New update to fly increases range?

[jjohnson23112]

Has anyone experienced this?

DJI Fly update reportedly increases Mavic Mini's flight range

According to a Chinese website, the latest DJI Fly app update has improved the range of the smaller Mavic Mini drone by almost double.

dronedj.com

 

[maelstrom]

Has anyone experienced this?

DJI Fly update reportedly increases Mavic Mini's flight range

According to a Chinese website, the latest DJI Fly app update has improved the range of the smaller Mavic Mini drone by almost double.

dronedj.com

As I said in another post, if the range really had “almost doubled”, this would be at the top of the update notes. They can’t increase the transmitted power for a particular region so it’s difficult to see how they could possibly do this with just a software update.

 

[jjohnson23112]

Yeah, agreed figured it was bogus...

 

[lee82gx]

What is possible is that certain regions got upgraded from CE limits to FCC limits which would increase range by double. This is because many countries actually allow higher transmission powers and close or equal to FCC limits but DJI always practice an overly safe approach when dealing with non US countries, so they get erroneously lumped into CE compliant levels instead.

 

[new2mavic]

What is possible is that certain regions got upgraded from CE limits to FCC limits which would increase range by double. This is because many countries actually allow higher transmission powers and close or equal to FCC limits but DJI always practice an overly safe approach when dealing with non US countries, so they get erroneously lumped into CE compliant levels instead.

Yes. Hong Kong is a good example. DJI re-classifies this place from CE to FCC region a couple of months ago. People here can now enjoy the superb range of FCC mode without any hacking. Firmware and APP upgrade is required to put the change into effect.

 

[lee82gx]

Another example is Malaysia, whereby mavic air 2 by first firmware already in FCC mode while Mavic mini is sold in CE hardware and CE level at first. I'm guessing its possible that it is now in fCC? Anyway I don't have proof or detailed info.

 

[new2mavic]

Another example is Malaysia, whereby mavic air 2 by first firmware already in FCC mode while Mavic mini is sold in CE hardware and CE level at first. I'm guessing its possible that it is now in fCC? Anyway I don't have proof or detailed info.

My understanding is that Mini with CE hardware cannot transmit at FCC power. In China, Mini with FCC hardware is sold but the transmit power is slightly lower than that of FCC as it has to comply with the SRRC requirement of China.

 

[lee82gx]

CE hardware in FCC mode will still transmit in higher power , just not as high.

 

[uberamd]

I’m not one to believe in technical miracles, especially delivered via software as I’m a software dev myself... but!

From a spot in the US where I flew 1600 feet with the mini (I posted about it last week, started on my deck in a housing development) before getting massive signal breakup, I was able to get out 5300 feet with a spotter, through my neighborhood then over an empty golf course with crystal clear FPV.

The only reason I stopped was due to the spotter losing it.

Obviously there could be many factors at play here, from less leaves on trees to less WiFi in use, but still, I was impressed.

My Mavic air 2 with OcuSync can get maybe 600 feet more on this exact path before losing signal.

 

[maelstrom]

Obviously there could be many factors at play here, from less leaves on trees to less WiFi in use, but still, I was impressed.

If you’re using an FCC drone in the US, the only practical way you’d get a threefold increase in range (1600 to 5300 ft) is to significantly increase the transmitted power. I can’t see how you could possibly do this by simply updating the app. The app is just the user interface for the remote controller and I can’t see how it could somehow magically boost the controller’s power.

 

[uberamd]

If you’re using an FCC drone in the US, the only practical way you’d get a threefold increase in range (1600 to 5300 ft) is to significantly increase the transmitted power. I can’t see how you could possibly do this by simply updating the app. The app is just the user interface for the remote controller and I can’t see how it could somehow magically boost the controller’s power.

Trust me, I know it makes no sense.

Here is the flight today, notice the signal quality and specifically the notices:
Here is the flight where I capped out at 1650 feet: — notice the signal loss notices.
Going to test it a few more times because I’m not understanding why it was so different either. Same path, similar height, quite odd.

 

[MMPerrish]

Call me crazy, but I took my Mini out today and sent it towards these water towers that are around 1400ft away. Normally I get video feed interruption around 1300ft away or so, but today I went clear past them to around 1500ft with zero interruption until around 1800ft. Could be a random chance with less interference, or ???

 

[jjohnson23112]

Just speculating- but given that there is always a difference on when video cuts out vs when telemetry cuts out, it theoretically possible that they modified the threshold (signal strength etc) of when the video feed cuts out.

I could even imagine a situation in which the calculation for the threshold of when to drop video was incorrect and they made a fix.

I doubt we get more range but perhaps the video feed lasts longer as a result of the update.

let’s all run some tests and report results here..,

 

[maelstrom]

I could even imagine a situation in which the calculation for the threshold of when to drop video was incorrect and they made a fix.

But if this was true, why didn’t DJI put it into the update notes? This would be such a significant improvement that they would surely want to tell everyone about it?

 

[uberamd]

But if this was true, why didn’t DJI put it into the update notes? This would be such a significant improvement that they would surely want to tell everyone about it?

That’s a good question. Unsure if they did or not but I too want to find out.

What’s odd is that I was testing the effectiveness of yagi and parabolic antenna on the Mavic mini controller the day I got 1600 feet, so subsequent flights with the “boosters” got me up to 2000 feet but not much more.

Makes the flight of 5000+ feet that much more of a head scratcher.

 

[DomDeV]

Ok, signal strength isn't really important. Signal-to-noise is what's important - the ability to perceive the signal. It could be a signal processing controller fix that means that signal frames that would be discarded aren't, or that the signals are less likely to be corrupted.

(passive signal boosters amplify signal by picking up a larger area of signal, but most importantly, block noise hitting the aerial from unwanted noisy sources)

 

[Slimfreak]

As I noticed that in the urban area where I regulary fly, the maximum range was never more than 400 meters, due to interferences. The last week I easily reached 700 meters at the same altitude. So something has changed in a positive way?!!!

 

[maelstrom]

Ok, signal strength isn't really important.

It is if you’re trying to double the range. Why do you think the FCC version of the Mini gets significantly more range than the CE version? The difference is down to transmitted power.

 

[dirtfishingman]

Nice. I'm on android waiting for the release now can't wait to try it

 

[Andrewandron]

My Mavic Mini range test in FCC this summer was 4 km. (2.5 miles). The signal did cut out at about 3 1/2 km but I managed to keep it going a little further.
I came back with less than 20% battery so I’m at the end of its range now.