Repeated Connection to GPS Loss

[AerialRob]

Hi Lee

Did the default wifi power alter with the August software update ?
The problem has been more noticeable over the last few months.

Testing at home and in the plane this morning I use an Anker 21000 battery ,fully charged, with the set up as it is normally flown.
The PilotAware is positioned on a rubber mat ontop of the coaming with the iPhone on a vertical hanging bracket so it is directly within my external sight line.
I have the satellite dongle facing forward and so the wifi dongle is shielded by the PilotAware device and the wifi device is about 200mm from the rear of my iphone.

On a flight the other day when I was a passenger ,due to repeated wifi loss , I took my iPhone from its holder and flew holding it and the wifi did not drop out.

Thanks


 

[Admin]

Hi Rob

Its sounding as if the problem is when too close, possibly overloading the RF ?

I suggest the tests would be

1 running units close together
2 running far apart 10ft

Repeat dropping the wifi power to see what effect if any.

I think you can actually run the wifi quite happily at lowest power setting
 
Thx
Lee

[Admin]

Hi Rob,

Are you running iOS version 10 by any chance ?

I have just upgraded one of my devices to iOS 10 and noticed that the WiFi support for mode B devices seems very poor
I recommend switching to mode G, full post here

http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,672.0.html

Thx
Lee

[MikeD]

Hi,

Having read all of this post regarding the 'Repeated Connection to GPS Loss' has prompted me to contact you. I was experiencing the same on my last flight but now it refuses to connect  in any configuration (tried all of the suggestions in the post above).  On the Home page the Interface TRX (RXTX) remains red and in Skydemon (that has the latest version loaded) the 'Seeking GPS Satellites' will eventually time out with the appropriate message of '0 found'.

I have a 2.4A power pack that is connected with a good quality very short USB cable. After powering up the unit I can see Green light  flashing then alternating with a Red light.

Nothing has been changed since last time I used it. This only happened when I was attempting to demonstrate it to a fellow pilot at our club (egg of face syndrome  )

Any ideas? This was one of the first manufactured units you supplied.

Note: After composing this message but before posting it I have removed the Wifi dongle (that was quite warm to the touch), left it for several minutes before replacing it. On start up after several minutes we are back in business but I don't know how long for! Would this be an intermittent fault with the dongle when it warms up?  On my last flight of 90 minutes it lost connection 4 times!

Mike

[MikeD]

Hi again,

I forgot to mention in the previous post that I'm using a Nexus 7 2013 with the latest software release. The SD is the latest release as is the Pilotaware.

Mike

[Paul_Sengupta]

"Seeking GPS satellites" isn't a Wifi issue, that's the GPS not receiving satellites. "0 found" in Sky Demon isn't a timeout, it's just a current status. It should pick them up after a period of time, possibly related to the last time it was switched on and got a satellite lock.

[MikeD]

Hi,

Reading my post again I see that I didn't explain what happened properly.  The "The connection to your GPS has been lost" happened on my last flight (4 times) the 'Seeking GPS' message is happening now and I'm failing to get a connection between SD and PA.

I'm in the process of attempting to recreate the the issues again but am getting weird things happen. I've managed to take a short video (MP4) that shows some strange interaction between SD and PA.
 

[AerialRob]

Hi Lee.
I haven't upgraded to iOS 10 yet but I will follow your advice when I do.
Thanks for that information as it may have saved an unsuccessful test flight with the lower wifi output setting .

[AerialRob]

Pleased to report that reducing the PilotAware wifi output from 100mW to 5mW kept the connection with my iPhone 6 for a 40 minute flight today.

Thanks Lee.

I need to decide on the iOS update now.

[MikeD]

Thanks Lee for the guidance, I've been testing the PA for several days with the changes to the Wifi Mode you suggested and it would appear that it has fixed the issues I've been having with the connection dropping out. 

As regards to the behavior of randomly change of  direction (while testing Skydemon at home)  I think it's down to the weak GPS signal that I have at home because I've noticed that the signal drops out very shortly after it happens.