Haye Kesteloo

In the midst of a very turbulent week for DJI, the Chinese drone maker is holding an event in Washington, DC that focusses on improving the safety in the skies. In the Ronald Reagan Building, about seventy industry people gathered to listen to DJI’s latest developments and roadmap to safely integrate unmanned aircraft into the national airspace. DJI announced that it will make a huge step towards improving safety in the skies. Among other things, the company has committed to installing AirSense technology that receives ADS-B signals from nearby airplanes and helicopters into every DJI drone over 250 grams from January 2020 forward.

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Last month, German researchers successfully tested an Unmanned Air Traffic Management system that coordinated two drone flights in the area of Köhlbrand Bridge in Hamburg Germany. The City Air Traffic Management (City-ATM) project successfully demonstrated two drones cooperating with each other while executing a bridge inspection, amid active shipping and roads traffic. The Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt or German Aerospace Center in partnership with various industrial and academic parties performed the test as part of a study for the future use of drones in urban environments.

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On Monday, the U. S. Department of Homeland Security expressed ‘strong concerns’ that Chinese-made drones, including DJI’s aircraft, could potentially be sending sensitive flight information to their China-based manufacturers, where it could be accessed by the Chinese government. The warnings from DHS follow the executive order from President Trump against Huawei and are the latest development in the escalating trade war between the United States and China.

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Last Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued new rules for hobbyist drone pilots in an effort to keep the national airspace safe and available for both manned and unmanned aircraft. Hobbyist or recreational drone pilots are no longer exempt under Section 336 and are now required to follow these new FAA rules and regulations. Unfortunately, for the time being, this means that hobbyist or recreational drone pilots are no longer able to fly in controlled airspace at all, with the exception of these designated areas.

Later this summer, when the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) system will be made available to hobbyist drone pilots, they will be required to obtain approval for their flights in controlled airspace through the LAANC system. If this sounds to you like the FAA is putting the horse behind the wagon, then I would agree. However, this is the situation that we are dealing with for now. Keep in mind it will only be temporary until the FAA makes LAANC available to all pilots.

However, this is not all. The FAA will also require all hobbyist drone pilots to take an electronic aeronautical knowledge and safety test. And, you will be required to show proof of you successfully passing the exam to any FAA official or police officer upon request.

Keep reading for all the details of these new rules and what it means to you. If you prefer to watch a 12-minute video instead of reading, I suggest you watch the one below from 51drones.

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The DJI Osmo Action is off to a very good start. Many people seemed to doubt if DJI’s action camera could stand up to competition from GoPro’s Hero 7 black. However, many of the initial reviews show that the DJI Osmo Action is actually quite an amazing little action camera. The electronic image stabilization, RockSteady does an amazing job and, of course, having two display does make recording a lot easier. If you bought a DJI Osmo Action over the weekend, be sure to update it to DJI’s latest firmware before using. The new update brings some final touches and improvements to things such as the sound system, RockSteady, the WiFi connection, and improved Timelapse and HDR video quality.

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Not too long ago, we wrote that DJI was about to release their software development kit (SDK) for the DJI Smart Controller. Well, they did so earlier this week. The SDK allows third-party developers to build their applications fully integrated with the DJI Smart Controller. Expect Litchi to be one of the first apps available on the, now even more expensive DJI Smart Controller.

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DJI just released a firmware update for the DJI Osmo Pocket, version v01.07.00.20. The file size is about 99MB and brings improvements for the focus speed, reduced focus pulsing, added the Hyperlapse feature and volume adjustment for an external microphone. Sounds like a small update? Not really. We use the DJI Osmo Pocket for a lot of recordings and these improvements make a big difference. Yeah, a full frame DSLR will outperform the DJI Osmo Pocket in resolution and low light performance, but it will never outperform the Osmo Pocket when it comes to portability. This little guy goes anywhere!

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Well, this has to be DJI’s worst kept secret! The DJI Osmo Action camera. After the DJI Osmo Pocket, DJI now introduces a rugged action camera to record all your adventures. This little guy is waterproof, dustproof and shockproof. The DJI Osmo Action features two displays, one of which is a touch screen. The camera takes 12-megapixel stills though its F2.8 lens (145 degrees FOV). Photos and video are recorded on a 1/2.3” sensor. And, video can be recorded in 4K, up to 60fps at 100Mbps with DJI’s Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), called RockSteady.

The Osmo Action retails for $349 and is available as of right now from DJI directly, authorized DJI dealers, such as DroneNerds and other resellers. Let’s take a closer look at the specs and see what makes the DJI Osmo Action special in the crowded action camera market place.

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DJI just raised the price of their already expensive DJI Smart Controller. We previously wrote about how the Smart Controller plays a crucial role in the future of DJI drones such as the DJI Mavic 2 series. Now, it seems that DJI wants to make sure it is a profitable one as well. The ongoing trade war between the United States and China and resulting tariff increases have led to a raised price for the controller in the United States. You used to pay $649. Now you pay $749 for the remote controller with a built-in display. Ouch!

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During the AUVSI Xponential 2019 show, we had the chance to talk with three members of the North Carolina Department of Transportation. In the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, the North Carolina DoT turned to drones to make visible not only the storm damage but also the extensive flooding that took place in the state.

Updated with a full transcript of the interview.

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Miami Police invited a counter-drone company during the Ultra Music Festival to keep the skies free of drones, but in doing so they may have violated federal law according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

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College students of New Mexico use drones to map the location of dinosaur tracks in a state park. In a recent statement, New Mexico State Parks announced it is teaming up with Central New Mexico Community College students and the New Mexico Museum of National History and Science to map the footprints of dinosaurs at Clayton Lake State Park.

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Next week, DJI will launch a new product. The drone maker made the announcement earlier today. As usual, the message was accompanied by a cryptic description, which says: “Unleash your other side”. To find out more we will have to wait until May 15th when the company will make the official announcement at 9:15 am EST.

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Earlier today, DJI released already the third new firmware update for the DJI Phantom 4 RTK in 2019. Version v02.01.0009. This time, the drone maker focusses on improving the drone’s functionality for mapping purposes with an added 3D Photogrammetry (Multi-oriented) operation type that includes a single orthographic flight route and four oblique flight routes as part of a mapping operation. After updating your drone with the new firmware you will also be able to the new Terrain Awareness Mode operation type. This allows you to upload terrain information so that the Phantom 4 RTK can follow the terrain during the flight. DJI also added a few other things and fixed a number of bugs. Details of which you can find below.

We will be sure to check in with our drone mapping expert, Paul Aitken from DroneU to learn what he thinks of this latest firmware update from DJI.

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Last Friday a drone dropped flyers with swastikas and others that said: “the press is the enemy” outside an Ariana Grande concert. The flyers were also dropped over Sacramento State’s annual ‘Bites on the Bridge’ dinner on the Guy West Bridge. The leaflets had different designs. One said, “the press is the enemy”. Another one stated “stop the TV whore takeover” and there were some that featured a swastika. The flyers were dropped from a drone on both sides of the Guy West Bridge around 6:30 PM Friday night and outside the Ariana Grande concert. A video was posted on YouTube that shows the flyers being dropped.

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In partnership with UPS, a hospital in North Carolina is pioneering a drone delivery program to speed up the delivery of critical medical samples across the WakeMed hospital campus. Medical samples are put in a small cooler that is carried by the drone to a lab roughly 3/4 of a mile away. It takes the unmanned aircraft less than four minutes to make the delivery. On foot, the trip takes about 45 minutes.

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This part 4 and also the last piece in the special series of DJI Rumors that cover the company’s Phantom 4, Phantom 5 and Mavic 2 drone series for consumers, prosumers and professional users. Earlier we covered Part 1: Game over for DJI Phantom 4, Part 2: DJI Phantom 5 canceled and Part 3: DJI Mavic 2 is the future. In this last part, we will focus on the DJI Smart Controller and explain why it will play a crucial role in the future of the DJI Mavic 2 and other forthcoming DJI drones.

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A Chinese developer had ‘unintentionally’ posted DJI’s private AES keys in plain text on Github. The developer who had previously expressed suicidal thoughts has since been put in jail.

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