precision landing protocol question

[stratos]

I've seen in various videos and posts that the Mavic needs to hover over the takeoff point for a while to capture the ground image for precision landing. One post said as long as 10 seconds. I've noticed that there is an announcement on your phone that the GPS location was recorded for RTH when you take off - is there a similar notification that precision landing has what it needs to perform its function? I have not seen one in the videos so far, but most people seem to just start flying immediately without hovering, so not conclusive. Thanks.

I would certainly recommend the hover in place for at least 10 secs, about 1 or 2 meters and then manually set your home point. That will be enough to have a precise homepoint.
Many people just takes of start flying, granted if you get GPS before taking off and the Home location automatically recorded. However the precision landing will be to the best GPS position but not a precision landing. I have tried this several times myself additionally 10 secs is nothing.

 

[dewster]

I just hover straight up and then go. I'm sure it's enough time for the craft to record its position. I just won't leave the spot before home point is recorded.


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[ATXdrone]

I would certainly recommend the hover in place for at least 10 secs, about 1 or 2 meters and then manually set your home point. That will be enough to have a precise homepoint.
Many people just takes of start flying, granted if you get GPS before taking off and the Home location automatically recorded. However the precision landing will be to the best GPS position but not a precision landing. I have tried this several times myself additionally 10 secs is nothing.

How about using the facts about Precision Landing from the manual? 1-2m is NOT enough per the documentation.

From the 1.2 version of the User Manual:

Precision Landing performance is subject to the following conditions:
a. Home point is recorded upon take off, and cannot not be refreshed during ight.
b. Aircraft must take off vertically. Take off altitude must be greater than 10 meters.
c. Home point terrain features remain largely unchanged.
d. Home point terrain with no distinctive features will affect the performance.
e. Lighting conditions cannot be too light nor too dark.
The following actions are available during landing:
a. Pull throttle down to accelerate landing.
b. Moving the control sticks in any other direction will stop Precision Landing. The Mavic Pro will descend vertically and Landing Protection will remain active.

 

[stratos]

How about using the facts about Precision Landing from the manual? 1-2m is NOT enough per the documentation.

From the 1.2 version of the User Manual:

yeah thats correct. >10mts

 

[JLane]

I would certainly recommend the hover in place for at least 10 secs, about 1 or 2 meters and then manually set your home point.

Do you do this personally, and have you witnessed a precision landing after doing so? I only ask because one of the notes in the manual about precision landing is that you cannot refresh the home point mid-flight. ie. If you refresh the home point, precision landing won't work for the new home point. So, I wonder if that still applies if you refresh the home point in the circumstances you've mentioned: hovering just above the original takeoff point.

I could (and probably will) test this myself, but the sun has just set over here so I won't be able to test that until tomorrow

 

[Baroudeur]

Dont forget too in VPS options, advanced settings to activate Precision Landing function.

 

[rydfree]

precision landing works great if you follow the instructions in the manual . Also know that if you are in the picture when it records the home point and you move , it will screw with the landing ,lol. I try to take off about 50' from where I am standing and in a place that will remain unchanged by pedestrians , cars etc .

 

[stratos]

Do you do this personally, and have you witnessed a precision landing after doing so? I only ask because one of the notes in the manual about precision landing is that you cannot refresh the home point mid-flight. ie. If you refresh the home point, precision landing won't work for the new home point. So, I wonder if that still applies if you refresh the home point in the circumstances you've mentioned: hovering just above the original takeoff point.

I could (and probably will) test this myself, but the sun has just set over here so I won't be able to test that until tomorrow

No I have not changed the homepoint while my bird is far away and flying and wont cannot comment if it works or not.

That is my regular take off procedure;

• Take off,
• Hover set location as home point
• Hover a couple of seconds at 10-12 meters.
• Have fun.

 

[Degar]

Make sure you don't accidentally have the volume turned down. I had that and was wondering where the announcement went, it was my volume! (simple fix). I haven't flown since the latest update came down, will check it when I fly next.

I don't recall seeing a volume in the app. This announcement comes through on the controller right??? Not on my phone/tablet? I'll have a look for that tonight when I get home.

Thanks

 

[msinger]

This announcement comes through on the controller right?

All voice announcements come from the mobile device.

 

[JLane]

No I have not changed the homepoint while my bird is far away and flying and wont cannot comment if it works or not.

That is my regular take off procedure;

• Take off,
• Hover set location as home point
• Hover a couple of seconds at 10-12 meters.
• Have fun.

Sorry, I guess I didn't make my question clear. I wasn't asking about changing the Home Point when the Mavic was far away, I was wondering about the specific circumstances that you mentioned. ie. Resetting the HP immediately after takeoff, just a few feet above the ground.

Anyway, I went out and tested it myself today, and confirmed my suspicion: Resetting the HP, even just a few feet off the ground immediately after takeoff, disables Precision Landing. I tried various permutations, including taking off to 1m, resetting the HP, then rising very slowly to 10m before giving any other stick inputs. But when it performed RTH, it did not use Precision Landing.

So if you want/need Precision Landing to work, my advice would be to wait for the Mavic to get a very good GPS lock before takeoff, verify that the Home Point is recorded accurately, and then don't reset manually.

 

[No1much]

Whenever I use Precision Landing, I let the Mavic get GPS lock before takeoff if possible, but then I ascend to 10m (30 feet- close enough, 1ft one way or the other doesn't seem to affect it) and slowly count to four. Then, I ascend the rest of the way up above tree level and have my flight.

That's worked every time I've tried it in daylight or early/mid-evening.

 

[Helo]

Same would seem to be true of landing, while flying FPV I likely prevent the gimbal from pointing down to acquire the landing spot


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Just look at your screen when taking off, the gimbal camera does not point down so obviously it the bottom camera that takes the picture.

 

[BerndM]

How do you get to see a recording of your flight showing that view with all the flight info on it? Where is that video found? I have not seen it on the SD card ot on my smartphone.
Thanks

 

[737captain]

I'm brand new at all this, in fact my drone hasn't been delivered yet. My question is this. Is it important to have a high contrast in the landing area ? For example if your on grass it all looks the same from above, if your on grass with a different colored patch, a helipad type thing, does that help Mavic find the HP?


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[JLane]

How do you get to see a recording of your flight showing that view with all the flight info on it? Where is that video found? I have not seen it on the SD card ot on my smartphone.
Thanks

It's not a built-in or default recording feature. You need to run a screen recording app on your phone to record everything on your screen. I run AZ Screen Recorder (Android) on my phone every time I fly my Mavic.

 

[Degar]

ATXdrone,
I'm here in the go4 app trying to find the volume control. Gone through all of the menus to no avail. Where is the volume control?

 

[ATXdrone]

I don't recall seeing a volume in the app. This announcement comes through on the controller right??? Not on my phone/tablet? I'll have a look for that tonight when I get home.

Thanks

What I meant was that if your volume is turned down on your mobile device, you won't hear the voice telling you that the Home Point has been set.

 

[Logger]

In the past few days my Mavic has developed a habit of flying away laterally, mid way through a precision landing. Done it twice now in different flight locations. Precision Landing all looks to be going perfectly, with "rectifying aircraft position messages" verifying the system has the required info to complete the task. Landing target is vertically right beneath aircraft an I can see it in cross hairs and in video. Gets down to ~ 2 metres or 6' and then heads off laterally at about 5kmh while continuing the descent toward the ground. Popping up a ground safe to land message as it is about to autoland onto the ground at 5kmh. No thankyou. At this point it is about 30 feet from home point, that it had previously been right over and I cancel it and fly back manually.



in this graph you can see how speed and distance to home point are essentially 0 from ~77 to 92 as it descends vertically and precision landing kicks in about 83 when the vpsHeight comes in. At 92 and 2.1 m it heads for the hills for no apparent reason.

I have checked the logs and can see no stick input. This ties in with me being hands off. I thought maybe the controller might have got interference and booted in an input. But nothing there. The front sensors are not seeing anything so no obstacle. . This happened to me once before a couple of days ago too. Both events occurred since the new firmware and DJIGo android 4.0.4. Further since this update it is fussy about precision landing and often reports Area not suitable for landing at a spot it has happily precision landed on for the past 4 months. So there appear to have been some software changes to the process.

I operate with precision landing On, but landing protection OFF so it does not stall the landing if the ground is not flat.

Any suggestions as what might cause this cause? I am wondering it the recent tweaks to precision landing may have introduced a bug.

 

[ATXdrone]

In the past few days my Mavic has developed a habit of flying away laterally, mid way through a precision landing. Done it twice now in different flight locations.

Wow, this is the first report like this to bother me. First off, you have extensive experience with the Mavic Pro so I'm quite sure it's not user error. Second because I often land in a relatively tight landing area (obstructions on 3 sides) so if this issue kicked in, my quad would drift into a building or deck railing.

Keep us posted.