Mavic AIR - release notes - Sep 26, 2018

[Keule]

It seems that DJI released the long expected firmware for the AIR:

The release notes:

 

[swooshdave]

My typical MO is to install this as soon as I can. You're welcome.

 

[InvisibleName]

Looks like DJI have pulled the update back - Release Notes no longer listed:
DJI Mavic Download page

 

[Keule]

Looks like DJI have pulled the update back - Release Notes no longer listed:

I wonder what actually happened at DJI ...

 

[pyrolator]

DJI a very strange Company

 

[z28lt1]

Well, the good news is, it looks like something is getting close. The bad news is, the release notes don't indicate a fix for those having the drifting problem nor the better details in the geo data.

 

[drcatan]

They do not have the capability to solve obvious problems like drifting. Drifting is most likely caused by the GPS overriding the other sensors in position determination. Otherwise I wouldn't get the ”maximum flight altitude reached” message at 2 meters above ground or a severe drift into the canyon wall (with no controls at all - other major problem).
Integrating visual, gyro/accelerometer/compass and GPS seems to be rocket science and DJI are focusing their efforts on their latest release. As a client I feel desconsidered of course, because not having the capacity to deal with existing problems shouldn't be overtaken by the greed of new product launches.

 

[drcatan]

Updated to fw .500, nearly missed one of my cats, TOTALLY UNSTABLE indoor, without GPS. I will test it tomorrow. Proceed with caution, because although we were confident this MA FW couldn t get any worse, they might be on the verge of demonstrating the opposite. Murphy doesn t sleep!

 

[InvisibleName]

Updated to fw .500, nearly missed one of my cats, TOTALLY UNSTABLE indoor, without GPS. I will test it tomorrow. Proceed with caution, because although we were confident this MA FW couldn t get any worse, they might be on the verge of demonstrating the opposite. Murphy doesn t sleep!

“Nearly missed....”? Does that mean you hit one of your cats? Did it survive?

Anyway, flying indoors with no GPS means you would be in atti mode, consequently the instability would be down to your flying!

 

[drcatan]

“Nearly missed....”? Does that mean you hit one of your cats? Did it survive?

Anyway, flying indoors with no GPS means you would be in atti mode, consequently the instability would be down to your flying!

I own a Spark and this MA. NEVER had problems flying indoors, in good light, of course. The MA was still for one second, then it begun drifting with no reason. Managed to keep it clear and land it.
And yes, all my 4 cats are ok.

 

[InvisibleName]

I own a Spark and this MA. NEVER had problems flying indoors, in good light, of course. The MA was still for one second, then it begun drifting with no reason. Managed to keep it clear and land it.
And yes, all my 4 cats are ok.

Flying indoors means that the down-wash from the props is much more likely to cause turbulence around your MA, which means that if you are in atti mode you would need to be constantly correcting for via your RC. If your not reacting quickly enough, the likely outcome would be massive instability.

Here's a simple definition of atti mode that I found:

Atti Mode is short for Attitude Mode, where the drone will maintain a specific altitude but not position. That means the drone will remain at the same height but drift around in the wind. It also means that there is no auto-braking when you are flying, so the drone will continue moving in the direction you are flying until you push the stick in the opposite direction to brake.

 

[drcatan]

Flying indoors means that the down-wash from the props is much more likely to cause turbulence around your MA, which means that if you are in atti mode you would need to be constantly correcting for via your RC.

I am just comparing hundreds of indoor test flights with the one after update.
ATTI is and should always be completed by the downwards facing camera image, which, on the same principle as the mouse movement, compares images of the floor surface and determine the corrections needed. There were no issues with the floor lightning/pattern at this flight.
It is the integration of vision/sensors/GPS which is still faulty on the MA.
If we were 3 or 4 years back in time, I would have asked too much maybe. But because this sensors' integration was achieved beautifully on the Spark 1 year ago, my justified demand would be to work a bit harder and give this expensive (for me) drone the appropriate firmware.

 

[InvisibleName]

3 full batteries worth of flying with .0500 FW this evening...

...flew perfectly!

Went out to 1000m with completely stable video feed
Hovered without any drift
Several auto flight functions tested
No disconnections at any time

Combined Function key & gimbal wheel controls exposure setting - very useful!