Night time precision landing

[Echelon]

The precision landing function is very impressive. I've used it both on a landing mat as well as on a cement basketball court with lines, in both cases the MP hit its mark within a couple inches or less. I'm curious if anyone has experimented with this feature at night and using lights to help the MP recognize the landing pad or area? I used a precision takeoff while it was still pretty light out, then came in for a precision landing closer to dusk. The MP came down to about 2 feet over the landing mat and then gave an error on screen that it could not make the precision landing, it had an option to force land. It was still over the mat so GPS and or the visual landing system brought it in close enough. Taking off when its light and landing when its dark may be a bad example and a bad way to test because the landing area will look different to the MP when it comes back. I'm more curious if placing a bright flashlight beam on the pad when it takes off at night and turning it back on as it comes in will allow it to use the precision landing function at night. To the same, maybe lights around the mat etc. If anyone has tried this let me know.

Thanks

 

[The Raven]

Shining lights up at it doesn’t work- you want a well lit, contrasty surface for it to land on. The folding launchpad that Amazon sells (with an orange side and a blue side) works fine if you can illuminate it well from above. Changing the position of the light after takeoff will mess things up, as the appearance of the landing zone will change.

 

[Echelon]

Okay, so shining lights at "it" you mean lights on the ground shining at the MP will not work. But you have tested shining a flashlight beam at the mat and that works if it is in the exact same place when it comes back. My thoughts exactly and I would use a tripod or something to hold the flashlight 5-10 feet away and in the same location. I'll give this a try with my mat next time I take it out for a night flight. Thank you for the input.

 

[The Raven]

Okay, so shining lights at "it" you mean lights on the ground shining at the MP will not work. But you have tested shining a flashlight beam at the mat and that works if it is in the exact same place when it comes back. My thoughts exactly and I would use a tripod or something to hold the flashlight 5-10 feet away and in the same location. I'll give this a try with my mat next time I take it out for a night flight. Thank you for the input.

Correct. I found that moving the light around much really screws things up. The ideal thing would be a portable work light on a tripod pointing down at the landing pad.

I’ve done a lot of night flying and you just have to be really careful.

 

[Flycaster]

The vision system needs light to image it for the precision landing, no light, no precision landing.

 

[Echelon]

Got ya. I've done quite a bit of night flying with my P3S, I just take off from a large cement pad and the GPS landing has never had a problem, though not as accurate as the precision landing its always been within 3 feet. Now that I am more experienced I have been taking off from tight areas as long as the wind is low, but it would be nice to use the precision landing function on the way back so this should do the trick. I always have my finger on the cancel button to bring it in manually if needed.

 

[DavidMathew]

Check flytdock solution for precision landing seems IR lock doesn't do much. I have checked DJI default Precision landing too but to unlock more capabilities I tried FlytDocks and it seems more promising.