Dronelink app froze during Follow Me
I was in the backcountry, using DL to execute a Follow Me mission using Mavic Mini.
After 3-4 minutes, the app gave a warning that RC signal is disconnected and froze.
The drone was still in the sky, about 20-30 m, and not moving. I tried to regain control, but the RC sticks won't work. I tried opening DJI app, still no help. Tried restarting DL, but it wouldn't recognise the old mission. I tried pushing RTH button on the RC, but still didn't get any result and the drone remained stationary in the air. I then pressed the RTH for a longer duration and then the drone began to come done and I could retrieve it.
Can you explain why did this happen and what could be done to prevent it in future?
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Dronelink requires a constant connection to the drone to function. If the RC temporarily loses connection, the drone will come to a hover, and if it stays disconnected then the onboard firmware will automatically initiate RTH. If it connects soon enough, the automatic RTH will not be initiated but the drone will still be in "virtual stick" mode, meaning it will ignore stick inputs. On other drones like the M2 Pro and P4, you simply flip the flight mode switch to S and you immediately get control back. On the Mini, since there is no flight mode switch, you have to long press the hardware RTH button, which will initiate RTH (thus getting the drone out of virtual stick mode), and then you either let the RTH finish, it press the RTH button again to cancel it, at which point you have control. This process is a bit cumbersome (at least for the Mini due to the lack of the flight mode switch) and it is why we include the warning during the follow setup asking if you know how to take control, which is discussed here.
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