Tagged: DJI

Tech Minds: Video on DJI Drone Detection on the AntSDR E200

Just recently we posted about the release of some firmware for the AntSDR E200 which allows it to decode DJI DroneID. DroneID is a protocol designed to transmit the position of the drone and operator to authorized entities such as law enforcements and operators of critical infrastructure.

In his latest video Matt from the Tech Minds YouTube channel shows this firmware in action. In the video he first shows how to install the firmware, and how to connect to its serial output. He goes on to test it with his DJI Mini 4 Pro and show some live DroneID frames being decoded.

DJI Drone Hacking Using Software Defined Radio ANTSDR E200

DJI DroneID Detection Running on the AntSDR E200 CPU

DJI is a major manufacturer of consumer drones and their drones implement an RF protocol called DroneID which is designed to transmit the position of the drone and operator to authorized entities such as law enforcements and operators of critical infrastructure. 

Recently the AntSDR team have managed to get DJI DroneID decoding working on the AntSDR's onboard ARM processor. The decoding software runs on board the AntSDR E200 and outputs decoded data via the serial or network port. The AntSDR E200 is an SDR that is based on the AD9361 chip and has a 70 MHz to 6 GHz tuning range, 56 MHz of bandwidth and 12-bit ADC. It has 2x2 full duplex TX/RX channels and has an onboard FPGA with ARM CPU core.

They make use of existing code on GitHub from  https://github.com/proto17/dji_droneid and https://github.com/RUB-SysSec/DroneSecurity, both of which implement reverse engineered decoders for DroneID.

The update from AntSDR shows how to install the firmware onto the device and get it up an running. They note that drones that use Occusync 2 or 3 like the Mini2 or Mini3Pro work best, because other models may be encrypted or have a slightly different protocol which doesn't work with these decoders.

Aaron, creator of DragonOS has also uploaded a video showing the decoder in action.

DragonOS FocalX Decoding DJI DroneID w/ AntSDR E200 (MicroPhase)