Beacon: Target lock, Dronie, and other issues with examples

Lifeisfun · May 7, 2020

Ridefreak · May 7, 2020

I've seen that also, not quite so blatant but other possible subjects sure screw up the tracking. I'd like to see this fixed. Time for a note to SD.

skydioconvert · May 7, 2020

Agree ... if the reported distance to SD2 was 1646m and elevation was -20m, I would have done a simpler following test before having it try to follow me on a bike.

It's probably not coincidence that when the beacon tracking switched to GPS it appeared to try and follow the nearby walking couple when it did so. Multiple nearby moving targets seem to be involved in more than one S2 loosing target lock.

No comments from the user appeared in YT clip so its hard to judge to what extent the beacon was properly bound to the S2 or whether there's a bad beacon involved..... suspect the latter.

Lifeisfun · May 7, 2020

The S2 was tracking him fine for 15 min, until other possible targets showed up.
Log was sent to Skydio

Ridefreak · May 7, 2020

Same thing I've experienced. To me it's the most annoying bug of the SD2.

Lifeisfun · May 7, 2020

Ridefreak said:
Same thing I've experienced. To me it's the most annoying bug of the SD2.

Perhaps you can upload log as well, could help them to trace it down.

Ridefreak · May 7, 2020

I wrote them, waiting on a response.

Lifeisfun · May 8, 2020

Ridefreak said:
I wrote them, waiting on a response.

I usually upload the flight log and then contact support with vehicle ID and problem description.
They will confirm that it was received, and immediately comment on it.
One thing important is to have devices that were used to control the S2 connected to the S2 when creating the flight log file for upload.

Ridefreak · May 8, 2020

ok thanks

Lifeisfun · May 8, 2020

Here is another example, with response to the owner by Skydio

Skydio reached out and explained that the vehicle prioritizes Visual tracking over GPS tracking after seeing this video. They also told me that they are aware of this behavior, are making improvements, and looking at alternatives for a better experience.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with an Android device and the disconnect when locking the device. I'm wondering if this is causing an issue and recommendations for better usage.

Lifeisfun · May 13, 2020

Please read the comment by the owner in the YT description

max2 · May 14, 2020

My beacon is under the Gopro (within 4" to 5"). I think when my gopro is power-on, it might cause some electromagnetic interference around them which then makes my skydio2 act confused. (Tracking beacon GPS seems to have higher priority than visual locking). I was lucky because my skydio 2 was not in front of me or in my direction, otherwise I would hit it really hard...

max2 · May 14, 2020

skydioconvert said:
Agree ... if the reported distance to SD2 was 1646m and elevation was -20m, I would have done a simpler following test before having it try to follow me on a bike.

It's probably not coincidence that when the beacon tracking switched to GPS it appeared to try and follow the nearby walking couple when it did so. Multiple nearby moving targets seem to be involved in more than one S2 loosing target lock.

No comments from the user appeared in YT clip so its hard to judge to what extent the beacon was properly bound to the S2 or whether there's a bad beacon involved..... suspect the latter.

If interested, you could refer to the whole video clip about the beacon performance. I think it is pretty good. I usually begin flying my drone from a hill, so it would go down to -20m or so. I also have a controller, and I am thinking to try my controller instead from today.

Lifeisfun · May 14, 2020

@max2 Thanks for joining and posting those examples!

skydioconvert · May 14, 2020

max2 said:
If interested, you could refer to the whole video clip about the beacon performance. I think it is pretty good. I usually begin flying my drone from a hill, so it would go down to -20m or so. I also have a controller, and I am thinking to try my controller instead from today.

Not sure why the video in this threads post #21 was only 42 seconds long but after seeing this version of the video (19 + min long) and hearing your explanation about starting from a hill, the negative elevation read out now makes sense.

Why the S2 originally lost target lock with the beacon of course still needs to determined ...

Why not duplicate your trip but this time NOT take your GoPro? ... if the target lock is not lost again (in the same spot) chances are good your GoPro somehow??? confused the S2's visual tracking system forcing it to go to GPS tracking.

FWIW I think the loss of target lock had much more to do with nearby couple walking near you and confusing the S2.
It simply wasn't smart enough to ignore the moving couple and stay locked on you alone..

P.S. Let us know how it all turns out