I'm starting to get into the habbit of calibrating both IMU and compass before each flight, but is it really necessary to calibrate the IMU before every flight?
Should we just be checking the IMU figures and only calibrate if they are off, or should we really calibrate the IMU before each flight?

Interestead to hear your thoughts.

Hi Plus,

I am looking for advice on this as well.

I do not rely on the numbers in that app.  Especially magnetometer related stuff.  I calibrate often and I am getting used to how it should behave.  I personally think that issues with performance appear gradually rather than suddenly.  At least that is my experience with the Inspire. That implies that people who are used to flying the Inspire could sense this before it became an issue.  I guess it also implies that people who are not used to flying it should err on the side of caution.

In machines that I know of, the 'calibration' affects changes in the relationship between the IMU positioning instruments and the main brain by smoothing errors in that relationship. The constant degradation of the interface is variable.  I guess Inspire runs IMU/flight controller/ESCs.  I'd expect they are working to improve the ability of the IMU to hold its accuracy as long as possible.  But any decline in self-awareness is something inherent to IMU based systems.  As far as the specifics of the Inspire I will leave that to some who knows better.  I don't know what DJI's official recommendation is but I'd assume their engineers are working on both the software and a recommendation.

Dan

I do every flight but would like a  quick IMU calibration like the phantom has.

I believe the inspire only has advanced calibration which takes about 5 mins. I just check the numbers but try to do a calibration when I arrive home after flying, there's usually enough juice left in the battery to do this. The most important thing is to only calibrate on a level surface, and those are a bit hard to find outside.

xzces Posted at 2015-2-4 07:31
I believe the inspire only has advanced calibration which takes about 5 mins. I just check the numbe ...

You should calibrate before a flight not after.

I use a portable table with individually adjustable legs, use the iPhone's spirit level app (within the compass) to make sure it's absolutely level in all directions, run IMU calibration, do a compass calibration, set it back on the table and take off from that. This way I can be sure no crap gets in the motors on take off. Also helps with the transform out of and into travel mode. Handy to have a platform to work on when the ground is wet or mucky. Bit annoying as it's another thing to carry but worth it