Some operators see Smart 3D Capture, POI/orbit, and other "intelligent” missions stop when flying close to telecom antennas or other dense RF infrastructure. The failure mode is typically a sudden GNSS drop (and RTK losing FIX at the same time), followed by mission cancellation.
Symptoms (as observed/reported)
Smart 3D Capture and POI/orbit type missions may stop mid-flight when approaching active antenna arrays (often within tens of meters; some reports around ~15–20 m)
GNSS quality can drop abruptly rather than degrading gradually
RTK typically loses FIX when GNSS drops (expected, since RTK depends on GNSS), and the mission may cancel immediately
Some towers are fine, but sites with many panels, multiple bands, and additional RF equipment are more likely to trigger the issue
Same sites, older DJI drones keep flying
Some operators report that the same towers which cause Matrice 4E automated missions to cancel are flown successfully with older DJI aircraft under similar conditions. This is anecdotal evidence, but it shows up repeatedly across independent reports.
Drones commonly cited as working fine on those sites:
Mavic 3 Enterprise
Matrice 300/350 RTK
Possible technical explanation
Telecom sites can expose the aircraft to strong RF fields across multiple bands. One plausible explanation is that, in some cases, these strong nearby transmissions may reduce GNSS receiver performance. Another possibility is that the GNSS degradation is moderate but the mission logic on the Matrice 4E may be more conservative, and cancel automated missions rapidly when positioning quality drops below a threshold (while manual flight may continue because it does not enforce the same abort criteria).
Who is impacted
Telecom tower inspection and modeling operators relying on Smart 3D Capture / orbits / automated routes
Any work around dense RF infrastructure (water towers with antennas, broadcast sites, radar-adjacent environments)
Sources
Drone Compare