Losing transmission

[Mavic Lady Zoom]

Hi
I have had a few times where the transmission failed as the drone was out over the sea or further inland. Has anyone had this happen? Is there anything I should do to avoid this happening? Thanks

 

[brett8883]

Hi
I have had a few times where the transmission failed as the drone was out over the sea or further inland. Has anyone had this happen? Is there anything I should do to avoid this happening? Thanks

It’s really just a reality of radio communication. The signal doesn’t have unlimited range and that range is reduced when there is interference along the way.

Radio is actually a form of light and it makes for a good analogy too. If your light is the only source of light on a dark night then it’s easy to see from a long way away. But if you are in a big city with lots of other lights then it becomes really hard to make out one light from another and gets washed out by other lights.

The antenna on the Mavic emits radio from the long sides but not the top. Ensure the antenna is properly oriented to the aircraft to get the best signal strength. With practice you can usually tell when signal strength is getting week. The latency from when you control the aircraft to do something to when you see it on the screen will increase and that’s a good indication you are getting close to the end of the range of the .

The video transmission is much more complex as it has to send much more data back to the remote and so is more affected by interference. It’s common to have the video drop out but still be able to control the aircraft because the signal from the RC to the AC is very simple and covers a narrow band and therefore is less affected by interference. In the case you may need to manually hit the RTH button from the aircraft to head back to home.

You can of course increase the range of the video and RC by installing amplifiers on the remote but this requires opening up the remote to install the connections for the amplifiers.

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Depends somewhat on a variety of factors, elevation is a big one, further out you go, the better your chances of maintaining connection if you raise it up... think of a right angled triangle....

Some folks say dropping the 1080p downlink for video (assuming by your name you have a M2Z) to Standard Definition may improve the qaulity of your connection at distance.

And totally what Brett said!

 

[Mavic Lady Zoom]

It’s really just a reality of radio communication. The signal doesn’t have unlimited range and that range is reduced when there is interference along the way.

Radio is actually a form of light and it makes for a good analogy too. If your light is the only source of light on a dark night then it’s easy to see from a long way away. But if you are in a big city with lots of other lights then it becomes really hard to make out one light from another and gets washed out by other lights.

The antenna on the Mavic emits radio from the long sides but not the top. Ensure the antenna is properly oriented to the aircraft to get the best signal strength. With practice you can usually tell when signal strength is getting week. The latency from when you control the aircraft to do something to when you see it on the screen will increase and that’s a good indication you are getting close to the end of the range of the .

The video transmission is much more complex as it has to send much more data back to the remote and so is more affected by interference. It’s common to have the video drop out but still be able to control the aircraft because the signal from the RC to the AC is very simple and covers a narrow band and therefore is less affected by interference. In the case you may need to manually hit the RTH button from the aircraft to head back to home.

You can of course increase the range of the video and RC by installing amplifiers on the remote but this requires opening up the remote to install the connections for the amplifiers.

Thanks very much for your detailed reply.

 

[Mavic Lady Zoom]

Depends somewhat on a variety of factors, elevation is a big one, further out you go, the better your chances of maintaining connection if you raise it up... think of a right angled triangle....

Are you talking about the antenna? I have experimented with different angles of the antenna especially when I'm standing above it and the drone was going down to sea level from a cliff or into a cave entrance.

 

[DanMan32]

The RC antenna should be perpendicular to the imaginary line between your RC and AC. The radiation emits from the flat part and not the tip.
Typically that means antennas vertical when AC is at a distance, but horizontal when AC is right above you.

 

[globetrotterdrone]

It’s really just a reality of radio communication. The signal doesn’t have unlimited range and that range is reduced when there is interference along the way.

Radio is actually a form of light

I like your comparison, it's easy to understand.
But concerning light's definition, it's the other way around: light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, a wave, like radio.

 

[Dave Maine]

As you think about range issues, be aware that from a point source, the transmitted signal drops As the square of the distance. Wave shaping antennas reduce that problem somewhat, at the expense of huge signal losses if the antennas are not aligned.

Getting drone technology to work as well as it does is quite impressive. Consider how much trouble home WiFi has with distances greater than a couple hundred feet.

 

[brett8883]

I like your comparison, it's easy to understand.
But concerning light's definition, it's the other way around: light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, a wave, like radio.

I think we are saying the same thing different ways. Light and radio are made of the same “stuff” and behave similarly.

 

[Thomas Fields]

Would a simple range extender that slides onto the antennas help?

 

[DanMan32]

Passive parabolic certainly would as you would be refocusing radiation otherwise going back at you instead towards the drone. Much like the mirror behind headlights. The down side is if you fly the AC behind you, you have even less signal than before.

One side benefit of most models is that it keeps the two antennas parallel.

 

[Thomas B]

Passive parabolic certainly would as you would be refocusing radiation otherwise going back at you instead towards the drone. Much like the mirror behind headlights. The down side is if you fly the AC behind you, you have even less signal than before.

One side benefit of most models is that it keeps the two antennas parallel.

It also makes a narrower control signal field making the orientation of the antennae to the drone even more critical... even with powered units.