Mavic Mini RC Affecting Compass on Samsung Phone

[StubbornSwiss]

Greetings!

After experiencing problems with my Aircraft Orientation indicator on the DJI Fly app, I came across some posts relating to an interference issue between the RC and the phones compass.

I decided to run a test myself, using my Samsung Galaxy S9+ and an Android compass app available in the Play Store (Compass Galaxy).

Much to my surprise, there is indeed quite significant inteference of the phones compass when it is brought into a position of mounting it onto the RC (pls. see video).

So here are my questions:
- What exactly could be causing this?
- Is this what is causing the Aircraft Orientation indicator not to indicate accurately?
- What effect could this have on the safe operation of the drone, in particular with regards to any return to home (RTH) functions?

Thank you.

 

[Meta4]

So here are my questions:
1 - What exactly could be causing this?
2 - Is this what is causing the Aircraft Orientation indicator not to indicate accurately?
3 - What effect could this have on the safe operation of the drone, in particular with regards to any return to home (RTH) functions?

1. Magnetic fields cause a compass needle to deflect - that's how a compass works
Either there is some steel component/s or magnetic fields associated with electric current in the controller close enough to the magnetic sensor in the phone to do this
2. Yes
3. Absolutely no effect on your drone flying - only the orientation of the display
The drone has its own compass and that's the only one it uses
Even if the display compass orientation is wrong, the home point is always in the centre of the circle on the radar display and you can see the orientation of the drone and rotate it to point towards the centre and fly home.
The RTH function won't be affected at all.

 

[StubbornSwiss]

1. Magnetic fields cause a compass needle to deflect - that's how a compass works
Either there is some steel component/s or magnetic fields associated with electric current in the controller close enough to the magnetic sensor in the phone to do this
2. Yes
3. Absolutely no effect on your drone flying - only the orientation of the display
The drone has its own compass and that's the only one it uses
Even if the display compass orientation is wrong, the home point is always in the centre of the circle on the radar display and you can see the orientation of the drone and rotate it to point towards the centre and fly home.
The RTH function won't be affected at all.

Ok..... this is all very good to know. Thank you so much for this response.

Does anyone know if this issue is peculiar to Android devices? Does this happen with ios devices?

Might be time to look for a iPhone to use with my DJI Mavic Mini and Osmo 3, as ios seems to work better with DJI products.

 

[sar104]

The magnetic field is from the Hall Effect sensors in the RC stick modules. How much it affects the compass in the phone will depend on how close the phone is mounted to the RC, and where the compass is, exactly, in the phone. Have you tried mounting the phone upside down?

 

[StubbornSwiss]

The magnetic field is from the Hall Effect sensors in the RC stick modules. How much it affects the compass in the phone will depend on how close the phone is mounted to the RC, and where the compass is, exactly, in the phone. Have you tried mounting the phone upside down?

Actually I have........ copied and pasted from my post on DJI Forums:

I rotated the phone 180 degrees, that is with the top of the phone to the left of the RC and the bottom to the right, and although there was still a bit of interference, it was significantly less.

I too have a phone/tablet holder, and this too seems to reduce the problem. I might have to start using it.

 

[Meta4]

Does anyone know if this issue is peculiar to Android devices? Does this happen with ios devices?
Might be time to look for a iPhone to use with my DJI Mavic Mini and Osmo 3, as ios seems to work better with DJI products.

The effect has nothing to do with the operating system.
It's entirely due to the strength of the magnetic field and how close it is to the compass sensor.
As for the idea that iOS products work better with DJI, that's a total myth.
Get a good device with a fast enough processor and enough RAM and it will run the DJI app properly regardless of which operating system.
If your phone or tablet isn't up to the task, you'll be disappointed even if it's an Apple device.

 

[DanMan32]

The device compass might be able to compensate for the effect the RC is having by doing the figure 8 or 3 axis calibration routine while the device is attached to the RC.

 

[Manx]

Any updates regarding this? I too have the same problem with my S8 and S9.

 

[GerdS]

I had same problem with my Galaxy S8+ and Mavic Pro. Since replacing the phone with a Huawei Mate 20 Pro the problem is gone. So it heavily depends on the mounting position of the magnetometers within the phone and it seems that position is the worst case possible for Samsung phones.
The only workaround possible would be using same type of tablet holder for the remote to get more distance from the remote.

 

[Manx]

I had same problem with my Galaxy S8+ and Mavic Pro. Since replacing the phone with a Huawei Mate 20 Pro the problem is gone. So it heavily depends on the mounting position of the magnetometers within the phone and it seems that position is the worst case possible for Samsung phones.
The only workaround possible would be using same type of tablet holder for the remote to get more distance from the remote.

Oh man that's really disappointing. I guess I'll have to stick with the map mini window for those moments where you go "huh, where did that go....... 10 seconds later..... oh yeah, I see it"

I added a strobe recently, much easier to keep track of.

 

[DanMan32]

Or recalibrate the device compass while mounted so that the RC influence might be discounted.

 

[new2mavic]

If directional antenna is used on the RC, it is essential that the antenna is pointing towards the drone at all time. Such compass error will make it difficult to do so.

 

[sar104]

If directional antenna is used on the RC, it is essential that the antenna is pointing towards the drone at all time. Such compass error will make it difficult to do so.

Not difficult if you have the aircraft within VLOS, which everyone does, of course¡

 

[Manx]

I actually tried recalibrating my compass on the S9 via *#0*# and I no longer even have the aircraft orientation appear on the HUD. Thoughts?

 

[ThorDar]

I have an iPhone 6 and a Samsung S7+ and the compass is affected on both. But this is much ado about nothing. None of the aircraft, controller or app functions are dependant on the device compass.

 

[Manx]

I have an iPhone 6 and a Samsung S7+ and the compass is affected on both. But this is much ado about nothing. None of the aircraft, controller or app functions are dependant on the device compass.

So why would my aircraft indicator (bottom of app) be completely wrong. Says the drone is behind me

 

[sar104]

So why would my aircraft indicator (bottom of app) be completely wrong. Says the drone is behind me

Because the compass in your phone is reading incorrectly, and thinks that you are facing away from the aircraft.

 

[StubbornSwiss]

Because the compass in your phone is reading incorrectly, and thinks that you are facing away from the aircraft.

And that is because something in the RC is affecting the compass in the phone.

On its own, the compass in the phone works properly. When brought near to/mounted on the RC, there is massive deviation.

 

[sar104]

And that is because something in the RC is affecting the compass in the phone.

On its own, the compass in the phone works properly. When brought near to/mounted on the RC, there is massive deviation.

That's right - most likely the magnets in the stick Hall Effect sensors.

 

[DanMan32]

Because the compass in your phone is reading incorrectly, and thinks that you are facing away from the aircraft.

Manx was responding to Thordar. Thordar was saying device compass doesn't affect app functions, which is not correct.

Funny that we haven't gotten this much static with the Go app and it's dynamic attitude indicator/map orientation.