OK, the usual disclaimer...I don't know diddly squat (to those millennials, that means I know a little but keep it under my hat) and it's not helped by DJI's smattering of data tools. Support is not their forte, but great drones are, but only for the fortunate who have no problems.
So here's my problem. I'm not a recent Phantom owner (I have a 2 but no FPV stuff) , but one of those upstarts who own a Mavic Pro.
I’m using Bud Walker’s CsvView, DatCon and Ferraript’s Txttocsvtool. I’ve been thoroughly confused by all of the data analysis options, so I need some help.
I have a boat and need to let my Mavic know where I am on a fairly constant basis as my bird circles an island fading out-of-sight or follows me around in case a battery peters out or my RC loses connection. To those that don't understand, RTH is important when out there and sun glare impedes your view of your drone or your mobile device screen. So Home Point - Me is important, since without it, your bird will fly home to parts last known, not where you are now. There are those who say use manual means to bring it to your current location, but why buy a Mavic, if it doesn't work as advertised... do have to squint at that little radar screen while out on the water in the sun and direct my errant bird to its nest...BS!
So, I've been skeptical of my Mavic's ability to respond accurately to the change in home point designation. Recently, its been proven to not be reliable, sometimes resulting in lost Mavics. I don't know about Phantoms 4.
Two folders in the referenced DropBox, one contains data from
Sep 21st, 2017 06:06PM , and another from
Sep 21st, 2017 06:18PM with data in a subfolder labeled 2017-09-21 18-18-31. In the first flight, there is a recorded home distance of 39.6’ at HP Me and 13.2’ HP Recorded, well outside any GPS uncertainty – see lines 1361-1364 of PhantomHelp DJIFlightRecord_2017-09-21_(18-06-09).xls spreadsheet 2 min. 32.2 sec. and 2m 32.5 s into the flight. In the second flight, a recorded home distance of 53.3’ at HP Me and 28.2’ at HP Recorded, 2m 32.6s into the flight, again well outside any GPS uncertainty. Note that, at launch, Home Point Recorded data entry declares a home distance of zero with appropriate map, voice and display messages. So the code that extracts HP Me data from the mobile device is producing the error. From what I can tell, HP to Current Location also gives an erroneous result.
Dropbox - Mavic Log DJI Go 4 v. 4.1.11
To reiterate, I need help. I believe Mavic has a big problem.
Given the problems with DJI support, we need to develop a consistent protocol. DJI will not respond in a timely fashion. Data needs to be consistent from one app to the next. We need to help ourselves.
