Quick video flying close to powerlines

[f3honda4me]

It is nevertheless a strong EM field and can swamp the smaller signal from the aircraft. Result would be a signal loss.
Folks mentioning the compass need to realize that the compass only affects heading - not position which is the province of the GPS, nor the height which is controlled by the barometer.

Yes but if the compass fails, the drone goes into ATTI mode. And the cases we saw, that's what happened and the pilots were unable to control the craft as they didn't realize what was happening.

 

[Brojon]

Pretty sure ATTI only happens only if GPS goes south since that's one of the start up items that determines if you're in ATTI to start with. - but I'd be interested in a reference if I'm wrong.
You can put a powerful magnet next to the drone and it will not cause ATTI.

 

[Callum]

I wanted to see how Mav was close to powerlines so I hit record and made a little vid.

Handled great, has anyone had any issues near powerlines?

I’d have no fear after getting this close, don’t think I’d want to go closer

Bit off topic but what are your video settings?

I can't seem to get anything anywhere near that quality.

 

[f3honda4me]

Pretty sure ATTI only happens only if GPS goes south since that's one of the start up items that determines if you're in ATTI to start with. - but I'd be interested in a reference if I'm wrong.
You can put a powerful magnet next to the drone and it will not cause ATTI.

Compass not working causes ATTI mode absolutely 100%. The way the drone does this is by forcing all GPS satellites to 0. This is because without the compass, the gps (as used by the drone for holding position) is useless since the drone is unable to determine orientation. It even says this in the DJI Mavic manual. Page 11. https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/mavic/20171012/Mavic+Pro+User+Manual_V1.8.pdf

 

[Spinmeout]

What do you suppose construction site have that messes up the reception, two way radios?

I suspect the wireless security system used at the construction site. Often they have high powered video feeds transmitting around construction sites. These can cause issues with vehicle security systems as well, with reports of vehicles that won't start near some sites that have these systems fitted. Radio inferference is a real problem. Just a thought.

 

[Starz]

I have never had issues with power lines or microwave towers except when they're between me and the drone when it can cause video issues.
The one that really seems to mess mine up is construction sites. We have one next to where I work where they're building a 24 story hotel. It has one of those ginormous cranes and I think it's that thing that makes it spit out a steady stream of bad video, jerky controls and a stream of "Warning! High Interference - fly with caution" or something to that effect. If I get 50 m away it clears up. Needless to say I just don't go there much as I'd love to film the construction.

These kind of sites are fun to watch as they progress.

 

[ReadyKilowatt]

Well maintained power lines should not be a problem for any radio devices. However the key words are "well maintained." Some power companies are better than others. My day job is cable guy. There are two power companies within our cable system's footprint. One is a co-op, the other a normal utility. I won't mention which one is better, but there is a night and day difference between the two when it comes to power line noise, which sometimes can be bad enough to impact cable systems. Even though the cables are shielded, the close proximity to the power line and squirrels' love of chewing on coaxial cable mean the line techs spend a lot more time chasing down noise problems in one area over another.

Typically the problem areas are where the power cables are supported. Nothing special here, the cables are just attached to a ceramic or glass insulator using a metal clamp. If the hardware holding everything together isn't torqued to spec it will work itself lose over time. When that happens it will start to vibrate. Usually the vibrations are ultrasonic (they use parabolic dishes and microphones to pick them up) but sometimes if they're bad enough you can just listen for them. They make a sizzling sound. And if there's corrosion between the clamps and cable, radio waves can also be created. But because the corrosion isn't a perfect diode and because of the amount of power going through the line it creates a lot of harmonics, many of which can get quite high in frequency. And radio waves have a magnetic component, so again with that much power all bets are off.

Those of us who remember AM radio also will remember driving down some roads where the noise would drown out the signal for a while. This is why that happened. True, modern modulation and the extremely high (microwave) frequencies used in drones make them much less susceptible to interference, but again, we're talking about thousands of watts of power and getting that close to a source (think inverse square law) will overwhelm any input stage to any radio no matter how well it's filtered. Or it will get around the filtering stages directly into the circuit board. Either way, you're playing with fire (maybe just a Zippo, but still). The upside is that the really big transmission lines are usually much better maintained than the stuff running down your street.

 

[jerryflah]

I wanted to see how Mav was close to powerlines so I hit record and made a little vid.

Handled great, has anyone had any issues near powerlines?

I’d have no fear after getting this close, don’t think I’d want to go closer

Thanks 4 the info

 

[freefaller500]

I wanted to see how Mav was close to powerlines so I hit record and made a little vid.

Handled great, has anyone had any issues near powerlines?

I’d have no fear after getting this close, don’t think I’d want to go closer

Why was the duck swimming backwards at the end of your video. nice pictures anyway.

 

[Starz]

What I've learned about electricity is that it's invisible and it has the ability to sneak up and BITE you. Best to treat it like a snake and stay away. Readykilowatt has provided some good info. Thanks!

 

[netfolks2000]

Being under power lines is also risky in that if RTH is implemented the drone may go UP into the lines as it tries to go back home during a temporary signal loss.

 

[Oyibo VFX]

Since some weeks, those lines are energized. 330kV.
This week, backfeed to the first transformer. Also 330kV.
Both Mavic and Spark don't mind.
I build powerstations for a living.

 

[CHAOTICA69]

Nice when I fly near power line it distorts my viewing footage that's all I suffered

 

[ReadyKilowatt]

Since some weeks, those lines are energized. 330kV.
This week, backfeed to the first transformer. Also 330kV.
Both Mavic and Spark don't mind.
I build powerstations for a living.

Infrastructure pr0n! Is that a natural gas generating station? I'd love to see a flyover of that switchyard when it is completed.

 

[MikeC]

Sometimes, I have to fly close to the power lines and I have had close calls....like this:

 

[Hollow Dog]

Sometimes, I have to fly close to the power lines and I have had close calls....like this:

I would have bought a lotto ticket on the way home.

 

[Oyibo VFX]

Infrastructure pr0n! Is that a natural gas generating station? I'd love to see a flyover of that switchyard when it is completed.

Check my YouTube channel
Azura Promotion Videos - YouTube

All natural gas fired turbines. Here Siemens SGT2000E 153MW each. Neighboring plant (I also built that one), GE Frame 9 EA with 450MW total.

 

[Oyibo VFX]

Sometimes, I have to fly close to the power lines and I have had close calls....like this:

I like the first part of your video. Specially where the train comes out of the cold mist. Really special

 

[moonlitnite]

How are power lines affecting the radio? Power lines are at 60hz while the radio is operating at 2.4 GHz. It should have no affect I would think. I can understand how it could cause compass issues with the large metal towers and current flow.

While that's a reasonable thought, things like high-voltage corona generates random RFI across the frequency spectrum - that makes a very potent signal jammer, especially when flying LOS with the noise source intersecting the transmission path, i.e., flying the drone on the OPPOSITE SIDE of high voltage power line. Corona discharge - Wikipedia

And as ReadyKilowatt mentioned above, when the transmission line has a discontinuity (impedance mismatch), it results in harmonic frequency multiples of 60 Hertz as well as intermixing between the frequencies - also effectively generating noise across the entire frequency spectrum.

 

[Oyibo VFX]

While that's a reasonable thought, things like high-voltage corona generates random RFI across the frequency spectrum - that makes a very potent signal jammer, especially when flying LOS with the noise source intersecting the transmission path, i.e., flying the drone on the OPPOSITE SIDE of high voltage power line. Corona discharge - Wikipedia

And as ReadyKilowatt mentioned above, when the transmission line has a discontinuity (impedance mismatch), it results in harmonic frequency multiples of 60 Hertz as well as intermixing between the frequencies - also effectively generating noise across the entire frequency spectrum.

And when I walk under a power line, my watch start running backward.
I build and work with power stations and high voltage powerlines for the last 20 years. Never mention any effect. Except on my bank account

Please, don't get paranoid