Mavic Crash - Can I evluate the logs myself?

[56_kruiser]

I was flying my drone in Active Track/Spotlight, trying to see if I could keep it focused on the front of a house while flying sideways across the front. I had turned on the obstacle avoidance while in Active Track.

So the drone got in front of a tree (not sideways) and the warning tone started going off for closeness, and then it was like it just full throttled forward into teh tree. Snippit of that below.

I can't imagine that I pushed forward on the throttle (well, I can imagine that), but, expecting obstacle avoidance to work, I had no reason to panic and hit it wrong. All that being said I'd like to see if I can tell if I did, or if the drone is nuts.

I've done some hunting for how to read the logs, and haven't made much progress. I understand there is a text log, and a DAT log, the DAT being on the drone itself. I don't know which, if either, would provide that info.

I did do the following:

• Open Go4
• Menu/Flight Record
• I can pull up the flight info

But I see no 'log', or any way to get it.

So, I'll do some more research, but hoping I can get hint here if I can even do what I want and which I should be trying to look at.

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[microlinux]

Upload the flight record from your device here and post the link. Instructions are on the page.

 

[56_kruiser]

Upload the flight record from your device here and post the link. Instructions are on the page.

Got it uploaded. The instructions for where the file is on Android was completely wrong. But I did finally find it.

First, here's the actual full length video:

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The crash into the tree is at 3:58 or so. Although I don't know how you'd match that to the right point in the log, as I was not videoing the whole time.

I have browsed down through the file on the site. I don't see anything that would tell me anything about whether I pushed tdhe throttle forward or not. Maybe the DAT file is needed?

Here is the link to the uploaded file-> Link

 

[sar104]

Got it uploaded. The instructions for where the file is on Android was completely wrong. But I did finally find it.

First, here's the actual full length video:

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Accept third party cookies

The crash into the tree is at 3:58 or so. Although I don't know how you'd match that to the right point in the log, as I was not videoing the whole time.

I have browsed down through the file on the site. I don't see anything that would tell me anything about whether I pushed tdhe throttle forward or not. Maybe the DAT file is needed?

Here is the link to the uploaded file-> Link

These kinds of flights are tricky to figure out because the aircraft response is due to a mixture of stick input and autonomous flight control by the FC.

However, if you look at the log data, the crash is apparent at 630.8 s. The final forward motion is clearly due to the forward (negative) pitch starting at 628.2 s, but there is no corresponding elevator input, implying that the FC initiated that movement. That's most likely associated with the loss of subject tracking as the aircraft moved behind the tree, but exactly why that resulted in forward motion is not apparent. The DAT file might have more information on the decision making.

 

[56_kruiser]

I appreciate your thoughts and efforts.

I'm not familiar at this point with the acronym of FC.

I have a couple questions:

1. Should I research how to download the DAT file and try to have it evaluated?
   
   
2. Can it be evaluated w/o contacting DJI, and if not, is there any reason I should have them do that?

This incident gives me serious paust about trusting the Mavic. It seems irrespective of the fact I am thinking it just decided to bash the tree (I still am not necessarily certain that I didn't cause that myself, but based on my reasoning in the original post, I am doubting it), the obstacle avoidance had a serious malfunction.

So I am wondering if I should pursue having the craft evaluated or exchanged by DJI.

BTW...I'm curious how you got that graph. Did you do one of the downloads from the upper right corner, then graph it in Excel? If so, which one?

 

[sar104]

I appreciate your thoughts and efforts.

I'm not familiar at this point with the acronym of FC.

I have a couple questions:

1. Should I research how to download the DAT file and try to have it evaluated?
   
   
2. Can it be evaluated w/o contacting DJI, and if not, is there any reason I should have them do that?

This incident gives me serious paust about trusting the Mavic. It seems irrespective of the fact I am thinking it just decided to bash the tree (I still am not necessarily certain that I didn't cause that myself, but based on my reasoning in the original post, I am doubting it), the obstacle avoidance had a serious malfunction.

So I am wondering if I should pursue having the craft evaluated or exchanged by DJI.

BTW...I'm curious how you got that graph. Did you do one of the downloads from the upper right corner, then graph it in Excel? If so, which one?

Sorry about the acronym; FC = flight controller.

Personally I would not be all that concerned about this flight in isolation unless you are seeing unstable flight in normal use. The tracking modes introduce an extra dimension of uncertainty since the aircraft is under hybrid control, and I don’t think that they are intended to be used in such close proximity to obstacles. If you want to post the DAT file then there are several of us here who have some experience analyzing those data, and it might be possible to figure out what happened. The obvious question relates to why the obstacle avoidance system didn’t avoid hitting the tree. Just to reiterate, the forward motion into the tree does not appear to have been caused by control stick input - you were correct about that.

How to retrieve a V3 .DAT File

In general the Mavic is extremely reliable and predictable when you are controlling it in any of the regular modes. The most common problems arise from it switching to ATTI mode due either to loss of GPS or due to compass errors that are generally caused by launching from a magnetically distorted location.

The graph above was generated from data in the csv version of the log file. You could use Excel or similar for that purpose but a data analysis software package such as MatLab or Igor Pro is much better equipped for that kind of work. I use Igor Pro.

 

[56_kruiser]

Sorry about the acronym; FC = flight controller.

Personally I would not be all that concerned about this flight in isolation unless you are seeing unstable flight in normal use. The tracking modes introduce an extra dimension of uncertainty since the aircraft is under hybrid control, and I don’t think that they are intended to be used in such close proximity to obstacles. If you want to post the DAT file then there are several of us here who have some experience analyzing those data, and it might be possible to figure out what happened. The obvious question relates to why the obstacle avoidance system didn’t avoid hitting the tree. Just to reiterate, the forward motion into the tree does not appear to have been caused by control stick input - you were correct about that.

How to retrieve a V3 .DAT File

In general the Mavic is extremely reliable and predictable when you are controlling it in any of the regular modes. The most common problems arise from it switching to ATTI mode due either to loss of GPS or due to compass errors that are generally caused by launching from a magnetically distorted location.

The graph above was generated from data in the csv version of the log file. You could use Excel or similar for that purpose but a data analysis software package such as MatLab or Igor Pro is much better equipped for that kind of work. I use Igor Pro.

I appreciate your help and input.

I just tried to download the DAT files from the Mavic, and it reports there are no logs. I've browsed around through the controller, and see no settings to turn them on or off.

Any thoughts?

 

[sar104]

I appreciate your help and input.

I just tried to download the DAT files from the Mavic, and it reports there are no logs. I've browsed around through the controller, and see no settings to turn them on or off.

Any thoughts?

There are always logs - that is not a user-selectable setting. Did you follow the instructions in the link above?

 

[56_kruiser]

There are always logs - that is not a user-selectable setting. Did you follow the instructions in the link above?

Yes. Pretty simple instructions. My interpretation was to use the assistant 2. Maybe I should see if I can see them directly from the computer.

 

[56_kruiser]

There are always logs - that is not a user-selectable setting. Did you follow the instructions in the link above?

I just tried both methods (different based on firmware version) I have the latest firmware, so it should be the version from the Assistant 2, not seeing it from the PC (after selecting right thing in Assistant 2).

Attached is a print screen of what I see.

 

[BudWalker]

I just tried both methods (different based on firmware version) I have the latest firmware, so it should be the version from the Assistant 2, not seeing it from the PC (after selecting right thing in Assistant 2).

Attached is a print screen of what I see.

Are you using Version 1.1.6 of DJI Assistant 2?

 

[56_kruiser]

Wasn't easy to find, but once I did, I guess it made some sense on the path.

So I have the file. Not sure what to do with it. Can't upload it here. I'll go back through the posts and links and see if there is info on that.

''''

Didn't see anything about instructions. I decided to zip it. Appears that should work, but the file is too large, and cannot load it up.

 

[BudWalker]

Wasn't easy to find, but once I did, I guess it made some sense on the path.

So I have the file. Not sure what to do with it. Can't upload it here. I'll go back through the posts and links and see if there is info on that.

''''

Didn't see anything about instructions. I decided to zip it. Appears that should work, but the file is too large, and cannot load it up.

The best way to share the .DAT is to use something like Dropbox or GoogleDrive. You'll need to get an account on one of those. Upload the .DAT to one of those and then provide a link to the uploaded file.

 

[56_kruiser]

I finally copied the file up to my Dropbox account. I should have thought of that.

Here is a link-> Link