Is it possible to switch to Atti mode manually? If so, how to do it?

I dont believe there is a way to switch to atti mode unless you were to cover the gps module on the spark itself with foil or something.  

You can't switch to ATTI Mode manually for Spark and Mavic Pro. It only switches according to the environment. If you're in an environment without GPS signal, then it will switch to ATTI Mode automatically.

Not possible, if it's something you want to learn there are many $50 drones on the market to practice with and great fun in the process.

Thanks guys for the info.

I just ordered one of these right away to practice atti mode




https://www.banggood.com/D1-Drone-Mini-Headless-Mode-2-4G-4CH-6Axis-RC-Quadcopter-RTF-p-986728.html

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-28 05:41
You can't switch to ATTI Mode manually for Spark and Mavic Pro. It only switches according to the environment. If you're in an environment without GPS signal, then it will switch to ATTI Mode automatically.

Thor,

Why is it when GPS/compass is lost, it goes to atti, and not self-level? This would mean it drifts with wind, but wont fly away...

OneMatt Posted at 2017-7-28 07:29
Thor,

Why is it when GPS/compass is lost, it goes to atti, and not self-level? This would mean it drifts with wind, but wont fly away...

Gps is what holds your position, if you lose it your AC will drift on the wind, it will maintain height by use of barometer Atti mode will be initiated and pilot will have full control.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-7-28 07:36
Gps is what holds your position, if you lose it your AC will drift on the wind, it will maintain height by use of barometer Atti mode will be initiated and pilot will have full control.

That doesn't answer my question at all.

Atti mode holds an attitude (hence the name). So, if the aircraft is banked (like it is when moving forward), it will hold that bank until the user input changes that attitude. If this happens and the RC/App/Gesture disconnects, you get a fly away.

If it failed to a level position, then it would basically hover in place if there was no wind. Yes, wind would cause drift, but I'm willing to bet most people don't fly in strong winds, so the motion would be safer than an accelerating drone.

I should add, $10 micro drones self level just fine. I don't see any reason a $500 Spark can't do this.

OneMatt Posted at 2017-7-28 10:47
I should add, $10 micro drones self level just fine. I don't see any reason a $500 Spark can't do this.

Those small drones are usually equipped with an IMU

OneMatt Posted at 2017-7-28 10:46
That doesn't answer my question at all.

Atti mode holds an attitude (hence the name). So, if the aircraft is banked (like it is when moving forward), it will hold that bank until the user input changes that attitude. If this happens and the RC/App/Gesture disconnects, you get a fly away.

If the aircraft banks and the user lets go of control it is Imu that levels out you AC not attitude mode like you think, your aircraft attitude is still controlled by IMU and cpu , even if you go out on a windless day and your AC is hovering without gps using only barometer for height, mere propulsion from propellers will cause AC to drift in one direction or another.
If you let all controls go AC will stay at same altitude it will be level but it will have nothing to lock on to stop it from moving on its own propulsion
In the context of a Spark it means only the Attitude or the quad's level (as in upright) and altitude are maintained. This differs from the GPS Mode where the X-Y position is also maintained.

OneMatt Posted at 2017-7-28 07:29
Thor,

Why is it when GPS/compass is lost, it goes to atti, and not self-level? This would mean it drifts with wind, but wont fly away...

You can't lose compass you can have a bad compass , a lot of times bad compass can have a very negative influence on gps causing it to shut down and AC goes into Atti mode.

You clearly don't understand what I'm saying.

OneMatt Posted at 2017-7-28 11:50
You clearly don't understand what I'm saying.

Maybe not but I don't see anyone else jumping in , so maybe all of us are out of tune.

Your initial question was why when you lose gps/ compass AC doesn't go into level mode , 2 things you can't lose compass period, and there is no level mode, if you let go of sticks your aircraft will be level, if you have bad compass the bad compass heading will take over and this is what results in fly away.

OneMatt Posted at 2017-7-28 07:29
Thor,

Why is it when GPS/compass is lost, it goes to atti, and not self-level? This would mean it drifts with wind, but wont fly away...

ATTI mode means GPS is not used for positioning and the aircraft can only maintain altitude using the barometer. If the GPS does not work and compass is massive, the drone can not recognize the direction, if the drone is entered in ATTI mode passively, you can still use the RC to control the drone. But if the drone loses GPS signal and compass error during the failsafe RTH, the drone will flyaway coz it does not own a direction to go and you can not control it.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-7-30 18:46
ATTI mode means GPS is not used for positioning and the aircraft can only maintain altitude using the barometer. If the GPS does not work and compass is massive, the drone can not recognize the direction, if the drone is entered in ATTI mode passively, you can still use the RC to control the drone. But if the drone loses GPS signal and compass error during the failsafe RTH, the drone will flyaway coz it does not own a direction to go and you can not control it.

So, why doesn't it ignore the compass, and just choose to hover level, ignoring the bad compass signal? We know that the system can detect compass errors, and you should also know from the IMU and its gyros what the acceleration is like on all other axis. Why not program to ignore the erroneous  compass signal, and just look at the IMU and hover at level?

For example, every drone I have built, from KK board, to APM, to NAZE32, all have the ability to level out. The KK board doesn't have a compass, just 3 basic gyros (before integrated 6 axis units!), before DJI even existed. So, if those can lose compass heading/have NO compass heading, yet still hover FLAT, why can't whatever DJI has programmed?
Also, on those boards, they can reference the data from the IMU/Gyros and know if they have started to yaw even without compass input.

I would much prefer to have my drone hover flat, knowing it is above a safe area, than to have it fly away an unknown distance into an unknown danger (ie: flies a kilometer away into a crowd). I'm plenty skilled enough to fly a craft to safety that doesn't have a good compass heading at all. And, from what I can read on this forum, compass errors seem to predict a good portion of the issues.

fansfa9c1c91 Posted at 2017-7-28 07:11
Thanks guys for the info.

I just ordered one of these right away to practice atti mode

I have not had much success with these.  They are kind of fragile.  You want to use it to get good, but in the process of practicing with this (which will include harsh landings and crashes) I've lost motors (not blades).  I prefer this:  https://www.amazon.com/Quadcopte ... ywords=nano+qx+rtf.  It's more robust (can take a beating and keeps on flying).

problem with automatic switching only is its sudden, sometimes even if there is GPS lock of 5+ gps, Atti mode kicks in suddenly and to anyone not paying utmost attention they will plow there quadcopter into something.  i know i missed the prompt a few times and only requires its Atti mode from from the behavior change, secondly from the yellow banner i looked up at to see why.

would be nice if we could switch Spark and Mavic manually to Atti mode, and VPS mode without resorting to flashing mods because DJi just doesn't want to flip a bit from 0 to 1 or from false to true in the option list..  it already exists.   spark has, multi-mode (menu driven selection of modes like atti, p-gps, vps), terrain follow, smart return home, narrow and wide sensing, trace, orbit over point, waypoints, follow remote (unbounded), sport plus (45MPH!), and many more things..including some camera options.   these features just have been set to disable by Dji.   they all do work fairly well when enabled with mods, not likely they have poor performance with these mods.      

ball is in your court DJi, the spark is capable of running all of these things safely, not like the spark is incapable, they basically installed everything and flipped switch to off..

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-8-1 11:14
problem with automatic switching only is its sudden, sometimes even if there is GPS lock of 5+ gps, Atti mode kicks in suddenly and to anyone not paying utmost attention they will plow there quadcopter into something.  i know i missed the prompt a few times and only requires its Atti mode from from the behavior change, secondly from the yellow banner i looked up at to see why.

would be nice if we could switch Spark and Mavic manually to Atti mode, and VPS mode without resorting to flashing mods because DJi just doesn't want to flip a bit from 0 to 1 or from false to true in the option list..  it already exists.   spark has, multi-mode (menu driven selection of modes like atti, p-gps, vps), terrain follow, smart return home, narrow and wide sensing, trace, orbit over point, waypoints, follow remote (unbounded), sport plus (45MPH!), and many more things..including some camera options.   these features just have been set to disable by Dji.   they all do work fairly well when enabled with mods, not likely they have poor performance with these mods.      

What are all these modes you speak of, and how do I get them?

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-8-1 11:14
problem with automatic switching only is its sudden, sometimes even if there is GPS lock of 5+ gps, Atti mode kicks in suddenly and to anyone not paying utmost attention they will plow there quadcopter into something.  i know i missed the prompt a few times and only requires its Atti mode from from the behavior change, secondly from the yellow banner i looked up at to see why.

would be nice if we could switch Spark and Mavic manually to Atti mode, and VPS mode without resorting to flashing mods because DJi just doesn't want to flip a bit from 0 to 1 or from false to true in the option list..  it already exists.   spark has, multi-mode (menu driven selection of modes like atti, p-gps, vps), terrain follow, smart return home, narrow and wide sensing, trace, orbit over point, waypoints, follow remote (unbounded), sport plus (45MPH!), and many more things..including some camera options.   these features just have been set to disable by Dji.   they all do work fairly well when enabled with mods, not likely they have poor performance with these mods.      

I think before adding anything else we need to get what we have working properly.

One thing you will have to realise is those who purchased Mavic P4Pro inspire paid a heck of a lot more for their drones, I don't think they would be very happy to know that they paid way over the odds for features you can get on a spark. It's one of the problems I see around here, it seems the grass is always greener on the other side, but we shouldn't pay to go into somebody else garden.

Ohhh, yeah, not going to do that. The very first thing he shows, Orbit, isn't working right.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-1 12:28
I think before adding anything else we need to get what we have working properly.

One thing you will have to realise is those who purchased Mavic P4Pro inspire paid a heck of a lot more for their drones, I don't think they would be very happy to know that they paid way over the odds for features you can get on a spark. It's one of the problems I see around here, it seems the grass is always greener on the other side, but we shouldn't pay to go into somebody else garden.

check the video i posted of the spark mods that some guy is demoing.  

and it doesn't eat into the features of the Phantom 4 or Mavic..  as i see it the only thing that may cannibalize either is sport plus mode....  otherwise the spark isn't going to dethrone those...the mavic and the spark have better cameras and sensors and can see things further and sense things better.. the spark however, is prove n that it is very very capable of all of this stuff

OneMatt Posted at 2017-8-1 12:34
Ohhh, yeah, not going to do that. The very first thing he shows, Orbit, isn't working right.

he didn't even run it, he just showing its available, it is buggy because it needs tweaking, similar to terrain follow, it needs tweaking, but all options are there.  

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-1 12:28
I think before adding anything else we need to get what we have working properly.

One thing you will have to realise is those who purchased Mavic P4Pro inspire paid a heck of a lot more for their drones, I don't think they would be very happy to know that they paid way over the odds for features you can get on a spark. It's one of the problems I see around here, it seems the grass is always greener on the other side, but we shouldn't pay to go into somebody else garden.

I like that quote!

And true it is stepping on more expensive territory, though I think that P4Pro people paid that for the fancy pro camera, and Mavic people paid for 4k and stability in a portable package. Not sure any pro users would he fooled by the sensor in the Spark.

But I agree: lets fix what we have first. We bought it for the current feature set, I dont think it is too much to ask to make that work.

OneMatt Posted at 2017-8-1 12:41
I like that quote!

And true it is stepping on more expensive territory, though I think that P4Pro people paid that for the fancy pro camera, and Mavic people paid for 4k and stability in a portable package. Not sure any pro users would he fooled by the sensor in the Spark.

they do need to fix it, but dji hasn't even admitted to an issue, so what are the chances?

if they wanted to they could fix it and flip a toggle to enable for certain features at the same time.. none of these features demoed in that video were added to the firmware, just toggled on..  

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-8-1 12:42
they do need to fix it, but dji hasn't even admitted to an issue, so what are the chances?

if they wanted to they could fix it and flip a toggle to enable for certain features at the same time.. none of these features demoed in that video were added to the firmware, just toggled on..

Well you would think Mavic would need a fix for this, I don't see it coming to spark first.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-1 15:11
Well you would think Mavic would need a fix for this, I don't see it coming to spark first.

given the mavic pro and the spark run very very similar firmwares... and i recently did some digging and its app level restrictions with how it identifies the aircraft.

with a modded DJI Go 4 application you can manually select a lot and changed a lot.. on both spark and mavic including atti, opti (or VPS), p-gps.   as well you can manually change up and downlink channels (for the spark with OTG, cannot apparently without OTG, so that's a thing already) and the video link speed (helps pick if you want quality or range).  and again, app isn't really changing much, just changing toggles behind the scenes and fixing the broken identifiers that hold the spark and mavic back artificially...

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-8-1 15:22
given the mavic pro and the spark run very very similar firmwares... and i recently did some digging and its app level restrictions with how it identifies the aircraft.

with a modded DJI Go 4 application you can manually select a lot and changed a lot.. on both spark and mavic including atti, opti (or VPS), p-gps.   as well you can manually change up and downlink channels (for the spark with OTG, cannot apparently without OTG, so that's a thing already) and the video link speed (helps pick if you want quality or range).  and again, app isn't really changing much, just changing toggles behind the scenes and fixing the broken identifiers that hold the spark and mavic back artificially...

I haven't seen any mod that will add Atti manually to either spark or Mavic, most of the mods I've seen make sport go faster, so running the risk of power and battery failure also they void warranty care refresh and the ones I've seen with added extras from Mavic don't work well, so it's simple for me there's enough stuff on spark to try get right first, if someone wants to mod there Spark then go ahead it's a free world.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-8-1 15:43
I haven't seen any mod that will add Atti manually to either spark or Mavic, most of the mods I've seen make sport go faster, so running the risk of power and battery failure also they void warranty care refresh and the ones I've seen with added extras from Mavic don't work well, so it's simple for me there's enough stuff on spark to try get right first, if someone wants to mod there Spark then go ahead it's a free world.

i PMed u a link to someone demoing a handful of mods that dont just go faster.  

and my personal property insurance on the drone covers everything, total loss and destruction, flyaway, even theft and i dont really need much proof, they just cut me a check...

ImHereToCrash Posted at 2017-8-1 15:54
i PMed u a link to someone demoing a handful of mods that dont just go faster.  

and my personal property insurance on the drone covers everything, total loss and destruction, flyaway, even theft and i dont really need much proof, they just cut me a check...

That link didn't work. Well you do the mod and let us know how it works.

OneMatt Posted at 2017-8-1 11:04
So, why doesn't it ignore the compass, and just choose to hover level, ignoring the bad compass signal? We know that the system can detect compass errors, and you should also know from the IMU and its gyros what the acceleration is like on all other axis. Why not program to ignore the erroneous  compass signal, and just look at the IMU and hover at level?

For example, every drone I have built, from KK board, to APM, to NAZE32, all have the ability to level out. The KK board doesn't have a compass, just 3 basic gyros (before integrated 6 axis units!), before DJI even existed. So, if those can lose compass heading/have NO compass heading, yet still hover FLAT, why can't whatever DJI has programmed?

i agree, if the spark has a known bad compass issue it should pick up this fault and instead of flying away and the end user losing their money it should just hover in the spot, but there should also be a fail safe built in that would force instructions from the RC to the AC allowing a pilot to bring his drone back. for the drone to just take off on it own course is just not acceptable. Dji should do an update that fixes these compass crashes and not just let people lose their drone(money) with fly aways.

Two suggestions .
1 when in atti , massive amounts of self levelling occur. If you want to know how much try an rc helicopter to see. It does hover level, but if it doesn't then the IMU probably needs calibrating.
2  Spark does not know if it has a "bad compass.".
All it knows is the compass heading does no longer agree with what the gyros have registered.

Bright Spark Posted at 2017-12-12 11:23
Two suggestions .
1 when in atti , massive amounts of self levelling occur. If you want to know how much try an rc helicopter to see. It does hover level, but if it doesn't then the IMU probably needs calibrating.
2  Spark does not know if it has a "bad compass.".

It literally says "compass error" on the screen. It knows it has a bad compass reading.