Do civil GPS downtimes impact drones?

[RémyHeli]

I have read somewhere that's common for civil GPS to be officially down for some time and for selected area. Sort of scheduled maintenance and related status can be consult in some .gov website.

If true, would mean sudden loss of some satellite for drones flying in concerned area.

Are these downtimes real?



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[jwt873]

The Phantom uses two independent GPS systems. The U.S. GPS satellites and the Russian GLONASS satellites. They don't get shut down, but if one system failed, there is another to act as a backup.

But there have been rare instances where the military has done special testing which caused interference with the signals in isolated areas. When such tests are planned, the FAA posts warnings to pilots who will be flying in the affected areas: https://www.faasafety.gov/files/notices/2016/Jun/CHLK_16-08_GPS_Flight_Advisory.pdf

If you should get caught in one of these 'tests', you will still be able to fly, but only in ATTI mode. There will be no ability to 'return to home'.

 

[RémyHeli]

Thanks,

I have found GPS service outage and planned disruption links.

GPS.gov: GPS Service Outages & Status Reports

Planned outage 2 sept for D2 but should be transparent
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?Do=constellationStatus


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[Meta4]

I have read somewhere that's common for civil GPS to be officially down for some time and for selected area. Sort of scheduled maintenance and related status can be consult in some .gov website.

If true, would mean sudden loss of some satellite for drones flying in concerned area.

Are these downtimes real?

They don't turn off the whole system.
You won't even notice it.
You need multiple satellites to get a fix and your Phantom sees plenty of sats in the sky.
If there is one less working for a short while, it won't make any difference to you.