Turns out this isn’t as common knowledge as I thought, so here’s a thread to give you some insight in to what your DJI drone is currently broadcasting for the world to see.
Here’s how your DJI firmware has been broadcasting your take off location, RTH location, current speed, altitude and all sorts of other information to anyone who’s been listening, for the last two years or more.
It’s a hefty read, but a serious eye opener if you had no clue that any of this was going on inside your drone:
Would like to know the same. I’m on a very early modded FW. Hopefully this was implemented after.
I remember people using an app called Floater which could change your gps location to the US and enable people to use FCC mode. Wonder if that will work to hide your location?
It wouldn’t hide the RTH location … and I’m not sure of the consequences (in app/drone behaviour terms) if they thought the operator was (say) 10km away.
Might be worth a test.
Of course - it won’t change the RTH that’s being transmitted.
One could immediately change the RTH to “where you are” … but then all the battery warnings to achieve RTH would go into meltdown.
The Ukrainian army is concerned that the Chinese have decided to equip AeroScope by the end of 2023 with a special encryption system, which will allow the Russian army to accurately determine the location of its drone operators and hit them with their own weapons.
At the same time, the Chinese company did not allow users access to Kiev, by encrypting the software system. This indicates that DJI seeks to prevent Ukraine from accessing this effective and inexpensive interception system, while demonstrating China’s clear desire to give Russia a significant advantage in its efforts to track down Ukrainian operators.
Copies of the software used so far by Ukrainians are becoming obsolete, which makes it impossible to fight against the attacks of DJI drones equipped with the Russian armed forces. It is emphasised that the encrypted version of the software will prevent the Ukrainian armed forces from intercepting signals from similar enemy drones without a new system security key.
Kiev has protested several times and demanded that DJI change its position. However, the Chinese ignored their demands and protests. The Ukrainian armed forces must now quickly replace tens of thousands of DJI drones so that Ukrainian operators are not victims of Russian attacks thanks to the Aeroscope system.
Currently, the Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fedorov, responsible for the technological component of the combatting operations against Russia, is seeking to get rid of all dual-use products provided by China. Aeroscope software is the main source of intelligence for Russian electronic warfare and electronic warfare units. This has already allowed our troops to inflict significant damage on the Ukrainian armed forces - the information collected is transmitted to gun artillery, MLRS, aviation and groups equipped with Russian kamikaze drones that hit Ukrainians.
