3. When automatic landing is initiated, users can now continue to control the aircraft’s position and altitude.

Item 3 in the latest firmware does not make sense to me. By taking over the control it cancels the automatic landing or does the landing have to take place before the auto is cancelled.

Having said that what would happen if you did not land? Why would it let you take off again if it has had an automatic landing initiated? I am now presuming an automatic landing is either RTH or Battery Voltage low Emergency Landing.

Surely the firmware could be made smart enough to prevent someone taking off again unless all was o.k.

I can forsee some crashes happening here. I think this should come with warnings and instructions and some explanation.

I know I am missing something but what scenario does this update address? Please be kind with your responses!

Regards

Guy

guy, my guess is (and it is just a guess, havent tested but plan to this weekend):

if in RTH mode, you will be able to 'go up' during the return path and prior to reaching the landing spot.  this would be for example, lets say your RTH altitude was 100ft and it went into RTH mode, up to 100ft and started heading home.  halfway home you realize there happens to be a 150ft tree in your way.  this would allow you to increase altitude with the controller stick while it was making its way home (at a max ascent rate of 1m/s per the release notes).  however, once it reached homelocation and started descending, it would only let you move laterally to control where it landed but wouldnt allow you to ascend.  once landed, it would shut off, etc and after that you could restart (which is the 'D' item on the release notes).

if that is how it worked, it would 'make sense' to me even if not explained well in the release notes.  now what i dont get is what if you try and fly it 'away' from homelocation while it is trying to RTH.  will it sit there and fight you or just let you fly away and then start flying back when you let go of sticks.  that part could be better explained (or at a minimum tested by one of us).  

agree guy, more clarity is necessary.  im afraid we'll only get that clarity from test results not from DJI sharing info.  fortunately, we should be able to pretty much fully test these aspects.

i think this shows a step in the right direction from a design standpoint, even if not all the way to the target state.  ultimately, RTH has advantages (loss of TX, low battery, etc).  but i think that the RTH shouldnt override the pilot because, after all, we have eyes, ears, etc and are technically 'smarter' about the environment than the software.  so allowing pilot override (or maybe influence is a better term here) is a good thing as we can make adjustments as it is returning.  

DJI really needs to give more details and explanations when they release new firmware.

Hi Guy,

I just been noted that these new features :
"b) When automatic landing is initiated, users can now continue to control the aircraft’s position and altitude. During this process, the maximum speed of ascent is 1 m/s.
  c) After an automatic landing has been completed and the motors have stopped spinning, users can immediately restart the motors and begin a new flight. "
can only be activated at “Failsafe mode”, while at “RTH mode”, they will not be triggered.

They did not clarify it in release note. The new version of release note will come out soon.

IMHO this is a good thing, ask any pilot how they feel about any system that overrides their control without recourse. For example, what if a small child happens to be standing/sitting/playing on the exact spot where the bird is going to come down? How fast can you run?

Even truckers forced Mack to include a 30sec override switch into the automatic emergency engine shutdown system to prevent an emergency shutdown (designed to prevent catastrophic engine damage in cases such as total loss of oil pressure etc) turning into a full blown disaster. Even then I don't like it and neither do a lot of folk who (unlike myself) drive 'em every day.

Guy Posted at 2015-3-6 13:52
Thank you for being involved.

I am still not sure what you mean so I will ask the question.

Guy - I have read this entire string, and for me, the only thing that made sense was:

-if in NAZA mode, and one has set S1 bottom switch position to FailSafe
-and while in flight,one moves S1 to FailSafe
- one can leave S1 in that position and still control Phantom as it comes home.

If that is accurate, then I agree, this is a good thing, otherwise, I don't get it!

I posted this in the other thread as well.

Hello all,
I went flying today and tested this feature. I ran the Phantom out of my range and let it go into RTH, as it was returning I tried to move it side to side and up and down with no response from the Phantom. When it arrived at its Home point and started to descend I then could start moving it side to side and forward and back as it was coming down. When its was about 20 feet from the ground I canceled the RTH.   

I would imagine it works the same when in RTH sate due to low battery.

Phantom 2 Vision Plus

stock, that sort of explains the confusion.  ON THE WAY BACK to homepoint, you cant fly it.  ON THE WAY DOWN you can.  that would explain most of the posts ive read today.

Guy
S1 down in position 3 is a Hard off vs. a Hard on with the switch S1 in position 1.
As long as the switch S1 is in position 1, the software can do most anything! You cannot force something through a closed switch! Hence S1 Position 3 is a Hard off...No..Means No!

Northofthe49th Posted at 2015-3-7 12:20
Guy
S2 down in position 3 is a Hard off vs. a Hard on with the switch S2 in position 1.
As long as t ...

Now I know why I have all these little phantoms flying around the house the last month.  I left Heathcliff with his S2 switch in position 1.   That's what Gertrude has been squawking about all this time.

Never thought about what I wrote till I wrote it but OMG! That is what happens when you read between the lines

Hope you have a nesting box around, you have a mr. and mrs. Phantom if I recall correctly....

Northofthe49th Posted at 2015-3-7 12:34
Never thought about what I wrote till I wrote it but OMG! That is what happens when you read between ...

Gertrude and Heathcliff has been keeping my awake at nights with their squawking.

Gerry1124 Posted at 2015-3-7 12:40
Gertrude and Heathcliff has been keeping my awake at nights with their squawking.

I may stand corrected on my earlier post....
It may be possible for a hacker to take a hard off state and turn it in to a hard on state via a rouge software that messes with the firmware to get the hard on state active. This is apparently not all to uncommon (though not real common) with dormant PC's...as some have claimed that they have been awaken at night with their PC on and they swore it was off.
Have to love technology, never know what to expect

Northofthe49th Posted at 2015-3-7 13:29
I may stand corrected on my earlier post....
It may be possible for a hacker to take a hard off st ...

hahahahahaha

Guy,
S1 in position 3 is a "Forced off" where Failsafe and RTH has been initiated, so the ability to have any control with the sticks with an RTH in that mode with S1 in position 3 is a "no". No control!..Nada...Just the same as if you had shut the RC off, the sticks do not work, right!
Whereas with S1 in position 1, the Phantoms direction etc. can be changed to a point/degree/certain amount on descent "once/when over" the RTH location.

Guy Posted at 2015-3-7 13:58
How has switch 2 come in to the equation?

There has been no mention (that I am aware) of switch 2 ...

Majorr Fubarred and apology, I had mixed them up while mixing a drink! (Just being honest!)
Anyhow, corrected all and thank you....please reread with corrections, this works!

C'mon Gerry, bless my mess please!..
Guy,
Please re read, I have fixed the damn S's...and forgive me....please....:

Guy Posted at 2015-3-7 14:08
Thank God, I thought I had completely lost the plot! (That does not mean I completely follow the p ...

Guy,
I cannot speak for DJI but presumably when you go S1 to position 3, you are all but shutting off the controller, so unless you move out of that position "S1 in position 3" the bird is coming home and it's position etc. cannot be further affected by you..Nada...not at all..."unless" you move S1 back to position 1 or Position 2/ATTI...etc..
In an RTH under low battery you can direct the Phantom only once it is over its RTH spot as I was able to confirm this yesterday on a flight.

Guy Posted at 2015-3-7 14:08
Thank God, I thought I had completely lost the plot! (That does not mean I completely follow the p ...

Rhyming is good, I understood!

Guy Posted at 2015-3-7 14:18
Ah so got it !

The difference being one is pilot initiated and the other is software initiated.

Correct...
And one other note...a third scenario...(Btw...I did not invent this crap!)
If you switch off your controller, thereby initiating a Failsafe/RTH and then switch it back on..it is still technically in Failsafe/RTH by DJI standards...you can have the same control in orienting the Phantom once over your RTH location...same as if you were in an RTH state as in the low battery mode described earlier...
To add...read pg. 4 of this post: as it conforms above after I had a bit of fun with Autumn and Ed..
http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?m ... ra=page%3D1&lang=en
and scroll down to date/time stamp: 2015-3-6 15:33 (holy shiza, I think I just spoke Star Trek!)
Wouldn't I be nice to say pg. 4, post 56 of this thread...Toooo easy!!

Guy Posted at 2015-3-7 14:35
Thanks for that info.

What confused me is Autumn said the exact opposite which you can see above. ...

Guy,
If you go into that thread and search the post with date and time stamp I listed at 2015-3-6 15:33 you will see it is Autumn's revision to a post made earlier at 2015-3-6 13:46 where Autumn had it backwards initially, in fact and not to be too harsh. Autumn and Ed each posted exact opposite interpretations and having just flown earlier last night I called them out on it..Autumn was fairly quick to clarify in a repost.

I am sure you will make some time, you have to make some time....get the heck of the computer and on the RC!
Take the grand daughter out with it, bet she would love even just to watch (if you have not done it already)....
Barring Hell or High Water I will be out tomorrow and Sunday for four flights a day...
Enjoy the weekend...