DJI is blocking operations of Ukrainian AeroScope complexes [GT from Ukrainian] • Hacker News Board

Re: DJI is blocking operations of Ukrainian AeroScope complexes [GT from Ukrainian]

#11

Post by sbierwagen » Tue, Apr 05, 2022, 5:52 AM UTC

rasz wrote: post #10

sbierwagen wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read that, thought "no way", but sure enough, straight from the FAA page on drone remote ID https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/remote_id/ >From takeoff to shutdown, drone broadcasts: >Drone ID >Drone location and altitude >Drone velocity >Control station location and elevation >Time mark >Emergency status

Is there really GPS radio in the transmitter, or are they using drone takeoff location? or GPS coordinates supplied by the phone used for video feed? DJI drones use external GPS modules (separate pcb + ribbon connection), it would be trivial to make modchips spoofing current coordinates by offsetting them by some fixed vector.

The DJI transmitter is a joystick module that doesn't have a screen. You plug in a smartphone and install the DJI app to see what the drone sees. If they're being smart, they would be comparing GPS location from the phone against the GPS chip in the drone to see if you're doing anything funny.

Re: DJI is blocking operations of Ukrainian AeroScope complexes [GT from Ukrainian]

#12

Post by rasz » Tue, Apr 05, 2022, 7:10 AM UTC

sbierwagen wrote: post #11

rasz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there really GPS radio in the transmitter, or are they using drone takeoff location? or GPS coordinates supplied by the phone used for video feed? DJI drones use external GPS modules (separate pcb + ribbon connection), it would be trivial to make modchips spoofing current coordinates by offsetting them by some fixed vector.

The DJI transmitter is a joystick module that doesn't have a screen. You plug in a smartphone and install the DJI app to see what the drone sees. If they're being smart, they would be comparing GPS location from the phone against the GPS chip in the drone to see if you're doing anything funny.

Spoofing on the phone side should be even simpler (Mock Location App).

Re: DJI is blocking operations of Ukrainian AeroScope complexes [GT from Ukrainian]

#13

Post by dharmab » Tue, Apr 05, 2022, 5:31 PM UTC

rasz wrote: post #9

sbierwagen wrote: post #3

DJI civilian drones broadcast transponder data, as required by the FAA and many other nations' FAA-equivalents. DJI apparently encrypts these signals, and sells an expensive product to receive and decrypt them: https://www.dji.com/aeroscope Decoding transponder data presumably gives better accuracy than regular radio-directionfinding, which militaries have used in combat for 80 years now. (UA has been operating consu…

>UA has been operating consumer drones on the front lines, because they're suicidal, desperate, or both. Pretty much every army on a budged uses DJI drones, because they make the best civilian UAVs period. https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1509849258811445252 "The Ukrainian forces attacked an UAV unit of the Russian army. The drones themselves were not abandoned, however a control unit for an Eleron-3 light reconn…

At least in the United States, released footage from military aircraft cameras is heavily blurred and degraded to obscure the true capabilities of the camera. The real images are crisp with extraordinary detail. I don't know if this applies to Poland's equipment.

Re: DJI is blocking operations of Ukrainian AeroScope complexes [GT from Ukrainian]

#14

Post by rasz » Wed, Apr 06, 2022, 7:58 AM UTC

dharmab wrote: post #13

rasz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>UA has been operating consumer drones on the front lines, because they're suicidal, desperate, or both. Pretty much every army on a budged uses DJI drones, because they make the best civilian UAVs period. https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1509849258811445252 "The Ukrainian forces attacked an UAV unit of the Russian army. The drones themselves were not abandoned, however a control unit for an Eleron-3 light reconn…

At least in the United States, released footage from military aircraft cameras is heavily blurred and degraded to obscure the true capabilities of the camera. The real images are crisp with extraordinary detail. I don't know if this applies to Poland's equipment.

US has very strict rules when selling advanced weapons, and usually doesnt need to advertise them (for example General Atomics Reaper). Manufacturers from other countries without solid track record dont have this luxury, hence extensive demonstrations on the trade show floors and in the field.