Good day (o;

Just received this week my Mavic Mini and I am very happy how well it performs....especially for me as a total beginner (o;

As I intend to use the Mavic Mini mostly indoor I tried some shots this week and discovered that it constantly moves sideways when it isn't engaged in any direction...

In one youtube video a guy used the Mavic Mini for indoor shots as well but covered the bottom sensors, but didn't explain why it was neccessary...


So does covering the bottom sensors help in regards of stability when the drone is standing still?
Or is it just that you can fly lower over obstacles?


thanks in advance
richard

I suggest you read through the manual and you'll find a lot of good info regarding your questions from page 15. Note that when flying indoors GPS is very weak so the drone will use the downward vision sensors to attempt to stabilise the hover. In the event of both VPS and GPS is not enabled the drone will enter attitude mode and that is what is causing the drift. I advise you get plenty of flying experience outdoors before flying indoors and use prop guards indoors too.

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... _Manual_v1.0_EN.pdf

I will echo what A J said about getting flying experience where there is space BEFORE you attempt to fly indoors.  I recently did my first two indoor flights.  The first was at work in an open area of about 20 x 40 feet - that was easy.  The second was in my house where some places were pretty narrow (hallways, doorways).  I observed the same issue with the Mini not holding a steady position in hover very well.  When I looked at the DAT file later, I had a decent (not great) GPS lock towards the front of my house (the end of the flight), but the first part was not enough satellites to get any position lock at all.  The first part was also where most of the tight spaces were.  I can tell you that it was a bit un-nerving having the Mini flying within a few inches of a wall or doorway.  Let's just say that watching the Mini had my undivided attention!
I will point out that although I have had my Mini for only about 3 1/2 months, I have flown outside in close proximity to objects quite a few times.  But there was always an easy escape route, and I was very much aware of what was going on.  In fact I had to cut short a photo flight looking at some details of a radio tower because the wind started gusting, and I did not like being 2 feet from the tower in gusting winds.

Well I flew the Mini now for few times this week...and will do some more flights this weekend....well just received it this Tuesday (o;
I also got the prop guards and never flew without it so far....

And the bottom IR sensors and camera use are clear to me...

But still don't know why someone would cover the IR sensors explicitly in this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_7dxGpwjbs

From the description: "In order to fly these shots, we applied dark tape to the underside IR sensors, this is to prevent the drone from detecting the floor. We DO NOT recommend attempting this yourself unless you are a competent drone operator."


Others than that...I was extremely surprised how well it performed on my 2nd flight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPtcCG5Oqgg


Just received additional battery packs for longer flight self trainings this weekend ;-)



Definitively will be going for a bigger DJI model next year once those new EU regulations are in place and confusions about it are gone (o;

But still don't know why someone would cover the IR sensors explicitly in this video:


From the description: "In order to fly these shots, we applied dark tape to the underside IR sensors, this is to prevent the drone from detecting the floor. We DO NOT recommend attempting this yourself unless you are a competent drone operator."

For some of the shots, he was just a few inches above objects.  With the optical sensors operational, the drone would have climbed to avoid the object.  That would be a major problem flying between shelves!

What I thought...thanks for clarification :-)

As mentioned above, always good to have prop guards installed while flying indoors. If your drone is constantly moving sideways, you could try doing an IMU calibration on a perfectly level surface and also making sure you have good lighting if possible.

Good morning

Good idea with calibration....it asked me only once for the compass so far...


BTW: What exactly defines the start height of the Mavic Mini with the 1.2 meters? Is the IR sensormeasuring the distance or the acceleration sensor?

Wondering if for a certain circumstance I have to cover the IR sensor and press start. Not that it goes up the roof (o;

I think the start height is measured by a barometer inside the drone. If you do a compass calibration, make sure you do it outdoors away from magnetic interference, power lines, steel structures....

The instability your experiencing indoors is that the AC gps cannot get a strong enough signal.
In this situation the Vision Positioning system (VPS) will kick in to keep the AC in a stable hover, for it to work it's needs to be able to see the ground.
If you cover the sensors while indoors the AC will slide out of a stable hover as it goes into "atti" mode, since it can't get a fix on the ground.

You need to make the room as bright as possible so the the VPS can function. e.g. turn on all the lights and open the curtains during the daytime. You'll notice DJI Fly comes up with the "not enough light, fly with caution error message" on start up if the room is not bright enough.

davorin Posted at 9-4 21:01
Good morning

Good idea with calibration....it asked me only once for the compass so far...

The Vision Positioning System (VPS) measures the 1.2m from the floor.

I suspect if the sensors are covered it would use the GPS (if you are outdoors) and barometer to get the right height for the take-off.
Indoors with the sensors covered it will have a problem as it will only have the barometer to rely on.

Hello there richard. Thank you for reaching out and for sharing these information with us. Please be careful while flying indoors as the DJI Mavic Mini stabilization feature may experience interference and might affect the said drone. In addition, if you really need to fly indoors kindly please use a DJI Mavic Mini Propeller Guard and activate the Payload mode on the DJI Fly application. The DJI Mavic Mini Propeller Guard protects the propellers and other objects from damage. Just a reminder that the DJI Mavic Mini's Vision System cannot work properly  in any of the following situations posted below. Kindly please fly your drone cautiously. Please be safe always and have a safe flight always.