Too far off course error
Reviewed the entirety of posts, replies and recommendations to resolve the "Mission stopped - Too far off course" error message. BUT, still need assistance from more experienced Dronelink aficionado pilots to resolve this. Try as I might, I seem unable to identify what I might have incorrectly programmed in this simple mission to CONSISTENTLY produce this error at precisely the same spot each and every time I attempt to fly this mission:
https://app.dronelink.com/james-manley/grass-lake-trial/plan/qb4V6XnFQBFXlTXnQwME
UAV is a Mavic Mini. Wind is NOT a factor (as evidenced by flying same area manually at even higher altitudes using DJI Fly app immediately following the failed Dronelink mission). The aborted mission occurs at 3:05, +/- a second, into the mission.
The only outlier thought that has occurred to me is the fact that the uncontrolled Sugar Springs air park runway exists around 1000' from the drone location at the point when the mission aborts. Neither the "B4UFLY" app nor the "DJI FLY" app recognizes this area as a restricted area. Perhaps, Dronelink does?
I freely admit to my Dronelink rookie status and will really appreciate some guidance here.
Thank you.
Jim M
Comments
12 comments
It is possible the DJI flyzone stuff is in play. There are a slew of related issues that it could be (listed in this article). If you have already ruled out that list, you can move the mission plan somewhere else (away from any potential NFZ) to prove to yourself that the hardware is capable. If it works somewhere else then you know its specific to that location.
Thank you. Yes, I had earlier and completely reviewed all the information provided in the link you sent. I also reviewed the AirData flight logs for the two identical missions that failed at the point of receiving the same error message. Both logs showed no issues of any kind and both missions failed at nearly the precise, same location, within three feet of one another distance from the Home point and half a foot difference in altitude. I believe - - - and I welcome correction if in error - - - that the flight logs would have indicated at least an airport warning zone warning had there been one. I will most certainly take your advice and try a mission elsewhere. I guess the part that troubles my room temperature IQ is the error verbiage, i.e. "too far of course," when in fact the drone was dead nuts on course. When comparing the paths as represented in Dronelink with the 2D kmz file in Google Earth, you could easily cover them both with a handkerchief. Obviously, SOMETHING is producing the "fail" but the limitations of error messaging is not defining more accurately what the actual issue is. Should be a good day for flying here tomorrow, so I'll create another simple mission and give it a whirl. Thanks again. Jim Manley
Agree about the error message. In the case of NFZs, sometimes the DJI SDK does not report that the drone is in or near one until after the onboard firmware slows the aircraft down. In these cases, Dronelink has no way of knowing this is the cause (vs something else like wind), so it is unfortunate. I'm not saying we know for sure this is the case for you, but that is just an example. We do try to give the best error messages that we can, but sometimes it isn't always possible.
I had the same issue two days ago and im in the midle of nowhere so guaranteed 100% a no NFZ, I had the " too far of course," message and abort the mission three times in a row, it whent off by 23mt every time, i returned home and calibrated all sensor, compass, etc. tried again and same issue two more times then it completed th mission. perfect weather conditions, calm winds and sunny
There are other factors that might be in play, such as the performance of your mobile device.
Follow up to Enrique's and Jim's comments above: After having experienced the referenced "off course" issue and invoking Jim's advice, I took my Mini to a different location and flawlessly executed two distinctly different missions of varying and increasing complexity. Rather than burn a single additional neuron over the matter, I chalked up the earlier mishaps to Zeus. Hope you get yours worked out.
Same here....23 m off course....but the map shows it right on course. And it flew this path earlier with no problems.
Even if the drone looks to be on the blue line, it may be going into a headwind and unable to achieve the planned speed for the map. If this is the case, you need to slow the mission down.
Hey Jim, I was trying to fly a mission the other day and I'm sure it was the headwind causing the "off course" issue. My question is, would it be possible at some point to allow the drone to be "behind schedule" along the route, and still continue the mission? I'd imagine that since the iPad app appears to "compile" the mission when you load it and take off, timing is baked into the mission logic. Perhaps this is even how the various markers are triggered: not by position, but by precise mission time.
But it would sure be nice to allow the drone to be behind schedule along the track (but otherwise still within the horizontal tolerance value of the track) and not fail the mission, or at least have that option that you could turn on/off. I could see wanting precise along-track timing for more professional/cinematic uses, but for me, I just want the drone to follow a line, and am not too concerned about it maintaining its set speed. But I don't want to just lower the speed, either -- I'd prefer if it flew at the requested speed, if possible
I'm going to guess that what I'm "requesting" is fundamentally not possible with how DL works... Despite this, I remain very impressed with Dronelink and use it for all my missions -- thanks for all your hard work, Jim and team.
I would bet on too low performance of the mobile device.
It's the latest iPad Mini (gen 5) with A12 Bionic chip, and is dedicated to this drone kit, so doesn't have a ton of apps loaded onto it (actually none, other than DL and the 2 DJI Go apps). I'm quite certain it was the headwind.
We have this feature request on the roadmap already.
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