Amazing results yielded from the GPS mod!! Wifi mod anyone?

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I wound up tearing her down and wedging a piece of corrugated cardboard between the chip and that copper UFO paper. I didn't pick up many more satellites than usual but on 6 sats I flew out 1200ft.... Previous record was 650ft (distance). I didn't even run it out all the way, wound up hitting return home once I noticed it was 3 blocks down!! This is flying blind as well... working on the Hero 4. I got some pretty nice footage as I also made a tutorial that I'll be uploading on Youtube later this evening. Let me know of any other mods out there! I've had the Solo(s) [destroyed my first one due to gps malfunction] for about a week and a half and I'm hooked. I'm thinking of doing the WiFi card mod this evening, any thoughts??Snapshot_0.png
 
I went from 8-14 satellites and it starts up seconds after hitting the power button. I'm loving this bird more and more


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I ordered the V2 GPS shield from 3DR directly and the improvements are even better than the cardboard mod. Costs $15 with the coupon code and arrived within a week to Toronto, Canada direct from California. I get 10-14 sats within 30-45 seconds now.
 
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I wound up tearing her down and wedging a piece of corrugated cardboard between the chip and that copper UFO paper. I didn't pick up many more satellites than usual but on 6 sats I flew out 1200ft.... Previous record was 650ft (distance). I didn't even run it out all the way, wound up hitting return home once I noticed it was 3 blocks down!! This is flying blind as well... working on the Hero 4. I got some pretty nice footage as I also made a tutorial that I'll be uploading on Youtube later this evening. Let me know of any other mods out there! I've had the Solo(s) [destroyed my first one due to gps malfunction] for about a week and a half and I'm hooked. I'm thinking of doing the WiFi card mod this evening, any thoughts??View attachment 4564
GPS has nothing to do with the distance your solo can travel before you lose radio signal.
GPS is Different then WiFi.
Your WiFi signal determines the distance before Solo Say's "RTH" due to lost signal.

Hope this helps
 
I ordered the V2 GPS shield from 3DR directly and the improvements are even better than the cardboard mod. Costs $15 with the coupon code and arrived within a week to Toronto, Canada direct from California. I get 10-14 sats within 30-45 seconds now.

I also ordered the V2 shield and I saw marked improvement on GPS signal hold and maintaining GPS lock.
 
I wound up tearing her down and wedging a piece of corrugated cardboard between the chip and that copper UFO paper. I didn't pick up many more satellites than usual but on 6 sats I flew out 1200ft.... Previous record was 650ft (distance). I didn't even run it out all the way, wound up hitting return home once I noticed it was 3 blocks down!! This is flying blind as well... working on the Hero 4. I got some pretty nice footage as I also made a tutorial that I'll be uploading on Youtube later this evening. Let me know of any other mods out there! I've had the Solo(s) [destroyed my first one due to gps malfunction] for about a week and a half and I'm hooked. I'm thinking of doing the WiFi card mod this evening, any thoughts??View attachment 4564
Welcome to the forum- what is your tutorial going to cover?
 
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GPS has nothing to do with the distance your solo can travel before you lose radio signal.
GPS is Different then WiFi.
Your WiFi signal determines the distance before Solo Say's "RTH" due to lost signal.

Hope this helps
I thought so as well, not sure what happened but my distance tripled going the same route I do my long runs on. GPS has alot to do with the distance you're able to travel. Especially if you have your location settings (through your map provider) to highest accuracy. It utilizes a combination of GPS, cellular signal, and WiFi signal to hone in on an almost exact location pending your populated surroundings. Right now I'm having quite a time figuring out exactly what Mission Planner did to my pairing.... I want to avoid the factory reset at all costs. Maddog it's just a general runthrouogh of how to seperate the GPS chip from the copper foil. Supposedly that causes quite a bit of interference. Also check the WiFi card in your controller, they're notorious for not completing the glue job on the frail little antenna connections. I just ran a bead of super glue over em so I don't have to mess with it again!20161113_180839.jpg 20161114_093252[1].jpg
 
I thought so as well, not sure what happened but my distance tripled going the same route I do my long runs on. GPS has alot to do with the distance you're able to travel. Especially if you have your location settings (through your map provider) to highest accuracy. It utilizes a combination of GPS, cellular signal, and WiFi signal to hone in on an almost exact location pending your populated surroundings
.

I think you're confused on how the Solo uses GPS information. The on-board GPS receiver does nothing but give the Solo the location of it's present position. It has absolutely nothing to do with how far Solo can travel from the controller, unless you're referring to waypoint missions, and then it's simply a matter of if the GPS is working, the Solo will fly the mission, if the GPS isn't working, it'll failsafe (drop to manual, hover, land, whatever you have it configured to do). Distance while under user control is all wifi signal and nothing to do with GPS. The only purpose device (smartphone/tablet) location data is sent to the Solo is for Return to Me coordinates that the Solo will fly to and land if the wifi connection is dropped. That's it. In no way does device location accuracy assist or improve Solo's positioning accuracy or the distance it might be able to fly from the controller. It should be noted that Return to Me is NOT WORKING on Android devices and should be disabled.

I don't say any of this to dump on you, only to help avoid a potential accident. It's dangerous to base operation of a vehicle on a flawed understanding of how it actually works, because if/when it starts doing something you don't expect, it's difficult to quickly analyze the situation, pinpoint the issue and take appropriate actions.

Glad you're enjoying the Solo, it's a heck of a bird!
 
What happens if the bird loses GPS? A month prior I had a sky viper HD, guess what happened when that things signal dropped..... bad night. got the police called on me for trying to retrieve it too! But yeah I completely understand what your saying. as soon as I saw 1600ft (flying blind) I said nope, come on home. Gotta be super careful, they default my return altitude at 45ft.... If I don't catch that she's toast around here. I just can't rely on that button to bring it back then for whatever reason it decides to do 35 every time I call it back..
 
As others have said, nothing you did has any effect on WiFi range between the the controller and solo. And it's not like the piece of cardboard you wedged in there actually did much if anything to help the GPS get a better or faster lock. What you have experienced is this thing called a coincidence.
 
I'll personally see to it that you get a video of 2 separate runs with and without ;)
 
OK. And that will be a video of your coincidence. You can post all the video you want. Shoving a piece of cardboard under the gps has absolutely not effect on the completely unrelated wifi link to your controller. The two are not connected, on different frequencies, and do not even know each other exist. There is no cell receiver on your drone for triangulation. And there is no WiFi location triangulation on your drone either. Even if there was, it would not use it. I'm sorry to burst your happy bubble. But nothing you're talking about it accurate. You had a good day with good GPS coverage and good WiFi reception. Nothing more, nothing less, and nothing new.
 
What happens if the bird loses GPS?

The Solo? If it looses GPS it drops to manual control. If it's within range of the controller, you'll have to fly it manually, if it's out of controller range, it probably lands wherever it happens to be.

A month prior I had a sky viper HD, guess what happened when that things signal dropped..... bad night.

Did it have GPS? I suspect not. So when it looses signal from the controller, it has no way to know what to do or where to go. Depending on how the flight controller is configured, it'll either hover at the mercy of the wind, or slowly descend until it lands... in or on whatever happens to be below.

This is why I say, you'd do yourself a favor to read up on and understand how these things work. When they start to do the unexpected, you want to be able to quickly figure out what happened, what flight mode it's in and what that mode requires for control. You still seem to be maintaining that your GPS mod had an effect on controller range, which tells us you're still operating the aircraft with a pretty serious misunderstanding on how it works, which is dangerous.

We're just trying to help...
 
So to the best of my knowledge, the V2 GPS shield from 3DR is a lovely 3M product that absorbs a specific frequency range of interference, further isolating the GPS module and allowing it to search/lock onto satellite signals without said interference. The improvements in GPS functions are due to this shielding/absobtion layer.

The cardboard mod (something I had tried before my V2 shield came in the mail), gave minor improvements because it adds a non-conductive layer between the circuit board and the copper reflector shield. When I examined this copper shield layer I found (as many of you likely did too), that there is in fact a clear coat polimer layer covering the copper shield: leading me to believe that the suggestion regarding the copper messing with the circuit board to be unlikely. I suppose if that coating was worn or damaged it could 'short' the board but regardless... I believe that the main issue with the copper shield was its reflective, rather than absorbing properties (compared to the 3M product that V2 is made of). The cardboard/non- conductive layer may act as a minute buffer between the copper and the module and further prevents the copper from directly touching the circuit board.

None of these things are in relation to the wifi connection, affecting the range of the Solo.

A quick googling provided this:
"In the case of the original GPS design, two frequencies are utilized; one at 1575.42 MHz(10.23 MHz × 154) called L1; and a second at 1227.60 MHz (10.23 MHz × 120), called L2. The C/A code is transmitted on the L1 frequency as a 1.023 MHz signal using a bi-phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation technique."
-- not the same frequency as wifi, therefore no interference..

Further googling: How come radio signals don't interfere with each other all the time?

"Frequency bands: Different RF devices use different "bands" of frequency, which are typically allocated and governed by the relevant local authorities, e.g. the FCC or the ITU. This is called spectrum allocation, and varies between countries, with some broad overarching trends. The receivers are tuned to receive and amplify only those signals within the band of interest, attenuating the rest of the radio frequencies. This is frequency multiplexing.
  1. Examples:
    • GPS satellites communicate with civilian GPS handsets on the 1.57542 GHz (L1) and 1.2276 GHz (L2) frequency bands.
    • WiFi / Wireless LAN devices typically use the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, though a few others are also allocated in certain geographies / purposes.
    • Some RFID devices use the 13.56 MHz band
    • FM radio entertainment channels typically use the 87.5 to 108.0 MHz band (Europe, Africa, India) or variations around that range, e.g. 76 to 90 MHz in Japan.
 
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In conclusion.. wifi and GPS should not be interfering with eachother because of the different frequencies that they operate at.

Your GPS cardboard mod would slightly improve your GPS lock and search functions, and the V2 shield greatly improves this lock and search. On this forum people have done GPS upgrades to other cards that are able to lock onto more/international satellites and various other upgrades.

None of the GPS upgrades or mods affect wifi. Wifi being the link between the controller and the aircraft (as stated many times over by far more knowledgeable posters and pilots than I).

Apologies for the monster post. I still had some of the pages bookmarked from when I was looking into this stuff previous to ordering the V2 GPS shield.

Eyeofhorus, I hope this clarifies the disconnect between what you believe and what is actually happening between you and the aircraft vs the aircraft and the GPS signals/locks its connecting too.
 
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I thought so as well, not sure what happened but my distance tripled going the same route I do my long runs on. GPS has alot to do with the distance you're able to travel. Especially if you have your location settings (through your map provider) to highest accuracy. It utilizes a combination of GPS, cellular signal, and WiFi signal to hone in on an almost exact location pending your populated surroundings. Right now I'm having quite a time figuring out exactly what Mission Planner did to my pairing.... I want to avoid the factory reset at all costs. Maddog it's just a general runthrouogh of how to seperate the GPS chip from the copper foil. Supposedly that causes quite a bit of interference. Also check the WiFi card in your controller, they're notorious for not completing the glue job on the frail little antenna connections. I just ran a bead of super glue over em so I don't have to mess with it again!View attachment 4567 View attachment 4568
What's the red thing hanging under Solo in the top pic?
 
I ordered the V2 GPS shield from 3DR directly and the improvements are even better than the cardboard mod. Costs $15 with the coupon code and arrived within a week to Toronto, Canada direct from California. I get 10-14 sats within 30-45 seconds now.
Where can I get coupon code?
 
I'll personally see to it that you get a video of 2 separate runs with and without ;)
the cardboard mod helps because it prevents the copper shield touching the GPS antenna . The cardboard prevents loss of GPS signal.The emf shield is better. It minimizes the bounced GPS signal, hence improves the quality of GPS.
 
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So to the best of my knowledge, the V2 GPS shield from 3DR is a lovely 3M product that absorbs a specific frequency range of interference, further isolating the GPS module and allowing it to search/lock onto satellite signals without said interference. The improvements in GPS functions are due to this shielding/absobtion layer.

The cardboard mod (something I had tried before my V2 shield came in the mail), gave minor improvements because it adds a non-conductive layer between the circuit board and the copper reflector shield. When I examined this copper shield layer I found (as many of you likely did too), that there is in fact a clear coat polimer layer covering the copper shield: leading me to believe that the suggestion regarding the copper messing with the circuit board to be unlikely. I suppose if that coating was worn or damaged it could 'short' the board but regardless... I believe that the main issue with the copper shield was its reflective, rather than absorbing properties (compared to the 3M product that V2 is made of). The cardboard/non- conductive layer may act as a minute buffer between the copper and the module and further prevents the copper from directly touching the circuit board.

None of these things are in relation to the wifi connection, affecting the range of the Solo.

A quick googling provided this:
"In the case of the original GPS design, two frequencies are utilized; one at 1575.42 MHz(10.23 MHz × 154) called L1; and a second at 1227.60 MHz (10.23 MHz × 120), called L2. The C/A code is transmitted on the L1 frequency as a 1.023 MHz signal using a bi-phase shift keying (BPSK) modulation technique."
-- not the same frequency as wifi, therefore no interference..

Further googling: How come radio signals don't interfere with each other all the time?

"Frequency bands: Different RF devices use different "bands" of frequency, which are typically allocated and governed by the relevant local authorities, e.g. the FCC or the ITU. This is called spectrum allocation, and varies between countries, with some broad overarching trends. The receivers are tuned to receive and amplify only those signals within the band of interest, attenuating the rest of the radio frequencies. This is frequency multiplexing.
  1. Examples:
    • GPS satellites communicate with civilian GPS handsets on the 1.57542 GHz (L1) and 1.2276 GHz (L2) frequency bands.
    • WiFi / Wireless LAN devices typically use the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, though a few others are also allocated in certain geographies / purposes.
    • Some RFID devices use the 13.56 MHz band
    • FM radio entertainment channels typically use the 87.5 to 108.0 MHz band (Europe, Africa, India) or variations around that range, e.g. 76 to 90 MHz in Japan.
the copper shield prevents the bounced signal coming from below the shield, but it bounces the signal from above. Hence, it woresens the bounced gps signal issue. Also, the copper shield has the potential of shorting the antenna creating a lost gps issue. the cardboard mod prevents the shorting issue. The emf shield get rid both issues. you may notice with the shield, it may report less number of gps but get better hdop number.
 
I have done nothing to my solo and one time I flew it this route and it went 1200 feet later that night I flew it and took it to about 6500 feet on the exact same path I did not modify anything at all

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