Disable Aeroscope on Mavic Air 2?

[Yaros]

I really want to disable Aeroscope on my Mavic Air 2. I know that before it was a switch in the app, now it is forced to be enabled.
I'm not trying to break the law or anything, but one time I was flying close to a no-fly zone (not inside the zone) and 5 minutes after takeoff a helicopter came to check on the situation, I got scared not because of it coming, but that the heli was very low (lower than 400ft) so I lowered the drone to 10ft. The helicopter hovered for some time right above me, and flew away.
This situation might have been avoided with Aeroscope disabled... And I know that no one reported me from the ground, everyone around me knew I was flying and was okay with that, so it was Aeroscope or coincidence that the helicopter hovered and watched me fly the drone (not likely).

Is there any way, maybe a parameter hack or something to disable the Aeroscope transmission on the Air 2? As it was disableable before, maybe the parameter that controls it is still there, but just not visible in the app.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

You might be confusing the Aeroscope system.
It's not part of your drone, it's a stand alone system from DJI to track drones / pilot location, and it does that via the drones signals to / from the controller.
It can't be overridden (by we mere mortals at least).

You are talking about the DJI 'no fly' systems ?
Not sure that can be made non functional now on any recent DJI drone either.
Not for a while, I am pretty sure the M1P / MPP are the only drone NLD hacks for that will work on, they shut down things on an M2 update quite a while ago.

Air 2 would be little you can do.

You might also be referring to RID, but I don't think the Air2 had it built in anyway (?).

 

[Yaros]

I don't mean about no fly zones, this can be bypassed by custom firmware (will not specify which one so mods don't remove my answer like they did before).

What I want to do is to disable the transmission of the Aeroscope signal by the drone.

It's not part of your drone, it's a stand alone system from DJI to track drones / pilot location

I know this, but what I mean is to make it so Aeroscope systems will not be able to detect my drone. So the radio link between the controller and drone and RC Controller only transmits necessary signals between each other, such as Stick movements and FPV (video), and not other data like pilot location.
Or just make it so Aeroscope systems do not see my drone.

As I said before, in earlier versions of DJI Fly (1.4.12 and earlier) there was a toggle that you could turn off like seen in this screenshot highlighting the toggle:


In newer versions of firmware and DJI Fly this is forced to on!

 

[Kilrah]

There has never been a way to fully disable it, it would completely defeat the purpose.
Those settings allowed you to put additional identification information should you want to, but the basics are always there, i.e. anyone with an aeroscope will always be able to see "there's a drone here"

 

[BigAl07]

AS is often the case, DJI didn't "Word" that very well.

@Kilrah worded it very well. AEROSCOPE will still detect your aircraft regardless what you do because as long as you're broadcasting a radio signal it can be detected and potentially hi-jacked.

 

[Yaros]

AS is often the case, DJI didn't "Word" that very well.

@Kilrah worded it very well. AEROSCOPE will still detect your aircraft regardless what you do because as long as you're broadcasting a radio signal it can be detected and potentially hi-jacked.

Understood, thanks!
Does Aeroscope detect other drones (non-DJI) too? Or only DJI ones?

 

[BigAl07]

Understood, thanks!
Does Aeroscope detect other drones (non-DJI) too? Or only DJI ones?

It CAN detect others but it depends on how it's configured.

 

[izometric]

It CAN detect others but it depends on how it's configured.

Do you have any verified information or this is a guess?

 

[BigAl07]

Do you have any verified information or this is a guess?

Uh it's been mentioned since day one that is "can" work with most any UAS that is broadcasting a signal from the Ground Station (transmitter in your hand) to the aircraft.

This is directly from the DJI Website:

DJI AEROSCOPE​

While the popularity of consumer drones continues to increase, it has posed potential safety and security challenges for areas such as airports, prisons, nuclear power plants, and various government facilities and infrastructure. Traditional protections in these locations may not be able to adequately detect and monitor UAVs to prevent consequential incidents. AeroScope is able to identify the vast majority of popular drones on the market today by monitoring and analyzing their electronic signals to gain critical information, allowing users to protect the integrity of their flight-sensitive environment.

 

[Montage.pl]

Is Aeroscope able to read serial number of the drone?

 

[BigAl07]

Is Aeroscope able to read serial number of the drone?

If it's broadcast (and most likely will be) then YES!

 

[Yaros]

Is Aeroscope able to read serial number of the drone?

Yes, if it is a DJI Drone then 100% yes.
But not only that, the most critical info it gives to the authorities is your precise controller GPS location, not homepoint, your current controller GPS location! Crazy!

And now, check this:

DJI insisted drone-tracking AeroScope signals were encrypted — now it admits they aren’t

It took a hacker to reveal DJI told us the wrong thing.

www.theverge.com

 

[izometric]

Uh it's been mentioned since day one that is "can" work with most any UAS that is broadcasting a signal from the Ground Station (transmitter in your hand) to the aircraft.

This is directly from the DJI Website:

DJI AEROSCOPE​

While the popularity of consumer drones continues to increase, it has posed potential safety and security challenges for areas such as airports, prisons, nuclear power plants, and various government facilities and infrastructure. Traditional protections in these locations may not be able to adequately detect and monitor UAVs to prevent consequential incidents. AeroScope is able to identify the vast majority of popular drones on the market today by monitoring and analyzing their electronic signals to gain critical information, allowing users to protect the integrity of their flight-sensitive environment.

Ah, ok, let me translate that for you:

Vast majority of the popular drones are DJI -> by the way, very old DJI models cannot be detected by Aeroscope.

So the information is not confirmed nor verified, it is just a (your) personal interpretation based on an ambiguous phrasing by DJI.

 

[BigAl07]

Ah, ok, let me translate that for you:

Vast majority of the popular drones are DJI -> by the way, very old DJI models cannot be detected by Aeroscope.

So the information is not confirmed nor verified, it is just a (your) personal interpretation based on an ambiguous phrasing by DJI.

LOL! You just confirmed you don't know what you're talking about.

Aeroscope will ABSOLUTELY detect and DECRYPT all current versions of DJI but it's not limited to DJI aircraft systems. Some other current UAS use various types of encryption and AEROSCOPE can detect them but it may or may not be able to decipher the data stream in order to get the data within. Thinking they can't "detect" the signals of other brands is a journey much like burying your head in the sand and pretending nothing is going on around you.

Detect vs Decipher are two wholly different animals but my answer is ACCURATE in regards to your question.

 

[izometric]

AeroScope can identify and track in real-time the majority of DJI drones (75%) flying in our skies by monitoring and analyzing their electronic signals to gain critical information. The data obtained allows AeroScope users to monitor drone activity in their airspace and work with law enforcement to identify violators.

Detects the Majority of Drones

DJI drones are the most popular consumer drone on the market; the company holds roughly 75% of the market share. AeroScope can view and relay telemetry data sent by the command and control link from DJI brand drones to its remote control, making drone data accessible to the end-user.

Doesn’t Detect All DJI Models

The AeroScope system does have issues detecting older model drones manufactured before 2014. This is due to the one way transmission system in the older drones. Both Phantom 1 and 2 and few other models cannot be detected by Aeroscope.

DJI Aeroscope Review: Features, specs, and how it's used in layered drone detection

DJI AeroScope Review: We tested the UAS detection system and found many features performed as advertised, and others provide opportunity for improvement.

www.911security.com

So until you produce a different link with different information, I am right.

Aersoscope detects only DJI drones and not all of the DJI drones.

LOL...?

 

[Kilrah]

Models before 2014 didn't have any kind of telemetry, so obviously not.
But there's no reason they wouldn't have implemented reception of the popular 3rd party unencrypted telemetry formats like mavlink.

 

[Yaros]

there's no reason they wouldn't have implemented reception of the popular 3rd party unencrypted telemetry formats like mavlink.

True, I think Aeroscope actually detects other drones, not all of them.

 

[izometric]

We can imagine anything, but there is no specific indication that drones other than DJI are detected by Aeroscope.

 

[Yaros]

We can imagine anything, but there is no specific indication that drones other than DJI are detected by Aeroscope.

DJI will not give out more information on Aeroscope than they already are, because that would make Aeroscope ineffective, because everyone would know how to bypass it.

 

[izometric]

Another imaginative argument.