not will attenuate or completely block GPS, even an empty warehouse. Therefore it might not have had anything to do with the lasers.

If you are flying low enough, the vision position sensor can be used to stabilize flight. If VPS is not effective such as too high, not enough light or ground has no pattern, then AC will go into ATTI mode.
I suppose the lasers could blind the sensors, but then they would have you wear eye protection, and you'd notice the light through the main camera.

 

[brett8883]

I recently tried flying from an area I know has a laser cutter and the map function was non functional I opted not to risk it. I remember a while back a drone service was hired to film inside the plant. They also decided not to fly at the time. Anyone have experience with this type of issue?

I’m not really understanding how a laser cutter could give off enough ambient electromagnetic interference to disable your drone. I think there a million possible reasons that could explain what you experienced but incidental inference by laser isn’t one of them.

 

[sar104]

Sounds like the equipment was causing GPS interference.
Actually any indoor location, whether it has equipment or not will attenuate or completely block GPS, even an empty warehouse. Therefore it might not have had anything to do with the lasers.

If you are flying low enough, the vision position sensor can be used to stabilize flight. If VPS is not effective such as too high, not enough light or ground has no pattern, then AC will go into ATTI mode.
I suppose the lasers could blind the sensors, but then they would have you wear eye protection, and you'd notice the light through the main camera.

Laser cutters are completely enclosed, for obvious reasons. And they are not going to interfere GPS reception either.

 

[Meta4]

I recently tried flying from an area I know has a laser cutter and the map function was non functional I opted not to risk it.
I remember a while back a drone service was hired to film inside the plant. They also decided not to fly at the time.
Anyone have experience with this type of issue?

You mentioned that someone else didn't fly inside the building but gave no hint as to why.
You said that your map was non-functional which is extremely vague but sounds like you just had a blank map because you didn't have mobile signal to download the map?
You really have to clearly explain what the issue was before anyone can comment.

 

[bumper]

As Dan the Man said, could be interference on GPS frequencies. Those satellites are about 12,550 miles above the earth, so their signal is not super strong when it reaches Earth to begin with. Also the WiFi signals used to communicate between controller and drone are susceptible to RFI (Radio Frequency Interference). RFI can emanate from all manner of electronic equipment with circuitry such as high frequency switching power supplies etc.etc.

See: https://www.researchgate.net/public...terference_in_high_power_TEA_CO2_laser_system

 

[Meta4]

Sounds like the equipment was causing GPS interference.

As Dan the Man said, could be interference on GPS frequencies.

The OP hasn't given enough information to tell whether he had any problem with GPS at all.
All he's said was that his map was non-functioning (whatever that means).
We have no idea whether he was attempting to fly inside a building or outside.
And nothing to suggest that there was any interference from the laser.
Until the OP gives more information, there's little point guessing.

 

[Rchawks]

My apologies to all for being so vague as that was not my intent. To be more clear, the industrial laser equipment is very large scale, massive in fact and there happens to be 2 of them . I was outside the building while the lasers were operating 24/7 which is why I thought that might be the issue. The flights I mentioned inside the building was provided by a drone service attempting to provide footage for a video that didn't happen because of interference. They packed up and left after the attempt. This is why I was curious if this could cause an issue outside the building. To date I haven't had any issues before or after with the map function which is also why I thought it might be from the location. Even before the attempt to fly there I offend wondered what effect flying into such interference from overhead might do to a flight. Again, thank you for the opinions.

 

[Meta4]

My apologies to all for being so vague as that was not my intent. To be more clear, the industrial laser equipment is very large scale, massive in fact and there happens to be 2 of them . I was outside the building while the lasers were operating 24/7 which is why I thought that might be the issue. The flights I mentioned inside the building was provided by a drone service attempting to provide footage for a video that didn't happen because of interference. They packed up and left after the attempt. This is why I was curious if this could cause an issue outside the building. To date I haven't had any issues before or after with the map function which is also why I thought it might be from the location. Even before the attempt to fly there I offend wondered what effect flying into such interference from overhead might do to a flight. Again, thank you for the opinions.

Electrical equipment of all kinds creates radio interference.
If the commercial flight was abandoned because of interference, it would have been for that reason, and not something specifically related to the laser equipment.
We still haven't enough information regarding your non-functioning map issue.
But it's probably completely unrelated to the equipment in the building.
It's quite likely that you could fly quite safely from that location but might have to be a short distance from the equipment to prevent interference from swamping your control signal.

 

[brett8883]

My apologies to all for being so vague as that was not my intent. To be more clear, the industrial laser equipment is very large scale, massive in fact and there happens to be 2 of them . I was outside the building while the lasers were operating 24/7 which is why I thought that might be the issue. The flights I mentioned inside the building was provided by a drone service attempting to provide footage for a video that didn't happen because of interference. They packed up and left after the attempt. This is why I was curious if this could cause an issue outside the building. To date I haven't had any issues before or after with the map function which is also why I thought it might be from the location. Even before the attempt to fly there I offend wondered what effect flying into such interference from overhead might do to a flight. Again, thank you for the opinions.

What specifically was the problem? Was the drone unable to lock satellite reception? Did it say there was magnetic interference which is what you might expect near a high voltage source? Did the drone say it was in GPS mode but you just couldn’t see the map? Was it in atti mode only? We’re there any error messages? What was it specifically that made you think there was a problem?

 

[Rchawks]

Everything seemed to be normal on the ground with the rotors turning and after realizing that the map display was black I was unwilling to take off without it. So at that point I simply turned everything off and packed up to fly somewhere else. It was in GPS mode not atti and no error messages and was clear to fly. I tend to be protective of the drone and try not to take chances with it if unsure of the outcome. Maybe I was over reacting but then that's ok. Map seemed to be the only issue. Thank you gentlemen for your expertise and time, I'll just avoid this location in the future
..

 

[brett8883]

Everything seemed to be normal on the ground with the rotors turning and after realizing that the map display was black I was unwilling to take off without it. So at that point I simply turned everything off and packed up to fly somewhere else. It was in GPS mode not atti and no error messages and was clear to fly. I tend to be protective of the drone and try not to take chances with it if unsure of the outcome. Maybe I was over reacting but then that's ok. Map seemed to be the only issue. Thank you gentlemen for your expertise and time, I'll just avoid this location in the future
..

Sounds like you didn’t have cell service for the map to download is all.

 

[Meta4]

Maybe I was over reacting but then that's ok. Map seemed to be the only issue. Thank you gentlemen for your expertise and time, I'll just avoid this location in the future

It doesn't sound like there's any reason to avoid this location in future.
There's nothing in this thread that points to a problem flying there.

 

[Rchawks]

One of the reasons I chose to fly there is the huge field behind the plant with lots of open space and freedom to practice.

 

[SIT]

In DJI Go 4, you can go into the settings under the remote controller. Here you can access some information on the signal strength, interference and frequency. This gets out of my area of expertise, but there is a plain English section to say Signal strength : good/poor/etc. It can even articulate what frequency the interference is within.
I often check this when I suspect there may be interference before take off.

 

[Meta4]

In DJI Go 4, you can go into the settings under the remote controller. Here you can access some information on the signal strength, interference and frequency. This gets out of my area of expertise, but there is a plain English section to say Signal strength : good/poor/etc. It can even articulate what frequency the interference is within.
I often check this when I suspect there may be interference before take off.

The thread title is misleading.
The OP didn't say anything that suggests he encountered any interference at the site.

 

[Rchawks]

True, but still fumbling around trying to learn this stuff If I knew how to close this thread as not to mislead anyone I would. Suffice to say I won't fly from there just to make sure.

 

[Meta4]

Suffice to say I won't fly from there just to make sure.

There's nothing you've said in this thread that gives any hint that there's an actual problem with the site and no need to avoid flying there at all.

That your map was blank does not indicate anything that would have caused a problem.