I had an issue I posted elsewhere with Autoflight Autopilot's Follow Me mode overshooting and oscillating when I stop:



I suspected it was a software issue and contacted support (Autoflight, not DJI). They said it may be because my iPhone 5S doesn't have good enough performance for Autopilot and that's causing the problem (CPU power I guess). I don't know if that's really plausible or if it's standard tech-support-avoiding-the-issue. Has anyone had this problem/not had this problem on older/newer iPhones?

I suggest using newer version or a tablet. I use 6S+ with no problem.

6s plus here too with no issues. Remember unlike Litchi which uploads the mission to DJI's flight controller, Autofoight executes the mission data locally on the mobile device in order to perform flight characteristics the DJI flight controller doesn't support (breezier curves, deceleration/acceleration between waypoints etc) so combined with the FPV side of things, the phone is having to do a lot of processing. I reckon an iPhone 6 is the minimum spec for Autopilot.

This might having nothing to do with the smartphone but with the following/tracking algorithm:  I tested all tracking functions and follow me under various conditions (walking/car driving/biking) and found out that sudden changes in speed and/or direction confuses the tracking function.

My explanation would be that Mavic estimates a linear movement with not so much changes of direction and speed and once parameters exceed the estimated path Mavic just flies over the tracked/followed object , loses it and doesn´t find it anymore.

Regarding follow me it also might be the lag/delay/imprecision/inconsistency of smartphones GPS versus Mavics GPS since follow me constantly compares both GPS-fixes against each other ...........

Just a plausible theory since DJI does not explain precisely how it works but I was able to reproduce my findings in experiments to strongly support my theory.

Angelo26 Posted at 2017-2-10 00:19
This might having nothing to do with the smartphone but with the following/tracking algorithm:  I tested all tracking functions and follow me under various conditions (walking/car driving/biking) and found out that sudden changes in speed and/or direction confuses the tracking function.

My explanation would be that Mavic estimates a linear movement with not so much changes of direction and speed and once parameters exceed the estimated path Mavic just flies over the tracked/followed object , loses it and doesn´t find it anymore.

Ok, so 2 votes for trying a new phone, 1 against... Angelo26, are you using DJI Go or Autoflight's Autopilot app? What phone?

dronist and Watty2000, have you used the Follow Me mode?

Looking at my footage again I realized the first run seemed to work (though it only had one stop/turn) until it crashed, then when I restarted the app it had the issues. Might require some more testing, though the crash alone is a bad sign.

brettt Posted at 2017-2-10 07:47
Ok, so 2 votes for trying a new phone, 1 against... Angelo26, are you using DJI Go or Autoflight's Autopilot app? What phone?

dronist and Watty2000, have you used the Follow Me mode?

The only app that works almost flawless both on my Galaxy Note 4 and Xperia Z Ultra is DJI GO 3 ............
I´ll wait until CrystalSky is available and check the price for it. If it´s more expensive than a new smartphone then I´ll skip CrystalSky, if it is less it might be worth to get it instead of a new phone .................

Angelo26 Posted at 2017-2-11 00:26
The only app that works almost flawless both on my Galaxy Note 4 and Xperia Z Ultra is DJI GO 3 ............
I´ll wait until CrystalSky is available and check the price for it. If it´s more expensive than a new smartphone then I´ll skip CrystalSky, if it is less it might be worth to get it instead of a new phone .................

But CrystalSky probably won't allow third-party apps? I hope DJI doesn't trend that way. I like Autopilot better than DJI Go for Follow and it seems to be pretty powerful for other things too like waypoint missions. Just need to work out my problems with it...

brettt Posted at 2017-2-11 08:41
But CrystalSky probably won't allow third-party apps? I hope DJI doesn't trend that way. I like Autopilot better than DJI Go for Follow and it seems to be pretty powerful for other things too like waypoint missions. Just need to work out my problems with it...

Maybe I´ll try Litchi ....... Maybe it works better on my Xperia Z Ultra than DJI GO ................

Tried with an iPhone 7. It's doing the same thing. I think I improved it by lowering the "Responsiveness" from 5 sec to 1 sec; part of the issue is it takes too long to reverse speed trying to keep up smooth motion. But I do think there's a lingering programming issue where it doesn't realize it's rapidly approaching a stopped target.

Despite this, it's definitely the best Follow mode for DJI.