Upgraded mRo GPS. Only 2-5 satellites.

[David Boulanger]

I frequently use the 'GPS Plan' and 'UAV Forecast' apps on my iPhone before a launch. Both provide current info - at your current launch location - and forecasts. I like the two views of satellite constellations and overall predicted sat locks in GPS Plan.

UAV Forecast is always good especially for the KP. However I frequently get a half a dozen more Sats then they say. I think I have a log where I had over 20 if not 25. How useful they all were is another story.

 

[blahdc]

Quick update on some more testing. After digging into this thread I was able to disable the Galelio constellation on the new mRo. I still wasn't really impressed with the number of satellites I was acquiring or the HDOP values I was seeing so I decided to test it against my Rev A board. Below are the results.

Rev A board
1 Min - 5 sats and HDOP of 4.2
2 Min - 6 sats and HDOP of 3.5
3 Min - 8 sats and HDOP of 1.5 (GPS LOCK)
4 Min - 9 sats and HDOP of 1.1
5 Min - 8 sats and HDOP of 1.5 (Lost GPS Fix briefly)

mRo board
1 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1 (GPS LOCK)
2 Min - 12 sats and HDOP of 1.1
3 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1
4 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1
5 Min - 10 sats and HDOP of 1.3


All of these values are from the Solo just sitting on the ground with buildings nearby. I never turned the motors on during the testing. I did some brief flying with the mRo board installed and was seeing HDOP values less than 1 for the first time ever. I would think you could view this in a log? Going to stick with the mRo board for now. Appreciate all of the help.

 

[Dave Tolsky]

I would re-visit the installation. When I installed mine I booted up and had a dozen sats in less then a minute and this is in a suburbs of Chicago with obstructions everywhere.

Open it up and install again. Follow the steps in the YouTube video. Something was t done right the first time

 

[daniel s]

Quick update on some more testing. After digging into this thread I was able to disable the Galelio constellation on the new mRo. I still wasn't really impressed with the number of satellites I was acquiring or the HDOP values I was seeing so I decided to test it against my Rev A board. Below are the results.

Rev A board
1 Min - 5 sats and HDOP of 4.2
2 Min - 6 sats and HDOP of 3.5
3 Min - 8 sats and HDOP of 1.5 (GPS LOCK)
4 Min - 9 sats and HDOP of 1.1
5 Min - 8 sats and HDOP of 1.5 (Lost GPS Fix briefly)

mRo board
1 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1 (GPS LOCK)
2 Min - 12 sats and HDOP of 1.1
3 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1
4 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1
5 Min - 10 sats and HDOP of 1.3


All of these values are from the Solo just sitting on the ground with buildings nearby. I never turned the motors on during the testing. I did some brief flying with the mRo board installed and was seeing HDOP values less than 1 for the first time ever. I would think you could view this in a log? Going to stick with the mRo board for now. Appreciate all of the help.

Try adding the nrw v2 polymer gps shield.workef great for me I put it on a rev a gps.. I get 10 sats in about 30 srconds.. locked and ready to fly in under a min.. hdop is a .7..in the air I pick up 3 to 4 more sats..

 

[David Boulanger]

Quick update on some more testing. After digging into this thread I was able to disable the Galelio constellation on the new mRo. I still wasn't really impressed with the number of satellites I was acquiring or the HDOP values I was seeing so I decided to test it against my Rev A board. Below are the results.

Rev A board
1 Min - 5 sats and HDOP of 4.2
2 Min - 6 sats and HDOP of 3.5
3 Min - 8 sats and HDOP of 1.5 (GPS LOCK)
4 Min - 9 sats and HDOP of 1.1
5 Min - 8 sats and HDOP of 1.5 (Lost GPS Fix briefly)

mRo board
1 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1 (GPS LOCK)
2 Min - 12 sats and HDOP of 1.1
3 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1
4 Min - 11 sats and HDOP of 1.1
5 Min - 10 sats and HDOP of 1.3


All of these values are from the Solo just sitting on the ground with buildings nearby. I never turned the motors on during the testing. I did some brief flying with the mRo board installed and was seeing HDOP values less than 1 for the first time ever. I would think you could view this in a log? Going to stick with the mRo board for now. Appreciate all of the help.

You can view it in a log. How close were the trees and buildings? You should be getting better performance than this in normal conditions. I've seen 25 sats and hdop of .5 frequently.

 

[carpy]

This is kind of cool:
Satellite Map

 

[blahdc]

You can view it in a log. How close were the trees and buildings? You should be getting better performance than this in normal conditions. I've seen 25 sats and hdop of .5 frequently.

A tree line was 20 feet away and a row of houses about 100 feet away. I am going to try flying again this week and see what the log is saying once I am up in the air.

 

[blahdc]

Try adding the nrw v2 polymer gps shield.workef great for me I put it on a rev a gps.. I get 10 sats in about 30 srconds.. locked and ready to fly in under a min.. hdop is a .7..in the air I pick up 3 to 4 more sats.. View attachment 8581View attachment 8581View attachment 8581

I do have the v2 shield installed so I hope that improves things. When I was doing the tests for both boards I had pulled the gps cable outside of the solo body to do the testing. Curious as to what is generating the interference, I'm sure someone knows.

 

[David Boulanger]

A tree line was 20 feet away and a row of houses about 100 feet away. I am going to try flying again this week and see what the log is saying once I am up in the air.

That's a tough environment. Take it to a big open place like a large parking lot or high school athletic field and turn it on there. I think you will see a difference.

 

[carpy]

I do have the v2 shield installed so I hope that improves things. When I was doing the tests for both boards I had pulled the gps cable outside of the solo body to do the testing. Curious as to what is generating the interference, I'm sure someone knows.

Not so much about interference for the GPS, more about clear view of the sky.
The compass on the other hand has a lot more to do with interference. The power distribution, ESCs, battery...all problems for the compass and GPS.

 

[blahdc]

You can view it in a log. How close were the trees and buildings? You should be getting better performance than this in normal conditions. I've seen 25 sats and hdop of .5 frequently.

Which log would have my satellite information during a flight? I tried downloading the bin file in Notepad++ but did not have luck with that....

 

[David Boulanger]

I have always used Mission Planner.

 

[carpy]

Which log would have my satellite information during a flight? I tried downloading the bin file in Notepad++ but did not have luck with that....

Download the dataflash (.BIN) logs. See
Download System Logs from Controller and Solo

 

[blahdc]

Download the dataflash (.BIN) logs. See
Download System Logs from Controller and Solo

Thanks, I will give that a shot.

 

[David Boulanger]

Download the dataflash (.BIN) logs. See
Download System Logs from Controller and Solo

If you have the Solo, didn't disappear underwater or something, I think Mission Planner is easy. I didn't see it on the link.

 

[carpy]

If you have the Solo, didn't disappear underwater or something, I think Mission Planner is easy. I didn't see it on the link.

It is--however, sometimes the logs get truncated.
I love MP and APM Planner 2 but the downloads are using MAVLink and are very slow. You have no choice for other quads, but you do for Solo because as you know he is different and the log work is made easy for you with the companion computers.

 

[David Boulanger]

It is--however, sometimes the logs get truncated.
I love MP and APM Planner 2 but the downloads are using MAVLink and are very slow. You have no choice for other quads, but you do for Solo because as you know he is different and the log work is made easy for you with the companion computers.

Downloads are slow. I'll have to read your thread someday and learn different ways to do it

 

[carpy]

Downloads are slow. I'll have to read your thread someday and learn different ways to do it

Cool. At some point I will add log parsing to Wookiee. My thought is guys could monitor/track motor outputs so maybe one could graph the average for each motor and see trends. Or maybe that's not how it works when a motor starts to fail...I don't really know.