Possible Bluetooth interference with IFLY - iFly GPS for Android

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HomeHomeDiscussionsDiscussionsiFly GPS for An...iFly GPS for An...Possible Bluetooth interference with IFLYPossible Bluetooth interference with IFLY
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2/14/2019 9:03 PM
 

John, for how long is a typical GPS outage?   Can you give me an idea of the duty cycle here? (how often does it stop tracking GPS position, and for how long does this outage typically last, and are there any actions that you take which seem to "bring it back"? e.g. restarting iFly?)

If you can have him "Send Bug Report => Select File" and then select the logs time stamps that are associated with the time when the issues happened, I will check the log for clues.


Brian Knox, Sr Software Engineer
 
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2/15/2019 9:55 AM
 

Brian:

Will be checking it closely today. This is assuming the rain lets up. Will send bug report id we can fly.

Failure example: 30 minute flight. Plane ICON stops moving after about 20 minutes.  Then when he turns his tablet on to return he sees the plane ICON back at our home airport.

John M

 
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2/15/2019 11:45 AM
 

I had a tablet, which I have since relegated to home duty, that had what may be similar issues.  I was getting real spotty movement, and a lot of "No Heartbeat" messages in the ADS-B Status "instrument".  After looking at my logs, both regular and ADS-B, Brian determined that the tablet was frequently dropping and re-establishing the WiFi connection to the ADS-B unit, from which it was getting GPS data (the tablet itself did  not have GPS).  If your friend doesn't have it on the screen already, I would suggest you have him add the ADS-B Status instrument so you guys can monitor that activity.

Regarding your friend's plane being at the home airport at tablet startup: if he had flown out to this other airport using a flight plan in iFly, and he doesn't clear the flight plan (or reverse it, or create a new one) before shutting down, then when he brings iFly back up at that non-home airport it will initially show him at the origination point of the flight plan (his home airport) -- that is, until it gets a GPS reading.  Which it may not be getting. 

To me, it seems to be a GPS issue.  Either the built-in GPS is not working right (or doesn't exist), or iFly is not getting (or not consistently using) GPS data from another source.  My two cents.  But Brian will no doubt be able to figure it out from the logs.

 


Powrachute PC 2000; Aventura II; Cherokee 180
 
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2/15/2019 5:10 PM
 

Brian: 

Today we used my LG GPAD in my friends plane since I hadn't been having any issues with this one..

Flight plan was KAJO to KHMT. A 35 mile trip.

The GPAD worked well until 10 miles from the destination when it froze up.

When we were on the ground I took the GPAD as we went in to have lunch. Here is what I observed.

A) The tablet still showed his plane 10 miles to the west. I rebooted IFLY. Still 10 miles out. I rebooted the tablet. 

B) Now it showed his plane back where we started. 

C) Rebooted the tablet. Still showed him back at our home airport.

D) On the return trip, I looked at the screen before starting in my airplane. His plane ICON showed him back at our home airport. I was showing 4 bars on the GPS status.

E) A soon as I powered up the engine my ADSB came on and the plane ICON jumped from KAJO to KHMT where I was departing.

F) This area doesn't have good radar at 3500 MSL even though March AFB is within 5 miles and line of sight.

G) My ICON was tracking well and then I had a brain fart and tried turning off my ADSB. The aircraft ICON and all the readings froze. This was in a poor radar coverage area which shouldn't affect it. UNLESS...the government is doing something to distort or minimize the GPS signal in this area. They are doing that on the Southeast states currently.

H) Turned ADSB back on and the tablet worked again. Turned the ADSB off again and it did not freeze. 

I sent 3 different bug reports. #1was just after the first trip. #2 was sitting in the restaurant where I saw NO GPS LOCK even though I could see my position on Google maps and my satellite tracking app showed us locked on to 8-10 satellites.

The only thing I know for sure is that Bluetooth interference is not the cause since it was off.

John M

 

 

 
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2/15/2019 5:16 PM
 

HOOK:

He has no ADSB. This tablet worked for 3 years. I did have this issue very infrequently on my LG Gpad, but again it was while approaching Palmdale Skunks Works. As I mentioned to Brian in my most recent reply to him one consideration was that these failures have occurred within 5 miles of March AFB. I am wondering about purposeful GPS interference as like what is happening in the Southeast.

John M

 
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