3DR GPS Shield

nuggetz · Jul 26, 2016

Was thinking of getting the GPS shield from 3DR. Can't say I've had many GPS issues until recently but that was due to some experimenting with Mission Planner - specifically trying to calibrate the compass with it. Anyway, I did a factory reset and reset all solo parameters to default and now I'm getting stable flight. Compass was so out of whack that Solo was toilet bowling

Never seen Solo do that before. It was acting like a hand built quad with a sucky flight controller

Anyway, the recent problems have done a number on my confidence in Solo even though I think its stable now so I was thinking of getting the upgraded GPS shield. I never had problems aquiring satellites. My concern now is losing GPS while in flight which never happened to me before. Since I like to do a lot of Tower missions, the last thing I want is GPS loss when Solo is 1000 feet away. I know that can always happen but was wondering if the upgraded shield would help. If there are any cons to putting it in then I'll stick to the stock shielding. However, if there's a chance that the shield could provide even a small amount of GPS loss mitigation then I'll pay the $30 and give it a try.

Anyone have an thoughts on this?

pyrate · Jul 26, 2016

gps is much more stable with shield

LAK-USA · Jul 27, 2016

I was apprehensive spending $30 on a 'sticker' but this really does work well.

The new GPS shield V2.0 makes a VERY noticeable improvement in both lock times & signal quality. I'm able to fly with just 6 sats now as apposed to ~10 sats with the old shield.

My Solo's cold start GPS lock times have dropped from 3-5mins down to <1 min. So it was definitely worth the money for me.

I didn't find a place to enter the '50% off' promo code on checkout but an email to 3dr fixed that!

I'm not sure if it's still valid but just in case: FBGPSV2

Nick F · Jul 27, 2016

I have not had many GPS issues either but I installed the shield anyway and the performance have improved a lot!
Now Solo is quicker to acquire GPS signal and also the number of satellites linked is higher than before.
So for me is a GO and buy the shield!

SteveReno · Jul 27, 2016

I also never had a GPS issues, But coming from 3DR & only $16.24 with Uncle Sam "Taxes"

Installed yesterday, only had 1 short quick test flight. Preformed Both level & Compass Calibrations successfully.
More satellites found, about the same time to require lock "Under 3 min." No difference in Flight characteristics. Short time testing 5 min.

A better test would be going under canopy of trees?
Always afraid to go anywhere near canopy of trees, but with the new feature called "Rewind" if it's loses GPS, would it just back out from where it came? or this feature is just for lost wifi?

Hope this helps

Jubalr · Jul 27, 2016

SteveReno said:
I also never had a GPS issues, But coming from 3DR & only $16.24 with Uncle Sam "Taxes"

Installed yesterday, only had 1 short quick test flight. Preformed Both level & Compass Calibrations successfully.
More satellites found, about the same time to require lock "Under 3 min." No difference in Flight characteristics. Short time testing 5 min.

A better test would be going under canopy of trees?
Always afraid to go anywhere near canopy of trees, but with the new feature called "Rewind" if it's loses GPS, would it just back out from where it came? or this feature is just for lost wifi?

Hope this helps

If it loses GPS, it would have no 'Trail' to follow. The Rewind feature is primarily for loss of controller when going behind a structure.

SteveReno · Jul 27, 2016

That's what i thought.
Wouldn't take up too much space or CPU time, If 3DR would just copy the last 5 sec. Of pertinent info, so as in the future, Solo could "Rewind" also from GPS failure due to blockage/coverage.

blumoon · Jul 27, 2016

SteveReno said:
That's what i thought.
Wouldn't take up too much space or CPU time, If 3DR would just copy the last 5 sec. Of pertinent info, so as in the future, Solo could "Rewind" also from GPS failure due to blockage/coverage.

Wouldn't that be hard to do, without GPS references?

Pedals2Paddles · Jul 27, 2016

That's a catch-22. Without the GPS, it can't monitor it's own position, and therefore can't reference the last recorded position. What you're describing is exactly what rewind does, but it can't do it doesn't know where it is now. That would require a rather expensive and advanced INS.

SteveReno · Jul 27, 2016

blumoon said:
Wouldn't that be hard to do, without GPS references?

I think your right.
If Solo save all the info it need to get to a point in space "Rewind" , How does it locate it with out a starting reference point.
I stand corrected...

nuggetz · Jul 27, 2016

Wouldn't it be possible if somehow the telemetry data from the motors were captured and played back? It wouldn't be very elegant but it might work.

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Jubalr · Jul 27, 2016

nuggetz said:
Wouldn't it be possible if somehow the telemetry data from the motors were captured and played back? It wouldn't be very elegant but it might work.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

As PP said, without GPS, you could only use an INS or very expensive ground radar system. Think about it; in any other solution you would have to account for varying wind, to say the least. It could have been blowing one way on the way in and the other on the way out.

Pedals2Paddles · Jul 27, 2016

This however gives me another neat thought. Wouldn't it be neat if arducopter upon detecting the loss of GPS could automatically failover to optical flow? Obviously it has it's limitations, but if it's close enough to the ground to get an optical "lock", that could be a really cool way to protect the bird in case of a GPS loss.

ChrisBird · Jul 27, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
This however gives me another neat thought. Wouldn't it be neat if arducopter upon detecting the loss of GPS could automatically failover to optical flow? Obviously it has it's limitations, but if it's close enough to the ground to get an optical "lock", that could be a really cool way to protect the bird in case of a GPS loss.

Head on over to ardupilot discuss and make the suggestion. Its a good idea, it might just be picked up. I have optical flow somewhat working on a custom build. Id consider moving it and my sf 11 to the solo if they added that.

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nuggetz · Jul 27, 2016

Jubalr said:
As PP said, without GPS, you could only use an INS or very expensive ground radar system. Think about it; in any other solution you would have to account for varying wind, to say the least. It could have been blowing one way on the way in and the other on the way out.

Yeah, I wasn't implying that there would be full blown stability or functionality without GPS. I was just thinking that if somehow Solo just replayed the last inputs or motor data in reverse it could potentially perform sort of a rewind. Not sure how useful that would be.

ChrisBird · Jul 28, 2016

nuggetz said:
Yeah, I wasn't implying that there would be full blown stability or functionality without GPS. I was just thinking that if somehow Solo just replayed the last inputs or motor data in reverse it could potentially perform sort of a rewind. Not sure how useful that would be.

Wont be very reliable, the air is more turbulent than you might first think. Even accelerometer data is inaccurate for what your after.

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Texzin · Jul 28, 2016

Look at it this way. If you were walking down a hallway and at the end you can't see. Your mind remembers how you moved though the hallway. But as you move you become misaligned because you can't see. You maybe off only one or two degrees. But you will hit the wall. GPS is the sensor used to complete the computations like your eyes are to you.