New app: TelloFPV for Android

[Ansia]

Why do you conclude it doesn't work?

When it's calibrating, it gains altitude and when calibration finishes, it's all over the place. It doesn't do this on Tello app.

 

[volate!lo]

Strange.. Calibration is just a simple command sent to Tello. Like takeoff or Flip. Have you tried Tello app in the same spot?
Mine doesn't do this, unless I am close to walls or furniture and the hover is affected by turbulence.

 

[Ansia]

Strange.. Calibration is just a simple command sent to Tello. Like takeoff or Flip. Have you tried Tello app in the same spot?
Mine doesn't do this, unless I am close to walls or furniture and the hover is affected by turbulence.

I did and the Tello hovered in place like it should. I'm currently charging my batteries. After they are done, I will test further. I should have results by the time you wake up.

 

[Ansia]

So I tested further. This time around I decided to go full OEM. Installed the prop guards and original props. I flew and tried calibration. It kept going up and down like in the video. Later changed batteries and tried original Tello app, and to my surprise, it did the exact same thing. I got the Tello close to me and realized that one of the motors is whinning at a different pitch than the rest. I tried lubricating it with the Lubra Metallic, but it didn't do anything for the motor. My guess is that the motor will soon go out. It still can hold position correctly, just moves around and up and down within .2m radius.

Also, upon inspecting further the original props, it appears one of the props is slighly bent. That could also be the cause for the instability I am experiencing. I have flown larger birds with bent props and what I get is horrible vibration. The Tello isn't vibrating that I can see. Right now I am cooling down the Tello and batteries to recharge them and try again with Prop Guards and my special propellers. Will keep you posted.

 

[Ansia]

For my third and final round, I decided to lubricate all 4 motors, install 4 new special propellers and leave the prop guards on. I am happy to report that it finally calibrated correctly and the Tello held in place like it should. Now I am happy and can continue flying my little fellow.

 

[Th3DroneroGT]

v1.06 has been released to beta, may take a while to show up as play store seems to be slow in the last days. Maybe you have to join the beta program again


New
* Gravity Calibration

Changes
* PNG conversion removed, this was too CPU intensive for inflight

Fixes
* Language selection not working consistently
* VPS reported off even though it was active (mostly if Ryze Tello App was used before)
* Optimized thread priorities

I do not understand the part that says vps reported off even though it was active, could you explain more of that? or what I understand is that the vps reported that it did not work when they got into the ryze tello app, is what I say right?

 

[MrSpok]

Got it working, but now I got a new one. The calibration doesn't quite work

Mine doesn't do this, unless I am close to walls or furniture and the hover is affected by turbulence.

Sometimes I have the same. Especially above furniture edges. I'm sure, @volate!lo is right and this are turbulences. In most cases it is over after some seconds. Or I fly a bit away from this plase and then it is OK again.

 

[OptiPlex]

this app is evolving, developing, growing all the time
volate!lo is doing such a remarkable job on it
not many developers are like that
keep the amazing work man

thx

Sent from my BLA-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[Th3DroneroGT]

a suggestion, I do not know if it could be done, although once I do not know what video I saw that happened, that the TELLO app had lost signal and the camera view went to the bottom of the camera that is in the sensors was preview, I do not know if you could do that, to change the side of the camera or pass to the one below or opposite?

 

[Flydrone]

a suggestion, I do not know if it could be done, although once I do not know what video I saw that happened, that the TELLO app had lost signal and the camera view went to the bottom of the camera that is in the sensors was preview, I do not know if you could do that, to change the side of the camera or pass to the one below or opposite?

This thing is new to me! never heard anything like that .. it seems very strange to me!

 

[Flydrone]

v1.06 has been released to beta, may take a while to show up as play store seems to be slow in the last days. Maybe you have to join the beta program again


New
* Gravity Calibration

Changes
* PNG conversion removed, this was too CPU intensive for inflight

Fixes
* Language selection not working consistently
* VPS reported off even though it was active (mostly if Ryze Tello App was used before)
* Optimized thread priorities

Thank you for all the work you have done, from the first version up to today to v1.06

 

[raulvolador]

@volate!lo,

Once again I go behind you. Yesterday tested v1.05 when today I'm going to report about it I realized new version 1.06 released.

Let me present you my outdated test on 1.05

I suffered again the well-know menu language changing issue. Glad to read it has been fixed into last release 1.06. Forget about it

I'm happy to say Bitrates issues fixed. I realized previous version (1.04) seems to ignore bitrate settings and always recorded at fixed 3Mb/s. Auto-Bitrate fixed too, now it works pretty similar stock Tello app. I like it that way See whole 7 minutes flight video analisys using Bitrate AUTO from takeoff to landing. Steped down from 4Mb/s to 2Mb/s happend 50 meters away and steped down from 2Mb/s to 1Mb/s happend 100 meters away until landing.



The most serious issue I had: I suffered an RTH issue flying long distance 300 meters away / urban flight with poor signal. As Tello RTH rotates for pointing landing spot he continuosly overshooths home course. It even turns completely on itself !

I had to cancel RTH and came back manually. I suppose it can be due a too high rate of turning when searching for returning course. See this picture incidence sequence:

1- Starting RTH. Returning course ok.


2- Tello slightly turning left on returning...


3- Start of RTH course correction...


4- But it's clear RTH overshoots returning course.


5- At the end, Tello turning on itself and going crazy. I had to cancel RTH


I can send you full flight video for your review if needed.

I have to say, later I performed another RTH test at shorter distance and better signal and that were correct.

Despite this I am very happy with this release. All the best.

Raul
------

 

[volate!lo]

Good morning!

For my third and final round, I decided to lubricate all 4 motors, install 4 new special propellers and leave the prop guards on. I am happy to report that it finally calibrated correctly and the Tello held in place like it should. Now I am happy and can continue flying my little fellow.

I do not understand the part that says vps reported off even though it was active, could you explain more of that? or what I understand is that the vps reported that it did not work when they got into the ryze tello app, is what I say right?

VPS data is extracted from a continuous data stream. Sometimes the stream synchronization broke and returned only a few moments later, giving brief moments of "VPS inactive".
In case some functions of Tello App were used before flying with TelloFpv (especially gravity calibration) this caused Tello to completely change the data stream (until the drone was restarted). That was the cause for "VPS inactive" after using the Tello app, even though VPS obviously held Tello in place.
TelloFpv now adapts to changes in the data stream, so this is fixed.

a suggestion, I do not know if it could be done, although once I do not know what video I saw that happened, that the TELLO app had lost signal and the camera view went to the bottom of the camera that is in the sensors was preview, I do not know if you could do that, to change the side of the camera or pass to the one below or opposite?

Sorry I could not follow this

 

[raulvolador]

VPS data is extracted from a continuous data stream. Sometimes the stream synchronization broke and returned only a few moments later, giving brief moments of "VPS inactive".
In case some functions of Tello App were used before flying with TelloFpv (especially gravity calibration) this caused Tello to completely change the data stream (until the drone was restarted). That was the cause for "VPS inactive" after using the Tello app, even though VPS obviously held Tello in place.
TelloFpv now adapts to changes in the data stream, so this is fixed

@volate!lo ,

"VPS inactive" annoying message fixing into v1.06 is great. I often suffered this issue during long lapse photo downloading.

All the best.

Raul

 

[volate!lo]

@volate!lo,

Once again I go behind you. Yesterday tested v1.05 when today I'm going to report about it I realized new version 1.06 released.

Let me present you my outdated test on 1.05

I suffered again the well-know menu language changing issue. Glad to read it has been fixed into last release 1.06. Forget about it

I'm happy to say Bitrates issues fixed. I realized previous version (1.04) seems to ignore bitrate settings and always recorded at fixed 3Mb/s. Auto-Bitrate fixed too, now it works pretty similar stock Tello app. I like it that way See whole 7 minutes flight video analisys using Bitrate AUTO from takeoff to landing. Steped down from 4Mb/s to 2Mb/s happend 50 meters away and steped down from 2Mb/s to 1Mb/s happend 100 meters away until landing.

View attachment 3262

The most serious issue I had: I suffered an RTH issue flying long distance 300 meters away / urban flight with poor signal. As Tello RTH rotates for pointing landing spot he continuosly overshooths home course. It even turns completely on itself !

I had to cancel RTH and came back manually. I suppose it can be due a too high rate of turning when searching for returning course. See this picture incidence sequence:

1- Starting RTH. Returning course ok.
View attachment 3263

2- Tello slightly turning left on returning...
View attachment 3264

3- Start of RTH course correction...
View attachment 3265

4- But it's clear RTH overshoots returning course.
View attachment 3266

5- At the end, Tello turning on itself and going crazy. I had to cancel RTH
View attachment 3267

I can send you flight video for your review if needed.

Despite this I am very happy with this release. All the best.

Raul
------

Your elaborate tests deserve a separate comment! I'll explain the overshooting:
TelloFpv autopilots work by analyzing the data coming in from the VPS. It then sends stick commands to move Tello, like sending yaw stick 100% to rotate quickly to the right. This is done about 10 times per second.

Now with extreme distances only a fraction of the VPS data packages make it and the VPS data stream coming in contains as much garbage as the video feed. Position and orientation data is not updated every 100ms but maybe only once per second.
So TelloFpv doesn't receive frequent updates on the VPS data so it sends stick commands for somewhat outdated data. If new position info comes in only once per second, Tello will overshoot the course correction.
The same happens the other way, Tello certainly does not receive all stick commands so it will continue to use the last stick input until a new one arrives. Stick commands are repeated several times per second, but during quick rotations a few dropped commands cause even more overshoot.

This problem has existed since day one, its a conceptual thing. Its a tradeoff between turning speed, and reliability. I can tweak a bit more towards reliability, but the basic problem will remain on such extreme flights.

BTW: If no VPS data is received for 1.5s then "VPS inactive" is shown and any autopilot are deactivated as it can't determine the position.

 

[volate!lo]

@volate!lo ,

"VPS inactive" annoying message fixing is great. I often suffered this issue during long lapse photo downloading.

All the best.

Raul

That is most likely a different thing. You are on extreme distances, with resulting low wifi link quality.
Photo download sends a ton of data (it's not a really clever design by Ryze) that can't be throttled down, and consumes a lot of bandwith. that leaves less for the control data stream and fewer VPS data packets are being sent, and even less received.
Once no VPS data received within 1.5 seconds it displays VPS off, because even though it is working (keeping Tello in place) it effectively does not deliver data to TelloFpv.

 

[raulvolador]

Your elaborate tests deserve a separate comment! I'll explain the overshooting:
TelloFpv autopilots work by analyzing the data coming in from the VPS. It then sends stick commands to move Tello, like sending yaw stick 100% to rotate quickly to the right. This is done about 10 times per second.

Now with extreme distances only a fraction of the VPS data packages make it and the VPS data stream coming in contains as much garbage as the video feed. Position and orientation data is not updated every 100ms but maybe only once per second.
So TelloFpv doesn't receive frequent updates on the VPS data so it sends stick commands for somewhat outdated data. If new position info comes in only once per second, Tello will overshoot the course correction.
The same happens the other way, Tello certainly does not receive all stick commands so it will continue to use the last stick input until a new one arrives. Stick commands are repeated several times per second, but during quick rotations a few dropped commands cause even more overshoot.

This problem has existed since day one, its a conceptual thing. Its a tradeoff between turning speed, and reliability. I can tweak a bit more towards reliability, but the basic problem will remain on such extreme flights.

BTW: If no VPS data is received for 1.5s then "VPS inactive" is shown and any autopilot are deactivated as it can't determine the position.

@volate!lo ,

Ok. I understand. Excellent explanation of RTH working

Let me make a suggestion for improving TelloFPV. Could you make speed rotation during RTH slows down ?

I believe I read some time ago you accelerated it. As I don't know all claims/request you receive from other users I can't understand needing for this RTH hight rotating speed. Maybe would be better an slower but most accurate turning speed. Take into account RTH main purpose is extreme situations with bad signal. It's just a suggestion

All the best

Raul
------

 

[ericgrand]

Clearly, not having installed a micro SD card slot in the Tello is a serious design flaw. Downloading photos and videos live from the wifi stream generate a lot of dropped frames and poor control from time to time.
Tello associated to TelloFPV is anyway a very nice and cheap toy to play with!

 

[volate!lo]

@volate!lo ,

Ok. I undertand. Excellent explanation of RTH working

Let me make a suggestion for improving TelloFPV. Could you make speed rotation during RTH slow down ?

I believe I read some time ago you accelerated it. As I don't know all claims/request you receive from other users I can't understand needing for this hight rotating speed. Maybe would be better an slower but mos accurate turning speed.

All the best

Raul
------

guess what, I received a couple of requests for increasing the speed...


But during this discussion now I had an idea how to couple this with the quality of VPS data...

 

[raulvolador]

guess what, I received a couple of requests for increasing the speed...


But during this discussion now I had an idea how to couple this with the quality of VPS data...

@volate!lo,

You makes me happy. Always finding fixes for our problems, and we are all satisfied.

You are great !

Raul.