Mavic Mini Barometer accuracy

Nd33 · Feb 1, 2020

When I first got my drone the barometer was very accurate, and height readings would stay the same when hovering. I have noticed recently that my barometer readings have been fluctuating +/- 2 meters even when hovering indoors without change in air pressure. In under 10 seconds I have seen it climb a meter even though the drone is using VPS and is hovering perfectly. I have reinstalled firmware with dji assistant and calibrated both IMU and compass. How much fluctuation do you guys see in the barometer?

Lumholdt · Feb 1, 2020

Mine is stable. Visually it fluctuates about +/- 10 cm. In the app it sometimes fluctuates +/- 2 meters. I don’t really consider this a huge problem as I never rely 100% on altitude and distance readings on screen. I’m satisfied if the inaccuracy is <5-10%

Nd33 · Feb 1, 2020

Lumholdt said:
Mine is stable. Visually it fluctuates about +/- 10 cm. In the app it sometimes fluctuates +/- 2 meters. I don’t really consider this a huge problem as I never rely 100% on altitude and distance readings on screen. I’m satisfied if the inaccuracy is <5-10%

OK, thanks for the reassurance. I'm just not sure what made it less accurate over the last week. I was just looking at my first flight logs and there was no drifting in the readings. Not a big deal for me, just wanted to make sure it wasn't an abnormal issue.

sar104 · Feb 1, 2020

Yes - it's a barometer. If you look at the raw pressure data in the DAT files it's very noisy, and with four powerful fans blowing air over the aircraft body it's a very sub-optimal situation even to try to measure atmospheric pressure. It's remarkable that the processing algorithms do manage to resolve better than a few meters.

LuneShine · Jul 21, 2020

My reading also fluctuate by about 10-15ft and I have been wondering that the issue might be due to a bent propeller blade. DJI has complex algorithms that compensate for the constant air that is being blown into the barometer from the propellers. So a bent blade can create irregular airflow that causes the altitude from the barometer to fluctuate. It's just a theory and I'm not sure if that is correct.