DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Why you probably shouldn't fly your drone on April 6th (GPS rollover explained)

After 5 years working on the F/A-18 Hornet FCS I've learned to assume nothing. ;)

Agreed - and your "probably" is correct, of course, but, realistically - what are the chances that DJI is using 20-year old GPS chipsets? Were dual GPS/GLONASS chipsets even made back then?
 
  • Like
Reactions: tleedom
Talked with DJI support online and the CSR knew about the issue but had no information from engineering. He's pushing the query up the chain of command. I will not fly my birds on the 6th or the 7th until I get to read whether anyone's bird flew away. ;-)

Lol is it really that serious? The drones have several redundancy features and I doubt that losing its GPS signal would be enough to make it “flyaway.” Just land it if there’s a problem.
 
Maybe we should get the Antenna's turned back on. I believe there was one in Texas, Canada or Washington, and Denver?? Three point triangulation. Can not remember what it was called then, it was something other than GPS?
 
I don't understand all this concern about flyaways. The effect of the rollover (week code reset), even if the GPS chip isn't current enough to cope with it, would be to cause errors in the GPS date. It won't affect positional accuracy at all. And, in any case, all the DJI equipment is far too new to have affected GPS chips.
I concur.
This reminds me of the 2000 scare. LOL
 
  • Like
Reactions: tleedom
While all of the "snowflakes" won't be flying that day, I will be flying as fast as I can and as far away as I can, just because...

In fact, I won't even wait to gain enough satellites. I will just run outside, start it up and full throttle baby! Fast and far away. Wahoooo!
 
  • Like
Reactions: OzPepito
Maybe we should get the Antenna's turned back on. I believe there was one in Texas, Canada or Washington, and Denver?? Three point triangulation. Can not remember what it was called then, it was something other than GPS?
You are probably referring to LORAN which would require a dedicated LORAN receiver to work.
Since this rumoured issue is a non-issue, there's no need to consider it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tleedom
You are probably referring to LORAN which would require a dedicated LORAN receiver to work.
Since this rumoured issue is a non-issue, there's no need to consider it.
Yup!! That was it. Guess I am getting old with memory loss... I had a Loran map recorder on our boat that you had and had to wait until you would get a lock on the three sites. And your positioning was really good, with in 25 feet, ha ha....
 
  • Like
Reactions: tleedom and cdubNga
Heres to you dangerousdavekincaid - happy birthday and GPS doom day. LOL just kidding folks. I am neither an alarmist or sensationalist. But seriously... happy bday on April 6th - I am an April baby too, But no where near 71 ...
 
Thanks for the heads up. My bet now is that will be the day I decide to fly and will forget all about this post. LOL
 
  • Like
Reactions: tleedom
In 1999 I was sailing from Panama to Costa RICO when all gps went out for 3 days. I kept asking ships going to Panama, that I pasted, if they had a fix. We all assumed they were moving some satellites. The tides (think winds on your drone) are 12-16 foot in half circle directions. I kept a dead reckoning chart and was on my course 2 nm ahead of where I thought I was 3 days later. Best not to fly if you want your drone to come home.
 
Heres to you dangerousdavekincaid - happy birthday and GPS doom day. LOL just kidding folks. I am neither an alarmist or sensationalist. But seriously... happy bday on April 6th - I am an April baby too, But no where near 71 ...
Well time fly's when your having fun.... Thanks....
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,586
Messages
1,554,118
Members
159,586
Latest member
DoubleBarS