Question about GPS Interference

[Cafguy]

I must apologize to you also to the OP for My misunderstanding of what a forum is.
I have not taken any tests here to try and help members so perhaps I have misspoke.
Could you please provide me info on where to find the test and how one would go about becoming "Qualified" to help members??? You see I always assumed forums were groups of people with the same interests expressing ideas and learning TOGETHER. I never really looked at right and wrong answers just worried if they applied to my specific problem.

Once again I don't think this is a contest sir. Right or wrong the OP now has other ideas to consider.
I would challenge you to show any "relevance" in any of your postings here.
NOW I have to say I am very Sorry to the OP for screwing up the post thanks for that....... I think you owe a little something to them too.

 

[TonyPHX]

Do you use an i-phone? Head back there and try to connect to one of the free WiFi networks in the shops, then try using the compass app and a GPS positioning app, or try programming a satnav to see what happens. If some form of interference disrupts hand held networking and vehicle positioning tools: the problem must lie with some kind of local installation.

That's a good idea. Hadn't thought of that. And yes, have an iPhone and Android devices both.

 

[TonyPHX]

You're just throwing out uninformed guesses.
It's not normal to have GPS disrupted the way the OP described.

He's flying over the building, not inside it!

Right! And the odd thing is, I have done many many shopping complexes with a similar variety of stores and never had this issue. I am tempted to go back there next week and try again. It just has me wondering now.

 

[TonyPHX]

I must apologize to you also to the OP for My misunderstanding of what a forum is.
I have not taken any tests here to try and help members so perhaps I have misspoke.
Could you please provide me info on where to find the test and how one would go about becoming "Qualified" to help members??? You see I always assumed forums were groups of people with the same interests expressing ideas and learning TOGETHER. I never really looked at right and wrong answers just worried if they applied to my specific problem.

Once again I don't think this is a contest sir. Right or wrong the OP now has other ideas to consider.
I would challenge you to show any "relevance" in any of your postings here.
NOW I have to say I am very Sorry to the OP for screwing up the post thanks for that....... I think you owe a little something to them too.

I appreciate all replies! Thanks all! For me, it's a total crapshoot. Just kind of one of those weird things that I was wondering if there was something obvious.

Thanks all!

 

[TonyPHX]

We performed an ortho over a major local superstore and the ortho kept getting interrupted at basically the same point. Hitting continue was not working. We could gain control and fly it back to our location, that was well within sight. There was major reconstruction (renovation) under way at the time. Finally gave up and moved on to another job. When we came back in town we decided to try again and was able to complete it. The only difference we could identify was that the construction company had shut down for the day. My only thought was that it might be interference from radio communication equipment the construction company was using. I have a Masters in Electrical Engineering and frankly don't believe that a radio signals could be that strong or that closely tuned to the Drone system. Not much help but that's all I could come up with. Very similar symptoms though; was flying a P4P.

Interesting! I did not see any construction or other signs of anything out of the ordinary. My drones control and video signals were both strong the entire time as I am a stickler for keeping things close. It was only the GPS fix that was affected, and although I had the warnings, I was able to keep flying in P-GPS mode, and never lost control of the drone. But as I was buzzing about getting various camera angles, I was able to infer the rectangular square I noted.

Alright, it's a mystery for now. I am only going to let this one consume of my CPU cores. : )

 

[Max Headroom]

It would be helpful if you actually understood something about how GPS works rather than just copying and pasting a bunch of completely irrelevant stuff.

Meta4 - Because you have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to the OP's issue, but don't let that stop you supplying a long list of things that are completely irrelevant.
Making random uninformed guesses isn't helpful to anyone.

 

[Jim622]

I have a quick question and want to get input from others on your thoughts. Recently when taking real-estate images of a shopping complex, I found a very specific area where my M3 Pro reported loss of GPS. It happened each time I entered a very specific region of the complex and it happened at all heights from 60' to 350' AGL. The drone did not get to a switch over to ATTI mode. I had no attachments potentially blocking the GPS receiver of the drone. The stores in the area are not remarkable, so I'm just wondering - does anyone have any thoughts on what could be causing this type of hyper-local GPS interference?

I went back a week later, and same exact thing. And tried another drone (M3E, and then a Mini 4 Pro) and got the same behavior. Just kind of have this question in the back of my mind that won't go away since I had not see this before. Thanks! Diagram attached showing what I mean by specific area. The box in orange is very much exactly where the drone had severely degraded GPS count. Down to 4 I believe.
View attachment 178172

Is there a Western union inside that Fry's? If so I bet it is on that side of the building.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Is there a Western union inside that Fry's? If so I bet it is on that side of the building.

Yeah, but the days of WU needing expensive uplinks is long gone with the internet.

 

[Jim622]

Yeah, but the days of WU needing expensive uplinks is long gone with the internet.

You are right, but I wonder if there may be some that are still active. Maybe as a backup? I don't know. It was just a thought.

 

[tstr14]

True story. When I was serving my apprenticeship, we had an induction heater. You turned it on, stuck whatever you wanted heated inside and within seconds, it would be cherry red. Every time we ran it though, it would cause radio reception interference for at least a mile radius. Therefore, we didn't use it much. In 4 years, I can only remember using it one time for maybe 10 seconds. Once when they needed to use it for a bunch of parts, they waited an ran it late at night on third shift.

We also had a foundry with three arc melt furnaces. When they were running, funny things could happen to radio/TV reception. IIRC, each furnace had three carbon electrodes about a foot in diameter with three water cooled electrical cables around 5" in diameter feeding the electrode. There was a dedicated power station located next to the foundry and the electricity came directly from Niagara Falls. Once, when one the furnaces shorted out, we got a phone call from Niagara claiming it had done damage to one of their generators.

Amateur radio operators (which I am one) can tell you all about radio interference from electric motors in appliances, electric transformers and the like. GPS signals are not very robust and I can see where disturbances can happen. Such disturbances are illegal but trying to get the FCC to act is difficult unless the disturbances are life threatening, or you can pinpoint the exact location of the cause. That's not a slam against the FCC, they are woefully understaffed and underfunded.

 

[MS Coast]

Trolling includes posting controversial and often irrelevant or off-topic messages with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal, harmonious on-topic discussion, especially when a pattern of such posting is apparent.

Does anyone see any evidence of that in this thread? Some rudeness, yes, but nothing "irrelevant of off-topic."

 

[Droning on and on...]

Does anyone see any evidence of that in this thread? Some rudeness, yes, but nothing "irrelevant of off-topic."

I believe being rude to other members is also prohibited in the guidelines, and it is explicitly stated we are to treat each other with respect.

 

[Jim622]

True story. When I was serving my apprenticeship, we had an induction heater. You turned it on, stuck whatever you wanted heated inside and within seconds, it would be cherry red. Every time we ran it though, it would cause radio reception interference for at least a mile radius. Therefore, we didn't use it much. In 4 years, I can only remember using it one time for maybe 10 seconds. Once when they needed to use it for a bunch of parts, they waited an ran it late at night on third shift.

We also had a foundry with three arc melt furnaces. When they were running, funny things could happen to radio/TV reception. IIRC, each furnace had three carbon electrodes about a foot in diameter with three water cooled electrical cables around 5" in diameter feeding the electrode. There was a dedicated power station located next to the foundry and the electricity came directly from Niagara Falls. Once, when one the furnaces shorted out, we got a phone call from Niagara claiming it had done damage to one of their generators.

Amateur radio operators (which I am one) can tell you all about radio interference from electric motors in appliances, electric transformers and the like. GPS signals are not very robust and I can see where disturbances can happen. Such disturbances are illegal but trying to get the FCC to act is difficult unless the disturbances are life threatening, or you can pinpoint the exact location of the cause. That's not a slam against the FCC, they are woefully understaffed and underfunded.

I hadn't thought of that. I have an induction heater. Maybe I will run a test and see how it reacts.
I also hold an extra class license and a microwave endorsement. I have an MBA in electrical engineering. However, I am older than dirt. Younger guys with newer degrees will have a better background in new technology.

 

[MS Coast]

I believe being rude to other members is also prohibited in the guidelines, and it is explicitly stated we are to treat each other with respect.

Yes, and I agree completely. The rudeness was inappropriate but there was no trolling.

 

[Meta4]

Yes, and I agree completely. The rudeness was inappropriate but there was no trolling.

Rudeness?
It was just blunt plain speaking when the other guy posted the same stuff again after being informed that it wasn't relevant.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I hadn't thought of that. I have an induction heater. Maybe I will run a test and see how it reacts.
I also hold an extra class license and a microwave endorsement. I have an MBA in electrical engineering. However, I am older than dirt. Younger guys with newer degrees will have a better background in new technology.

Masters of Business Administration in engineering? I'm confused.

I expect you meant you have an MS in engineering...

 

[tstr14]

Masters of Business Administration in engineering? I'm confused.

I expect you meant you have an MS in engineering...

I expect he meant what he said. You can get a MBA in electrical engineering as well as engineering fields. It combines business and engineering and is aimed at businesses in those fields.