Is it possible to fly a drone from the deck of a steel ship or boat?

[Gobuchul]

Does anyone successfully fly from the deck of a steel ship or boat?

Or does the steel just send the compass crazy?

Surely if you calibrated at deck level then once you took off away from the magnetic field generated by the ship it would cause major issues?

I know that they perform drone inspections of oil rigs and platforms, which must be similar but not sure how they get around the problem?

 

[Olav van Gerven]

I think that it is possible, but at the same time, I would regard it risky. HAve seen enough reports here of drones crashing or at least causing a difficult situation because of the metal. Would strongly advise not to do it. (unless you have enough money not to care about a crash)

 

[slup]

Doesn't matter if you calibrate the compass or not that hasn't anything to do with magnetic objects around you, it only calibrate towards the AC internals.

What happens instead when starting up and take off from an interfered area is that the IMU with the help of the compass initiate the Yaw angle at start up ... so still in interference all good, Yaw & magYaw agrees even though the AC heading probably is way off comparing AC symbol on the map & reality.

But once airborne away from the interference Yaw & magYaw will start to disagree as the magYaw points correctly again, the AC have now lost it's heading info... this is usually followed by the "toilet bowl" effect kicking in.

 

[sar104]

It completely depends on the strength of the boat's magnetic field. You certainly don't want to do a compass calibration in that environment, but if you can find a location above deck where the drone powers up and (a) shows low magnetic interference values and (b) the display indicates that the IMU yaw value is correct, then it will fly just fine.

 

[slup]

It completely depends on the strength of the boat's magnetic field. You certainly don't want to do a compass calibration in that environment, but if you can find a location above deck where the drone powers up and (a) shows low magnetic interference values and (b) the display indicates that the IMU yaw value is correct, then it will fly just fine.

I wonder what happens when it's time to land & you can't avoid some other magnetic area that upsets the compass ...

 

[sar104]

I wonder what happens when it's time to land & you can't avoid some other magnetic area that upsets the compass ...

That could cause problems, but if you can find a suitable location to launch then you should be able to bring it back to that location.

 

[slup]

That could cause problems, but if you can find a suitable location to launch then you should be able to bring it back to that location.

Yeah ... but that is something to consider when it's a moving steel boat. Even if finding a good launch spot the safest approach on the way back to land is a straight vertical descent from some higher altitude or at least the same route used in outbound direction and not flying alongside the boat possibly hitting magnetic interference. Can imagine that this can be tricky if the boat is moving.

 

[OurAngryBadger]

I would not recommend it. I knew a guy that flew his Inspire near a 250' steel water tower and it glitched out and crashed on top of the water tower.

What was even more astounding is that they let him climb up to the top via the ladder to retrieve it. Seems like it would be a liability issue lol.

 

[Saigondroner]

Does anyone successfully fly from the deck of a steel ship or boat?

Or does the steel just send the compass crazy?

Surely if you calibrated at deck level then once you took off away from the magnetic field generated by the ship it would cause major issues?

I know that they perform drone inspections of oil rigs and platforms, which must be similar but not sure how they get around the problem?

Yes, it is very easy. It is even easier to sink from the deck of a steel hulled ship.

YMMV

 

[Avistu]

Do not try it on a cruise ship.

Just before a work assignment, I was to travel to write a series of articles about Norway for a travel company that sells cruise tickets, Parrot handed me a Bebop, if I recall the model correctly. I tried it on my back yard with no issues at all, so packed it and went with me to the fjords. Through the client, got to know the Captain, gave me permission and some days later I was positioned aft of the ship, in a open, secured area with no passengers and several crew members, ready to fly.

The app wouln´d connect to the dron. The drone wouldn´t fly. I restarted everything several times until the engines began to work and the blades started their rotation.

I shouldn´t have gone any further. I did.

One second after taking off, the drone flew full throttle sideways and crashed against a low level glass panel. The panel resisted the impact, the drone got some scratches, the crew was kind of amused, I was kind of terrified.

I returned the drone to Parrot explaining everything that happened, but never got to know why.

 

[sar104]

Do not try it on a cruise ship.

Just before a work assignment, I was to travel to write a series of articles about Norway for a travel company that sells cruise tickets, Parrot handed me a Bebop, if I recall the model correctly. I tried it on my back yard with no issues at all, so packed it and went with me to the fjords. Through the client, got to know the Captain, gave me permission and some days later I was positioned aft of the ship, in a open, secured area with no passengers and several crew members, ready to fly.

The app wouln´d connect to the dron. The drone wouldn´t fly. I restarted everything several times until the engines began to work and the blades started their rotation.

I shouldn´t have gone any further. I did.

One second after taking off, the drone flew full throttle sideways and crashed against a low level glass panel. The panel resisted the impact, the drone got some scratches, the crew was kind of amused, I was kind of terrified.

I returned the drone to Parrot explaining everything that happened, but never got to know why.

Was the ship stationary or moving?

 

[bcfd29]

if the vessel has operating radar (and most are required to do so while underway - in must cases multiple redundant open array radars) it is a strong signal that although a different bandwidth/spectrum from your control channels will likely cause extreme interference (blanking or similar intermittent signal loss when the transmitter sweeps your direction). same with any radio antenna masts like AIS that continually transmits data as to the vessels position. these interference sources to me are more concerning than the fact that the vessel may have ferrous structural components.

commercial gear that is intended for inspections and such are engineered to deal with these interference sources, recreational UAS devices not so much.

this is also a likely causal factor when unusual flight events occur around water towers and bridges (many transmit these or similar signals especially if located on a navigable water way).

when you assess a site for suitability for flight, always look for antenna arrays or other infrastructure that may be critical sources of interference for your control system. just my thoughts...

 

[Avistu]

Was the ship stationary or moving?

The ship was stationary well off the harbour, on a wide open area between not-so-close mountains.

 

[Avistu]

if the vessel has operating radar (and most are required to do so while underway - in must cases multiple redundant open array radars) it is a strong signal that although a different bandwidth/spectrum from your control channels will likely cause extreme interference (blanking or similar intermittent signal loss when the transmitter sweeps your direction). same with any radio antenna masts like AIS that continually transmits data as to the vessels position. these interference sources to me are more concerning than the fact that the vessel may have ferrous structural components.

commercial gear that is intended for inspections and such are engineered to deal with these interference sources, recreational UAS devices not so much.

this is also a likely causal factor when unusual flight events occur around water towers and bridges (many transmit these or similar signals especially if located on a navigable water way).

when you assess a site for suitability for flight, always look for antenna arrays or other infrastructure that may be critical sources of interference for your control system. just my thoughts...

I have learned my lesson on flying from a vessel, trust me.

I guessed that iron or steel bridges could interfere but would have never thought of water towers, bearing in mid their relatively low size. Good to know.

 

[sar104]

The ship was stationary well off the harbour, on a wide open area between not-so-close mountains.

Then that's most likely a yaw error - the compass incorrectly initialized the IMU yaw and then tried to hold position by applying thrust in the wrong direction.

 

[JAW]

I was able to do it off a steel hulled fishing boat but I had to do it from the upper deck that had teak floorboards. I also took off and landed from/on a fiberglass table that was about 3-4 feet off the deck.

 

[Gringorio]

That could cause problems, but if you can find a suitable location to launch then you should be able to bring it back to that location.

I've done this many times from several different ships. Have another person power up the drone while holding it up away from the deck. Hand catch for landing as well. No problems.

 

[koopyetz]

I've done this many times from several different ships. Have another person power up the drone while holding it up away from the deck. Hand catch for landing as well. No problems.

FB
Hand catch by helper whether ships is stationary or under weigh?

 

[Marco António]

Yes, it’s possible and never had issue this far

I do have a MM, and I work offshore, I do fly my MM on steel boat and never had a issue so far. Sometimes the MM request to calibrate, and the calibration goes just fine, and I start to fly no problem

In two weeks times from now I’ll be offshore(overseas) then I can send you some footage of my MM flying on L deck vessel

OBS: I do fly my MM just for fun

 

[Gringorio]

FB
Hand catch by helper whether ships is stationary or under weigh?

Definitely when moving. When at anchor or stopped it's still nice to have the help if someone in available.