Is there a way to receive and record DJI drone's information on a computer in real time??

I am trying to receive real-time data and use it for research. However, the only way to view flight data that I know is how to pull out the flight data after the flight is over.

I am curious if there is any tool or method to receive real-time data using remote communication.
Thank you.

You could create an Android or iOS app that uses the DJI MSDK to receive realtime data from the drone (like flight metrics, etc). Your mobile app could then process the data realtime or transmit it to another device for processing.

gndev Posted at 4-13 12:32
You could create an Android or iOS app that uses the DJI MSDK to receive realtime data from the drone (like flight metrics, etc). Your mobile app could then process the data realtime or transmit it to another device for processing.

Thank you. I will try it.

In addition, if real-time data is received by phone, is there a way to transmit the contents of the phone to another device such as a laptop?

djiuser_lK23fQ5Z7hEe Posted at 4-14 03:21
Thank you. I will try it.

In addition, if real-time data is received by phone, is there a way to transmit the contents of the phone to another device such as a laptop?

The app running on the mobile device and connected to the RC by USB will use MSDK to gather realtime data from the drone. To answer your follow-up question, that same app can also connect to other devices at the same time (e.g. a server in the cloud or a laptop on the LAN). Essentially you can open a socket to (or listen for incoming connection from) any other addressable network device.

Since, in the default case, the mobile device connects to the RC by USB, you unfortunatley can not use USB to connect to a computer. In this default case, you have to use an IP network (e.g. wifi or cellular). However, this is not a restriction if you use the DJI SmartController because the app runs on the Smart RC and the Smart RC can connect to your computer by USB while the app is running. This is also not a restriction if you use the DJI Wireless Bridge app because your custom app runs on mobile device A connected by USB to the computer, and device A communicates over the wifi LAN to mobile device B running the wireless bridge app which is then connected to the RC by USB. In either of those cases, you could use (if you're using Android) the adb tool to logcat dump all log output from your app and pipe it into another program for processing.

It gets complicated, and I might be wrong about some of the above, and there might be a simple solution I'm unaware of.

gndev Posted at 4-14 13:38
The app running on the mobile device and connected to the RC by USB will use MSDK to gather realtime data from the drone. To answer your follow-up question, that same app can also connect to other devices at the same time (e.g. a server in the cloud or a laptop on the LAN). Essentially you can open a socket to (or listen for incoming connection from) any other addressable network device.

Since, in the default case, the mobile device connects to the RC by USB, you unfortunatley can not use USB to connect to a computer. In this default case, you have to use an IP network (e.g. wifi or cellular). However, this is not a restriction if you use the DJI SmartController because the app runs on the Smart RC and the Smart RC can connect to your computer by USB while the app is running. This is also not a restriction if you use the DJI Wireless Bridge app because your custom app runs on mobile device A connected by USB to the computer, and device A communicates over the wifi LAN to mobile device B running the wireless bridge app which is then connected to the RC by USB. In either of those cases, you could use (if you're using Android) the adb tool to logcat dump all log output from your app and pipe it into another program for processing.

I've done an app with a webserver that runs on the mobile.
Connect  from PC over SDN-network like zerotier, which uses punch through methods to get very low ping.
You can also use web-api for getting the fpvview in almost realtime.

Works really really well, I shoud consider this path if I were you. I only wish someone had told me this info, it would saved me months :-)

Mats Bohlinsson Posted at 4-15 12:01
I've done an app with a webserver that runs on the mobile.
Connect  from PC over SDN-network like zerotier, which uses punch through methods to get very low ping.
You can also use web-api for getting the fpvview in almost realtime.

Hey team,

Follow-up to the above - I'm wanting to do a similar thing (stream realtime position) from an SDK-based app connect to the RC, but I also want to control the drone using GS Pro at the same time.

What are the showstoppers there? Does connecting GSPro prevent you from establishing an SDK connection?

djiuser_xmt8SlN2GVn9 Posted at 4-15 22:26
Hey team,

Follow-up to the above - I'm wanting to do a similar thing (stream realtime position) from an SDK-based app connect to the RC, but I also want to control the drone using GS Pro at the same time.

I believe only one app can connect to (i.e. register with) the mobile SDK at a time. At least that was the result of my testing that scenario with Android mobile SDK.