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Interference: Theory of workaround, maybe?

CRXPanda

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Hello, I am new to flying, but not to tech.

I have not yet flown my drone, but I have done testing without props.

It lost connection once, though it never truly left the ground (no props). Second test, the controller said it rose a few feet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I then pushed the left joystick down until the motors turned off (landing).

Meanwhile, with my macbook, I determined the controller's SSID and channel (GAE511....etc. and CHANNEL 11). Would anyone else please check their CHANNEL and tell me if its the same?

Macbook allows a scan.
File_000.jpeg

Android has an app.
iPad/iPhone disallows viewing.

My theory is, if I can scan the area for wifi channels that may interfere with my Karma, I can relocate (since I haven't found a way to change the channel on the Karma controller) or change my personal wifi channel(s).

I camp with a camper. I have a cellular wifi hotspot and a repeater. I can change their channels.

What say ye?

Oh, ps. My Camper is Serenity (channel 10, will be changing that soon) and others in my home network are the ones with the MAC addresses whited out.

Channel 11 seems to be a neighbor as well as the Karma controller.





Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
OMG!!! This an awesome read!!! Thanks for the link.

I found a drone teardown too. No software info, but there's a closeup on the gps antenna.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
@CRXPanda I forgot to mention earlier...

Did you notice the slot mount on the side-pod circuit board (at 1:39 of the video)??!??!???!?

upload_2017-8-3_23-23-58.png

upload_2017-8-3_23-25-58.png

To me, it looks like it a slot for a Micro SD card. I wonder why iFixit didn't mention anything about it?

Hmmmm. Makes me wanna do ....

 
Yes! I noticed and sent you a pm with the screenshot. Makes me wanna go sticking one in and seeing what happens.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
@CRXPanda I'm certain that the Karma Controller is running Android v4.4 KitKat. I don't know what's running internally in the Drone.

Interestingly, I noticed a couple of more things. First, near the end of the video, it interesting to see that the Qualcomm WiFi/BT module is on the bottom side of the assembly, separated from the main board by sheetmetal shielding, and the RF antennas are a pair of big X's ....

upload_2017-8-4_21-34-35.png

But even more interesting, when iFixit shows the TI Digital MPU there's some interesting magic text silkscreened onto the PCB....

upload_2017-8-4_21-36-29.png

To me, it looks like the "DM368_DEBUG" label is pointing to the 10-hole J36, not the 3 pin plug at J2.

I googled "DM368" and found ....

upload_2017-8-4_21-40-42.png
http://www.ti.com/product/TMS320DM368

Very interesting.
 
I wonder if the flyaways we keep hearing about over the last few days relate to the Kp index being a bit high lately?

@McToddy what date did your incident occur?
 
Hello, I am new to flying, but not to tech.

I have not yet flown my drone, but I have done testing without props.

It lost connection once, though it never truly left the ground (no props). Second test, the controller said it rose a few feet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I then pushed the left joystick down until the motors turned off (landing).

Meanwhile, with my macbook, I determined the controller's SSID and channel (GAE511....etc. and CHANNEL 11). Would anyone else please check their CHANNEL and tell me if its the same?

Macbook allows a scan.
File_000.jpeg

Android has an app.
iPad/iPhone disallows viewing.

My theory is, if I can scan the area for wifi channels that may interfere with my Karma, I can relocate (since I haven't found a way to change the channel on the Karma controller) or change my personal wifi channel(s).

I camp with a camper. I have a cellular wifi hotspot and a repeater. I can change their channels.

What say ye?

Oh, ps. My Camper is Serenity (channel 10, will be changing that soon) and others in my home network are the ones with the MAC addresses whited out.

Channel 11 seems to be a neighbor as well as the Karma controller.





Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'm not a computer guy, but understand what's being said to some degree. I reactivated an old android phone, downloaded a wifi sniffer and my GAE511********* is on Channel 1. It is tied to the Karma, too, not the controller as I turn the controller off and it stays active. Turn the drone off and it goes off. Of course, every freaking wifi network in my neighborhood is also on channel 1.
 
I believe it is from the drone to the controller. The drone has a Qualcomm wifi/bluetooth module in it (according to iFixit's youtube video). When I turn on the controller, I do not see the GAE... only the other trying to get on my home network.

So I take it as: drone is like a router the controller connects to. The controller tells the "router" what to do. The router only allows one connection (like I do with my repeaters), so when connection is lost it has a hard time getting the connection back (like my repeaters).

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
 
As a follow-up, and to test a personal theory, I changed my personal wifi devices in my home to channel 1 and restarted the drone. My thought was that, perhaps, the drone has a routine to choose a channel not likely to be overrun with other strong devices nearby; however, even sitting right next to devices on the same channel, my drone always chooses channel 1. As an aside, the camera, when disconnected from the drone, always seems to choose channel 6. So, is each drone hardwired to choose a certain channel and each camera, as well?
 
I did not check the camera's channel, but my drone stays on channel 11.

As for the 2.4 GHz range they're using, we get 1-13 channels. So any other drones on wifi could pose an issue, agree?

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
 
Any thing with wifi, not just other drones, and one might be surprised at all the things that have built in wifi these days, and/or operate in the same spectrum, even in places like the state park I was in when mine went wonky.
 

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