I'm a bit confused why the drone has the receiver but it's not used in the UK/EU and only used in the USA. This is advertised with it so surely it should be functional. Anyone able to clarify? Also I do understand that for the rules in the UK it's not needed as you'll have a spotter  but it can be very helpful if you don't hear/see an aircraft until it's much closer.

"as you'll have a spotter"
We need a spotter is the USA as well. I would have thought the Airsense feature would be worldwide.
FWIW, I haven't seen an Airsense notification myself. I live a few miles from an airport but it's not very busy. I suppose I just haven't been flying when aircraft are in the area (which is the way I like it).

Good luck with your effort to find more info about this.

the Air Sense DOES WORK in EU. At least it does in NL. You need to enable it in the menu though.

tomekyo Posted at 4-12 11:08
the Air Sense DOES WORK in EU. At least it does in NL. You need to enable it in the menu though.

I can confirm, that it works here in Germany too. Got an Airsense warning recently, and a little bit later heard a helicopter fly by. Great feature!

Duane Degn Posted at 4-12 07:34
"as you'll have a spotter"
We need a spotter is the USA as well. I would have thought the Airsense feature would be worldwide.
FWIW, I haven't seen an Airsense notification myself. I live a few miles from an airport but it's not very busy. I suppose I just haven't been flying when aircraft are in the area (which is the way I like it).

Ah, I’m not sure on the rules else where so I didn’t want to assume you need a spotter as well. But I did assume that feature was a worldwide feature as it’s advertised on the UK web page in having it. Maybe in the future it’ll become active.

Jean Page Posted at 4-12 13:03
I can confirm, that it works here in Germany too. Got an Airsense warning recently, and a little bit later heard a helicopter fly by. Great feature!

Ah cool, nice to see that it’s working in the EU, I hadn’t had confirmation of it working there until now. Just weird it’s not over here In the UK, I got told by DJI support today it’s only supported in the USA which is weird as yours is active

tomekyo Posted at 4-12 11:08
the Air Sense DOES WORK in EU. At least it does in NL. You need to enable it in the menu though.

Cool, so it’s just the UK it’s not working. Seems weird to me. I have got the option turned on in the menu as I thought it worked but apparently not. Thanks for letting me know it works in the EU, good to know for future flights.

Oh yea it works,  My first flight might have saved the drone, some dip... was flying really low, saw the orange alert, dropped to 100 feet, then saw the red alert, then dropped below the treeline, holy ... that thing buzzed right over me. edit: I'm in Central Florida.

If I understood correctly, Airsense uses the ADS-B transponder signals from aircrafts. If an aircraft is equipted with such transponder, the drone will receive it‘s ping and the approximate distance to the aircraft, and triggers the warning in the goggles.
So it should be independent to the country where you‘re flying.

If you want to know more about the tech behind it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Dependent_Surveillance%E2%80%93Broadcast

Not all the Air 2's got the ADSB receiver installed,  but the new Air2S does have it.

DAFlys Posted at 4-12 23:01
Not all the Air 2's got the ADSB receiver installed,  but the new Air2S does have it.

He posted in the FPV section (I had to check twice since I assumed it was about the new Air)

Jean Page Posted at 4-12 20:06
If I understood correctly, Airsense uses the ADS-B transponder signals from aircrafts. If an aircraft is equipted with such transponder, the drone will receive it‘s ping and the approximate distance to the aircraft, and triggers the warning in the goggles.
So it should be independent to the country where you‘re flying.

Thanks for the reply, I don’t think mines working on the FPV drone then

Montfrooij Posted at 4-12 23:14
He posted in the FPV section (I had to check twice since I assumed it was about the new Air)

Haha yep this is about the DJI FPV drone not the air2s, but I wonder if it’ll be the same thing if you buy it in the UK it’ll have the tech inside but unavailable. Just going off what DJI said themselves.

JBinx Posted at 4-12 23:18
Haha yep this is about the DJI FPV drone not the air2s, but I wonder if it’ll be the same thing if you buy it in the UK it’ll have the tech inside but unavailable. Just going off what DJI said themselves.

I'm not sure about it. My M2 does not have it for sure!
But looks like a nice feature!

Audguy Posted at 4-12 15:53
Oh yea it works,  My first flight might have saved the drone, some dip... was flying really low, saw the orange alert, dropped to 100 feet, then saw the red alert, then dropped below the treeline, holy ... that thing buzzed right over me. edit: I'm in Central Florida.

Oh wow, really handy you had it then.

Montfrooij Posted at 4-12 23:14
He posted in the FPV section (I had to check twice since I assumed it was about the new Air)

Ahh.  oops.  thanks for correcting me.

DAFlys Posted at 4-12 23:27
Ahh.  oops.  thanks for correcting me.

I was about to comment the same thing when I noticed

JBinx Posted at 4-12 23:15
Thanks for the reply, I don’t think mines working on the FPV drone then

If you have ever had the Shell off the drone, to change it for the green one or just curiosity, the ADS-B antennas are connected to the GPS board, then they are covered with a foam pad, the foam pad can get stuck to the cover and disconnects the antennas from the GPS board.

My Mavic Enterprise has Airsense and it very occasionally tells me that there is an aircraft nearby, but not always. The FPV drone has never yet notified me of any aircraft nearby.

As the transponder data also includes altitude of the transponding aircraft then your are not going to be notified of aircraft that are passing you at 2000 feet as they pose no risk.

Although there has been a requirement to have Mode-S transponders in UK registered aircraft for a while, few light aircraft have them installed, so you won't get a notification about them either!

Buzzyone Posted at 4-13 02:27
If you have ever had the Shell off the drone, to change it for the green one or just curiosity, the ADS-B antennas are connected to the GPS board, then they are covered with a foam pad, the foam pad can get stuck to the cover and disconnects the antennas from the GPS board.

My Mavic Enterprise has Airsense and it very occasionally tells me that there is an aircraft nearby, but not always. The FPV drone has never yet notified me of any aircraft nearby.

Hmm okay, I'll have a look to see if the connections are all good. Thanks for the tip.

That was the other thought I had, maybe none of the aircraft that I've noticed so far haven't had them installed or the ones that pose no risk just wouldn't come up.

ok just an update ,i am in the uk i had a MA2 for 10 months it had the ADSB chip in it ,the airsense on the dji app was disabled in the uk and the EU,i tried a modded go fly app and the airsense worked great in the uk .
please be aware i only ver got alerts when the aircraft /heli was on a approx collision course and the height separation was small ie,if i was at 300 foot and an aircraft was at 4000 foot no alerts but 2000 i would get alerts just as some people realise this , ive heard people saying its not working but its just the aircraft in the area was not low enough.

JBinx Posted at 4-13 13:43
Hmm okay, I'll have a look to see if the connections are all good. Thanks for the tip.

That was the other thought I had, maybe none of the aircraft that I've noticed so far haven't had them installed or the ones that pose no risk just wouldn't come up.

Most jet aircraft are over 6000' once they set off and are a few miles out from the runway.

The only thing I get around where I fly is a glider tug, which I know doesn't have a transponder, so have to use Mk1 ears for that. They are always 2000' anyway by the time they get to me.

Once the Covid restrictions around private avaition are lifted (Monday I think) then there will be a lot more light aircraft buzzing about, but, these should all be above 500' anyway, unless taking off or landing (Air Navigation Order) which is why we have a 400' limit.

ADS-B in a drone is probably a lot more use in the States as light aircraft are like mosquitos out there and every village has an airfield!

Buzzyone Posted at 4-13 02:27
If you have ever had the Shell off the drone, to change it for the green one or just curiosity, the ADS-B antennas are connected to the GPS board, then they are covered with a foam pad, the foam pad can get stuck to the cover and disconnects the antennas from the GPS board.

My Mavic Enterprise has Airsense and it very occasionally tells me that there is an aircraft nearby, but not always. The FPV drone has never yet notified me of any aircraft nearby.

Thanks for the answer. I was wondering why it isn't discussed.

I changed the shell but now the airsense is not available anymore. Any idea to get it back again?

Elysian Whisper Posted at 6-15 06:27
Thanks for the answer. I was wondering why it isn't discussed.

I changed the shell but now the airsense is not available anymore. Any idea to get it back again?

As @Buzzyone mentioned, the ADS-B antennas are connected to the GPS board. You might want to remove the cover and make sure these antenna are properly connected.

You can get ADS-B receivers which plug into a PC for less than $20 (the antenna costs a bit extra). It might be interesting to compare what sort of data one of these USB connected receivers receive vs the air traffic info provided through the drone.

Duane Degn Posted at 6-15 14:24
As @Buzzyone mentioned, the ADS-B antennas are connected to the GPS board. You might want to remove the cover and make sure these antenna are properly connected.

You can get ADS-B receivers which plug into a PC for less than $20 (the antenna costs a bit extra). It might be interesting to compare what sort of data one of these USB connected receivers receive vs the air traffic info provided through the drone.

Thanks for the advice. I will try to do that. Not sure if I am able to do it right

is anyone seeing adb-s notifications in Spain?

I've never got any, which is a pity , since we occasionally get some pretty low-flying helicopters (as Im pretty remote)
nothing really to worry about, as Im stil much lower... but it would be nice.

iirc, last time I looked this up for the EU, whilst new aircraft need to have ads-b transponders , the requirement to have them retrofitted to older aircraft was postponed.

does anyone know, when fitted, are the transponders supposed to be on at all times? or only under certain conditions (eg. proximity to airports, or below certain altitudes)

it also works in austria

Duane Degn Posted at 6-15 14:24
As @Buzzyone mentioned, the ADS-B antennas are connected to the GPS board. You might want to remove the cover and make sure these antenna are properly connected.

You can get ADS-B receivers which plug into a PC for less than $20 (the antenna costs a bit extra). It might be interesting to compare what sort of data one of these USB connected receivers receive vs the air traffic info provided through the drone.

Over the years I’ve done a fair bit of testing with ADS-B, using cheap DVB-T dongles and advanced Software Definec Radio’s (SDR’s). I’ve not used the DJI AirSense system but I assume it shows only the basics such as distance, bearing, and height. If you sample the whole data burst and strip the modulation off there is so much more info available.

To be honest for 99% of users AirSense is more of a gimmick than a must have feature. In general aviation airspace there are minimum ceiling heights for aircraft and maximum ceiling heights for our drones. E.g. in my area the maximum height for a drone is 400ft, and the minimum height for a non-commercial aircraft is 1500ft. So if an aircraft is within even a few hundred feet altitude of my drone this would mean that my drone is the least of the aircraft pilot’s worries as he’s probably on a crash course anyway.

The same goes for the large passenger aircraft that transit my local airport some 5miles away. These aircraft are around 4,000ft agl before entering the airport’s restricted airspace where drone operations are not permitted. So again if my drone was in anyway in close proximity to one of these aircraft you can rest assured the pilot would have already issued a MAYDAY call and instructed everyone onboard to brace for impact, long before a possible collision with my 900grams of plastic.
What would make more sense would be for the drone to transmit ADS-B signals. This way the aircraft, and subsequently the Tower and relevant LEO would be made aware of an illicit drone flight, as to be a threat to an aircraft the drone will have to be flying outside of its permitted airspace in the first place.

Nidge Posted at 6-17 00:08
Over the years I’ve done a fair bit of testing with ADS-B, using cheap DVB-T dongles and advanced Software Definec Radio’s (SDR’s). I’ve not used the DJI AirSense system but I assume it shows only the basics such as distance, bearing, and height. If you sample the whole data burst and strip the modulation off there is so much more info available.

To be honest for 99% of users AirSense is more of a gimmick than a must have feature. In general aviation airspace there are minimum ceiling heights for aircraft and maximum ceiling heights for our drones. E.g. in my area the maximum height for a drone is 400ft, and the minimum height for a non-commercial aircraft is 1500ft. So if an aircraft is within even a few hundred feet altitude of my drone this would mean that my drone is the least of the aircraft pilot’s worries as he’s probably on a crash course anyway.

" I’ve not used the DJI AirSense system but I assume it shows only the basics such as distance, bearing, and height."

The only info I see in the DJI goggles is "Low flying aircraft in area." It doesn't provide more info than this. I've only seen tis warning a few times but I always lower my drone's altitude and land as quickly as practical. If I started to see this warning more frequently, I might not make such a big deal out of landing right away.

I'm curious about the extra information you describe. As mentioned above, I ordered a cheap ADS-B dongle and I plan to check the area for air traffic before flying. I live a few miles from a small airport I'm curious how low the airplanes get while approaching the airport.