Interference

[Scrinch]

Probably kind of a dumb question, but better safe than sorry I suppose. I hope to use my MM in some events where there might be a lot of other drones flying, possibly even other MM's. Is there any chance another controller could interfer with mine?

 

[new2mavic]

a definite BIG YES.

 

[Meta4]

Probably kind of a dumb question, but better safe than sorry I suppose. I hope to use my MM in some events where there might be a lot of other drones flying, possibly even other MM's. Is there any chance another controller could interfer with mine?

You can happily fly multiple other DJI drones together without any issues.
At worst, the controllers might have to move a few metres apart.
The Mini is probably no different.

 

[netsonic]

I hope to use my MM in some events where there might be a lot of other drones flying, possibly even other MM's. Is there any chance another controller could interfer with mine?

Yes, other controllers can interfere with your Wifi, however it's also easily mitigated. Let me explain the why and the how.

DJI Drones have auto channel selection. It does not matter if we are talking about a Tello (smallest) or the Mini or any bigger one, once you have the app set to auto select or auto detect it will choose one of the least congested channels to operate. This is how the theory works, when there are enough free channels.

Sometimes when I fly in the park, I fly with my son who is flying his Tello. It happened more than once that the Wi-Fi of the Tello does interfere with the Mini, however like @Meta4 already explained, you can just move a couple meters away and the interference warning is gone. For us it happened in the 2.5 GHz band that both Mini and Tello have in common. If you want to make sure that you are not affected, you can always opt to manually choose a free channel.

Step 1: Enter DJI Fly APP main page.
Step 2: Go to the camera settings and click the three dots at the top right of the screen,
Step 3: Go to the "Transmission" tab and then to "Channel mode" select "Manual".
Step 4:You can choose the channel by touching the bar that you think is most suitable (it must be green and relatively high to ensure good reception).

Be aware that this only applies to the Remote Controller interference, once you fly away over houses there might be additional interference coming from there.

 

[Scrinch]

Yes, other controllers can interfere with your Wifi, however it's also easily mitigated. Let me explain the why and the how.

DJI Drones have auto channel selection. It does not matter if we are talking about a Tello (smallest) or the Mini or any bigger one, once you have the app set to auto select or auto detect it will choose one of the least congested channels to operate. This is how the theory works, when there are enough free channels.

Sometimes when I fly in the park, I fly with my son who is flying his Tello. It happened more than once that the Wi-Fi of the Tello does interfere with the Mini, however like @Meta4 already explained, you can just move a couple meters away and the interference warning is gone. For us it happened in the 2.5 GHz band that both Mini and Tello have in common. If you want to make sure that you are not affected, you can always opt to manually choose a free channel.

Step 1: Enter DJI Fly APP main page.
Step 2: Go to the camera settings and click the three dots at the top right of the screen,
Step 3: Go to the "Transmission" tab and then to "Channel mode" select "Manual".
Step 4:You can choose the channel by touching the bar that you think is most suitable (it must be green and relatively high to ensure good reception).

Be aware that this only applies to the Remote Controller interference, once you fly away over houses there might be additional interference coming from there.

Thanks for the explanation and answer.Much appreciated.

 

[Camino Ken]

You can happily fly multiple other DJI drones together without any issues.
At worst, the controllers might have to move a few metres apart.
The Mini is probably no different.

I am intrigued by your response. While I agree it should not be a problem for a certain amount of co-located controllers, at some point there would enough received RF signal energy combined to overwhelm the receiver’s front end input circuitry and AGC. I would think it would be similar to a bunch of WiFi (and other sources) interference signals in typical congested areas. I wonder if anyone has tried to test and quantify this effect.

 

[netsonic]

@Camino Ken, you are right, as soon as you will saturate all channels flying will become a challenge. We however assume that in an ideal situation we have 1 pilot on a single channel, otherwise no one will be flying as all are equally affected. Or imagine someone firing up a 2Watt WiFi jammer.