First flight with the P4P. Few things to ask

[fin032]

As I have had the P3P for over a year I am comparing the P4P to the P3P.

When I plug P3 controller in to my Nvidia Shield K1 tablet I get a notification right away asking what app I want to use. Dji go, dji go 4 or litchi.

The P4P controller seems to be very temperamental with this. I have to plug in the controller 3-4 times, reboot the tablet and controller multiple times to get it to connect to the controller. Some times it does connect first time but most of the time I have got to mess around to get it to show the notification asking what app to use.

With the P3P it only takes seconds for it to pick up satellites after its been switched on and will pick up 16 plus most of the time.

With the P4P it seemed to take ages to show any satellites and when it did it was only showing 12-14

When I got home I sat the 2 quads together in my top room. I knew I wouldn't see all the satellites as I was inside. I switched them both on at the same time and the P3P was showing 11-14 satellites with in 30 seconds.

The P4P was showing nothing for the first 3 min and then it started showing 3-4 satellites when the P3P had 11 plus.

Is this the norm for the P4P or is it just bugs DJI has to sort out.

Apart from the above the P4P flys great. 20mph winds today and it held fine in GPS plus flys great in atti mode. Handles the wind find. It's did move up and down a bit when holding in GPS mode but I just put that down to the wind.


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[KevMo Photog]

I am totally not sure why that would be diff for your P3P. Is it possible that it's the compatability of the new DJI Go 4 software and the tablet you are using? Mine is booting up very quickly. In fact a lot faster than my two P4's used to. I was not sure if that was software from the app being different or whether it was just a characteristic of the new P4P drone itself?

 

[chris digata]

your talking android there and its to do with the order of listed usb device.
And the reason fot sat listing is it does more checks and also waits for more sats before displaying them and giving the all clear to take off.. it also trys to make itself more rush pilot idiot proof

 

[fin032]

I am totally not sure why that would be diff for your P3P. Is it possible that it's the compatability of the new DJI Go 4 software and the tablet you are using? Mine is booting up very quickly. In fact a lot faster than my two P4's used to. I was not sure if that was software from the app being different or whether it was just a characteristic of the new P4P drone itself?

On the Android you should get a pop up asking what app you want to use before you even enter a app the problem I have is that pop-up doesn't show sometimes and it won't connect without it. How is your for GPS?

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[fin032]

your talking android there and its to do with the order of listed usb device.
And the reason fot sat listing is it does more checks and also waits for more sats before displaying them and giving the all clear to take off.. it also trys to make itself more rush pilot idiot proof

Thanks for the reply. I will go switch them on for a good 5 min and then check the sat counts on. Will also have a look at clearing the USB list.

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[fin032]

Ok just done a test and left the both sitting for 5 min and then checked the satellite count. Inside top floor P3P 13-14 P4P 5-6. Both sat outside in the Garden about 10 feet from house. P3P 15-16, P4P 13-14. Seems weaker than the P3 but if that's normal it's fine.

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[$gambino$]

I get between 10 to 15 and its fine as lomg as it turns green and says home point is good i am off. Never a problem

 

[Meta4]

On the Android you should get a pop up asking what app you want to use before you even enter a app the problem I have is that pop-up doesn't show sometimes and it won't connect without it. How is your for GPS?

Try powering on your tablet first.
When it's ready, power on the controller and then the Phantom.
See if the order makes any difference.

 

[Kingpin1965]

Ok just done a test and left the both sitting for 5 min and then checked the satellite count. Inside top floor P3P 13-14 P4P 5-6. Both sat outside in the Garden about 10 feet from house. P3P 15-16, P4P 13-14. Seems weaker than the P3 but if that's normal it's fine.

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This does not mean the P4P is weaker. It could mean it is doing some sort of error correcting, and not counting GPS satellites that are showing greater errors from the other satellites. This is usually cause be satellites low on the horizon. This causes a time distortion in the sat single. As the signal becomes bent, like light though water. As the sat signal travels though the ionized layers of the atmosphere. There are also other causes of timing errors. But this is the most common.

Since it has been shown that the newer phantoms are more stable and accurate at holding GPS positions then the older phantoms. It seems likely part of this is due to better GPS receiver hardware and error correcting software.

And this is why you get much fewer satellites in your home with the P4P. As you get all sorts of other timing issues with the sat signal inside of structures. Reflection signal errors being the most probable.

 

[fin032]

Try powering on your tablet first.
When it's ready, power on the controller and then the Phantom.
See if the order makes any difference.

I tried it all the ways I can think Meta but will give it ago again. It's not a big problem it's just a bit annoying when trying to get set up for flight.

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[fin032]

This does not mean the P4P is weaker. It could mean it is doing some sort of error correcting, and not counting GPS satellites that are showing greater errors from the other satellites. This is usually cause be satellites low on the horizon. This causes a time distortion in the sat single. As the signal becomes bent, like light though water. As the sat signal travels though the ionized layers of the atmosphere. There are also other causes of timing errors. But this is the most common.

Since it has been shown that the newer phantoms are more stable and accurate at holding GPS positions then the older phantoms. It seems likely part of this is due to better GPS receiver hardware and error correcting software.

And this is why you get much fewer satellites in your home with the P4P. As you get all sorts of other timing issues with the sat signal inside of structures. Reflection signal errors being the most probable.

Good explanation. The best thing I can do to check is get 2 P4P together and see what happens.

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[Kingpin1965]

Good explanation. The best thing I can do to check is get 2 P4P together and see what happens.

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"When I got home I sat the 2 quads together in my top room. I knew I wouldn't see all the satellites as I was inside. I switched them both on at the same time and the P3P was showing 11-14 satellites with in 30 seconds.

The P4P was showing nothing for the first 3 min and then it started showing 3-4 satellites when the P3P had 11 plus."

Looking into this observation further. This shows that the Phantom 4 pro is doing some sort of error corrections. Because doing error corrections to the GPS signals takes much more time to process and lock onto the satellites. Then just using raw GPS signals.