Anafi no gps lock
- Thread starter Burnsoid
- Start date
Have same problem! After contact with parrot, had to return it to the store, and i ve been waiting for 3 weeks now?
Mine had to go back, no sign of gps at all, it must have been a failure with the chip and not an isolated incident I fear. I’ve switched sides to DJI now but I will get another anafi in the future, cracking little drone if it works as it should.
Hey everyone I recently got a new replacement Anafi to replace a damaged one direct from Parrot. But from the getgo, I noticed it took a much longer time to get GPS lock. How long does it take for you guys to get your GPS lock on your Anafi?
My original Anafi got GPS lock quickly and I could fly almost right away. Contacted Parrot and they said, "The drone has no errors, please try another phone and fly in a different area. GPS signal is weak." This is B.S. because I used to fly my original Anafi around my house and neighborhood, no problem. When I finally can get a lock, it is not the full strength even though it might be in the green. I tried a follow me, which required GPS, and halfway it just stopped and hovered because it lost GPS. When I tried the other day, it would flicker from red to yellow. I tried a different location, this time it did a little better...still did not get lock quickly as I know it should...but it managed to get a stable GPS signal in the green (3 blocks) but not 5 like I know it did before.
I've read here about checking the cable, so I could try that or keep fighting with Parrot to replace their replacement unit.
My original Anafi got GPS lock quickly and I could fly almost right away. Contacted Parrot and they said, "The drone has no errors, please try another phone and fly in a different area. GPS signal is weak." This is B.S. because I used to fly my original Anafi around my house and neighborhood, no problem. When I finally can get a lock, it is not the full strength even though it might be in the green. I tried a follow me, which required GPS, and halfway it just stopped and hovered because it lost GPS. When I tried the other day, it would flicker from red to yellow. I tried a different location, this time it did a little better...still did not get lock quickly as I know it should...but it managed to get a stable GPS signal in the green (3 blocks) but not 5 like I know it did before.
I've read here about checking the cable, so I could try that or keep fighting with Parrot to replace their replacement unit.
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Jagerbomb52
Well-known member
Before opening up the Anafi and possibly voiding your warranty I would try to convince Parrot there is a problem with the replaced unit. Giving them all the info you just posted here about how you have tried different locations and it still acts up will help your case. Having a supervisor call you back might be a option as you don't seem to be getting anywhere with the people who answer the phones.
Dirk_ANAFI
Well-known member
I often have no or weak GPS with the drone standing on the ground before takeoff.
When I then take off and hoover at 2m for a while, the GPS becomes green. Seems like a similar behaviour as you describe.
Dirk, I wonder if there is an issue with yours as well. Previously I wouldn’t fly until I got a solid GPS signal. I wouldn’t have to wait long either. Now I did fly my Anafi at a large open field and it did acquire GPS faster but only barely green with 3 squares. This did not change even when it was hovering about 10 feet. At this location it used to get higher GPS signal. Unless Parrot did something with the app where they recalibrated what each square of the GPS signal relates to. Also I tested it again with a 2 story building behind me but a clear view of the sky and maybe about a 110-120 degree view of the sky too. In that situation it was red with no GPS and did not acquire GPS at all before I had to turn it off because my break from work was over. Again before I had no issues getting GPS between buildings or between houses. So it is very frustrating. If I didn’t have my first Anafi, I would just assume that was how the drone worked, but because I have prior experience I know there is an issue.
Just for your info, my first Anafi (one year ago) had a GPS problem after 2 or 3 weeks. Opened a ticket at Parrot that answered by mail that I should send it back for maintenance. Went to the shop where I bought it with the full box and everything and they exchanged me the drone immediately... (they had stock).
The new Anafi I got is perfectly getting GPS signal in the same conditions (same places, same phones...)
The new Anafi I got is perfectly getting GPS signal in the same conditions (same places, same phones...)
Rocky the FS
Well-known member
I had some difficulty with GPS lock for the first time a couple of days ago. I rebooted the Anafi a couple of times and finally flew it up 10 meters or so whereupon it got a lock. Later I realized that I had put the launch pad only a few feet from my pickup truck's front. I think the big engine caused some interference. Later I launched from about 20 feet away and had no problem getting GPS lock. A clear view of most of the sky is fairly important and flying it up a ways and waiting for a lock before setting off on the planned flight may be necessary in these type of environments.
I used FlightData Manager to compare an old log with my old Anafi compared to the new one. I launched from the same location (my driveway between 2 houses with houses about 40 feet apart) and flew down the same street at about 50 feet. The old data shows there was a lot of satellites acquired very quickly (within 10 seconds or so everything is green, but the new one will take up to 5 minutes) and it was able to keep a high number of satellites locked on. The new data shows it is definitely much weaker in the number of acquired satellites. Plus coming in to land, as soon as I approached my driveway, I got the red error at the bottom of the Freeflight app saying weak GPS. That never happened with my old Anafi. Check out the pic I attached. I sent Parrot an email with my old and new Anafi flight data (json file) and these graphs. Honestly I would rather get my old Anafi back (with the broken boom) as opposed to keeping this new one.
Attachments
My main contact at Parrot is someone named Lucas who wrote in terms of my above issue:
It still acquires GPS, maybe the new updates makes it more accurate but still not issue with the drone.
I'm going to try calling them instead. That in itself is a very difficult task...last time I tried calling, I was on hold for almost 5 hours before I had to hang up.
It still acquires GPS, maybe the new updates makes it more accurate but still not issue with the drone.
I'm going to try calling them instead. That in itself is a very difficult task...last time I tried calling, I was on hold for almost 5 hours before I had to hang up.
Have noticed both my ANAFI have lost GPS at the same time. 19 Nov doing a demo around the offices where we have always had signal before. 2 aircraft different phones no GPS on aircraft. Controllers and mobile phones, when not connected to controller picked up GPS easily. We even tested a handheld GPS device which also worked fine.
Have conducted a hard reset by holding bty power on for the 4 red lights to appear and a soft reset via freeflight 6 software button in settings.
Still no GPS, have logged a ticket with Parrot anyone else having this issue or offer other suggestions.
Have conducted a hard reset by holding bty power on for the 4 red lights to appear and a soft reset via freeflight 6 software button in settings.
Still no GPS, have logged a ticket with Parrot anyone else having this issue or offer other suggestions.
Yes, my last two flights about three days apart had weak or no GPS on the drone at a location that would sometimes require a significant time to acquire GPS lock. Will try a different location known for good performance in the next day or two. Seems like GPS performance has degraded from the first flight mentioned to the second flight days later. Only known change has been colder weather.
Forgot to mention aircraft are still very stable in flight and are compensating for wind which implies they do have a GPS fix but it is not transmitting that info to the freeflight app.
Aircraft is very stable in flight indoors also without GPS so not some what magic is in play indoors.
Aircraft is very stable in flight indoors also without GPS so not some what magic is in play indoors.
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I heard that solar tempest may cause weak GPS signal along with other kind of interferences. No doubt that the drones have a weak signal compared for example to my smartphone, which can lock 20+ satellites even INSIDE my house.
Maybe they mount cheap GPS chips ? Not talking only about Anafi but also DJI drones.
Maybe they mount cheap GPS chips ? Not talking only about Anafi but also DJI drones.
As someone mentioned here before: I have also the Weak Signal problem. I launch the Anafi and land immediately land. This is enough to get a fix for me. It looks to me it's a software problem rather than the hardware.
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Like all things Parrot & Anafi it is not cheap GPS or anything, just poorly executed!
They use the uBlox M8 GNSS chipset which can do 3 concurrent GNSS sources (e.g. any 3 of the following at the sametime GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, & BeiDou), it is a very good chipset, I have used it in a few projects.
However they recently changed the firmware to correctly upload the GPS-A data to the drone, so it does a hot start rather than a cold start everytime you power it up, but their method is not great, as I don't think they cache GPS-A data which is retrieved directly from uBlox servers (I think they call it AssistNow data), as uBlox offers many tpes of data, like offline data which is good for 30 days and online type data which is good for 3 days.
So you need to make sure the phone you are using has a internet connection every fews day to update this data - this will make your Anafi GPS acquisition times down to around 30 seconds, rather than 2 minutes - but as I said they do not cache this correctly, so sometimes you still end up having to wait 1 minute plus to get a good lock.
In terms of number of GPS - you will alway get an increase in GPS satellites once the Anafi is in the air as it is further away from obstructions and other RF signals - as the Anafi goes up it sees more of the sky, especially the horizon becomes lower (with respect to the Anafi), so it can see more of the lower latitude sats which may make a big difference to depending on your latitude on the Earth!
They use the uBlox M8 GNSS chipset which can do 3 concurrent GNSS sources (e.g. any 3 of the following at the sametime GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, & BeiDou), it is a very good chipset, I have used it in a few projects.
However they recently changed the firmware to correctly upload the GPS-A data to the drone, so it does a hot start rather than a cold start everytime you power it up, but their method is not great, as I don't think they cache GPS-A data which is retrieved directly from uBlox servers (I think they call it AssistNow data), as uBlox offers many tpes of data, like offline data which is good for 30 days and online type data which is good for 3 days.
So you need to make sure the phone you are using has a internet connection every fews day to update this data - this will make your Anafi GPS acquisition times down to around 30 seconds, rather than 2 minutes - but as I said they do not cache this correctly, so sometimes you still end up having to wait 1 minute plus to get a good lock.
In terms of number of GPS - you will alway get an increase in GPS satellites once the Anafi is in the air as it is further away from obstructions and other RF signals - as the Anafi goes up it sees more of the sky, especially the horizon becomes lower (with respect to the Anafi), so it can see more of the lower latitude sats which may make a big difference to depending on your latitude on the Earth!
