Using an iphone and follow me feature

[F78-RS]

Hi All, I watched the 3DR Flight school video on the Follow Me feature and Colin Quinn puts the phone into his pocket( no mention where he put the controller ) and proceeds to ride his four wheeler and Solo follows. My question is; once follow mode is enabled, can I hit the sleep/wake button on the iPhone before I put it into my pocket or does it have to on? I ask because I'm worried functions might be enabled/disabled while on in my pocket. Any insight on how you all are using Follow Me would be most helpful.

Cheers~

 

[Molie]

Hi,

This is a very good point, i had to watch the video from 3DR Colin and it clearly does cut this section out on where the controller goes. i tried this with my tablet ipad mini 2 4G.

i put the controller back in the bag and the mini in my coat pocket, EPIC fail luckily i was a passenger in a car when this happened and i was able to my hands back on the controller quickly to rectify.

Please could someone be more clear and assist as above thanks

 

[F78-RS]

Thank you for your reply Molie. A few questions. When you put the mini in your pocket, did you put it in sleep or was it still on, running the app? Could you describe what solo did when things went wrong, did it start to fly away, hover, RTH or something different? Thank you

 

[Molie]

Thank you for your reply Molie. A few questions. When you put the mini in your pocket, did you put it in sleep or was it still on, running the app? Could you describe what solo did when things went wrong, did it start to fly away, hover, RTH or something different? Thank you

Hi,
Apologies for the confusion this is exactly what i am trying to get to the bottom of myself, i would like to know the procedures with regards to the remote control, where do you put that when riding a quad for an example, what procedures should be taken on the app, it would be nice if 3DR could do a little post step by step with a couple of drawings posted on the forum so that the average user can carry out the follow me correctly.

hope this clears things up on the confusion of this post.

 

[erikgraham]

Based on my experience with 900mhz radios on 3DRs earlier drones (iris, x8), it's best to have the antenna exposed and with a direct line of site to the drone. But I don't know what's possible at 2.4ghz.

The way we used to do it with the older 900mhz antennas was to tape/Velcro the phone with attached MavLink antenna between the shoulder blades of the skier (or biker). We also had a set up that used a pocket on the top of a backpack - so basically in the same place.

We would just send the skier on his way and then keep the controller with me at the top of the mountain. That worked because the phone (with attached antenna) transmitted directly to the drone. It was much better because the athlete would do his thing, then I'd just bring the drone back to me using the controller. Repair with another phone also running tower with its own MavLink and send down another athlete.

But I digress. What we used to do is just not possible with the Solo. The controller has to stay with (or near) the athlete. But I still think that positioning it in a backpack is going to be the best for skiing, biking, motor cross, quads, and most action sports. I plan to get some extension cables so i can position the antennas on the outside of the pack near the top. Antenna angle will be important too for range. I'm not sure FPVLRs will be good as I think you'll want omni directionals - but I'd like to experiment with them (amped).

For cars and closed vehicles I'm planning to also do extension cables so I can mount the antennas on top of the vehicle.

In all the above scenarios, it really doesn't matter where the phone goes. It's all about the controllers antennas.

And I don't know about sleeping the phone, but I highly doubt that would work. The Solo app needs to maintain its connection to the controller at all times. That's why the phones don't ever sleep when the Solo app is open (do they?). Easy enough to test.

 

[F78-RS]

Good stuff there erik, thanks for the reply. Please post up those extension cables when you get them.

As far as testing the sleep mode. I would do it but fear of not knowing what would happen is holding me back. I'm afraid as soon as I put the phone in sleep, solo will go off the chain and slam into something(trees, ground, buildings, people) or fly away. Just looking for some insight into what would happen. Putting the phone in my pocket doesn't put me at ease when on either. Functions could be accessed or cancelled while on in my pocket and I would have no clue. Just makes me anxious about doing that.

 

[erikgraham]

Good stuff there erik, thanks for the reply. Please post up those extension cables when you get them.

As far as testing the sleep mode. I would do it but fear of not knowing what would happen is holding me back. I'm afraid as soon as I put the phone in sleep, solo will go off the chain and slam into something(trees, ground, buildings, people) or fly away. Just looking for some insight into what would happen. Putting the phone in my pocket doesn't put me at ease when on either. Functions could be accessed or cancelled while on in my pocket and I would have no clue. Just makes me anxious about doing that.

It won't go crazy on you when the iPhone sleeps. That much I know. I've had the Solo app crash on me, and I've even deliberately exited the app while the Solo is still in the air. You just get an alert on your controller that says the Solo app disconnected. If your in the middle of a smart shot, the Solo just reverts to FLY mode and hovers. If you test it, just be ready to hit the FLY button on your controller. That will override everything else, and give you back control.

 

[F78-RS]

Thanks Erik, great insight. I'll be a little at ease to experiment in the future.

 

[JD Films]

I just took my new Solo on a Mountain bike ride today and we tried the follow me mode once. The phone does need to be on. As soon as I tried turning the screen off it wouldn't follow any more and it just hovered in place. I also found out that the Solo is following the phone not the controller. But they both need to be close to each other so the wifi link doesn't break. My friend put my phone in his bag and started riding (thin pocket on his back). He went a couple hundred feet and it was following him but then stopped and just hovered in place. I flew it back safely with the controller after that. My guess is as soon as the phone and controller lost connection it stopped the follow me mode.

Overall I'm not to impressed with the follow me mode because of this. Shouldn't it be possible to make separate device that the solo could follow? And in the app have an option to switch it over to follow that device instead of the phone/controller. Having to use the phone/controller to follow is not very practical in most scenarios. I film race trucks at off-road desert races and plan on sitting in the passenger seat in a truck to try it out. But I wasn't even thinking about the antennas. @erikgraham if you find a good solution for cables and antennas to mount on the top of a truck/car please post about it. I think a magnet mount would work good.

 

[erikgraham]

I just took my new Solo on a Mountain bike ride today and we tried the follow me mode once. The phone does need to be on. As soon as I tried turning the screen off it wouldn't follow any more and it just hovered in place. I also found out that the Solo is following the phone not the controller. But they both need to be close to each other so the wifi link doesn't break. My friend put my phone in his bag and started riding (thin pocket on his back). He went a couple hundred feet and it was following him but then stopped and just hovered in place. I flew it back safely with the controller after that. My guess is as soon as the phone and controller lost connection it stopped the follow me mode.

Overall I'm not to impressed with the follow me mode because of this. Shouldn't it be possible to make separate device that the solo could follow? And in the app have an option to switch it over to follow that device instead of the phone/controller. Having to use the phone/controller to follow is not very practical in most scenarios. I film race trucks at off-road desert races and plan on sitting in the passenger seat in a truck to try it out. But I wasn't even thinking about the antennas. @erikgraham if you find a good solution for cables and antennas to mount on the top of a truck/car please post about it. I think a magnet mount would work good.

I was just going to modify a GoPro mount. I'd be concerned a magnet mount could detune the antenna. Yes, following is flawed on the Solo for exactly the reason you describe. Read my post a few up from here (the overly long one). On older 3dr drones we could do exactly what you need.

 

[JD Films]

I was just going to modify a GoPro mount. I'd be concerned a magnet mount could detune the antenna. Yes, following is flawed on the Solo for exactly the reason you describe. Read my post a few up from here (the overly long one). On older 3dr drones we could do exactly what you need.

Yeah a suction cup mount would probably be good. I saw your post and sounds like it was a good way to do it. But why couldn't they do something similar for the Solo now? But make it even simpler so you don't need to use a phone with an antenna, just something like a GPS device with antenna that links to the solo. If 3DR won't do it maybe someone else could develop it. This is the only forum I have been on so far so I don't know if anyone else has been talking about this or the possibilities if there are any.

And I emailed 3DR asking the same thing and got this as a reply.

Hi Curtis,

Thank you for contacting 3DRobotics.

Hope your day is going well, about your concern, yes that is correct at the moment the Controller and Cell phone are needed in order to use the follow me feature, we are working to improve the Solo features, in the near future we will have more features available, about Tower is only available for Android.

If you have any other question or concern please feel free to contact us back.

Regards,

Ube Fuentes
3DR Technical Support

 

[BlueRidgeVis]

Man, looks like they need to create an add on. Like the Lily Drone's wrist mounted GPS device. Allow the solo to switch to following that and then switch back to the phone/controller combo when the shot is done.

 

[PdxSteve]

Haven't use them, but isn't that what "Tower Wear" gear is supposed to allow? You can use a pebble smartwatch or android wear device. I suppose it only works with Tower too. Introducing Tower Wear and Tower Pebble

 

[BlueRidgeVis]

Really?? I have a Garmin Fenix 3.... That has GPS & GLONASS..... Hmmmm