Satellite Reception - Hoping for a firmware update

[Chrislaf]

After flying my NEO for a while now, I find the satellite reception is definitely not as good as my other drones. It takes a long time to acquire enough satellites and when it does it often loses them again shortly thereafter. Because the battery life is so short, I find myself launching before the home point is updated and waiting for it to update in the air. I hope DJI will issue a firmware update in the near future to address this issue. Also, when both GPS and VPS are not available it seems the drone becomes difficult to control reacting like it has a compass error.

Chris

 

[GFields]

I haven't had too much of a problem here.

 

[GerdS]

The Neo GPS receiver is not a powerful standard chip as with the other DJI drones, but some low-cost soludtion designed by DJI themselves. Same applies to the GPS antenna. I doubt DJI will be able speeding up cold-start acquisition time significantly.

 

[Kilrah]

Never seen a significant difference here. Was actually faster to acquire than my Avata 2 on several occasions lately.
I usually turn on the drone first and by the time I'm ready with the rest it's got its homepoint.

 

[Chrislaf]

The bulk of my flying with he NEO is either tracking shots (Active Track with controller) or flying low to the ground through the forest. If I compare the NEO satellite acquisition to my Mini 3 Pro in similar flying conditions, it is much slower and looses it more often. The additional problem is that I average about 11 minutes per battery, so if I have to wait a few minutes for satellite acquisition, then that is precious battery time being wasted. This often causes me to launch before the homeport is updated which in most cases is fine since I set RTH to hover when flying low and through the forest.

Chris

 

[Droning on and on...]

After flying my NEO for a while now, I find the satellite reception is definitely not as good as my other drones. It takes a long time to acquire enough satellites and when it does it often loses them again shortly thereafter. Because the battery life is so short, I find myself launching before the home point is updated and waiting for it to update in the air. I hope DJI will issue a firmware update in the near future to address this issue. Also, when both GPS and VPS are not available it seems the drone becomes difficult to control reacting like it has a compass error.

Chris

I wonder if your northern latitude has anything to do with it. IIRC fixes get harder to acquire the closer you get to the pole?

 

[Chrislaf]

I wonder if your northern latitude has anything to do with it. IIRC fixes get harder to acquire the closer you get to the pole?

I’m not that far North, just about an hour and a half drive north of Toronto.

Today I launched my Mavic 3 Pro and then the NEO from the same location where it sometimes takes a while for enough satellites for GPS to mark the home point. To my surprise it didn’t take much longer than my M3Pro for enough satellites.

It was the same location (beaver pond) where I almost lost my NEO a few days ago. No problems today other than wind warnings.

Chris

 

[NeoNeo]

The Neo GPS receiver is not a powerful standard chip as with the other DJI drones, but some low-cost soludtion designed by DJI themselves. Same applies to the GPS antenna. I doubt DJI will be able speeding up cold-start acquisition time significantly.

Similar assumption. Neo vs. Avata2. Same location. Sometimes "side by side". Neo is slower to acquire with lower total number of satellites locked. Add sometimes significant fluctuations in number of satellites locked. Start acquisition time I can live with. At time it becomes a bit concerning when satellite number drop into the Red zone. But not issue with flying.

 

[ryguy80]

I have noticed the slower satellite acquisition and drop issues as well with the Neo flying in a similar location. Seems far more sensitive than my other drones (Mini 3 & 4 Pro’s, Air 3S, and Mavic 3). Not sure if its something that can be corrected by firmware or just a limitation of the chipset. Guessing it’s a more inexpensive chipset to hit the price point than what’s in the higher end drones.

 

[Chrislaf]

I have noticed the slower satellite acquisition and drop issues as well with the Neo flying in a similar location. Seems far more sensitive than my other drones (Mini 3 & 4 Pro’s, Air 3S, and Mavic 3). Not sure if its something that can be corrected by firmware or just a limitation of the chipset. Guessing it’s a more inexpensive chipset to hit the price point than what’s in the higher end drones.

You are likely right about the chipset. I continue to test mine so I can determine its limits and be better able to fly within those limits.

For example yesterday there were strong wind gusts. I flew the NEO up to see how it would do and got a wind warning at 26.28km/h (16.3mph) and noticed the NEO struggling so brought it down lower.

Regardless, I still love the NEO. I take it everywhere like I do with my light low-end DSLR.

Chris