Spark flyaways - some thoughts
1157 10 2017-8-3
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Spookymike
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Germany
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I´ve seen some reports and Youtube Videos like many of you i think, which say that the Spark sometimes get some sort of flyaway.
Mainly when a disconnect to the remote/phone happens, where the drone should come back to the homepoint.
Normaly after takeoff a message appears "Homepoint has been updated..."
I experienced lately that there was no such message after takeoff. Could it be that spark has the last known takeoff point internally
saved, and when the new homepoint got not updated at the actual flight, it just thinks in case of a "Failsafe" it want´s to reach this
old Homepoint?
And this appears to be known as the bad "Flyaway"?

2017-8-3
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Thor1
Second Officer
Flight distance : 196837 ft
Canada
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this was a theory someone suggested on another thread and they have never came to a conclusion but it is definitely possible. at the same time while the drone is in RTH mode you are still supposed to be able to control it or cancel RTH so maybe its a combination of what you suggested and an RC link failure?
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Monochrome
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Flight distance : 12710 ft
Poland
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Usually it is beacuse of compass error. Spark know where the home point is but because of that error don't know in which direction or rather it thinks that it is in different direction.
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Adriano Araujo
Second Officer
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Brazil
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Don´t understand why a compass problem would interfere in the navigational system.

It is very simple to get direction (north, south, etc.) from GPS alone (as long as you are in movement) – Two point calculations. There is a lot of smartphones with no compass that do that.

It is VERY simple to find homepoint without compass.
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Monochrome
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Adriano Araujo Posted at 2017-8-3 07:46
Don´t understand why a compass problem would interfere in the navigational system.

It is very simple to get direction (north, south, etc.) from GPS alone (as long as you are in movement) – Two point calculations. There is a lot of smartphones with no compass that do that.

Every modern smartphone have compass/gyro. Mine if not calibrated think very often that i'm heading in different direction. The same can happen to Spark. No device that relly on gps only when it comes to real time orientation. Especially not when it moves fast. Calculation based solely on GPS is just to slow and not precise enough. I'm not the expert byt that's just my 2c.
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Resqman911
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United States
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If you take off without the app showing ( and telling ) you that the home point has been updated, and you dont check it on the map ( which it also tells you ) then you are rolling the dice. There are reasons why you may not be getting this message, my guess is you are turning the spark on and flying before it has aquired the proper number of satelites to set your home point.

My advice top you would be not to fly your spark until you figure out why your homepoint is not being set.
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hallmark007
Captain
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Ireland
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If homepoint is not recorded land and start again, you should always make sure your homepoint is recorded..(HOMEPOINT RECORDED PLEASE CHECK IT ON THE MAP) so first check your map , I haven't seen any proof that aircraft disconnected and just flew away, I have had AC disconnected and my spark just RTH .
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hallmark007
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Adriano Araujo Posted at 2017-8-3 07:46
Don´t understand why a compass problem would interfere in the navigational system.

It is very simple to get direction (north, south, etc.) from GPS alone (as long as you are in movement) – Two point calculations. There is a lot of smartphones with no compass that do that.

Why would a compass error disable GPS?
Orientation (compass data) and position (GPS data) are different but related.
When the Spark is moving and getting position information from the GPS that tells the Spark that it is travelling in a different direction from what it's getting from compass data, The Sparks programming can't work with the data conflict.
The solution is to drop data from one source and since the Spark can't fly without a compass but can without GPS, it's the GPS data that gets dropped.
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STech - Hathder
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Flight distance : 459094 ft
Brazil
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Remember, if you use wifi (phone) to controll spark, theres no map on screen! Theres no way to check drone direction before flight ( only map position on lost my drone function).
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hallmark007
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STech - Hathder Posted at 2017-8-3 09:46
Remember, if you use wifi (phone) to controll spark, theres no map on screen! Theres no way to check drone direction before flight ( only map position on lost my drone function).

If you use phone you are within 80 metres, you should know direction and should be easily able to fly your AC to safe place.
If you are flying behind trees buildings then you have a problem, but I consider this user fault.
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STech - Hathder
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hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-3 09:48
If you use phone you are within 80 metres, you should know direction and should be easily able to fly your AC to safe place.
If you are flying behind trees buildings then you have a problem, but I consider this user fault.

If you use Phone WIFI to control Sparkl and are flying at 80m distance, every problem you have and spark start to flyaway, YOU LOSE CONNECTION. Spark direct wifi phone connection starts to warning low signal at about 10m distance and eventually loses signal, its "normal".

Other problem.. wifi phone controlled spark doesnt have SPORT mode, so its limited do 10km-h speed, if atti mode doesnt change that, every 10KM-H WIND will blow spark away, even if the pilot pulls full throttle in wind direction (if return means go in wind direction).
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