curious - how does the DJI mavic mini do 'indoor' flight?

I've had other drones (different companies) - and essentially if you fly it indoors - you are flying in 'atti' mode. (No visual positioning system/etc).


However - when flying the DJI mavic mini indoors - it seemed to 'lose' control. (I.e., I let go of the throttle, but it just kept flying straight into a wall. When I tried reversing direction, it continued to go into a wall).

There were metal pipes/concrete above (like a small warehouse) - and there were 'dark' patches on the ground. So while I do realize it might switch to 'atti' mode (i.e., if it couldn't use the visual positioning system on the ground to stablize itself) - I wasn't expecting it to apparently 'ignore' the controls.

Is there a reason for that?

PPS - as an aside - I have had it fly successfully (hover) in a 'fairly' well lit indoor setting at about 5ft off the ground. But - wondering - if I take it elsewhere indoors (i.e., say flying 20ft in the air, or say in an open market with lots of 'noise' (different colors/etc)) - will there potentially be issues? I.e., - does this drone 'solely' rely on the VPS - and if it 'loses' it - automatically loses control as well?

Thanks.

Exactly same happened to me , thankfully  no damage. I was about 6ft away from the drone at it got completely crazy and hit the wall.Had the Spark before, and it never happened. (Same area)

I just flew mine for the first time, in my living room, that is carpeted with no problem. I sat it on a book to take off because the carpet would touch the camera and I would get a jam message. Very easy to return to the launch point and land. My guess is flying it over cement there is no detail on the floor, which is your problem?

Hello and good day. I am sorry for the trouble this has caused and thank you for reaching out. The DJI Mavic Mini has a height limitation of when flying indoors. When the said drone's GPS is weak, the safety feature of the DJI Mavic Mini will trigger and limits the height to 5 meters for safety purposes. In addition interference from other sources might have triggered the drone to move uncontrollably.  In addition, the Vision System of the DJI Mavic Mini allows the aircraft to hover at low altitudes ( 0.5 to 10 m ), but the ground must have distinct textures, and there needs to be sufficient lighting. Thank you.

check the light, if the light is weak then the drone is afraid of dark and becomes crazy, it has camera downward and needs light

No matter where you fly set up and environment are key, indoor flying using vps sensors should not be a problem unless you are flying in a low light situation or the floor below is dark has no texture and is badly lit, if any of these is the case your craft will go to atti mode and you will have great difficulty controlling it.

Planning and knowing for pitfalls are key to flying both indoors and outdoors.

Your craft has 3 flying modes GPS, OPTI, ATTI. If GPS is not available your craft will go to next available mode OPTI if OPTI is not available then ATTI.

If you are flying in GPS mode and you get compass error because of magnetic interference your craft will go straight to ATTI mode.

If your flying indoors in opti or atti mode your craft is limited to 16ft altitude.

WooZie Posted at 12-1 10:38
check the light, if the light is weak then the drone is afraid of dark and becomes crazy, it has camera downward and needs light

That was probably my problem.

So question - I never got a magnetic interference issue - AND - the drone just kept flying straight (didn't even stop - which it should at least partially do in atti mode). Any idea why? Thanks!

djiguy001 Posted at 12-1 14:04
So question - I never got a magnetic interference issue - AND - the drone just kept flying straight (didn't even stop - which it should at least partially do in atti mode). Any idea why? Thanks!

That’s not correct in fact in atti mode craft will continue to move on its own propulsion unless you try stopping it or it crashes .

djiguy001 Posted at 12-1 14:04
So question - I never got a magnetic interference issue - AND - the drone just kept flying straight (didn't even stop - which it should at least partially do in atti mode). Any idea why? Thanks!

Simple lingo...

Reason is, drone is no longer flying by positioning based on GPS information coupled to its internal computer system to provide angle of tilt and direction of tilt to fly on behalf of pilot.  Drone in ATTI mode does not know where its at, and does not care.  Drone is relying on Pilot to command drone to provide amount of thrust (angle of tilt) and in what direction (tilted direction) to move drone.

In ATTI mode, Drone will continue in direction it was going when Joysticks are released, kind of coasting along.  As such, you would need to use Joysticks to command drone to tilt in opposite direction and roughly same angle to slow drone down.  And be prepared to level drone out as drone is nearly stopped.  Wind becomes a real issue in ATTI mode, because drone will no longer attempt to hold its position it was last commaned too.

HedgeTrimmer Posted at 12-1 14:29
Simple lingo...

Reason is, drone is no longer flying by positioning based on GPS information coupled to its internal computer system to provide angle of tilt and direction of tilt to fly on behalf of pilot.  Drone in ATTI mode does not know where its at, and does not care.  Drone is relying on Pilot to command drone to provide amount of thrust (angle of tilt) and in what direction (tilted direction) to move drone.

All good points... however...

When it lost control - and I applied thrust in the opposite direction - it was just totally unresponsive. It did not go in the opposite direction, it just totally ignored any joystick commands then hit the wall. Fortunately wasn't going that fast, so it just kind of did a fast 'tap' against it (with the props on - incindentally broke a small part of the props so just crazy glued those back together) - but it just totally ignored any joystick commands...

Any ideas why? (I've flown in atti mode before so know how that works). Thanks!

djiguy001 Posted at 12-1 16:29
All good points... however...

When it lost control - and I applied thrust in the opposite direction - it was just totally unresponsive. It did not go in the opposite direction, it just totally ignored any joystick commands then hit the wall. Fortunately wasn't going that fast, so it just kind of did a fast 'tap' against it (with the props on - incindentally broke a small part of the props so just crazy glued those back together) - but it just totally ignored any joystick commands...

SWAG...
At moment, what comes to mind is WiFi connection (transmission / reception) experienced interference.
Resulting loss communication, and inability to control drone.

I have a DJI Mavic Mini on order, so no experience yet wit that drone. But I have successfully flown my Mavic Air indoors on two previous occasions. my experiences have been good but I do take some precautions, including havin bright lighting in any room I might conceivably enter, turning off wi-fi on my phone / controller display., etc. if you really wanna get paranoid, disconnect power to your main house wi-fi router as well!

djiguy001 Posted at 12-1 16:29
All good points... however...

When it lost control - and I applied thrust in the opposite direction - it was just totally unresponsive. It did not go in the opposite direction, it just totally ignored any joystick commands then hit the wall. Fortunately wasn't going that fast, so it just kind of did a fast 'tap' against it (with the props on - incindentally broke a small part of the props so just crazy glued those back together) - but it just totally ignored any joystick commands...

You would have to upload your flight log and we can see the extent of actions with controller sticks, in atti mode you need to be almost 100% on sticks to get reaction.

If you lost signal (WiFi) with mini it would have landed if you hit Rth it would have landed, this is now a new feature of mini, but I’m not certain it would immediately stop so may still have continued into the wall
If you lose transmission you still have full control of RC .

The log would help a lot .

Needs good lighting!

This guy figured out how the fly effectively indoors at any height. There are some negatives (like drone drifting after you get off stick) but if you are having issues with vision positioning indoors this might help you. Always use prop guards indoors.