VPS over water - sorry for beating a dead horse

[skunkman]

Several weeks ago I was flying over a canal and lost control of my Mavic. I was able to move it laterally away from the water and land on grass. Apparently I was a victim of the VPS over water issue which initiates auto-landing. From what I have read this can be avoided by switching off the landing protection mode. I will be flying over water this weekend and want to confirm this.

Or do I need to turn off VPS? If so please forgive my ignorance but how do I turn off VPS?

Thanks

 

[msinger]

You only need to disable Landing Protection in order to prevent the Mavic from going into forced landing mode.

 

[Bunny Too]

Several weeks ago I was flying over a canal and lost control of my Mavic. I was able to move it laterally away from the water and land on grass. Apparently I was a victim of the VPS over water issue which initiates auto-landing. From what I have read this can be avoided by switching off the landing protection mode. I will be flying over water this weekend and want to confirm this.

Or do I need to turn off VPS? If so please forgive my ignorance but how do I turn off VPS?

Thanks

You will probably get many responses and opinions on this, listen to the one above.

 

[macinfosys]

You only need to disable Landing Protection in order to prevent the Mavic from going into forced landing mode.

Curious. Is there an "approx." height distance that this feature may start working INCORRECTLY and needing to be turned off to be on the safe side for it to not start the auto landing function?

I was at the Colorado River in Laughlin Nevada this week and I was flying over the river but most of my height was at around 200' above the water. I never went any lower while I was flying over the river and I am planning on flying a lot more there and hopefully much lower. I am planning on turning off the setting to be on the safe side but there are a lot of other times I may be flying back and forth over the river itself at high altitudes but never actively staying over it. Would like to keep that setting on in general when not "hanging over the water".

 

[msinger]

Is there an "approx." height distance that this feature may start working INCORRECTLY

No.

Would like to keep that setting on in general when not "hanging around water".

What do you hope to gain by keeping that setting enabled?

 

[macinfosys]

No.


What do you hope to gain by keeping that setting enabled?

To be honest, I figured another safety feature when flying over land in general. I assume it is used for times that auto land is invoked by low battery if out of range, or when bringing down the Mavic in case of emergency at a distance and not able to properly judge the terrain. Just thinking of worse case scenario and if the feature is kept off then it will just HARD land with no downward sensors slowing / stopping it.... ???

 

[msinger]

if the feature is kept off then it will just HARD land with no downward sensors slowing / stopping it.... ???

That sounds quite possible if you're referring to VPS. However, VPS is still enabled when you disable the Landing Protection setting.

 

[macinfosys]

That sounds quite possible if you're referring to VPS. However, VPS is still enabled when you disable the Landing Protection setting.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[skunkman]

Thank you!!! Landing protection will be off!!!!

 

[sdharris]

I would do whatever makes you comfortable. I fly over a large lake all the time and never disable VPS and think the benefits of it outweigh the cons, but if it keeps you up at night there is no harm in disabling it.

 

[macinfosys]

I would do whatever makes you comfortable. I fly over a large lake all the time and never disable VPS and think the benefits of it outweigh the cons, but if it keeps you up at night there is no harm in disabling it.

I thought it was Landing protection that is of concern and some turn it off and not VPS that is still kept active.

 

[skunkman]

Just flew over water - no issues

 

[Jerry]

Apologies for the noob question, but I am a noob ... where are the settings to turn off landing protection so I can try flying over water ? . Also I assume i can fly in different modes and don't need to be in sports mode ? .. thx

 

[Dragonfly]

To clarify for those asking. VPS is made up of two different parts. One is forward cameras and downward cameras and the second part is the ultrasonic sensors on the bottom.
The forward cameras dectect obstacles in front. The bottom cameras are used for visually looking at ground below and stabalizing Mavic by matching the pitcure and for taking pitures on takeoff so it can match them on RTH and precision land.
The ultrasonic sensors (one for emitting the sound wave/one for receiving) are used for detecting the ground or obstacles below the mavic and registering the distance between the two. This tells Mavic its height (accurately) above ground /object upto about 30feet(limit of ultrasonic sensor).
Now when flying over water (or snow or glassy surface) the bottom cameras have no effect (they only for pics and visual stability)
Its the ultrasonic sensors we are concerned about.
Over water the signal is absorbed or refelected at different angles by broken waves and the receiver does not get a return echo or gets a bounced echo or even a delayed echo. Result is that the Mavic may be at 15 feet but ultrasonic sensors, due to false echos from water surface, is telling Mavic, its at 3feet or less. So mavic thinks its going to hit the ground and starts rising.
You see Mavic rise so induce down and this induces autoland sequence. Splash down.
Now you can turn of VPS, but that will disable all functions including forward vision collision cameras, OR you just go into advanced settings and turn off
"landing protection" only. This disables only the ultrasonic sensors and thus eliminates the problem of Mavic getting a false height reading when over water.
Precision landing is still turned on as is forward collision protection. Also you can now hand catch without Mavic trying to climb away from you as ultrasonic is off so it wont detect hand as obstacle.
Sorry its a long spiel but it may help explain better for those wanting to know.

 

[vinhidalgo]

To clarify for those asking. VPS is made up of two different parts. One is forward cameras and downward cameras and the second part is the ultrasonic sensors on the bottom.
The forward cameras dectect obstacles in front. The bottom cameras are used for visually looking at ground below and stabalizing Mavic by matching the pitcure and for taking pitures on takeoff so it can match them on RTH and precision land.
The ultrasonic sensors (one for emitting the sound wave/one for receiving) are used for detecting the ground or obstacles below the mavic and registering the distance between the two. This tells Mavic its height (accurately) above ground /object upto about 30feet(limit of ultrasonic sensor).
Now when flying over water (or snow or glassy surface) the bottom cameras have no effect (they only for pics and visual stability)
Its the ultrasonic sensors we are concerned about.
Over water the signal is absorbed or refelected at different angles by broken waves and the receiver does not get a return echo or gets a bounced echo or even a delayed echo. Result is that the Mavic may be at 15 feet but ultrasonic sensors, due to false echos from water surface, is telling Mavic, its at 3feet or less. So mavic thinks its going to hit the ground and starts rising.
You see Mavic rise so induce down and this induces autoland sequence. Splash down.
Now you can turn of VPS, but that will disable all functions including forward vision collision cameras, OR you just go into advanced settings and turn off
"landing protection" only. This disables only the ultrasonic sensors and thus eliminates the problem of Mavic getting a false height reading when over water.
Precision landing is still turned on as is forward collision protection. Also you can now hand catch without Mavic trying to climb away from you as ultrasonic is off so it wont detect hand as obstacle.
Sorry its a long spiel but it may help explain better for those wanting to know.

Thank you for the deep explanation! We all needed that!

 

[JoostGT3]

To clarify for those asking. VPS is made up of two different parts. One is forward cameras and downward cameras and the second part is the ultrasonic sensors on the bottom.
The forward cameras dectect obstacles in front. The bottom cameras are used for visually looking at ground below and stabalizing Mavic by matching the pitcure and for taking pitures on takeoff so it can match them on RTH and precision land.
The ultrasonic sensors (one for emitting the sound wave/one for receiving) are used for detecting the ground or obstacles below the mavic and registering the distance between the two. This tells Mavic its height (accurately) above ground /object upto about 30feet(limit of ultrasonic sensor).
Now when flying over water (or snow or glassy surface) the bottom cameras have no effect (they only for pics and visual stability)
Its the ultrasonic sensors we are concerned about.
Over water the signal is absorbed or refelected at different angles by broken waves and the receiver does not get a return echo or gets a bounced echo or even a delayed echo. Result is that the Mavic may be at 15 feet but ultrasonic sensors, due to false echos from water surface, is telling Mavic, its at 3feet or less. So mavic thinks its going to hit the ground and starts rising.
You see Mavic rise so induce down and this induces autoland sequence. Splash down.
Now you can turn of VPS, but that will disable all functions including forward vision collision cameras, OR you just go into advanced settings and turn off
"landing protection" only. This disables only the ultrasonic sensors and thus eliminates the problem of Mavic getting a false height reading when over water.
Precision landing is still turned on as is forward collision protection. Also you can now hand catch without Mavic trying to climb away from you as ultrasonic is off so it wont detect hand as obstacle.
Sorry its a long spiel but it may help explain better for those wanting to know.

Thanks man, this was the detailed explanation that I needed! Will copy it in my special "Mavic" section of notes in google keep for future reference! (And check my own settings tonight, especially since I tend to fly a lot over water)

 

[tcope]

Result is that the Mavic may be at 15 feet but ultrasonic sensors, due to false echos from water surface, is telling Mavic, its at 3feet or less. So mavic thinks its going to hit the ground and starts rising.

This would only be correct in Active or Terrain mode, not in normal flight mode. In normal flight mode the Mavic does not adjust altitude automatically.

 

[msinger]

where are the settings to turn off landing protection

 

[Grey Wolf]

Several weeks ago I was flying over a canal and lost control of my Mavic. I was able to move it laterally away from the water and land on grass. Apparently I was a victim of the VPS over water issue which initiates auto-landing. From what I have read this can be avoided by switching off the landing protection mode. I will be flying over water this weekend and want to confirm this.

Or do I need to turn off VPS? If so please forgive my ignorance but how do I turn off VPS?

Thanks

Why would you want to beat a dead horse with your Mavic? Lol!

 

[JLane]

I hope you don't mind if I correct some of your clarifications

To clarify for those asking. VPS is made up of two different parts. One is forward cameras and downward cameras and the second part is the ultrasonic sensors on the bottom.

The Vision Positioning System (VPS) only comprises the downward sensors (cameras + ultrasonic). The front sensors aren't used for positioning.

Now you can turn of VPS, but that will disable all functions including forward vision collision cameras

Disabling the VPS doesn't disable the forward sensors or forward obstacle avoidance. Those can be controlled separately.

OR you just go into advanced settings and turn off "landing protection" only. This disables only the ultrasonic sensors and thus eliminates the problem of Mavic getting a false height reading when over water.

(I'm nitpicking here now) Technically, this doesn't disable any sensors. The VPS will actually continue to measure and report the ultrasonic height readings. Turning off Landing Protection just changes the way the Mavic reacts to those readings.