As per the screenshot a few posts above, the satellites figure says "“Sats Locked”.
They are the current ones that you phone has locked onto.
There are so many of the buggers up there, these days. I’ve never failed to get sufficient for a position lock on the MP (except in the lounge … but even there it gets one eventually. 
)
That’s good to know. The forecast often states that it is not good to fly, which is frustrating when other conditions appear perfect.
Satellites - never had too few. Forget it.
Kp Index - by the time it affects your drone, global communications (and GPS) satellites will probably be going on the blink, and there’ll be far bigger issues to worry about than your drone.
Weather forecasts … when have they ever been correct. Don’t rely on them. (Use them for entertainment.) They are OK for telling you it’s going to be frigging windy … but being blown over as you set up your drone is probably the better indicator on that one. 
In other words (imo) don’t rely on them. Consume with significant pinches of salt.
Personally, not used UAV in so long because it doesn’t give information that I find of any use. 
Perfect - just the sort of clear, concise information I was looking for.
Muchos gracious 
I use this app its brilliant, has everything in one.
My inspire stays in ATTI mode until enough satellites are linked usually 10-12 and then it will tell me that it’s in GPS or OPTI mode. I can’t fly in ATTI 
Yes, Yes, and thrice YES!!!
I have no idea where this urban myth about high Kp Indices and the destructive effects it had on low altitude drones. I suppose someone whom had a little knowledge, but not enough, posted his idea in a forum and to many it became real.
I looked at research papers, most notably one from a Norwegian Observatory which I’ll try and find the link to, that measured the Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) and Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDOA) of signals from GNSS systems, and during a particular active solar event with Kpi of 9 the measured error equated to something as ridiculous as 12cm. I’ve flown various drones, fixed wing and rotary, during periods of high solar activity and never noticed any anomalous behaviour.
As regards how many satellites required for a reliable lock I’ve always gone with a minimum of 6 per constellation. For example my original Phantom 1 and machines using Naza systems, which only use GPS as standard, I go with 6 and above. For those I’ve fitted M8N GPS modules, which work with GLONASS and GPS, 12 and above. For the Spark I modified and my Anafi’s, which work with three separate constellations, 18 and above. That being said I usually fly in ATTI mode if the drone supports it and switch to GPS when I want to use an autonomous function, but I still wait to take off until a sufficient and reliable lock is obtained first.
Nidge.
Usually I do - but there have been locations/conditions (and a few instances where there was an urgency to catch something fleeting) where I didn’t wait.
Wet woodland is great at killing the signal from the all-important satellites near the horizon (for positioning on the horizontal plane), as can other “obstacles”.
Straight up and, with clear view of the satellites, it locks in the home “position” OK and then not an issue.
To me, the biggest problem with apps like UAV-Data is that many people don’t appreciate/understand the (sometimes massive) shortcomings and potential for totally inaccurate info … and just “believe” everything they display and recommend.
As above … the satellites “issue”.
Phone and drone on differing GPS formats. My phone has GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and BEIDOU reception. I don’t know of any drone that has all four (but I may be out of date). I just checked … sat in my lounge I can get 28/41!!!
But people with less flimsy houses may have only 6 reported. But they aren’t going to fly in their lounge (probably - and if they were GPS mode would be a bad idea in any case).
This is an area of drone flying that I (very often) have to force myself to not rant … or even comment to avoid it morphing into a rant.
You and me both, Dave. I quickly learned that life is too short for such things when I acquired a renowned stalker on the DJI Forums who would argue the colour of green if I posted about it. I now instead troll the Flat Earth, Niburu/Planet X, and creationists.
Nidge.
I think this document by DJI does explain it a bit.
However, it’s a “forum” - not a “DJI document”, nor is there a post in that thread by an official DJI account.
I was wondering about this last night after flying.
Took an age to get a home point, then got “home point updated” loudly about 10 times one after the other (great when people about and trying to be considerate!)
Couple of low signal warnings, one ‘aircraft interference’, complete black screen at one point (not sure if this was due to military base nearby).
Not surprised to get
PS and was flying off a cliff out to sea so no other interference !
Do the Mini 2 and air 2 use GLONASS and Galileo satellites?
I believe DJI primarily use and support GPS and GLONASS.
It maybe possible to modify it to use other systems. I’ve modified my Spark so it will also use the BEIDOU and possibly the Galileo Constellations using the original version of the Assistant 2 software, I believe the current versions don’t support such modifications.
Nidge
Obviously I’m taking what the app states with a pinch of salt as I believe it’s an approximation/best guess as to how many Sats will be available in the area you wish to fly.
Is it generally reliable?
Thinking that majorly it’s more of a notification than a true reflection of the Sat situation.
I’ve always taken the good to fly with a pinch of salt.
Whenever I’ve checked from the comfort of the office it’s always come up low, but is normally green when outside in open sky.
Regardless of that, I’d rely more on DJI fly, telling me the gps signal is weak than the third party app that doesn’t know what I’m flying
Pretty much the conclusion I’d come to as well @its.steves.shots
Hopefully the rain will stay off so I can get out to fly tonight!
Advantage of being down South, it’s always sunny
Having dug into this a fair bit, I believe the Air 2 uses both GPS and GLONASS, and as you need 6 satellites from either system for a reliable fix, the safe minimum is supposed to be 11 to guarantee you that 6.
However…Wikipedia is your friend, and from there I learnt GPS has 26 satellites in orbit and GLONASS has 24, so almost the same numbers. If you only have 10 satellites coverage, then if you assume that the 10 are a random selection out of the 50 up there, with about 50/50 chance of locking onto GPS or GLONASS each time, the odds of getting only 5 of each are around 1/500, or 0.2%.
So with 10 satellites coverage, you have a 99.8% chance of safe coverage. 9 satellites makes it 99.6%, 8 gives 99.2% and so on.
Doesn’t sound so bad, but fly your drone 100 times at 9 satellites and there’s about a one in three chance that one of those flights will suffer, 8 satellites it’s two out of three. Go up to 10 satellites and 100 flights, it’s about one in five.
Geeky I know, but I analyse risk for a living. Personally, I might fly at ten satellites, but I wouldn’t push my luck beyond that.
I am not keen on UAV Forecast, I tend to favor what DJI fly tells me with regards to the amount of satellites.
In addition I find it’s weather a bit meh too and tend to find the Met Office more accurate and informative.
