KP Index

[Boog0822]

I use the app UAV Forcast mostly because it gives me a good idea of the wind in my area at altitude. I have it set to give me the wind speeds at 350 feet at my location. I just looked at the app now and it says not good to fly because of a high KP Index. That's the magnetic interference in the atmosphere from what I've read. Does anyone follow this or even check it before flights? I never paid attention to it until just now. Any experience with this? The app says high KP Index can cause all kinds of connection issues. Could this be the reason for some fly-aways??? Hmmmm...

 

[msinger]

You can ignore the KP-index. There is no evidence to show it has any negative effects on the Mavic.

 

[Flawless]

I had a look at my app earlier today and it was showing a Kp index of 6. I didn't have a clue what Kp index was at the time, so I looked it up and ended up texting someone else from this forum (Buzz rabbit) who had been flying about a mile away a couple of hours before. He didn't have any problems flying and when I ended up taking my Mavic up about 30 minutes later, neither did I.

I flew it early this morning (early... ish, about 8am) without issue - 18 sats connected immediately. This afternoon, however, I had to wait a minute for it to get to 12. This was the only thing I noticed.

Whereabouts were you flying, Boog?

 

[Red_Raven]

I'm terrified of this thing after my phantom period. This caused it to be switching to atti all the time. And me as a rookie didn't like atti, it ment that the only way home was by chance. All over 3 kp caused me problems. I flew in 6kp today without a problem on mavic.

Anyone have idea why mavic can handle this?

 

[Boog0822]

I had a look at my app earlier today and it was showing a Kp index of 6. I didn't have a clue what Kp index was at the time, so I looked it up and ended up texting someone else from this forum (Buzz rabbit) who had been flying about a mile away a couple of hours before. He didn't have any problems flying and when I ended up taking my Mavic up about 30 minutes later, neither did I.

I flew it early this morning (early... ish, about 8am) without issue - 18 sats connected immediately. This afternoon, however, I had to wait a minute for it to get to 12. This was the only thing I noticed.

Whereabouts were you flying, Boog?

A bit north of Dallas, TX

 

[Robbyg]

Anyone have idea why mavic can handle this?

The Kp index is referring to the intensity of suns solar storm effect as averaged around the globe.
When the Sun is spouting out a lot of materiel it hits the earths magnetic field, it energizes it and speeds up the flow of the field. That in turn can make it become a huge reflector for signals of a certain wavelength. Like Ham Radio signals in the 14Mhz to 30Mhz range. As you go into higher frequencies like 144Mhz the effects are less predictable and rare.

The Mavic operates at 2.4Ghz which is such a high frequency that the signals easily pass through the earths magnetic field and out into space regardless of the K index. That still does not make it immune. The magnetic fields can get so energized that they can cause signal degradation at almost any frequency. Bottom line is that I would not worry about it too much unless I lived way up North in locations where the Auroras happen often. In those locations you may find the range is shortened because the Signal to noise ratio (SNR) can drop due to the noise produced by the suns charged particles.

Rob

 

[Flawless]

It's also going to affect GPS. The higher north you are, the lower the Kp index threshold is. In Texas, you'll probably be fine up to 6 or even 7. In Alaska, it's probably not worth risking a 4.

 

[Qoncussion]

I've been flying quads for a while and the kp index just doesn't matter. I've flown countless times when it's high, and had very stable flights. Initially, it was just one more stat that scared me from flying on certain days. Eventually I stopped looking it up, and have never looked back.

 

[Red_Raven]

I've been flying quads for a while and the kp index just doesn't matter. I've flown countless times when it's high, and had very stable flights. Initially, it was just one more stat that scared me from flying on certain days. Eventually I stopped looking it up, and have never looked back.

Im located in Iceland and i can assure you that this has major affect on my phantom , but Im not seeing it as a problem when flying mavic.