As you may have read, ISIS terrorists are now using drones to attack US troops in Syria. In many cases they are modifying off the shelf drones to do this. DJI could easily put a stop to this by broadcasting the pilot's location in the clear (unencrypted) while a drone is in operation both from the drone and from the controller. This would also be useful when drones are spotted in places they should no be located, such as over an airport, secure area or forest fire. It would make an excellent deterrent against those that would fly their drones unsafely. Anyone with a simple receiver, possibly even an iPhone, would be able to determine the location of the pilot. The pilot's FAA registration or other unique identification could also be broadcast.

I am interested to hear whether other pilots think this is a good or bad idea and their reasons why.

Don't even think about it. The current level of paranoia on here would jump to a record high if that was done. All the tinfoil hat types would scream their heads off.

I can see it now: "This is absolutely the last thing I will ever buy from DJI, I am selling my drone, this is an invasion of privacy"

Geebax Posted at 2017-6-14 15:44
Don't even think about it. The current level of paranoia on here would jump to a record high if that was done. All the tinfoil hat types would scream their heads off.

I can see it now: "This is absolutely the last thing I will ever buy from DJI, I am selling my drone, this is an invasion of privacy"

That's sort of why I posted the suggestion. I have a strong feeling that this is the next step in regulating and keeping tabs on drones. I bet they implement it before they implement a nice easy to use button in B4UFly that lets you automatically notify all nearby airports/helicopter pads that you are flying.

I think it's more likely that the drone will be tracked first in real time, through the use of something like a transponder.

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-6-15 11:15
That's sort of why I posted the suggestion. I have a strong feeling that this is the next step in regulating and keeping tabs on drones. I bet they implement it before they implement a nice easy to use button in B4UFly that lets you automatically notify all nearby airports/helicopter pads that you are flying.

Apart from anything else, the very limited range of the transmitter in the aircraft would mean it would be extremely difficult to pick up by any tracking equipment, and then it only carries the position, nothing else that could be used to contact the pilot.

And that assumes any agency could actually be bothered tracking consumer level drones. Forget FAA registration as it is not required any longer.

If DJI did implement this, I would find a way to defeat it in short order, the last thing I need is some redneck with a free iPhone app finding out my exact location while I am flying.

Geebax Posted at 2017-6-15 16:42
Apart from anything else, the very limited range of the transmitter in the aircraft would mean it would be extremely difficult to pick up by any tracking equipment, and then it only carries the position, nothing else that could be used to contact the pilot.

And that assumes any agency could actually be bothered tracking consumer level drones. Forget FAA registration as it is not required any longer.

Sure that's how it works now but I imagine it would be quite simple to include the pilot's registration number and location. As we all know the transmitters on drones and controllers have ranges of over four miles in good conditions. That's a pretty big radius so receiving the information would be quite easy. This is not video. You just need one clear packet with the information.

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-6-16 17:00
Sure that's how it works now but I imagine it would be quite simple to include the pilot's registration number and location. As we all know the transmitters on drones and controllers have ranges of over four miles in good conditions. That's a pretty big radius so receiving the information would be quite easy. This is not video. You just need one clear packet with the information.

Maybe, but you are forgetting that the FAA registration was ruled illegal recently by a court decision, so you cannot use that for idetifying the pilot or aircraft, and there is no equivalent in other parts of the world.

And there is still the issue of people who would reject this as yet another invasion of privacy by DJI.

In any event, personally I would not want it done, so I am against the idea.

Geebax Posted at 2017-6-16 17:22
Maybe, but you are forgetting that the FAA registration was ruled illegal recently by a court decision, so you cannot use that for idetifying the pilot or aircraft, and there is no equivalent in other parts of the world.

And there is still the issue of people who would reject this as yet another invasion of privacy by DJI.

I am not sure I would want this done either but I don't think it will be up to us. I wrote this because this feels somewhat inevitable to me. It is fairly simple to implement and very tough to defeat and could save lives especially in places where drones are used by terrorists. It would pretty much end the use of off the shelf drones for military purposes. DJI could create its own code based on the user ID you are now required to enter before you fly your drone the first time.

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-6-17 08:35
I am not sure I would want this done either but I don't think it will be up to us. I wrote this because this feels somewhat inevitable to me. It is fairly simple to implement and very tough to defeat and could save lives especially in places where drones are used by terrorists. It would pretty much end the use of off the shelf drones for military purposes. DJI could create its own code based on the user ID you are now required to enter before you fly your drone the first time.

I am not even from the US, but I can see all the hot-headed civil libertarians in the US cracking it big time over any idea that DJI would hand over any sort of identification to US authorities. DJI would be committing corporate suicide doing this. And I don't believe it will stop any terrorists at all, despite the fact that the threat is way overblown.

Geebax Posted at 2017-6-17 14:25
I am not even from the US, but I can see all the hot-headed civil libertarians in the US cracking it big time over any idea that DJI would hand over any sort of identification to US authorities. DJI would be committing corporate suicide doing this. And I don't believe it will stop any terrorists at all, despite the fact that the threat is way overblown.

Sure there will be people against something like this. However their arguments won't hold up well when the government plays any of the many terrorist videos from Syria and Iraq showing how they use off the shelf drones to kill US troops. This won't stop terrorists from using drones. It will just force them to build their own but any kind of road blocks will be viewed as a good thing.

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-6-18 11:30
Sure there will be people against something like this. However their arguments won't hold up well when the government plays any of the many terrorist videos from Syria and Iraq showing how they use off the shelf drones to kill US troops. This won't stop terrorists from using drones. It will just force them to build their own but any kind of road blocks will be viewed as a good thing.

And in other counties? The US is not the only place these airtcraft are sold.

GrangerFX Posted at 2017-6-18 11:30
Sure there will be people against something like this. However their arguments won't hold up well when the government plays any of the many terrorist videos from Syria and Iraq showing how they use off the shelf drones to kill US troops. This won't stop terrorists from using drones. It will just force them to build their own but any kind of road blocks will be viewed as a good thing.

Just tell DJI to put red No-Fly zones around each and every US military in the world, or the US Government to provide all US soldiers with an automatic drone-killing device with a radius of say 100 meters...

Antonio76 Posted at 2017-6-20 04:14
Just tell DJI to put red No-Fly zones around each and every US military in the world, or the US Government to provide all US soldiers with an automatic drone-killing device with a radius of say 100 meters...

"or the US Government to provide all US soldiers with an automatic drone-killing device with a radius of say 100 meters"

How about the latest firmware ?

Aardvark Posted at 2017-6-21 16:12
How about the latest firmware ?

Hah, that's funny.

It turns out that DJI is already working on exactly what I proposed:
https://www.dji.com/newsroom/new ... rk-for-small-drones
And the FAA is rolling with it:
https://www.engadget.com/2017/07 ... -system-for-drones/
So I guess this is really happening.

DJI would be stupid to get involved inn this sort of scheme. It is just going to cause more people to rant and rave, swear to use someone elses' product and all of that. They have already alienated enough people as it is and this scheme will simply make it worse. If anyone thinks it is a good idea, can you please tell me how the ID received from a drone in the air can be faultlessly tied to a particular drone? This is a flawed system, where are the checks and balances?