Forgive me if this question has been raised before, I couldn't find the answer to the question I have as of yet...
Suppose there is a steady wind speed of 10mph blowing West to East.  If I program a waypoint mission to fly 100 yards West to East (with the wind) then East to West 100 yards (against the wind), then if I fly that mission with a preset 'constant' speed, why doesn't Mavic compensate for the wind?  It seems to always go faster in the direction that the wind is blowing.

With all of the tech in the Mavic, allowing it to essentially 'hover' in mid-air, even in high winds... why can't it compensate during flight to keep a more precise speed?  Anybody else wonder this?

For this we would need to know if Mavic is set to GROUND-speed or AIR-speed. If it is set to Ground-speed it should compensate wind-speed within 30km/h-range (max. fwd speed/normal mode/Obstacle av.ON: ~ 30km/h = MP with set-speed of 20km/h can compensate head-winds of 10km/h. If head-wind is 20 km/h MP ground-speed is reduced to 10km/h. Mind: wind speeds increase in height. So 10km/h wind-speed on ground increase to 20 km/h in 30m height.

The drone does what you tell it to and when you aren't giving a command it hovers mid-air, if you give it a command, such as forward, it goes forward, relative to the drones camera, in order to go forward at a certain speed, it doesn't take wind in effect, it drops the front motors speed to tilt the drone forward depending on how much input you put on the stick, directing its lift back, so, well, it goes forward. If you want to go 20 mph and fighting the wind just set the speed to 25 so you compensate for it

It is similar to RTH the AC won't compensate for wind so you better have enough battery. It is a $1000 AC and not $10,000+ AC.

dronist Posted at 2017-7-23 09:19
It is similar to RTH the AC won't compensate for wind so you better have enough battery. It is a $1000 AC and not $10,000+ AC.

This makes the most sense.  It IS possible, just not worth the R&D effort for this class of drone.

Tombolian Posted at 2017-7-23 13:05
This makes the most sense.  It IS possible, just not worth the R&D effort for this class of drone.

Indeed... Sometimes the simplest excuse is the MONEY excuse. lol

One of the first things you do in flight training is learn that ALL AIRCRAFT fly within their environment.  It is an aircraft.  It flies in air, not on the ground.  If the air if moving, the aircraft still flies the same speed.  Speed of an aircraft is referenced to the air it is in, not the ground it is traveling over.  Same goes for full sized aircraft.  If you fly 100mph downwind in an aircraft, the ground speed is faster than when you fly the opposite direction in the same wind.  No magic involved.

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2017-7-23 21:20
One of the first things you do in flight training is learn that ALL AIRCRAFT fly within their environment.  It is an aircraft.  It flies in air, not on the ground.  If the air if moving, the aircraft still flies the same speed.  Speed of an aircraft is referenced to the air it is in, not the ground it is traveling over.  Same goes for full sized aircraft.  If you fly 100mph downwind in an aircraft, the ground speed is faster than when you fly the opposite direction in the same wind.  No magic involved.

Got it, so if the wind is traveling 40 mph, and the aircraft is hovering in it, it's really going 40mph. ;-). (Sorry, haven't taken flight training yet)