Another Fly Away Using Follow Me (locked mode)

[Jagerbomb52]

OK the other day I wanted to use the Anafi to follow me on my snow machine and I had it set to track. As it proceeded to get behind me it just took off at a high rate of speed and ended up in a tree. It was recovered to fly again. Here is the post for that fly away.

Anafi Up In A Tree Again.

Went out this morning hoping to get some follow me video of myself riding my snowmachine. Made a pilot error in my setup that ended with my Anafi up in a Balsam tree 26 feet up. Same Anafi that spent last winter in a tree. Using just my phone I had set up for tracking which makes the Anafi want...

parrotpilots.com

So today I decided to do more testing with the Follow me mode to see if the first time was just a glitch or something else. Went to the local ball field and got the Anafi up in the air. Moved it off to a acceptable distance and started follow me mode. Had all 3 check marks checked for Drone GPS, Device GPS and Smartphones barometer. So I then had the green box drawn around me and the Anafi was following me for a short time then it just took off in a straight line at full speed (30.5 MPH). I was able to regain control by stopping the follow me mode on the phones screen and brought it back to where I was standing and flipped it over to shut off the motors.
Looking at the .Json file in ShowAnafiLogs program I can see the total distance it flew away but bringing it back to me (home point) the distance never changed. This is confusing to me. I am attaching the .Json file for anyone who wants to look at it and comment. Just remove the .pdf extension from the .Json file as this is the only way to upload to this forum.

Here is the flight path

 

[Liger 1956]

It may be nothing, and I may be wrong, but at timestamp 175205 on the .json the Anafi GPS has it near to the blue hut but the controller GPS appears to be in the square building to the NW of the car park. If the Anafi lost you on its visual location (could that be due to snow glare?) then would it head to where it thought that you are based on the controllers GPS location which would have it heading towards the car park?

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Good point. Not knowing enough how it would react I would say that could be what happened. Kind of scary if that is all it takes.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I will add that the screen still showed me in the green square but just before it flew off it was not responding to my movements.

 

[Liger 1956]

It would be interesting if you could make a plot of the controller gps positions on Google Earth like you have for the Anafi positions and see whether I am correct and whether the postion suddenly jumped due to your phone GPS being shielded or a weak GPS signal although the log does show more than sufficent GPS satillites.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

There are so many variables including the last update. It all worked fine until the last update, but to add to that we now have snow as you mentioned but I do not see how that is a problem as it has never been a problem in the past. Unless this new update has changed how it see the subject. I want to do more testing but I am looking for a larger area just in case it takes off again. I don't want to cut down any more trees to gain access to my Anafi again LOL

 

[Rocky the FS]

Was this the same Anafi that ended up in a tree for last winter? Maybe you just have one that loves trees....

 

[Liger 1956]

Interesting plot of yout flight Agustine. Orange is the Anafi and the black line is the controller GPS location.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Interesting plot of yout flight Agustine. Orange is the Anafi and the black line is the controller GPS location.

View attachment 3235

Wow
That sure is strange.
I noticed yesterday and today the EST. Sats Lock was not as good as it could be in uavforecast. I wonder if that has anything to do with what is going on.

 

[Vegasrobbi]

Sounds aggravating. I have hundreds of flights with my Anafi in follow without this issue, but I have seen it before.

With my Typhoon H if it lost gps, or gps was switched off then on again, it could dart hundreds of feet at high speed. It came down to where the drone was and where it thought it should be when it regained gps. Yuneec addressed the issue with a software update and replacing the gps module on some H’s.

I have seen similar behavior in other Anaf’s even when not in follow, could be a gps glitch.

Here’s the glitch in my H 6:20:

 

[Jagerbomb52]

So today I have been trying to narrow this follow me glitch I have been experiencing. What I have noticed is this. Using my LG G6 android phone that is all up to date when the Anafi is put into follow me mode in locked option and I am in the green square the Anafi will start to hunt for elevation by what looks to be about 4 or 5 inches up and down. You can see it and hear it hunting. Now if I use my old 7 inch Lenovo Tab 3 that can not be updated anymore to allow the newer FreeFlight 6 App it does not hunt up and down. Both my tablet and phone have a barometer. So is it my phone causing the problem or is it the newer App causing the problem ?
I believe this happened two updates ago and then went away on the second last one and now its back with the last update. I don't use follow me very much but had hoped to use it with my snowmachine this winter but I sure do not trust it now at least using my phone as the controller.

 

[AnafiPilot1]

So today I have been trying to narrow this follow me glitch I have been experiencing. What I have noticed is this. Using my LG G6 android phone that is all up to date when the Anafi is put into follow me mode in locked option and I am in the green square the Anafi will start to hunt for elevation by what looks to be about 4 or 5 inches up and down. You can see it and hear it hunting. Now if I use my old 7 inch Lenovo Tab 3 that can not be updated anymore to allow the newer FreeFlight 6 App it does not hunt up and down. Both my tablet and phone have a barometer. So is it my phone causing the problem or is it the newer App causing the problem ?
I believe this happened two updates ago and then went away on the second last one and now its back with the last update. I don't use follow me very much but had hoped to use it with my snowmachine this winter but I sure do not trust it now at least using my phone as the controller.

I think in another thread - you mentioned it and I mentioned it as well the whole nodding when in follow me mode, but I never thought of trying different phones - it does it with my SGS8+, so I will try with my SGS6 Edge, see if it is the same. Might also try with and without the SC3 controller attached.

But that fly away thing looks more like bad programming by Parrot - GPS readings should always be filtered as it does tend to glitch, so if your appararent controller position changes so abrutly & drastically the drone really should not instanatly move to it.

Some of the navigation units I play with use something like Kalman filtering tuned to the application in hand - so you would have hoped that Parrot use something similar to stop such things occuring.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I think in another thread - you mentioned it and I mentioned it as well the whole nodding when in follow me mode, but I never thought of trying different phones - it does it with my SGS8+, so I will try with my SGS6 Edge, see if it is the same. Might also try with and without the SC3 controller attached.

But that fly away thing looks more like bad programming by Parrot - GPS readings should always be filtered as it does tend to glitch, so if your appararent controller position changes so abrutly & drastically the drone really should not instanatly move to it.

Some of the navigation units I play with use something like Kalman filtering tuned to the application in hand - so you would have hoped that Parrot use something similar to stop such things occuring.

Glad you replied. I thought I had talked to someone that had the same nodding up and down as I do but could not remember who. Let me know if you find it goes away with another phone or tablet but like I said the tablet it goes away with uses the older FF6 as I cannot load the new FF6 because of the Android OS on it.
Thanks