More Utah

[Scijohn23]

Mantis Q. Lessons learned on this flight. The Mantis Q tracks altitude from take off location, not by sonar sensors. So if you fly it off a cliff and try to descend to the bottom it thinks you are trying to land and descends at a snails pace. I decided not to push it to the bottom out of fear the Mantis would presume it was near the ground and cut power.

 

[DoomMeister]

So you are saying it is a slower descent than when the Mantis is at a higher than takeoff altitude? If I remember correctly the descent rate for most of the Yuneec aircraft is about half of their climb rate.

Here are the rated speeds for the Mantis Q:

Max Ascent Speed:

Angle/Manual Mode: 6.7mph (3m/s)
Sport: 8.9mph (4m/s)
IPS Mode: 2.2mph (1m/s)
Phone Mode: 4.5 mph (2m/s)

Max Descent Speed:

Angle/Manual Mode: 4.5 mph (2m/s)
Sport Mode: 6.7mph (3m/s)
IPS/ Phone Mode: 2.2mph (1m/s)

Since IPS and Phone modes slow descent to 1 m/s, I’m wondering if IPS mode may be getting triggered when you fly over the edge and descend below takeoff height.

You are pretty good at testing theories with your Mantis @Scijohn23. Next time you have the opportunity see if the descent rate slows once you get to the takeoff height and if the mode possibly changes to IPS.

BTW, great photo and love seeing the different areas from your travels. Safe travel to you always!

 

[Scijohn23]

So you are saying it is a slower descent than when the Mantis is at a higher than takeoff altitude? If I remember correctly the descent rate for most of the Yuneec aircraft is about half of their climb rate.

Here are the rated speeds for the Mantis Q:

Max Ascent Speed:

Angle/Manual Mode: 6.7mph (3m/s)
Sport: 8.9mph (4m/s)
IPS Mode: 2.2mph (1m/s)
Phone Mode: 4.5 mph (2m/s)

Max Descent Speed:

Angle/Manual Mode: 4.5 mph (2m/s)
Sport Mode: 6.7mph (3m/s)
IPS/ Phone Mode: 2.2mph (1m/s)

Since IPS and Phone modes slow descent to 1 m/s, I’m wondering if IPS mode may be getting triggered when you fly over the edge and descend below takeoff height.

You are pretty good at testing theories with your Mantis @Scijohn23. Next time you have the opportunity see if the descent rate slows once you get to the takeoff height and if the mode possibly changes to IPS.

BTW, great photo and love seeing the different areas from your travels. Safe travel to you always!

I didn’t watch to see if it switched to ips mode but it was much slower than 1m/s. It slows to the same rate as it does about 6 inches from the ground when landing. It’s like the flight controller is saying the ground should be here I better slow down before I hit it. We’re talking several seconds to drop a meter. I’ll remember to watch the mode next time. I’m also going to finally try the follow me mode and see if it will climb as I climb a hill.

 

[DoomMeister]

@Scijohn23

Looks like the logic in the firmware is the root of the sloooow descent into areas beneath the takeoff point. The following is the response from a Yuneec representative.

“The descent logic does not only depend on GPS since it's usually not precise as requirement. We also adopt the combined sensors result and make a decision. For this case you mentioned, it does not work as expected due to various reasons since present logic is a little conservative, which is originally designed to avoid big risk.”

I would suggest switching to Sport mode and see if you can get a quicker descent rate that way.

 

[Scijohn23]

I will definitely try in sport mode and see what happens. There is a cave I would like to photograph that is located below a cliff face I can get to, although I may test this first to be sure the Mantis doesn’t power down when this “conservative logic” kicks in.