Originally Posted by ianwood

If what happened to Barry is what happened to me, it was the assumption the craft was pointing in the same direction as what was on the screen. In other words, if the camera is in follow mode, the assumption is that it is following.

In my case the craft was about 30 feet in front of me and 20 feet off the ground, and I my eyes were on it, not the screen. I could see its orientation, and it was moving in the opposite direction of the stick input. In the end, I let off on the sticks and it continued drifting the last few feet into the wires. the whole thing lasted less than 5 seconds. I'm sure a better pilot could have saved it. (looking back I should have just leaned on the throttle) but there was definitely something going on that day that was backwards from what I'd expected.

B

...

Originally Posted by ianwood

My bad. Yes. Kinetics.

Thanks for the tip! Just wanted to make sure I got the right one!

Originally Posted by ianwood

If what happened to Barry is what happened to me, it was the assumption the craft was pointing in the same direction as what was on the screen. In other words, if the camera is in follow mode, the assumption is that it is following.



My bad. Yes. Kinetics.

This is another reason I won't use the CrystalSky... the orientation compass in the lower left in the Go4 app doesn't work properly with the CS and I've relied on it a lot in various situations. There are so many times that I've had to fly solo and focus on my video screen... look up and have trouble finding the drone, but then use the compass indicator to find the direction and then see the exact orientation as well... The CS compass hardware just doesn't work like it does in the iPad mini... so I stick with the iPad mini and Hoodman sunshade which is also easier to see and keep focused.

Originally Posted by srandall25

This is another reason I won't use the CrystalSky... the orientation compass in the lower left in the Go4 app doesn't work properly with the CS and I've relied on it a lot in various situations. There are so many times that I've had to fly solo and focus on my video screen... look up and have trouble finding the drone, but then use the compass indicator to find the direction and then see the exact orientation as well... The CS compass hardware just doesn't work like it does in the iPad mini... so I stick with the iPad mini and Hoodman sunshade which is also easier to see and keep focused.

You can also use the fpv cam for orientating. It wil show the homepoint with a small yellow dot.

Originally Posted by time2shift

You can also use the fpv cam for orientating. It wil show the homepoint with a small yellow dot.

Oh wow. Never knew that about the yellow dot. Learn something new every day. So there is a use for the low res FPV after all...

Originally Posted by time2shift

You can also use the fpv cam for orientating. It wil show the homepoint with a small yellow dot.

Yep. I actually used that feature today.


Dave

Originally Posted by srandall25

Oh wow. Never knew that about the yellow dot. Learn something new every day. So there is a use for the low res FPV after all...

Same here. Noticed it some weeks ago.

Interesting article in the New York Times today ....


“Chinese Drones Made in America: One Company’s Plan to Win Over Trump


By Cecilia Kang
June 24, 2019

WASHINGTON — DJI, the large Chinese drone maker, is facing mounting security concerns within the Trump administration that its flying machines could send sensitive surveillance data back to China. Now, the company is trying to get on American officials’ good side by building a new product in the United States.

The company, which is privately held, said on Monday that it would repurpose a warehouse in Cerritos, Calif., to assemble a new version of a drone that has been popular among federal and local government agencies. The assembly of its flying devices in the United States will represent a small percentage of DJI’s overall global production. But it could help the company meet some necessary federal requirements.

In addition, the company is building the new machine, called the Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual, so that it can save data it collects only on the drone itself, and can be taken off the machine only after it lands. The machine cannot transfer any of the information wirelessly online.

The new production facility and the drone’s data features, the company hopes, will be enough to allow the new product to be sold in the United States. About 70 percent of all drones in the country are supplied by DJI, according to one estimate. The company makes small drones for hobbyists as well as the higher-end industrial grade drones used to survey remote areas and forest fires, among other uses.


The announcement comes as President Trump prepares to meet with President Xi Jinping of China this week for trade talks that have put Chinese and American tech companies in the cross hairs of a prolonged and punishing battle over trade and a race for technology leadership.

The White House has said that the telecommunications giant Huawei and other Chinese technology companies have the ability to spy and steal commercial and government secrets, posing a security threat to the United States. Those concerns have bled into the trade and economic war with China, sending chills across the global technology industry.

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Shenzhen-based DJI, or Da Jiang Innovations Science and Technology, is the latest Chinese technology company scrambling to retain its ability to sell to the United States.

Huawei was put on an exports blacklist last month. Last week, the Commerce Department put five more Chinese businesses on its “entity list,” which restricts the companies from purchasing American goods. Getting on the list can be a crippling blow for many makers of products like smartphones and wireless networks because they use global supply chains to gather all the necessary parts.


DJI has not been put on the administration’s export blacklist. But starting in late 2017, it became the focus of government scrutiny after American customs and immigration officials raised concerns that the drones, with cameras, mapping technology and infrared scanners, could be used to collect sensitive data and send it back to the Chinese government. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning expressing those same concerns about Chinese-made drones.
DJI executives reject the claims that its products post security vulnerabilities.

“We are getting caught up in geopolitical issues of the day,” Mario Rebello, vice president of DJI’s North American operations, said in an interview. “There is a lot of fear and hype, and a lot of it is not true and misleading.”

By assembling 60 percent of the new drone in the United States, DJI said it would be able to file for certification that its devices meet requirements of the Trade Agreement Act. The law requires that government agencies can purchase some products only if they are made in the United States.

DJI’s government customers have largely been using waivers to circumvent the trade law. Mr. Rebello said the company believed that it was now more likely to be blocked from selling to government agencies without certification that its products complied with the law.


DJI’s compliance with the law should give its customers greater comfort with security and safety of the machine, Mr. Rebello said. The new drone, meant for emergency responders, filmmakers and industrial inspections, is capable of carrying heavier cameras and other payload. It will be priced at up to $4,000.

The Cerritos plant was previously used by DJI to store drones for distribution. The assembly operations will bring in some highly skilled workers to put the drones together but is not expected to have a major effect on jobs.

“We are going to be more proactive to make sure we are saying as much information as possible,” Mr. Rebello said. “We’ve planned to invest in America but right now the time is right.”

Last month, however, Mr. Trump said, “If we made a deal, I can imagine Huawei being included in some form of, some part of a trade deal.”

Chinese officials have pushed back against the United States restrictions on Chinese companies. The Chinese government threatened Microsoft and Dell and Samsung of South Korea that it would face dire consequences if they cooperated with the recent export ban.

The Chinese government also said it was assembling its own blacklist of “unreliable” companies that would have trouble operating in the Chinese market.”


Dave

Originally Posted by DWA

Interesting article in the New York Times today ....

DJI – Introducing DJI Government Edition (2 min 41 sec)

Originally Posted by Harryscopic

DJI – Introducing DJI Government Edition (2 min 41 sec)

The gentlemen in this video mentions the government edition "avoids automatic firmware updates that can potentially impact our operational schedule"... some of the features I hear in this edition should really also be features already inherent of the consumer products... i.e., no firmware updates should automatically be pushed to our consumer products without our consent... Don't we have to manually push firmware updates to our consumer drones today? I'm a little confused why DJI is touting this as a feature of the government edition...

Exactly, they should all be "Government edition".

Originally Posted by Harryscopic

Exactly, they should all be "Government edition".

DJI has been extremely naive with it's assumptions that it could do whatever it wanted regarding it's products and real, or even perceived, data collection without there being real consequences. Years ago now, they could have done something to avert this situation but they obviously thought it was worth it to them to continue and just label anyone protesting as the "tin-hat" crowd.

Guess that is starting to change, finally. Maybe too late though.

Originally Posted by Dave Pitman

DJI has been extremely naive with it's assumptions that it could do whatever it wanted regarding it's products and real, or even perceived, data collection without there being real consequences. Years ago now, they could have done something to avert this situation but they obviously thought it was worth it to them to continue and just label anyone protesting as the "tin-hat" crowd.

Guess that is starting to change, finally. Maybe too late though.

This issue was debated and discussed to death many times long ago. And I still can't see how the information gathered at DJI's servers can be of any harm to USA national security. Or any other nation for that matter. Who - and how - will be ever able to analyze such vast amount of data, sift irrelevant info out and use specific aerial imagery or flight logs for espionage? But maybe that's me who's naive, please enlighten me ...

It should also be added that US users data that they choose to sync is held on US based AWS servers as well. It’s another thing that’s gets glossed over.


As for the forced update they have not done it in a long time and I agree that’s an bit of an off statement to put in, i guess it’s more trying to kill perceived reality than actual reality.


Everyone has had control over their own data for years, there has never been forced syncing, that has always been by choice and data was was synced is held on servers in your own country.

While Offline mode and other things have been to appease so quarters it’s still never been necessary, flight mode and that’s it, it’s not hard.

The changes today are another step to appease but again not really necessary as if government agency’s can’t follow basic data safeguards then there are larger issues than what is perceived to be with these.

Spying on a country with drones via logged data is way to complex. There are satellites that can do a far better job than that, and most of the best ones we made, spying is ok as long as it’s us doing it and its not done too us it seems .


Anyways just passing though and gone again.