Flying over Water

[Drbgaijin]

In the ANAFI user guide I read that. "Due to the operating mode of its vertical camera and ultrasound sensor, Parrot recommends you do not fly ANAFI over water and other reflective surfaces (mirrors, glass, and so on)"
Can anyone expand on this? Does it depend on the height above the reflective surface, the area of the surface or what?
I have seen many videos of flights over water. Is it really so risky?
Regards
Douglas

 

[ifana]

I've not heard about it yet with the Anafi, but my DJI Mavic Air tends to try to land over water on sunny days if i'm flying low enough.

 

[Bobthinks]

I don't think this is just an Anafi thing. Ultrasonic sensors cannot tell the difference between water and land. Water returns the waves just as well. And optically they are pretty hard to tell the difference in many ways. There are a lot of videos of all types drones either auto landing into water or drone owners going to amazing lengths to intercept their drones that are trying to auto land on water.

 

[Chasbro]

Personally, I haven't had any problems flying low over water with the Bebops.

 

[Drbgaijin]

Thank you all for your replies.
I have also been informed, through another source, that the water surface problem was a bigger problem for drones in the past, but that it should now be solved through newer driver development. Also, I failed to notice that the ANAFI manual did not say "don't", but it said it was a "recommendation".
Regards
Douglas

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Two years ago I bought a Autel X-Star and the sensor did not work very well or maybe not at all. They did a firmware update and the sensor being of the same design as all other UAVs worked as advertised with no problems. I would think Parrot should be on top of their game with improved firmware to make the Anafi sensors work better then older ones. Just my thoughts on it. Maybe not but I sure hope so

 

[Skydreamer]

Thank you all for your replies.
I have also been informed, through another source, that the water surface problem was a bigger problem for drones in the past, but that it should now be solved through newer driver development. Also, I failed to notice that the ANAFI manual did not say "don't", but it said it was a "recommendation".
Regards
Douglas

Hi,it is ok to fly over water but i wouldn’t recommend hovering over water or if you decide to hover over water make sure the altitude is more than 25meters/yards

 

[PascalG]

Since i mostly use drones from a boat i almost always fly over water but rarely glassy water which i believe is what can confuse the drone sensors, whether Anafi or others

 

[Zamzara]

I suspect it's because the downward camera sees an unstable image instead of a fixed surface, so thinks the drone's moving. Probably not too much of an issue with good GPS.

 

[Simon H]

Even less of an issue if you keep your thumbs on the sticks and a slight modicum of situational awareness.

 

[dmbrody]

I wish we could disable the downward sensor in settings for when we fly over water. That would be a nice feature to take from DJI.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

I fly over water all the time, thats pretty much all I do with all my UAV's. This was posted by a long time Parrot owner. He believes this all bull crap.

"
In the old day on AR Drone 1.0 / 2.0. The bottom camera was unable to locate itself on a water surface due to when a surface is totally flat and no any reference objects to the cam. The drone drifted away. That was the problem persisted till Bebop 2. However, since Bebop 2. This situation has been solved by the driver and no longer a problem. Flying over water surface is no longer a concern. Parrot said that just because they don't want to take unnecessary risk for the maintenance cost and it is only a "recommendation" like they said. Not "unsupported". "

 

[dmbrody]

I fly over water all the time, thats pretty much all I do with all my UAV's. This was posted by a long time Parrot owner. He believes this all bull crap.

"
In the old day on AR Drone 1.0 / 2.0. The bottom camera was unable to locate itself on a water surface due to when a surface is totally flat and no any reference objects to the cam. The drone drifted away. That was the problem persisted till Bebop 2. However, since Bebop 2. This situation has been solved by the driver and no longer a problem. Flying over water surface is no longer a concern. Parrot said that just because they don't want to take unnecessary risk for the maintenance cost and it is only a "recommendation" like they said. Not "unsupported". "

Well there is flying over water, and there is flying over water, as in skimming the surface. It’s best not to rely on any vision positioning system to maintain altitude (and position) above water. Doesn’t matter if it’s optical flow, IR, laser, or sound. They all get confused. You can generally “power through” but you’ll get smoother video footage is you disable those sensors. An internal barometer is more than adequate to maintain altitude.

 

[Chasbro]

This video should dispel a lot of the falsehoods about flying over water. One time I was returning from out over the gulf and I wasn't paying attention to a downward bias I was putting on the left stick. When I finally noticed I was skimming the water. I was so embarrassed I erased the video but I should have preserved it for this discussion. This was with the bebop 2 but I imagine the Anafi is the same.