NanoSync Antenna for DJI Mavic Coming Soon

[Hyprmtr]

Hello,

I have been having great success with my nonboosted biquad antennas. Unfortunately, I'm not happy with the bulkyness of the biquads and their reflectors. I started working on I boosted setup yesterday. It consists of small boosters with approximately 10dbi Rx gain and 25dbm Tx output. It is very compact and light. The antennas and boosters are one module each and can easily be removed or installed. These are similar to the Alientech antenna but smaller, lighter and at under half the cost of the Alientech antenna. I will post photos later this evening as the cases need to be printed and assembled. I believe this will be my perfect congested environment LRS.

If it works as expected, I will happily make a how-to tutorial/instruction video along with performance information. I might make a few more if there is an interest in them. Good day.

Ken

 

[MacIak]

So tested the FPVLR (boosted and unboosted) circular antenna.
Unfortunately im having trouble somewhere.
Where at first i could go beyond 6km (CE) with the tx boosted nanosync setup, last week this suddenly stopped performing. The problem is still present.
I have 2 remotes and tested all on both.
The findings are only reliable unboosted as i think there is something wrong with the booster and/or power supply.
FPVLR: unboosted TX is equal to nanosync and slightly better than stock.
RX (HD) signal with FPVLR is superior to nanosync. When TX signal is almost gone, the HD signal is still max.

When i boost the signal there is little/no improvement on TX range. This is weird. The HD signal remains logically equal to unboosted performance.
So need some ideas here:
I have used different cable sets rg58 and rg316. I have tried different powerbanks (the ones to recharge cellphones) 1 gives 1amp output and another 2.1amp. Both output 5v. The sunhans led indicates white/blue.
I have no clue what's wrong..

 

[Hyprmtr]

I was having a look at the flight antennas in the legs the other day and noticed there are a couple of black plastic inserts with metallic strips on them. They are conductive. They could either be a reflector or director. Has anyone noticed the small reflectors or directors on the flight antennas inside the landing leg? If so what is your take on the function of them? I might pull them out and do a test flight as it could very well be a choke. The only other reason I could think of is that the metallic inserts are to shield any possible RF coming from the LED or motor. I am uncertain.


Ken

 

[Natedoggz]

I was having a look at the flight antennas in the legs the other day and noticed there are a couple of black plastic inserts with metallic strips on them. They are conductive. They could either be a reflector or director. Has anyone noticed the small reflectors or directors on the flight antennas inside the landing leg? If so what is your take on the function of them? I might pull them out and do a test flight as it could very well be a choke. The only other reason I could think of is that the metallic inserts are to shield any possible RF coming from the LED or motor. I am uncertain.


Ken

I recently just removed both the legs and noticed that, and that pcb antennas only go in comfortable 1 way. I did flip 1 just to see if it would change anything and have forgotten I've done so till now, lol. and have had no issues as of yet, but I also haven't had another chance for a few hour long range tests either (this weekend)

 

[Hyprmtr]

So you only flipped the PCB but still had the black plastic insert in correct? The PCB antenna should be omni-directional on its own so wouldn't think flipping it would change much. Unless the coax which is half way up the PCB has an effect on it.


Ken

 

[mravicprilot]

So tested the FPVLR (boosted and unboosted) circular antenna.
Unfortunately im having trouble somewhere.
Where at first i could go beyond 6km (CE) with the tx boosted nanosync setup, last week this suddenly stopped performing. The problem is still present.
I have 2 remotes and tested all on both.
The findings are only reliable unboosted as i think there is something wrong with the booster and/or power supply.
FPVLR: unboosted TX is equal to nanosync and slightly better than stock.
RX (HD) signal with FPVLR is superior to nanosync. When TX signal is almost gone, the HD signal is still max.

When i boost the signal there is little/no improvement on TX range. This is weird. The HD signal remains logically equal to unboosted performance.
So need some ideas here:
I have used different cable sets rg58 and rg316. I have tried different powerbanks (the ones to recharge cellphones) 1 gives 1amp output and another 2.1amp. Both output 5v. The sunhans led indicates white/blue.
I have no clue what's wrong..

hi, my dbs nanosync just arrived today, and right now I already at the circuit board of the mavic remote control conection, before I permanently remove the stock antenna, are there any risk of failure? I use CE in malaysia, you mentioned probably because of wrong cable type please check mine is it the correct type

sorry for bad English

here's the set

 

[MacIak]

hi, my dbs nanosync just arrived today, and right now I already at the circuit board of the mavic remote control conection, before I permanently remove the stock antenna, are there any risk of failure? I use CE in malaysia, you mentioned probably because of wrong cable type please check mine is it the correct type

sorry for bad English

here's the set

The stuff with the set looks good.
Im also boosting the set so i expect there is some flaw there. Please let us know how nanosync performs.
Good luck with installing!

 

[MacIak]

Can anyone chime in?:
Im trying to figure out why the sunhans booster is not performing.
One thing that caught my attention:
When using the powerbank Energizer On-The-Go 4000mAh Power Bank Backup Battery XP4006
The white blue led on the booster is constantly on.

When the booster is powered by the lower tx port the white/blue led sort of blinks (very quick blink) every couple of seconds. I cannot run the app though through the side-port and cannot check what the difference is.

Is there a way to "measure" the correct functioning of the sunhans?

 

[CyberNate]

So tested the FPVLR (boosted and unboosted) circular antenna.
Unfortunately im having trouble somewhere.
Where at first i could go beyond 6km (CE) with the tx boosted nanosync setup, last week this suddenly stopped performing. The problem is still present.
I have 2 remotes and tested all on both.
The findings are only reliable unboosted as i think there is something wrong with the booster and/or power supply.
FPVLR: unboosted TX is equal to nanosync and slightly better than stock.
RX (HD) signal with FPVLR is superior to nanosync. When TX signal is almost gone, the HD signal is still max.

When i boost the signal there is little/no improvement on TX range. This is weird. The HD signal remains logically equal to unboosted performance.
So need some ideas here:
I have used different cable sets rg58 and rg316. I have tried different powerbanks (the ones to recharge cellphones) 1 gives 1amp output and another 2.1amp. Both output 5v. The sunhans led indicates white/blue.
I have no clue what's wrong..

Try hooking up one of your 11.2V packs to the amp. The amp is rated from 5V - 16V input. I do notice very little power draw from my USB battery bank. I did more that 50 flights and the power bank is still full. I read somewhere that a guy measured the current draw and it was around .3A. Perhaps having a higher voltage power source will give you more amp boost. I was thinking to try the same, but I already get good results even if I'm not leveraging the maximum potential of the amps. I'm betting that I'm having more like 1watt boost than the 3 watts advertised due to the weak input power. My old powerbank also is just over 1A. I have a new one arriving today rated at over 3A per port I will also try.

 

[Natedoggz]

So you only flipped the PCB but still had the black plastic insert in correct? The PCB antenna should be omni-directional on its own so wouldn't think flipping it would change much. Unless the coax which is half way up the PCB has an effect on it.


Ken

Yes, just was making sure nothing would interfere with signal.

 

[mravicprilot]

update: My installation finished, the difrence is noticable, I can go further to 2km just losing 1 bar by staying in my house it's hot outside 12 afternoon in a dense population with lots of interference, my house is near a cell tower, unfortunately I think I messed up the compass on the rc, because you see on the radar I should be directing the antenna in front but the aircraft appears on the south side it should be more near to the west like southwest,

one other thing, when the aircraft is about 600m away the signal is not stable, but when I go further it's okay

see the on the image the aircraft displayed on the left side of the radar.

I cant find any open end wrench size 9mm while installing so remember prepare all the tools, I might need to open the rc again to tighten the hex, The hard part for me is dealing with the ribbon cables and that pause logo button, cracking the shell of rc open is easy using some plastic pry tools,

overall everything is good , probably now the battery is the limit. I will try to update with flyng on vast open area but probably next month.

sorry for the long post, and bad English and no potatoes.

 

[Mr Spock]

update: My installation finished, the difrence is noticable, I can go further to 2km just losing 1 bar by staying in my house it's hot outside 12 afternoon in a dense population with lots of interference, my house is near a cell tower, unfortunately I think I messed up the compass on the rc, because you see on the radar I should be directing the antenna in front but the aircraft appears on the south side it should be more near to the west like southwest,

one other thing, when the aircraft is about 600m away the signal is not stable, but when I go further it's okay

see the on the image the aircraft displayed on the left side of the radar.

I cant find any open end wrench size 9mm while installing so remember prepare all the tools, I might need to open the rc again to tighten the hex, The hard part for me is dealing with the ribbon cables and that pause logo button, cracking the shell of rc open is easy using some plastic pry tools,

overall everything is good , probably now the battery is the limit. I will try to update with flyng on vast open area but probably next month.

sorry for the long post, and bad English and no potatoes.

before instaling the Nonosynch, what range did you get with the stock antennas at the same area ?
For comparison to understand the improvement

 

[mravicprilot]

before instaling the Nonosynch, what range did you get with the stock antennas at the same area ?
For comparison to understand the improvement

I could only get to 1.3 kilometres in distance at 300m height, then the live feed would be cut and pixelated. I noticed with the new installation I could go more but the drawback is that you need to direct the way the antenna is facing to the drone accurately. Im in CE region, It should get more distance if you're in US
I will test it out when I get to open fields without trees and obstacle next month.
let me see if I could find older screenshots before the mod for solid proof

edit: I dont think the penetration of signal improve, but with stock antenna even if I flew higher I still can't get to 2kilometres

 

[MacIak]

I hooked up a 11v LiPo to the booster today. No luck either so the power source is out of the equasion.
Last thing left is the booster itself. I will try to check it with a spectrum analyzer monday, see what happens.
Question to whomever can answer: when only the remote is switched on , the booster indicates white led. Would checking the signal be reliable then or should it be connected to mavic white/blue?

@mravicprilot:
You're well above 1000', interference from normal wifi should be little issue there as well as LoS. Try an open field and identify some weak spots you had with stock. Take 100m altitude and then compare to nanosync.
Not policing but be careful with other air traffic.
The round "radar" displays the aircraft in relation to the North by the way.

 

[mravicprilot]

I hooked up a 11v LiPo to the booster today. No luck either so the power source is out of the equasion.
Last thing left is the booster itself. I will try to check it with a spectrum analyzer monday, see what happens.
Question to whomever can answer: when only the remote is switched on , the booster indicates white led. Would checking the signal be reliable then or should it be connected to mavic white/blue?

@mravicprilot:
You're well above 1000', interference from normal wifi should be little issue there as well as LoS. Try an open field and identify some weak spots you had with stock. Take 100m altitude and then compare to nanosync.
Not policing but be careful with other air traffic.
The round "radar" displays the aircraft in relation to the North by the way.

I just noticed the radar on the last picture, earlier post, I said that there's something wrong with the compass, the picture 1 and 2 shows that my mavic going south, and im facing almost to the west, and that's where I get good signals,

but on the 3rd picture with that 2.3Kilometres distance I was facing to the south, where my actual bird postion was to the west like the picture 1&2.

I'll calibrate the compass tomorrow and confirm the real problem.

 

[MacIak]

@CyberNate :
Just troubleshooting: Can you check for me what led indication is on the booster if you only have the remote switched on (not mavic). And what if you have both switched on?
Also: what is the correct sequence? Booster powered> remote on> mavic on...correct?
thx

 

[MacIak]

I just noticed the radar on the last picture, earlier post, I said that there's something wrong with the compass, the picture 1 and 2 shows that my mavic going south, and im facing almost to the west, and that's where I get good signals,

but on the 3rd picture with that 2.3Kilometres distance I was facing to the south, where my actual bird postion was to the west like the picture 1&2.

I'll calibrate the compass tomorrow and confirm the real problem.

Honestly never use it this little radar thingy.
There is no compass in the RC (as you "think" you messed that up).

 

[Hyprmtr]

I'm excited to say I have great results with my boosted six dollar patch antennas!

I finally had a chance to try them out. I flew the exact course and altitude as I did with my biquad antennas. With the boosted patch antennas, I was able to fly the complete course with only losing one bar on the HD and the control signals at the furthest points. With the biquad antennas, I would lose two to three bars but, without any disconnects.

I really like the new booster patch antennas I made. They are very compact and are easily removed for a storage case. My prototypes, (seen in the photos) are with an external battery and regulator mounted behind the controller. My next set of booster patch antennas will be all contained with an internal battery, power switch, and a charge port for the battery. They will also be all black for a more appealing look to match the controller. I will update in the next week or so as soon as the rest of my parts come. Good day to all!

 

[CyberNate]

@CyberNate :
Just troubleshooting: Can you check for me what led indication is on the booster if you only have the remote switched on (not mavic). And what if you have both switched on?
Also: what is the correct sequence? Booster powered> remote on> mavic on...correct?
thx

The order in which to turn on doesn't matter. There should only be a white led on until you turn on both the controller and mavic. At that point only the left transmit side should blink blue. If you have cross interference both transmit and receive will blink blue. It is common to have cross interference with linear type antenna. Only my cross polarized have good isolation while my linear sees both side blinking blue.

 

[CyberNate]

Honestly never use it this little radar thingy.
There is no compass in the RC (as you "think" you messed that up).

The radar is very important. It uses the compass on your connected device as well as the mavic's compass to show you the craft location and orientation in reference to you. The top of the radar where the white triangle is represents the front of your controller. There's lots of useful information which I've explained in a previous post.