Official DJI Response to the GPS Issue

[Wreckhunter]

Well, hopefully people will go to town on DJI for this disaster (see attached). Good ol’ “DJI Santa”. They asked for logs and had people run around in circles. Then they issue this.

So much for that claimed 46 minute flight time waiting around for a satellite lock,an unaceptable shame.

 

[Wreckhunter]

LOL

 

[Suren]

So I was thinking. Could the owners of the Mavic 3 that are having GPS issues also be getting Airsense not working issues? I know my Airsense does not work as well. Are those that are getting faster lock times like between 1/3 minutes also have Airsense working? Could this be a related bug only affecting certain drones? Can people who are having the very long GPS wait time also confirm if they have fully working Airsense? It might be a long shot but if these 2 bugs are happening to some and not all, they maybe related.

 

[canadian drone videos]

Well, hopefully people will go to town on DJI for this disaster (see attached). Good ol’ “DJI Santa”. They asked for logs and had people run around in circles. Then they issue this.

I’m not worried about waiting 3-5 min for a signal, could care less. But it defeats the purpose of preheating batteries.

 

[Hallmark007]

I’m not worried about waiting 3-5 min for a signal, could care less. But it defeats the purpose of preheating batteries.

You can leave your M3 on idling for over 3 hours, so 3/5 minutes won’t take anything out of your battery.

 

[TomSull]

So I was thinking. Could the owners of the Mavic 3 that are having GPS issues also be getting Airsense not working issues? I know my Airsense does not work as well. Are those that are getting faster lock times like between 1/3 minutes also have Airsense working? Could this be a related bug only affecting certain drones? Can people who are having the very long GPS wait time also confirm if they have fully working Airsense? It might be a long shot but if these 2 bugs are happening to some and not all, they maybe related.

I have the long GPS initialization times with the Mavic 3 and Airsense seems to be working fine for me.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Hey

I try this right now, and for me, it is even faster, like one minute. Before, I always wait around 5 minutes.

Just turn on controller, and then Mavic 3, wait 45 seconds (in this 45 seconds, I get 7-8 satellites) turn drone off, and then on, and the Home Point is immediately updated! With only 8 satellites!!

I confirm that this works.

Worked for me, too, just now!
1 minute 20 seconds total, from first boot start until Home Point set after reboot, with only 9 satellites!

There is also a new Fly update for both the RC-Pro and iOS.
Version 1.5.10. "Fixes certain issues and optimizes overall app quality."
No idea if it addresses the GNSS issues, as DJI says nothing, and I cannot now do a cold boot to test myself, since I just had a warm boot from the above workaround!
The above workaround procedure worked before installing the newest app update.

 

[Meta4]

Obviously the radio receivers are faulty and substandard due to the sanctions on the CCP

The radio controller has nothing to do with GPS reception

Thats why you have to take off and hover so the drone can pick up the 3 radio masts needed to triangulate a position

The drone doesn't use navigational signals from any terrestrial source.

line of sight

What about line of sight ?

 

[Suren]

Worked for me, too, just now!
1 minute 20 seconds total, from first boot start until Home Point set after reboot, with only 9 satellites!

There is also a new Fly update for both the RC-Pro and iOS.
Version 1.5.10. "Fixes certain issues and optimizes overall app quality."
No idea if it addresses the GNSS issues, as DJI says nothing, and I cannot now do a cold boot to test myself, since I just had a warm boot from the above workaround!
The above workaround procedure worked before installing the newest app update.

Tried that and does not work for me, I am still on the 6 minute mark

 

[GadgetGuy]

Tried that and does not work for me, I am still on the 6 minute mark

Can you be more specific?
One is the workaround before the 1.5.10 Fly update.
The other is the effect of the Fly 1.5.10 update.
If you have tried the workaround first, you can't test the update until you are back to a cold boot, or I would test it myself.

 

[Suren]

Can you be more specific?
One is the workaround before the 1.5.10 Fly update.
The other is the effect of the Fly 1.5.10 update.
If you have tried the workaround first, you can't test the update until you are back to a cold boot, or I would test it myself.

Tried it before the app update. When I get back home I will try again with the updated app.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Tried it before the app update. When I get back home I will try again with the updated app.

Just tried again from home, 17 hours after the last bootup, and after the update. I followed the exact same procedure as before the update. Took 40 seconds to go from 0 to 8 satellites. Shut off and Rebooted again. Home Point set almost immediately upon connection, and all with 1 minute and 20 seconds of the very first cold boot. What is different after the Fly 1.5.10 update on the RC-Pro is that the satellite count color now turns from yellow to white at 10 satellites instead of 12 or 13. Major improvement!

 

[k.achilleas]

hey there ,after beeing a happy owner of an air 2s i also bought the mavic 3 classic but kept the air 2s also
I fly both drones with the same dji rc pro controler
And gues what...gps problems with mavic 3
I did a back to back flight with both
First air2s
From the time of connection with the rc pro it took 4 sec to fine 4 sats and after that another 15 sec to climb to 9 and then another 15-20 sec to find 16 ....when o took of after some secnds boom 23 sats
now mavic 3
20 sec tofind 4 sats another 60 sec to climg to 9 sats and another minute to 11 ....then i took of and had to fly anotther 2 min so finally it locked to 15 sat (max )
so how is that possible ? and how is it possible exept the huge to delay that air2s locks 23-24 and m3 only 15?
Also another issue that concerns me is that 3 or 4 times it happened to me that.....i wait until i see 10-11 sats and hear that the homepoint has been updated and then i fly and after 2 or so minute in the air i hear again tha the homepoint has been updated without doing something..... Thats a little dangerous i think...changing the home point in the middle of the flight

 

[Meta4]

so how is that possible ?

You don't mention any details about where you are flying from.
If the drone's skyview is clear and unobstructed, it should pick up plenty of sats fairly quickly ... a little slower if the drone hasn't been flying for a week or more.
But if a substantial part of the skyview is blocked by buildings, mountains, tree cover etc, that will reduce the number of sats visible from that spot.
Is an obstructed skyview part of the issue?

 

[GadgetGuy]

You don't mention any details about where you are flying from.
If the drone's skyview is clear and unobstructed, it should pick up plenty of sats fairly quickly ... a little slower if the drone hasn't been flying for a week or more.
But if a substantial part of the skyview is blocked by buildings, mountains, tree cover etc, that will reduce the number of sats visible from that spot.
Is an obstructed skyview part of the issue?

The more concerning issue, that I also experience, is the spontaneous announcement of the resetting of the already set Home Point, some after 15-20 seconds after launching. Not sure yet if the resetting announcement is bogus or real, but I never use RTH, so the difference in location is insignificant since in either case it still well within VLOS. 2 minutes later would be an issue, however!

 

[Meta4]

The more concerning issue, that I also experience, is the spontaneous announcement of the resetting of the already set Home Point, some after 15-20 seconds after launching. Not sure yet if the resetting announcement is bogus or real, but I never use RTH, so the difference in location is insignificant since in either case it still well within VLOS. 2 minutes later would be an issue, however!

It's real and a possible explanation is that your launch point doesn't have a clear enough skyview to get full GPS reception and it records a tentative home point with less than full confidence in teh GPS precision, and then records another when you fly away from the obstructions and get good GPS reception.
Without knowing about your launch spot, it's not possible to know if this is your issue.

 

[GadgetGuy]

It's real and a possible explanation is that your launch point doesn't have a clear enough skyview to get full GPS reception and it records a tentative home point with less than full confidence in teh GPS precision, and then records another when you fly away from the obstructions and get good GPS reception.
Without knowing about your launch spot, it's not possible to know if this is your issue.

I really don't think it is my issue. I believe it is a FW bug. Others have reported the same thing.

My most common launch point is from my roof deck, which has an unobstructed view of the sky and the horizon for full GPS reception from the top of a tall hill. I have had the same experience flying from unobstructed bluffs at the beach. I think it is a bug in the FW that is incorrectly always announcing a resetting of the HP immediately after launching, even though it was already correctly set before launch.

Is there any support for the theory that a tentative home point can be set, and then affirmatively corrected after launch? I thought the HP was either set or not set, with no interim tentative setting possible.

 

[Meta4]

Is there any support for the theory that a tentative home point can be set, and then affirmatively corrected after launch? I thought the HP was either set or not set, with no interim tentative setting possible.

It's common for the drone to record a homepoint with GPS reliability of 4/5 and update it when it gets to 5/5.
Usually that's within a few seconds so it doesn't make much difference.
Sounds like a look at some flight data might help to see what the GPS reliability is when the drone is first recording a homepoint.

 

[GadgetGuy]

It's common for the drone to record a homepoint with GPS reliability of 4/5 and update it when it gets to 5/5.
Usually that's within a few seconds so it doesn't make much difference.
Sounds like a look at some flight data might help to see what the GPS reliability is when the drone is first recording a homepoint.

Well, then that would certainly explain the phenomenon. Good to know! I wasn't aware of that possibility. As you say, it's usually within a few seconds, so it's always close by within VLOS, so I have never concerned myself over it. However it seems to happen wherever I fly. M2P never does that. Just the Mavic 3. I take off as soon as it records the HP to max out flight time. Must be a tiny bit premature.

 

[TwoSticks]

I wait for the first announcement before taking off and hovering about 3 feet above the ground. Once I get the second notice I go ahead with my flight. It takes longer with my M3 than any other drones I have or have had but its generally within a couple of minutes.