Flying near magnetic mountains

ZAxis

Member
We have an upcoming shoot flying over mountains that are well known to badly affect compasses. Has anyone experience with flying in these type of locations?
Should we avoid, take care or ignore the effect?

andy
 


It would be good to know which of the FC functions rely most heavily on the digital compass versus the GPS positioning.
1) IOC Course lock must use the digital compass exclusively.
2) IOC Home lock I would assume requires both GPS and digital compass.
3) POI ????
4) RTH ???
 

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
It would be good to know which of the FC functions rely most heavily on the digital compass versus the GPS positioning.
1) IOC Course lock must use the digital compass exclusively.
2) IOC Home lock I would assume requires both GPS and digital compass.
3) POI ????
4) RTH ???

Yep they all will rely on accurate compass data.. I am sure Lec will be OK as he only flies Atti or manual don't he!
 

ZAxis

Member
Yep they all will rely on accurate compass data.. I am sure Lec will be OK as he only flies Atti or manual don't he!

My quandary is a mismatch between magnetic and GPS true north and whether it will confuse the FC. I'm not sure a compass calibration dance will hold true once you are away from takeoff position and flying over the anomaly, even if its only a few hundred metres away. As far as I can discern the declination also changes so what effect that has I've no idea.
Flying in Atti must use magnetic bearings so we'll still have to watch out in that mode. GPS I'd assume uses GPS bearings in preference to magnetic but who knows what happens to radio waves!

There must be other mountains,etc that distort the Earth's magnetic field dotted around the world, can anyone give any more advice?


PS, Dave..
57.236706,-6.144848, A2
 

gtranquilla

RadioActive
If I understand the FC correctly, FC Attitude mode utilizes only the FC IMU sensors and barometer and ignores the digital compass and GPS signals.
IMU sensors are: 3 magnetometers, 3 accelerometers and 3 gyros.........
magnetic anomalies from mountains will have very small affect on the magnetometers that are required to help establish MR orientation relative to the earth's horizon.
And minor magnetic disturbances have no adverse affect on radio signals.

VE6GLT
 

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
My quandary is a mismatch between magnetic and GPS true north and whether it will confuse the FC. I'm not sure a compass calibration dance will hold true once you are away from takeoff position and flying over the anomaly, even if its only a few hundred metres away. As far as I can discern the declination also changes so what effect that has I've no idea.
Flying in Atti must use magnetic bearings so we'll still have to watch out in that mode. GPS I'd assume uses GPS bearings in preference to magnetic but who knows what happens to radio waves!

There must be other mountains,etc that distort the Earth's magnetic field dotted around the world, can anyone give any more advice?


PS, Dave..
57.236706,-6.144848, A2
HEHEHEHEHEH!

Been there done it! Flew all ove the gaff in April, no mither with Naza and WKM.. now the A2 may be a totally different case.

We even flew across the Atlantic! all round the Old Man Of Stor, Kilt Rock and every lighthouse we could find, never had an issue till we tried to fly off a bridge which was mainly metal. Simple solution, Paul held it above his head and we took off from a hand launch with the BOT.

I should post some pics, I sit here chuckling at what AMAZING stuff we got, especially the van chase footage, virtually right though your shoot area! We even had tea on the Hebridean Princess and filmed her cruising out of The Kile of Lochalsh.

Don't worry about it, it will be fine with a Naza or WKM ;-)

Dave
 
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ZAxis

Member
Well, the job's done and dusted. Lec has some truly spectacular footage but we'll have to wait for the video release date before any can be posted.
He did have a couple of compass lockouts due to nearby magnet rocks that prevented motor start up. Moving a few feet away cleared the problem in both cases. So there are some problems flying in areas like this but pretty minor.

andy
 


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