Unlocking an Authorization Zone - pls confirm how it is supposed to work.

[paulatkin73]

Hi,

All this happens on the smart controller. unfortunately i did not take screenshots. i would love to know if there is somethign else in there i do not understand or if it is a bug.
Upon takeoff i got a banner on the screen notifying about authorization zone nearby. i clicked 'yes' for the unlock. it asked for a phone number for my account, i gave it. it texted me a code to enter, i did it.

Controller then showed me a last screen to accept some BS - had a link in blue in there, and screen had 2 buttons - 'cancel' and a greyed out 'accept' or something. there was no checkbox on the screen to accept anything. just a notion to accept it and a link in blue - when I pressed it - it opened DJI website with some usual legal stuff on it. going back it went to a same screen.

I am confused a bit with all this. does anybody know how it actually supposed to work? Do i need to provide some more info about me somewhere in the DJI account settings? i did not believe authorization zones needed anything extra, but, not sure now.

Thx, Paul.

 

[FoxhallGH]

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[paulatkin73]

So, i have to say i am quite mad now.

As i am at home now - I just did all this BS procedure on their web site. The button name is 'PROCEED'. It popped up all the same steps on the screen, sent me a text with the code - only this time button was not grayed out. It allowed me to press it and then i was able to import certificate into controller.
This is exactly why i did not want to buy DJI stuff for such a long time. Dunno what was the deal with the first procedure, but it did not let me do all that using the controller screen when i was there. It is very , BEYOND, annoying as it was a good day and now it is gone. Heck with it.

 

[paulatkin73]

Have a look at this ...

i looked and it is totally useless, at least i do not see in it what i expect, may be for no reason.
first thing - in the go4 app on the controller - with drone powered up, or not powered up - i went to the map of my location and it does not show any circles for restricted or authorization zones. i have nothing to press on to unlock it before i begin. at least i do not see it - and, may be i do not understand something.

so, the usual self unlock AFTER the take-off - it is what it made me do and what did not work. all i got in the end was a grayed out 'PROCEED' button. dunno, i have now unlocked it for 3 days, so, will not be able to repeat any time soon. i can, of course, to do same thing, but, i did not expect the need to do it before the fact, i was thinking it will be possible to to from the location.

so, when it asked for the verification code there was sone crazy countdown on the screen. does it expect code to be entered during that countdown? it did not text me code that fast. then it took time to enter it - can that be the issue?

 

[FoxhallGH]

All I can add is that there is a proceedure to set yourself up a DJI account. Once that is done, the unlock is referencing the info that you have lodges against that account. Hopefully, if you have gone through the correct set-up, the next time this happens, you'll get through it with minimum fuss.

 

[DCGOO]

So, i have to say i am quite mad now.

As i am at home now - I just did all this BS procedure on their web site. The button name is 'PROCEED'. It popped up all the same steps on the screen, sent me a text with the code - only this time button was not grayed out. It allowed me to press it and then i was able to import certificate into controller.
This is exactly why i did not want to buy DJI stuff for such a long time. Dunno what was the deal with the first procedure, but it did not let me do all that using the controller screen when i was there. It is very , BEYOND, annoying as it was a good day and now it is gone. Heck with it.

Don't forget, if you want it to work in the field, the controller must be on the Internet. It will not work if there is no Internet connection. Did you have a hot spot along with you, or a modem plugged in to the USB port?

 

[paulatkin73]

All I can add is that there is a proceedure to set yourself up a DJI account. Once that is done, the unlock is referencing the info that you have lodges against that account. Hopefully, if you have gone through the correct set-up, the next time this happens, you'll get through it with minimum fuss.

all was set, otherwise i would not get it done from my PC... well. i guess something went wrong, will see in some other time when i will be more relaxed and will have more than 15min of time to spend on it.
may be i did something wrong, but, not sure what could that be, as it simply went all the same way, only down to the grayed out final button. no warnings, no nothing.

 

[paulatkin73]

Don't forget, if you want it to work in the field, the controller must be on the Internet. It will not work if there is no Internet connection. Did you have a hot spot along with you, or a modem plugged in to the USB port?

it was on my phone`s wifi hotspot, otherwise it would not be able to request my phone number and send me a text message with the authorization unlock code to type into the controller.

i would greatly appreciate if somebody with this new controller, on the .360 firmware could try to do this unlock procedure and confirm if last 'PROCEED' button worked for you or not.

 

[DCGOO]

it was on my phone`s wifi hotspot, otherwise it would not be able to request my phone number and send me a text message with the authorization unlock code to type into the controller.

i would greatly appreciate if somebody with this new controller, on the .360 firmware could try to do this unlock procedure and confirm if last 'PROCEED' button worked for you or not.

Sorry, I did not perform the complete procedure on SRC. I initiated the request from home on my laptop, made sure I received it on the SRC, then turned it on after arriving at the flying site. It is site specific and you must make sure your request is for the correct zone (sometimes there are multiple overlapping auth zones). But I cannot imagine anything that would prevent the browser on the SRC from initiating the request.

It does take a few minutes between submitting the request, receiving it and then being able to turn it on. But generally less than 5 minutes. I assumed it is not something you do while actually flying, but I never tried. Honestly, I did not want to be standing outside, burning up my battery surfing the web on the SRC to submit the request. Besides it is cold here But otherwise, it is relatively painless, and good for a week.

 

[Dapectin]

This happened to me once and after once repeated clicking to no avail, I notice a small checkbox off to the right that is barely noticeable. You have to click it to acknowledge you accept the terms,...again..., and the button below to approve will then let you click it.

 

[Kilrah]

The checkbox has always been a bit hard to see, and sometimes required scrolling the inside of the dialog box on various devices.

 

[paulatkin73]

This happened to me once and after once repeated clicking to no avail, I notice a small checkbox off to the right that is barely noticeable. You have to click it to acknowledge you accept the terms,...again..., and the button below to approve will then let you click it.

I may be blind but i looked at that screen searching for checkboxes for at least couple of minutes and saw none. Very odd. It was a rather small screen and i did not have my glasses with me, will try to find it next time. I do not recall that box having any sliders...
Thx for the confirmation. It helps to know what to expect.

 

[radman]

I live in an authorization zone and have struggled with this for 2 years for dji Mavic Pro and Spark quadcopters. I do not have a dji smart controller, but I have a Crystal Sky Ultrabright, Moverio bt-300 glasses, Samsung S8+, and several iPads. The dji Go 4 apps on these devices is slightly different, which causes all sorts of problems, especially since I do not use a smart phone connected to the internet.

I may have a workaround to your authorization problem. I have been able to use the self-unlocking procedure on an iPad connected to my home WiFi and a cell phone to receive the unlock code. With the radio controller connected to the quadcopter, you can sync the authorization to your quad copter. Once the authorization is transferred to the quad copter, you can use any other tablet or display device with the radio controller to fly in the authorization zone for up to 3 days. But you will need a separate radio controller linked to your Mavic Pro 2 to use this method. I have multiple radio controllers for each Spark or Mavic, so this is not a problem for me.

I have found that the iPad version of the Go 4 app seems to work better, and you can receive authorizations faster with the iPad than with android devices. Using the touchpad on the bt-300 glasses to obtain authorization is a nightmare.

Or you can buy an Evo and eliminate the geo zones. My Evo performs about as well as the Mavic, but the range on occusync is better on the Mavic.

 

[paulatkin73]

it is quite peculiar - i tried to fly close to that same zone, so, it did not ask now anymore for my phone number. it brought up a different screen for an unlock, with 3 visible check boxes and 'confirm' button - and it unlocked it right away. but, it keeps doing it for each liftoff. so, dunno what the heck it was for a first failed time - it seems after i did an unlock using web site it is not going to verify my account again anymore, good grief.

i hope it will be so now for any authorization zone and now just for one i happen to live close by.

 

[Skyler King III]

Hi,

All this happens on the smart controller. unfortunately i did not take screenshots. i would love to know if there is somethign else in there i do not understand or if it is a bug.
Upon takeoff i got a banner on the screen notifying about authorization zone nearby. i clicked 'yes' for the unlock. it asked for a phone number for my account, i gave it. it texted me a code to enter, i did it.

Controller then showed me a last screen to accept some BS - had a link in blue in there, and screen had 2 buttons - 'cancel' and a greyed out 'accept' or something. there was no checkbox on the screen to accept anything. just a notion to accept it and a link in blue - when I pressed it - it opened DJI website with some usual legal stuff on it. going back it went to a same screen.

I am confused a bit with all this. does anybody know how it actually supposed to work? Do i need to provide some more info about me somewhere in the DJI account settings? i did not believe authorization zones needed anything extra, but, not sure now.

Thx, Paul.

I needed to shoot in Corona NY, 1.8 miles SSE of LGA. I called LGA Tower Cab and Supervisor "OK'd" the flight. Called NYPD and notified them, no problem there. I was trying to use my Mavic 2 Pro with Smart Controller. It would not let me even start engines. Eventually I had to hook up to my smartphones' Internet from the Smart Controller. The Smart Controller requested my phone # . I entered by DJI-registered phone #. I received a text on my smart phone with a code. No explanation how and where to enter the code. I then tried calling DJI. DJI phone support had no clue. They said I had to email "[email protected]": and that's I'd get a response in 48 hours or so! (WHAT!!!!?!!). I had to leave because I had to resolution. How do I unlock for flight at this location. I want to go back asap.

 

[Skyler King III]

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This is not what happened yesterday on my SMART flight controller

***removed duplication***

 

[BigAl07]

Have you tried doing the Unlock from a PC/MAC at home before you go to the location? Still a few hurdles at the location but fewer and quicker.

Was the "Next/Accept/Proceed" button simply "grayed out"?

 

[paulatkin73]

I needed to shoot in Corona NY, 1.8 miles SSE of LGA. I called LGA Tower Cab and Supervisor "OK'd" the flight. Called NYPD and notified them, no problem there. I was trying to use my Mavic 2 Pro with Smart Controller. It would not let me even start engines. Eventually I had to hook up to my smartphones' Internet from the Smart Controller. The Smart Controller requested my phone # . I entered by DJI-registered phone #. I received a text on my smart phone with a code. No explanation how and where to enter the code. I then tried calling DJI. DJI phone support had no clue. They said I had to email "[email protected]": and that's I'd get a response in 48 hours or so! (WHAT!!!!?!!). I had to leave because I had to resolution. How do I unlock for flight at this location. I want to go back asap.

i can tel you how it is 'supposed' to work... so, first you need to power up smart controller. bring up the hotspot on your phone. connect smart controller to the internet via your hotspot - check if it is live.
power up your drone. start the go4 app, connect to drone and try to execute the takeoff by pressing takeoff button and the slider on the screen - i saw it is a most reliable way.

now, IF you have internet connection, it supposed to bring up on the screen that dreaded dialogue, and, as i understand, you actually got to that step, if you received code to your phone.
next step - on the smart controller screen, after you clicked at the message to enter your phone number - it was supposed to bring up new window, with the code input window - you had to enter it there, and, it has 3 questions with REALLY tiny checkboxes on the rigth side of that window - you had to check them all and click 'unlock'. until checkboxes are done - they button is greyed out. now, there WAS a glitch on earlier version of smart controller code where in that dreaded window they FORGOT to include those checkboxes - i had that issue, so, you would enter the code but no use - button would still be greyed out. on recent code it is all there.

what is important to remember - during this whole process that will take 4-6 min - your drone is actually in the air, hovering. i have this as i am NOT in the zone, but next to it. i did not try recently to see how it behaves if you get inside of the NFZ and try the whole thing from inside it - i do not have any need to do that.

what is way better thing to do is - what was stated above - if you know where and when you are going - it is way better to do it all from the computer at home. the procedure is same. when code is confirmed and zone unlocked - you need to power up your smart controller and sync that unlock code.

 

[Skyler King III]

Hopefully this is resolved. This is what I had to do. Go to dji.com/flysafe

Click on UNLOCK A ZONE

Provide information and documentatiuon. You will need to have already established a DJI account. You'll need to point out the precise location on a map online.

You'll need to know your "FLIGHT CONTROLLER" serial number. To do this you'll need to be connected from your controller to your Mavic 2 and go to General About on Smart Controller to see this serial number.

You application will be approved within 5 days. I got mine in 5 minutes or less.

It has a link that you click on from an internet-connected device. From there you connect USB port on Controller to drone.

You'll load the unlock authorization will be loaded to your Mavic 2.

Then, when you are on the site, you'll be able to "unlock" in UNLOCK LIST the area.

The authorization is 24 hours unless other than that is requested.

In addition, I usually call the controlling airspace authority to advise them and I ask if that poses a problem for them. Then I contact and advise the local police.

IT was a hassle and a lot of work that needs to be done IN ADVANCE, WELL in advance, noty when you get on-site.

Questions? Email [email protected] and also see www.dji.com/flysafe

Oh yeah...Remember to keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down.

 

[Skyler King III]

It did work flawlessly on site.