I have flown the IRIS since June. I checked many posts to find discussions with solutions, but haven't been successful yet.
My problem: the data link between the IRIS and my ground stations is lost too easily. Either using a tablet or a laptop, when the IRIS is about 70-80 m away from me I start getting the "Warning: no data for X seconds" messages. It makes me uneasy and the recorded logs are incomplete due to the lost connection. I also sometimes get beeping warnings from the RC transmitter, which makes me even more nervous.
My flying environment: I only fly in open fields of corn and soybean for hobby photography. No trees or buildings on the way. I mostly do 6-minute autonomous missions at an altitude of 30-40 m. The IRIS has always completed the missions even with lost data link with the ground stations.
What I have done to correct the problem: I have checked the settings between the two radios, all items are the same (should ECC be checked?). I contacted 3DR, and they only suggested to check these settings. Antennas are always vertical, and properly tightened up.
My questions: Are there better antennas available? Can I get a better antenna for either the IRIS or the ground station? How worried should I be about this constant loss of telemetry connection?
Replies
I've been having similar problems, but only getting message "data link lost, check connection". It's definitely not a range issue for me as can be less than 2 meters away and still have the problem. I've tired every combination of telemetry modules (I have spares), cables, devices (Android tablet and phone, OS X and Windows computers) and ground control station software (Mission Planner, APM planner, Droid planner).
Very frustrating.
3DR support helped me on this one. Turns out my NetID was not set correctly. Changed it to 25 per this article, and I was back in business from both my Android devices.
http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-3dr-radio-version-2/
I have same problem. After all, I decided to change antenna for simple copper wire soldered to conector and it's significantly better (double the range), but I am not reaching values from this article any way.
RFD 900
This is a nice long range telemetry antenna set that is incredibly small and very powerful. I use these on my skywalker and never have had a signal strength below a 90%. And they are made to work with arducopter/arduplane and easy to incorporate.