Cell Tower Grounded my ANAFI

[Gadget Inspector]

In Cleveland this week visiting family and it's refreshing to fly in some different locations from my norm. But....I'm noticing quite a few more cell towers here than in GR. A LOT more actually...kind of troubling . As a general practice, I avoid these towers when flying. I've seen them in residential areas, but they are even in parks here. The reason I mention it is because I couldn't even launch the ANAFI due to getting no GPS lock. The controller yes, but not the ANAFI. That's when I noticed the cell tower and it clicked.

No, doing several drone calibrations did not work .

What's interesting is I flew two batteries with the Mavic 2 Pro just before that with absolutely no problem at all. I got back to my mom's house and got GPS again...it took a little longer than it usually does though. I went back to the park and sure enough, the closer the drone was to the tower the weaker the GPS signal (fewer satellites) and the weaker the wifi connection. I'm stating the obvious here of course, but since I've never been so close to one it was interesting to see how much it really does impact some drones. For twice the price, I guess I would expect better performance out of the M2Pro....darn thing is a beast of a machine. Still love the ANAFI though. I was getting worried there for a minute....

 

[Landbo]

In Cleveland this week visiting family and it's refreshing to fly in some different locations from my norm. But....I'm noticing quite a few more cell towers here than in GR. A LOT more actually...kind of troubling . As a general practice, I avoid these towers when flying. I've seen them in residential areas, but they are even in parks here. The reason I mention it is because I couldn't even launch the ANAFI due to getting no GPS lock. The controller yes, but not the ANAFI. That's when I noticed the cell tower and it clicked.

No, doing several drone calibrations did not work .

What's interesting is I flew two batteries with the Mavic 2 Pro just before that with absolutely no problem at all. I got back to my mom's house and got GPS again...it took a little longer than it usually does though. I went back to the park and sure enough, the closer the drone was to the tower the weaker the GPS signal (fewer satellites) and the weaker the wifi connection. I'm stating the obvious here of course, but since I've never been so close to one it was interesting to see how much it really does impact some drones. For twice the price, I guess I would expect better performance out of the M2Pro....darn thing is a beast of a machine. Still love the ANAFI though. I was getting worried there for a minute....
View attachment 2406

I have previously flown near a cellphone tower with no problems on both my Parrot Anafi and my DJI P4A without having noticed loss of GPS lock. My best guess is that there is an breakdown on the transmitter in the tower that makes it emit noise at the frequencies you receive the GPS signals.

Regards, Leif.

 

[Nidge]

I’ve flown various drones, Parrot, DJI, Yuneec, APM/Pixhawk, etc, close to radio towers, HF through to ehf, microwave, cellular, and not had any issues to date.

I believe that currently the US GPS and Russian GLONASS do not work together. So even if your satellite count displayed in the FreeFlight APP shows 12 satellites you will have a minimum of 6 satellites per constellation, considered to be the minimum to provide a satisfactory HDOP accuracy for the drone. In 2008 an agreement was formed by the US and EU whereby the US GPS and EU Galileo constellations would work cooperatively but I don’t think such an agreement is extended to the Russian GLONASS system. Unfortunately the Anafi uses either the US GPS or the Russian GLONASS systems and not both at the same time, I believe, though I’m more than happy to be told otherwise.

Regards

Nidge

P.S Interesting note that over the last week the EU Galileo constellation has been experiencing some very serious issues.

 

[Landbo]

I’ve flown various drones, Parrot, DJI, Yuneec, APM/Pixhawk, etc, close to radio towers, HF through to ehf, microwave, cellular, and not had any issues to date.

I believe that currently the US GPS and Russian GLONASS do not work together. So even if your satellite count displayed in the FreeFlight APP shows 12 satellites you will have a minimum of 6 satellites per constellation, considered to be the minimum to provide a satisfactory HDOP accuracy for the drone. In 2008 an agreement was formed by the US and EU whereby the US GPS and EU Galileo constellations would work cooperatively but I don’t think such an agreement is extended to the Russian GLONASS system. Unfortunately the Anafi uses either the US GPS or the Russian GLONASS systems and not both at the same time, I believe, though I’m more than happy to be told otherwise.

Regards

Nidge

P.S Interesting note that over the last week the EU Galileo constellation has been experiencing some very serious issues.

Anafi does not use the Galileo system according to the specs.

It is true that the Galileo system has been out of service since last Friday and until yesterday at noon.

I believe that Anafi uses both the GLASNOST and the US GPS system at the same time as the newer GPS chips can automatically calculate the small inaccuracy that exists between the two systems and thereby increase the accuracy.

Regards, Leif.

 

[highanddry]

Nearby a radar post I hade a fly away with a Yuneec Typhoon H and lost it. Never problems with Anafi so far.

 

[CheshireLad]

Just once I had a connection loss with my Anafi when it was only about 20m away from me and had just taken off. I realised there was a cellphone tower behind some trees close by that I hadn't noticed. Fortunately I was able to walk towards the drone and get signal back and land it. So it was only the wifi signal that was lost, but GPS wasn't affected.

 

[jmbsmt63]

Cell companies are starting to incorporate 5G ...Could that be a concern now? I recently experienced a terrible range loss in my neighborhood...Maybe a 5G system/antenna is being added and we are seeing the results?