DJI Firmware Update and New Functions – Phantom 3
DJI released a firmware update (1.4.0010) for the Phantom 3 Professional (as well as others) this morning, and updates to their iOS (v2.2.0) and Android (v2.1.0) DJI GO applications. I spent time updating the firmware on the bird, updating my iOS device, calibrating (and re-calibrating) the IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit – in english – the bird’s brain and senses) then calibrating the gimbal and remote controller, and lastly did a compass recalibration just for good measure.
An hour or so later, the bird is ready to fly!
I scared the crap out of myself – there was very little wind at ground level, but about 100′ up it was blustery – I saw the UAV drifting left and panicked – landing her quickly. Needlessly recalibrated the compass and sent it back up. Now I grok’d that it was windy and continued on with my test of the drone – running through basics (hover, yaw, altitude, rotate, etc…) Once satisfied it all worked I used my house for testing the POI (Point of Interest) functionality. It works pretty damn good.
[youtube=https://youtu.be/G7-YT6-e2lo&rel=0&width=1000]
Once the wind dies down a bit, and the heat subsides (man its hot as hell today) I’m planning on taking a longer POI shot as well as running through the other new functions.
One huge negative IMO is the fact that in order to use the new Waypoints to plot out a ‘mission’ you need to actually fly it and set each waypoint – you cant just set an altitude and lat/lon position on the map. This is probably a safety measure so that you don’t plot a waypoint in the middle of a tree or building, but it should be overridable in the options.
