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Mimic unsuitable for aerial work

Discussion in 'MIMIC' started by Paul Christopher Greene, Aug 22, 2015.

  1. Paul Christopher Greene

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    After more than a dozen flights, and moving the Mimic RX to the end of the M15 MR landers, we have most regrettably come to the conclusion that Mimic, in its current incarnation, is simply unusable for drone work. Under near perfect line of sight conditions, we've perhaps gotten as much as 500 - 600' range, but typically are only seeing between 200' - 300' or so which is unsuitable for aerial work.

    We use Paralinx Tomahawk which consistently delivers most if not all of its 2000 foot range as does our RT Motion follow focus and DJI A2 FC. Mimic is really the weak link and as far as I can tell, there's nothing more we can do to improve it's performance.

    We've considered trying to hack the antenna in an effort to amplify it but are not sure if that violates laws or terms of service. I really do not understand how a standard RC TX can control MoVI from thousands of feet away and Mimic can not, but *very* much hope this issue will be addressed as Mimic matures out of beta into a shipping product.

    Until then we will go back to the dreaded joystick RC control and wait for improvements. I share this not in an effort to slam Freefly - I am a huge fan and love our MoVI. In fact, my other posts rave about this wonderful much needed solution, and for those doing hand held in close range, it is a god send. That said, I feel other heavy lifter ops should know what to expect and hope to save them the many spoiled shoots we've experienced learning this info lol.

    My thanks to FF for an incredible proof of concept and short range tool. I hope evolving Mimic is a priority and would love to hear others experiences most especially if they contradict our own findings.

    Thank you,
     
  2. Derek Cooper

    Derek Cooper Active Member

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    It's the transmission strength on the MIMIC that is the limiting factor - we are testing a 3W range booster system.

    This also looks interesting as an option:

    http://goo.gl/xcvDO5
     
  3. Paul Christopher Greene

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    Good for you Derek. Please let me know how it goes. We too are looking at rolling our own solution as Mimic is just too good to have to give up due to range problems. So frustrating lol. Also, check out another post I'm about to make on our hacking one of our Mimics into VR headset :) It's every bit as awesome as it sounds...best of luck. Thank you.
     
  4. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

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    I am also trying a 3W range booster, on the ground it looks very promising. Will test in the air soon, if I can get pass the 200' mark :)
     
  5. Paul Christopher Greene

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    200 meters or feet? Under PERFECT conditions (lol how often do we have those?) we do occasionally get 600' - 800' feet or so, but again, that's the very rare exception and reliable communication to 1000' under challenging conditions and 2000' feet under great conditions is required for the feature and episodic work we do and why we committed to Paralinx Tomahawk, RT Motion FIZ etc as they easily meet that spec.

    Thank you,
     
  6. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

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    Feet. Under good conditions, max range we have seen is around 350 feet.
     
  7. Paul Christopher Greene

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    Yeah lol...not nearly enough.

     
  8. Derek Cooper

    Derek Cooper Active Member

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    Paul -
    900' with the booster in dense urban setting - outlasted our Tomahawk! Woohoo. Pretty pictures in another FF thread here:

    http://goo.gl/arpH26

    I'll go look for your FRANKENMIMIC now.
     
  9. Paul Christopher Greene

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    I'm going to go buy your antenna booster now! :)

    Thanks mate!



     

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