When technology fails us, it can be hard to get proper support from the manufacturer. The frustration grows when the product runs on a closed system that doesn’t provide any information about the failure or how to fix it. Time and resources have to be spent to physically bring or send the product to an expert to receive help.
Bringing your phone to a store to get support is annoying, but bringing a drone is expensive and cumbersome. In the Auterion Suite, you can now share flight logs with the drone’s manufacturer directly with the simple click of a button.
Here’s how it works.
Detecting the Problem
Before contacting the manufacturer, you have to know that there’s a problem, gather data to find out why it’s occurring, and figure out how and where to share this data.
Auterion wanted to make the assistance process smooth and easy for the user and the manufacturer. That’s why Auterion Suite takes care of the process for you.
Data Collection and Analytics
- Data Collection: Data is collected on the drone mid-flight.
- Communication: The flight log data is automatically transmitted to the Auterion Suite (this is done in real-time when connected to 4G).
- Analysis: Once in the suite, the data is analyzed and checked and the suite flags any usual behaviour to the user.
- Dashboard: The analyzed information is translated and displayed on the dashboard with graphs and textual notices.
- Security: The flight log data is private to the end user unless they choose to share it.
In the dashboard, you can view all your flights. Once in a particular flight log, you’ll see the following analysis of your flight:
- Healthy: no issues were detected on this flight
- Warning: some warnings were triggered on this flight
- Critical: some issues were detected on this flight
Warnings are typically expected by the user. This happens when, for example, the user flies the drone in high winds; or the drone notifies the pilot of low battery power while in the air.
Reporting an Issue
Critical notifications are problems the user should definitely investigate.
To learn more about the Critical Issue, the user can click on “View Analysis” to see all the checks that were made.
The Analytics will list all the checks made and label the problem. In this case, “Disarm in air status.” When the user hovers on the description, a further explanation of the common causes is displayed.
This “Disarm in air status” critical message means the drone was switched off, or thought it was, mid-flight. To investigate and better understand what happened, the user can click on “Open Analytics” to have a look at the detailed data.
Here’s a view of the detailed flight log; this is the nitty-gritty part of the analytics. And despite having access to these, the user might not understand what happened and may require the assistance of the manufacturer.
Share with Manufacturer
Auterion has been working with its partners to find a solution that makes support simple for everyone. That’s why drones powered with Auterion’s Skynode can automatically connect to the Suite.
We recently added a “Share with Manufacturer” switch for users at the top of the screen, next to the drone type for users to share the log with the vehicle manufacturer.
When you toggle the switch, it opens a window that allows you to add your contact information and type in a message.
Once you click the “Share” button, a ticket is automatically created and sent to the manufacturer along with the message you wrote and the flight log for this particular flight. The manufacturer will only receive sensor data (no images or videos are forwarded).
When to report an issue
Here are few real-life examples of when an end-user would share a log with the manufacturer to get support:
- Motor overheating: either caused by pushing the drone to its limit or a defect.
- Critically low battery level: usually caused by the pilot ignoring the low battery warning, but it could mean a defect if the battery is draining too quickly.
- High battery temperature: caused by very high environmental temperatures or a defect.
Benefits for the User
It’s not always easy to get help from manufacturers when something goes wrong, but it should be. We believe the relationship between end users and manufacturers is important, which is why we launched this feature.
The new share button makes communication with the manufacturer quick and smooth. As a user, you have everything you need in one dashboard and can share any problem you encounter with the vehicle’s manufacturer without giving yourself a headache.
Benefits for the Manufacturer
This new feature is also beneficial for the manufacturer on many levels. Everything is done virtually, so they don’t have to rent physical space to meet with their customers to solve problems. They also receive a fully detailed flight log with all the information they need to replicate the issue and find out why it happened. If the reported issue turns out to be a defect and is recurrent among many users, their technical team can figure out if it’s a manufacturing problem or not.
The process is straightforward and painless because the issue tickets are created automatically and can be tracked until resolved. This quick and simple process means the manufacturer will get feedback from its users more often, promoting trust and innovation.
Get a Demo
Auterion offers end users the confidence that it’s easy and hassle-free to get support. We will keep improving this feature to make it as smooth as possible for you to get the help you need.
If you’re interested in using the Auterion Suite, Request a Demo.
Already an Auterion Suite user? Let us know how it went for you if you’ve had to report an issue.