How Discrete is your Drone Flying with RID Drone Tracking App?

On another Web Site that I am active on, a member posted a topic where they asked what would happen if they installed a Separate RID Broadcast Module on their RID enabled Drone and this is my reply. You might be interested to find out exactly how much Flight Telemetry a person using a RID Drone Tracking App on their Smartphone would receive.

If you have a RID enabled Drone that transmits the FAA’s required signal specifications, it transmits: the Drone’s ID (Serial Number?), the Drone’s location and altitude, the Drone’s velocity, the Control Station location and elevation (Your location whether you move about or not, because your controller “talks” to the drone where it is…), the Drone’s Time mark (Flight Time?), and any Emergency Status (low battery warnings, weak signals, strong winds, etc…)

If you add a Broadcast Module, it will also transmit at the same time. However, since it is not electronically connected to the Drone or the Controller, it can only broadcast information relative to itself.

The Module broadcast the following information: the Drone’s ID (something you would have to program into), the Drone’s location and altitude (actually the Modules location and altitude…), the Drone’s velocity (again, the Module’s speed), the Takeoff location and elevation (where it was located when turned), and the Time mark (how long it has been turned on…

I have provided a Screen Grab of one of these Apps reading the Broadcast signal from an Add-On Module, the DroneTag Add-on Module:

These Apps are capable of decimating the signals from multiple Drones. Note that it shows the Map, the Flight Path, the Takeoff Location, and the Telemetry is recorded with altitude, speed, location, distance from controller, and so much more… And the Module will transmit information that information for up to 1.5 km or almost a mile…

This App allows all this information to downloaded as a CSV File and this information can then be provided as definitive proof of your flights to the FAA if you are flying where you should not, flying without an authorization or waiver, beyond Visual Line of Sight, etc…

So, if you have a drone vigilante who takes an undue interest in your flights, perhaps in your neighborhood, a local park, etc… they might just save a batch of your flights and submit all of them to the FAA to cause you trouble.

This is a Follow-Up on the original Posting…

Based on several questions and observations made by some of the members of the various web sites that I have posted this information on, I have some follow-up information…

The Remote Broadcast Module must be tamper resistant, meaning the Identification Number assigned to the unit cannot be changed. The Identification Number will be assigned by the manufacturer.

Next, if your Drone is a Non-Compliant Unmanned Aircraft (no built in RID…) and you are required to use a Remote Broadcast Module due to the drone’s weight (for Rec Pilots…) or the drone (all weights…) is used in a Part 107 Operation, then you will be required to go into your FAADroneZone Account and edit the Drone’s Identification Number (usually the Serial Number…) and change it to the Remote Broadcast Module Identification Number.

For more information, please see the 470-Page FAA Final Rule…

https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2021-08/RemoteID_Final_Rule.pdf

or a more condensed, and readable version put out by the FPV Freedom Coalition…

Great information, I am following it on the other site. So, is there a consumer app to track these RID signals?

Never mind, I found it in your stand alone post. “DroneTag”.

Nevr Mind

It is hard to get too concerned about the crushing authority of the FAA when you only have to watch the Philly guy on youtube. : )

LoudThunder, regarding location of controller, you say “(Your location whether you move about or not, because your controller “talks” to the drone where it is…).”

Is that because of using a smart phone with “Location” tuned on? What if “Location” is turned off?

My main interest is, do we have a definitive answer as to whether the RC Pro controller has a GPS module in it? If not, RID could not know if the controller moved. Agree?

Don’t you just hate it when someone says, “Good Question…”? It usually means they are not prepared to answer your question.

However, I will answer your question, the answer is I don’t know. I use a Galaxy Tablet (no cellular) with my Mini 2 Controller and I do leave my location turned on all the time. One, so when I am at home and before I go out and I know where I am going, I download my maps. Two, concerning RTH, the drone knows where it took off from and that it the RTH point. However, if I move, the tablet tells the app where it’s at and updates the maps accordingly. I also leave it on incase I decide that I want to change the RTH point (a bunch of people have come around, dogs are nearby, etc…) the App has to have the current GPS position otherwise I cannot update the RTH to the new location.

Another example is if you are out in a boat and moving about, but you took off from shore, now you are a mile out and your battery is gotting low and the drone starts to RTH, you want it to return to the most recent location of your update, so in this case you would want to keep your Location On

I do not know if my controller has any built in GPS (probably not…), and you are probably right that the App gets that info from the Location being turned on.

But we are dealing a little bit with apples and oranges as you mentioned that you are using a RC Pro controller and you do not connect you controller to another device as I have to do… So I believe that you controller has built in GPS. But how do you load your maps, do you have to do it from Home, a hotspot on your phone, etc… I hope you do not fly without current, high res maps…

If your drone went done and you had to use “Find My Drone” you would not see a google map with all the detail that one shows. I tested this once, I flew my drone using only the Google map over to an area where the park once had BBQ Pits, the BBQs units are now gone, but the cement pads are still there, I was able to land my drone on top of those pads from about 300’ away, looking only at the Google maps…

The weather is going to be lousy for the next week or so and I probably will not be flying so I can’t test that. If you can test that, please past your results… But the way, I would test this to see if the little circle Icon for the controller would move on the Atti display…

Location