Obstacle avoidance question

Skyelf · Nov 7, 2021

Recently, my partner's Air2 (which is in sport mode), has decided it doesn't like to land on the boat as it always did. He'd bring it in over the back deck & land it on the table in the cockpit or on the bow, where there's a bit of room. Now, it stops & refuses to move onto the boat. It hovers, or bounces side to side while beeping. After awhile it seems to overcome its hesitancy and, almost by sheer force, will come on board & land. Tom has tried the normal mode, but it responds the same way. The only thing I can think of that is any different from when he'd fly before off the back of the boat is that we now have stainless steel "staples" on the back of the boat (see attached photo showing the cockpit area; the staples; and the bow rail. There's a landing area just over the bow rail on the deck of the boat). You might notice the tall dive ladder behind Tom's head; when we fly, that ladder is down in the water & not in the way. Whether flying with, or without, the PhantomRain gear, the drone behaves this way. We're using the Smart Controller. I don't think my Mavic Pro reacted to the staples or bow rail at all and landed in the cockpit just fine without any hesitancy. Any ideas why his Air2 is doing this? Thanks.

Deleted member 103366 · Nov 7, 2021

Nice boat!

Skyelf · Nov 7, 2021

Thanks! We live full-time on it (www.wildlifevoyages.com) But with those big awnings and the tender on the bow (plus the davit) there's very little room to land a drone, especially when the boat is even lightly rocking in a light breeze! I use a large heavy carpet atop the tender when I fly my MP!

eEridani · Nov 7, 2021

Forward and back OA is off in Sport mode. But the down sensors are always on (if there is a way to disable them, I haven't found it yet). So anything under the drone is an obstacle. You might try flying in at a higher altitude, then descending into the boat - the bow probably the best landing point.

Since you are over water, you can also turn the Forward/Backward OA OFF - shouldn't be much you'll be running into when filming your boat.

As a side note, I fly and land inside my covered patio. The drone doesn't like it, and will try to avoid my barbeque, my table, me, etc. So I get low, 3' or less, and it seems to behave better. Almost like the FC understands it is near enough the ground and goes into a prep-for-landing mode and OA becomes more compliant.

I also use a folding table as my launch point when out an about. The downward OA even tries to avoid landing on the table... go figure.

Skyelf · Nov 7, 2021

Ah!! Down sensors! That makes sense if it now senses the staples as it approaches the vessel. It's too bad there's so much electronic gear on the top of the vessel, else that would be a good landing platform, but not with the radar, etc up there! We'll turn off the fore & aft sensors & try that. Thanks!

Funny about your drone & the patio. After having 4 or 5 drones, I really think they have personalities of their own. They certainly can be quirky critters!

eEridani · Nov 7, 2021

You also might try landing on the foredeck, even the dingy cover ... at least that's easily accessible.

As for personality ... my drone is upset I haven't named it yet. And yeah, when it's coming home for landing, the way it fidgets and gets pensive coming into the patio makes the thing look sentient.

Phantomrain.org · Nov 7, 2021

Have you tried landing on this shelf ? Also I wonder if just a Rubber mat laid down would confirm those staples are the cause. .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

Paint Rock Drones · Nov 7, 2021

Or per perhaps get a landing pad to place over the shiny metal things?

Meta4 · Nov 8, 2021

Landing on a boat is problematic.
Learn to have catch

MAvic_South_Oz · Nov 8, 2021

eEridani said:
Forward and back OA is off in Sport mode. But the down sensors are always on (if there is a way to disable them, I haven't found it yet).

Bingo.
Can they be covered with some black cloth tape or similar to stop that ?

No metal should be affecting that, stainless is not magnetic or attracted to magnets, it should be ok.

Meta4 said:
Learn to have catch

Or hand catch even !!

Lol, good to see I'm not the only one to make typos, (or have auto correct change things to what it feels right).

eEridani · Nov 8, 2021

To quote another source:

All stainless steel metals are a type of steel. That means their chemical composition contains iron. In most cases, stainless steel varieties with iron in their composition are magnetic. If the alloy has an austenitic crystal structure, then it's not magnetic.

BertrandoArnold · Nov 8, 2021

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Thanks Again

tlswift58 · Nov 8, 2021

Meta4 said:
Landing on a boat is problematic.
Learn to have catch

EXACTLY. Hand catch that is. As @eEridani said - coming in a little higher may help - not like way high. You'd have to be a bit more specific on how high above the rails you do come in at and how much higher you could go up without impacting something else. The tender or davit may be a better place to land as well. Only you can answer the questions as to how easily accessible they are.

Chaosrider · Nov 8, 2021

eEridani said:
You also might try landing on the foredeck, even the dingy cover ... at least that's easily accessible.

As for personality ... my drone is upset I haven't named it yet. And yeah, when it's coming home for landing, the way it fidgets and gets pensive coming into the patio makes the thing look sentient.

My Mini-2s are named Enterprise, Defiant, and Phoenix.

Think big, little critters!

TCS

Dbez1 · Nov 8, 2021

Have you tried coming in sideways the last 10 yards or so. That still doesn’t explain the sudden change in behavior though. It may, however, get rid of the annoying beeping.