I sent an email to my 3DR support contact asking how to evaluate the WiFI environment to know when it's safe to fly.
I know the Solo (bird in the air) will see a different WiFi environment than the controller (on the ground), but there must be some way to evaluate the environment to know if we will see issues or not.
I'm referring to interference here, not RF radio range.
I was surprised the other day, flying in what appeared to be an open field, not very close to buildings, there was a VERY strong WiFi signal. Come to find out it had the name of my friend on it (we used his car to drive to this field). He wasn't even aware that his car had a hot spot in it (not to mention that the hot spot SSID was his name!). We checked his vehical's menus and couldn't find a way to disable the WiFi hot spot in it. Luckily it seemed to turn itself off a couple of minutes after the car was shut off (it was a 2015 Chevy mini SUV).
So if the Solo is susceptible to WiFi interference, we certainly can't stop random cards from driving up, or someone showing up that has their phone in their pocket in a 'hot spot enabled' mode.
Perhaps 3DR can put a WiFi scanner into the controller to provide us with some sort of visibility into how crowded the WiFi environment is in the area to be flown? Or, they need to make the controller to Solo signal more robust and less susceptible to loss of signal?
FYI: I lost controller signal once when my Solo was VERY close to me (about 30 feet up / 30 feet out). Luckily it hasn't happened again, but I haven't flown it much since this loss of control happened.
I know the Solo (bird in the air) will see a different WiFi environment than the controller (on the ground), but there must be some way to evaluate the environment to know if we will see issues or not.
I'm referring to interference here, not RF radio range.
I was surprised the other day, flying in what appeared to be an open field, not very close to buildings, there was a VERY strong WiFi signal. Come to find out it had the name of my friend on it (we used his car to drive to this field). He wasn't even aware that his car had a hot spot in it (not to mention that the hot spot SSID was his name!). We checked his vehical's menus and couldn't find a way to disable the WiFi hot spot in it. Luckily it seemed to turn itself off a couple of minutes after the car was shut off (it was a 2015 Chevy mini SUV).
So if the Solo is susceptible to WiFi interference, we certainly can't stop random cards from driving up, or someone showing up that has their phone in their pocket in a 'hot spot enabled' mode.
Perhaps 3DR can put a WiFi scanner into the controller to provide us with some sort of visibility into how crowded the WiFi environment is in the area to be flown? Or, they need to make the controller to Solo signal more robust and less susceptible to loss of signal?
FYI: I lost controller signal once when my Solo was VERY close to me (about 30 feet up / 30 feet out). Luckily it hasn't happened again, but I haven't flown it much since this loss of control happened.