Beware, Diesel-Electric Locomotives

[Old Man]

Something I should have been really thinking about but didn't before starting a shoot this morning; An operating diesel-electric locomotive is extremely radio noisy. Found that out a little too late after my FPV screen when total static and lost control of the bird as the locomotive passed in front of the copter. However, the copter did instantly travel the same direction the locomotive was headed as it passed in front. I was pretty close at about 15 feet from the side of a slow moving locomotive and fortunately got on the ground without hitting anything but the ground. The lesson cost wasn't too bad at three props and motors with the rest coming through pretty much OK. Fortunately I had the other half of the morning shoot completed already.

That giant electric motor that makes everything work on a train is probably not shielded all that well where RFI is concerned, and that big slab of steel that makes up the carriage is likely pretty RF reflective. Just a thought.

 

[Mojave]

Have others experienced interference filming trains with multirotors?

Something I should have been really thinking about but didn't before starting a shoot this morning; An operating diesel-electric locomotive is extremely radio noisy. Found that out a little too late after my FPV screen when total static and lost control of the bird as the locomotive passed in front of the copter. However, the copter did instantly travel the same direction the locomotive was headed as it passed in front. I was pretty close at about 15 feet from the side of a slow moving locomotive and fortunately got on the ground without hitting anything but the ground. The lesson cost wasn't too bad at three props and motors with the rest coming through pretty much OK. Fortunately I had the other half of the morning shoot completed already.

That giant electric motor that makes everything work on a train is probably not shielded all that well where RFI is concerned, and that big slab of steel that makes up the carriage is likely pretty RF reflective. Just a thought.

Thanks a lot for this thread; I was looking forward to shooting diesel-electric locomotive in the Mojave desert. Maybe I will restrict it to coal powered locomotives making special runs in the area.

Have others observed this problem?

 

[kloner]

never seen it.... wonder if there playing with anti drone stuff, i know the faa is all uptight about drones and trains

this one has a rssi and link quality approaching one, i don't see anything change. the two - numbers are link quality, starts 0 and goes to -130 is a bad quality.... that is 433 rc and 2.4 video

I get a lot of interference from border patrol and seismometer sensors down where i'm at on both 433 and 2.4,,,,

 

[Old Man]

I had arranged to get up close and personal with the engine, really close, and it may have been just a close in to the side thing. The locomotive was accelerating from dead stop at the time. Don't really know for sure but there had been no issues in a flight a few minutes previous without the locomotive and none prior to the time the locomotive started passing in front of the copter. It's possible the issue was entirely unrelated but control authority to date has been stellar. I was in a GPS stabilized control mode (Pixhawk Loiter) for better video quality, which may have influenced the situation. No power lines BTW, just a great big steel wall and dynamo.

Should I do it again, and I will, I'll start further out and work my way in until I'm assured everything will continue working as they should.

 

[ChuckMRN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iu4wZjQtLw

A little something I did with a Vision Plus. Over the train and bridge and under power lines at the same time.

 

[Railrode1]

Locomotives use 433mhz for rear end two way telemetry. They also use 2.4ghz for uploading locomotive data.

 

[Old Man]

Good to learn, thanks!

 

[gtranquilla]

It is, in fact the locomotive ASD or VFD that is the source of the emi of which a significant component is radio frequency interference. ASDs and VFDs are very similar to hobby level ESCs except that have full wave rectifiers on the front end since they are mostly powered by AC generators. emi occurs at harmonic frequencies and the following provides a detailed explanation of this.... Also ASDs and VFDs are widely used throughout the commercial and industrial applications and it has become a major concern for electrical utilities that want to minimize emi - rfi as, over time, it causes a lot of damage to expensive electrical equipment.

http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r3/atlanta/ias/IEEE_519.pdf

Something I should have been really thinking about but didn't before starting a shoot this morning; An operating diesel-electric locomotive is extremely radio noisy. Found that out a little too late after my FPV screen when total static and lost control of the bird as the locomotive passed in front of the copter. However, the copter did instantly travel the same direction the locomotive was headed as it passed in front. I was pretty close at about 15 feet from the side of a slow moving locomotive and fortunately got on the ground without hitting anything but the ground. The lesson cost wasn't too bad at three props and motors with the rest coming through pretty much OK. Fortunately I had the other half of the morning shoot completed already.

That giant electric motor that makes everything work on a train is probably not shielded all that well where RFI is concerned, and that big slab of steel that makes up the carriage is likely pretty RF reflective. Just a thought.

 

[kloner]

that's some good info... thanks to all that contributed

 

[Old Man]

Thanks indeed. I now know not to try something like that again (at the locomotive) from that close.