Support & FAQ

Troubleshooting and answers to common questions. If you hit a problem before a flight, work through the relevant section below; if it does not resolve the issue, contact Tyr Laboratories support before flying.

Do not fly on an unresolved fault

If the bridge link will not stay up, the aircraft will not come online, or an update has failed or only partially completed, do not fly. Resolve the issue or contact support first. See Mandatory Update and Operate.

Almost everything here is read from the GCS dashboard — you should not need to log into the aircraft. The two most useful panels are the Bridge / transport status card and the Navigation status card; keep them in view while you work through these steps.

Quick troubleshooting

The bridge link will not come up, or keeps dropping

The link is the private connection between your GCS and the aircraft that carries your Mission Planner, payload, and MAVLink traffic. Work through these in order:

1. Confirm both ends are powered and online. The aircraft must be powered and have working Starlink connectivity; the GCS PC must have internet.
2. Check the dashboard transport status. Look at the bridge/transport state, round-trip time (RTT), loss, and reconnect count. A healthy link reports a nominal state with low loss.
3. Confirm both ends are on the current release. A version mismatch between the GCS and the aircraft can prevent the link from establishing. If either end is behind, run the Mandatory Update.
4. Give it a moment. When the aircraft first powers on, the private network connection and the link take a short time to establish — the dashboard updates as each stage comes up.

Brief outages are normal

Short satellite-path outages (typically well under a second) are expected on Starlink. The transport detects them and reconnects on its own — you will see them counted in the dashboard's link-health history. A rising reconnect count over a sustained period, or loss that stays high, points to a poor satellite path rather than a fault in the system.

The aircraft shows offline or unreachable

The GCS shows the aircraft as bound but offline, or marked unreachable.

1. Confirm the aircraft has power and Starlink connectivity. No internet at the aircraft means no private-network connection back to the GCS.
2. Confirm the GCS PC has internet and the app is running and signed in.
3. Wait for the private network connection to re-establish. After a reboot or a network blip it can take a short time for both ends to find each other again; the link recovers automatically.
4. If it stays offline, re-provision (re-bind) the aircraft from the Binding area of the app, exactly as you did during Install.

First-time setup is different from flight

The GCS and aircraft only need to share the same local network for first-time provisioning. After that, they connect over the private network and the satellite link — they do not need to be on the same network to fly.

Navigation shows no position, or the quality gate is not satisfied

The Navigation card shows no position, or shows that position is not being sent to the autopilot.

• Confirm the Starlink dish has a clear sky view and an active fix. After power-on, acquiring a position can take a few minutes, especially with limited sky view.
• Understand the quality gate. tl-starnav only sends a position to the autopilot once its reported uncertainty has stayed within limits for long enough — the quality gate. This is by design: always send, never lie, let the EKF decide. A blocked quality gate usually means the dish does not yet have a confident enough fix, not that something is broken.
• Give it time after power-on. The gate clears on its own once the fix is stable.

The HUD shows no 3D terrain

The HUD tab loads but the 3D view is flat or empty.

• The HUD's photorealistic 3D view streams from the internet to the device running the browser (your GCS PC). Confirm that machine has internet.
• Without internet, the HUD falls back to instruments only — this is expected graceful degradation, not a fault.

LAN / internet questions (VOXL2 aircraft)

On a VOXL2 aircraft, tl-starnav can act as the LAN router for devices connected to the aircraft — providing addressing and, optionally, internet access — and you can manage this from the Settings area of the app (it appears on both the aircraft and, once bound, the GCS view).

• If an onboard device is not getting an address, check that LAN/DHCP is enabled in Settings.
• If onboard devices need internet, confirm the "internet access on LAN" option is enabled in Settings.
• If you change LAN settings, allow a moment for them to apply.

An update failed or only partially completed

• The update is self-checking and reversible: it verifies its download, health-checks the result, and rolls back automatically if anything fails — so a failed update does not leave the aircraft in a broken state.
• Wait for the aircraft to come back online, then retry the update.
• Leave the aircraft powered for the whole update; do not power-cycle it mid-update.
• See Mandatory Update for the full procedure.

Never fly on a failed or partial update

If an update fails again on retry, do not fly. Contact support first.

FAQ

Do I have to run the mandatory update before flying?

Yes. It brings both ends to a known-good, mutually-compatible release. This is a hard pre-first-flight step. See Mandatory Update.

Do I have to update before flying?

Yes — the pre-first-flight update is mandatory. The aircraft ships ready to fly after you run it. See Mandatory Update.

My browser warns the aircraft site isn't secure / not private

This is expected. The aircraft serves its UI with a self-signed certificate on your local network, so the first visit shows a security warning. Do the one-time "trust this device" step described in Install; after that there is no per-visit warning. It is safe on your local aircraft LAN.

Do I need a credential or sign-in to update the aircraft?

No. There is no update credential. Open the aircraft web app and click update on a disarmed airframe — that is the whole flow. The update is fetched and verified automatically. See Mandatory Update.

The update won't start, or it says the aircraft is armed

The update refuses to start while the aircraft reads as armed — this is a safety interlock. Safe the airframe first (props off, throttle safed, disarmed), keep it on the ground or bench, then retry the update. See Mandatory Update.

Is the update safe if it is interrupted?

The update verifies its download (signature and checksum), health-checks the result, and rolls back automatically on failure, so the aircraft is not left in a broken state. Leave the aircraft powered for the whole update and do not power-cycle it mid-update.

How long does an update take?

Several minutes is normal. If the system has to perform a forced rollback, it can take longer — this is expected and the aircraft remains on a working version throughout.

Do the GCS and aircraft need to be on the same network to fly?

No. They share the same local network only for first-time provisioning. In flight they connect over the private network and the satellite link.

Are brief link drops a problem?

No. Short satellite-path outages are normal on Starlink; the transport reconnects automatically and the dashboard shows the outage in its link-health history. Persistently high loss or a climbing reconnect count over time points to a poor satellite path.

Why is navigation not sending a position even though the dish has signal?

tl-starnav only forwards a position once it is confident enough — the quality gate. Always send, never lie, let the EKF decide. Once the dish's fix is stable within limits, the gate clears and position is sent automatically.

What autopilots are supported?

ArduPilot-based autopilots over MAVLink (for example, Cube Orange+ and Pixhawk 6X).

Does the HUD's 3D view need internet?

Yes — on the GCS PC running the browser. Without internet, the HUD shows instruments only.

Contact support

If the steps above do not resolve the issue:

• Reach Tyr Laboratories support through your account portal.
• Have the following ready so we can help quickly:
  • your organization;
  • the aircraft and GCS versions (shown in the app);
  • what you saw on the dashboard (bridge/transport state, RTT, loss, reconnects; navigation quality state);
  • what you were doing when the problem occurred (e.g. first link bring-up, mid-flight, during an update).

Safety first

If you are unsure whether the system is flight-ready, treat it as not ready and contact support before flying.

Related

• Install · Mandatory Update · Operate