ADB-S Models

dawgpilot · May 1, 2020

SteinAdler said:
If it has additional circuitry and therefore additional weight and power consumption. How does that effect flying time?

ADS-B receivers just weigh a couple ounces at the most, and use very little power. (I have a USB stick that lets me pickup nearby aircraft ADS-B signals with my computer) The effect would be negligible compared to the energy requirements of the drone's motors.

Ron (MM) · May 2, 2020

ADS-B US receives before other countries.

DidJI · May 3, 2020

GadgetGuy said:
It will be years IMHO before there is any usefulness to ADS-B for us. Unless all full-sized aircraft actually have the output, including all smaller aircraft, including all ultralights, helicopters, and other drones, it will just be another annoying pop up of something obvious, like the incessant high wind warnings on the P4P.

However, I had read in the leaks that there was a pice difference of $150 for the feature, and this MA2 is the cheaper price that was given in the leaks. My best guess is this is the one without ADS-B, and one with ADS-B will be offered later, at a higher price. I doubt it is included for free and completely unadvertised! That's not DJI's style!

MA2/US with ADS-B is about 100 € cheaper vs MA2/EU without ADS-B...

swooshdave · May 4, 2020

DidJI said:
MA2/US with ADS-B is about 100 € cheaper vs MA2/EU without ADS-B...

Depends on what the EU price entails. Are there tariffs to account for?

swooshdave · May 4, 2020

dawgpilot said:
Depends on where you fly. If you are near Class B or C airspace, any nearby aircraft are going to have ADS-B transmitters.

I think there may be more to this than just screwing over EU customers. If you read through the first paragraph from the link above there's an interesting nuance.

At this time, only the United States is allowing the 978UAT datalink for ADS-B Out. If you plan to fly in ADS-B airspace outside of the United States, a 1090ES datalink—using a Mode S Extended Squitter transponder—will be required.

I assume the receiver on the drone has to not only be ADS-B compatible but also the datalink type. 978UAT for US and 1090ES for most other countries. Sometimes the devil can be in the details.

Sam Trampton · Jul 14, 2020

swooshdave said:
Depends on what the EU price entails. Are there tariffs to account for?

Yea loads of things are cheaper there cos we is in rip off Britain, still our dole is better then theirs.

Ben Anderson · Jul 14, 2020

I heard the ADSB chip weighs 3 grams. I just bought an MA2 in the Philippines manufactured 6/2020 and it is clearly labeled CE and EU and the manuals include European languages. However, it is the MA2UE3W model which has the ADSB chip. Evidently they are in supply now. I think @swooshdave is right that the ADSB will only work in the US in the 978UAT implementation. If the GPS is spoofed to the US then Fly will ask to turn on ADSB. However, outside of the US there is no indication that the drone has ADSB. The box does not have the ADSB logo that the US box has. It will also switch to CE or FCC mode as determined by the GPS and DJI.

The difference in price between Europe and the US is probably not due to differences in the drone, but in tax structure. In Britain your VAT of 20% or so is already added into the purchase price. In the US there is not VAT and the sales tax of 8% or so is added to the purchase price.