Kp-index - important or myth?

[Drone UAV]

I've been working on the principle that the Kp-index is an important pre-flight check and that anything higher than 4 could interrupt the GPS signal, and that it could explain some of the flyaways, but others are now saying that it doesn't make any difference and that they wish people would stop drawing attention to it.

• Does the Kp-index make any difference to the GPS signal?
  Did it previously but doesn't now because of firmware upgrades?
  Does it/did it only affect certain DJI models?
  Does it/did it only affect Phantoms?
  Have DJI every made any official announcement about it?

 

[ianwood]

It affects GPS accuracy. 7 or higher is where you should be a little careful. Unless you're at the North Pole, 4 will do nothing.

 

[Drone UAV]

Thanks, and presumably since the Kp-index measure the strength of magnetic storms then it might adversely affect the compass even if you have 7 or more satellites?

 

[GoodnNuff]

The past few days I've driven quite a bit around the Puget Sound area helping with some facility inspections, and my car's GPS has been way off. It would show me driving through open fields or the middle of city blocks where no roads exist. I blame it on the high Kp index.

 

[Drone UAV]

Interesting, though it seems the reports and hit and miss. Some people report no problems and others report evidence of effects. I wonder what DJI have to say about it.

 

[Meta4]

Most of the people that want to warn others of the potential GPS difficulties have no idea of the real issues.
(For a lot of users, GPS is a complete mystery and gets blamed for all manner if things it is not related to.)
Do a google search and about the best you'll find is the vague "gps may be affected" but nothing to say how much.
Here's a post by a member who actually knows something about what really happens and what the impacts could really be.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=35796&p=331319#p331319

Beware of fear and ignorance. The sky isn't falling.

 

[N017RW]

I understand those who enjoy the minutia of details in things. To each his own.

Like many, been doing this r/c aviation for decades and all I need to know is: How's the wind, any rain around, and the mosquitoes?!

Looking at a spread sheet or similar or SV count predictor to decide if I should fly my toy or not is not for me. My P2 does not have telemetry and I can tell if I have enough satellites to know if I can operate w/GPS or not.

I wish we had answers for some folks' issues we read about here but there's no way to correlate a person's experiences and (often stressed) observations to a root-cause in most cases. Even video of the incident often falls short of a definative explaination so it's usually blame the function(s) or aspect(s) you have the least understanding of.

If you continue to worship at the alter of GPS signal induced fly-aways please share with us how this happens. It requires an understanding of the Naza's logic flow-chart which I have yet heard or read of.

Speculators need not apply.

 

[Tommyboy660]

Most of the people that want to warn others of the potential GPS difficulties have no idea of the real issues.
(For a lot of users, GPS is a complete mystery and gets blamed for all manner if things it is not related to.)
Do a google search and about the best you'll find is the vague "gps may be affected" but nothing to say how much.
Here's a post by a member who actually knows something about what really happens and what the impacts could really be.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=35796&p=331319#p331319

Beware of fear and ignorance. The sky isn't falling.

(@Drone Camera Films & @N017RW) instead of messing around listening to whatever everyone else opinions are or personal interpretation the get after reading through 15 differrent books then claiming they just must now esspecially after reading all those books. Get online (YES The one place that only has truths, lol) & go to the NOAA Website to read into it & if your not able to all the info you looking for on their I'd suggest you email or chat with someone directly from there & ask for there best most reliable knowledgeable source to try out next.

My personal opinion is that the a high KP Index is not the only factor thaat with play into those random Posts that you read that the ownerþpilot of their drone had a flyaway or whatever the case was, I only say this because if you ever go over to other brand drone forums like Yuneec, 3DR, Go-Pro & so many others out there & really take the time to not only read what they say happened that caused there drone to fly-away, lose a motor or whatever then really think about cuz most all of them end or have somewhere in there declaring that its because somehow in someway the manufacturer was 100% the reason for whatever happened. Heck I read about a so called proffessional pilot getting hired to video & take pics of a foot running race, mind you 1st he did have a 107 so he should of known not to do that, but the 1 out of his 4 motors went out & the drone obviuosly was then in a free fall mode & not only did it hit some but it hit one of the running contestants right in the front of her left leg so her shin bad enough she went to the hospital in an ambulance. When authorities asked him/the pilot/drone owner he stuck to his story starting with them of "It was not my fault at all, someone hacked into my drones computer systems wifi, he still has yet to change his story but its not that difficult for a forensic team to figure out if it truely was hack or not & they cam back saying the found absolutely no evidenve that could have been hacked. Sorry for the length I just thought you might like that story & if I find the link again Ill come back and share it. Tom

 

[N017RW]

Sorry but found it hard to get your point.
But to be clear on my end... I have no interest or concern with the Kp index especially as it relates to my r/c aviation habits.
Again not sure what your point is but any GPS related issue is most likely hardware or DJI software related as opposed to SVs or atmospherics.

 

[Kerr_Flyte]

Hi all,

I did some research into K Index because we've been adding it into our flight planning application. I thought the background info might be useful to share with the community so I've put what I've learned into an FAQ.

You can access it here

Hope this helps,
Kerr

 

[Yosafat]

Mine use hover app and allways waching the mention Ready to Fly, KP index = 1 before flight