Remote ID Modules

[Droning on and on...]

One of the issues -
89.320 Minimum performance requirements for remote identification broadcast modules. C.2: The remote identification broadcast module must continuously monitor the remote identification functionality from takeoff to shutdown and must provide notification of malfunction or failure to the person manipulating the flight controls of the unmanned aircraft system.

This is a bit ambiguous, chiefly because "provide notification" is missing any temporal modifier.

Notifying the "person manipulating the flight controls of the unmanned aircraft system" can occur in flight, or after landing, and both would satisfy the wording above.

Obviously the latter is much simpler. That's my guess as to what's intended.

 

[Voltaic]

I had a registration renewal recently - though the Remote ID Serial Number field was on the form at dronezone.faa.gov I was not required to put in a number.

I’ll revisit in September to enter it, as that particular craft is recent enough to get RID compliant with a firmware update. This form is, I believe, editable.

I wanted to update -- I'm a dummy and this is correct. I was able to renew my drone's FAA registration without a Remote ID requirement. Once you go through the process, it asks if your aircraft has Remote ID Capabilities and you are able to check "No" and then move on. I apologize if I caused anyone panic over this.

 

[lewisrassee]

I have searched the Forums while trying to determine the best Drone Remote ID Module. I have several drones and need the flexibity of using a module to meet ID requirements in September. Looking for recommendations of what modules are out there and which are the best. Appreciate any input.

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the modules I have seen tested, are a little big still. They need to find a way to get them down to the size of an AirTag or maybe a strobe but they are not there yet. Maybe someone will combine a strobe with the module so you dont need both at night with two modules.

 

[philztoy]

Has anybody had any updates on remote ID units to use? I believer my mavic 3t and mini3 pro are firmware updating compliant. My understanding is that The I2 and I1 and phantom 4 are not. So I need to get a module to fly those.

I am a helicopter/fixed wing pilot and part 107 drone pilot. While I am outside of the veil of the local airport I am inline with the runways. For all those reasons, I don't want to fly without RID.

The Db120's seem to be out of stock everywhere. Spektrum is supposed to come out with a $100 unit shortly but I can't find much info on that.

We are only a month and a half out at this point are there any other new options for modules I am missing?

 

[IronSky1]

I use the db120 on my Matrice 200. we have mounting adaptors for almost all drones . Here are some examples

Hollow Mast for Camera, GNSS System, Remote ID or other Device - NEW ITEM

Remote ID Mounting Adaptor for DroneBeacon DB120 (on any GoPro mount) - NEW ITEM

Remote ID or other Device Mounting Adaptor 64mm x 46mm mounting area- NEW ITEM

 

[Arizona Wyldwest]

One thing I haven't seen anyone else post so I'm going to post it so people can plan ahead -- I'm in a pinch with my Mavic Air 2 because I bought it nearly 3 years ago and it's due for FAA registration renewal. When I go to the site to do this, I'm asked for the Remote ID number, which I of course don't have because I can't justify $300 for a remote ID at the moment.
This means I could be in a position from the end of June until September when cheaper Remote IDs are released where I will be unable to fly my Mavic Air 2.

I just did my registration renewal and aded my MA2. It asked if it has remote ID which it doesn’t yet so I just checked no and continued without any issue. Only thing different is I had to add my aircraft serial number. Since it isn’t required yet I did it before it would be mandatory in case it would not allow it after September. I’d do it now just to make sure. Also according to a fairly recent DJI letter the MA2 as well as some others will be approved prior to the approved date. I’m not holding my breath but seems legit. Enjoy..

 

[lookout]

I asked uashelp about this problem on backlogged and shipping delayed modules.

Here's what they told me, like they know this is going to be a problem. What you guys think?

The best I can offer is for you to monitor the FAA website and our social media for soon-to-be-released further guidance.

 

[Chicago VisionAiry]

Just to point out if one hasn't thought of this, you will only need one.

It can be moved from drone to drone. Velcro is your friend.

More accurately put, every drone will need a module attached when flying.

Do you know how the FAA registration works with remote id modules? I do like the idea of being able to share one module among multiple drones, but can't help but wonder if the FAA wants the module to be linked to a specific registered drone and not the pilot. Any info here is helpful.

 

[SethB]

Do you know how the FAA registration works with remote id modules? I do like the idea of being able to share one module among multiple drones, but can't help but wonder if the FAA wants the module to be linked to a specific registered drone and not the pilot. Any info here is helpful.

My understanding is that the RID serial number travels with the registration, and that flying under 44809 allows rec flyers to move a single (external) Broadcast Module between drones, just as they may share a single registration among several drones.

For Pt. 107 pilots where each drone must be individually registered it’s one Broadcast Module per registration… except that (supposedly) you can change your registration details at will. I’ve not put this into practice as *nothing* is required until Sept. 16 (per current info, it may change), bit with a little paper work you could share one Module among several drones, updating the registration details as needed.

Again, I’ve not tried this!

 

[AMann]

I have searched the Forums while trying to determine the best Drone Remote ID Module. I have several drones and need the flexibity of using a module to meet ID requirements in September. Looking for recommendations of what modules are out there and which are the best. Appreciate any input.

Dronetag- I have a BS unit and it works really well.

Post in thread 'Dronetag's FAA Approved Remote ID Modules:'
Dronetag's FAA Approved Remote ID Modules:

 

[Firedude635]

It seems that all the module that have a battery are between $149-$300. Has anyone looked at adding a wired module to a mavic? Such as a $39 Cubepilot? If your Mavic is slightly older it is probably out of warranty so cracking it open isn’t a issue. I just don’t know where to pull the power from.
Thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[MA2 317]

I just don’t know where to pull the power from.
Thoughts?

Maybe an item similar to this?

DJI Mavic Pro Battery Mod Adaptor Get More Flight Times | eBay

Important: Adapter must be mounted on pin 2,3 and 5,6 from the left. Attaches to the Mavic Pro battery. You have no need to modify the Mavic at all. And your warranty will stay intact. Requires 1 or 2 aux batteries (not supplied).

www.ebay.com

.

 

[anotherlab]

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Maybe an item similar to this?

DJI Mavic Pro Battery Mod Adaptor Get More Flight Times | eBay

Important: Adapter must be mounted on pin 2,3 and 5,6 from the left. Attaches to the Mavic Pro battery. You have no need to modify the Mavic at all. And your warranty will stay intact. Requires 1 or 2 aux batteries (not supplied).

www.ebay.com

.

That adapter is going across the battery lines and the Mavic batteries are roughly 11.4 to 11.5v. If you use an RID module like the Spektrum module, it can take between 3.3v to 9x. If you run 11.5 into it, that could fry the module. You would probably need to add a 12v to 5v step-down converter.

Once you factor in the cost of the battery mod adapter and the step-down converter, the extra cost of a RID device with its own battery isn't so bad.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Don't need a DCDC converter, a simple resistor costing pennies will do thanks to the wide input voltage range.

Here's how to do it: Hook the thing up to a 5V source (any old, and I mean that literally) 5V USB charger will do. Fully configure the RID module, and start it up as if you were about to take off.

Measure the current draw with a multimeter... it should bounce around a little, but probably not much. For this example, let's say 300mA.

Now, roughly speaking we can assume the power draw is constant. 5V × 0.3A is 1.5W.

We have a target voltage range of 3.3–9V, and the battery voltage is going to drop while being used, so let's target 8V to input to the RID module. At that voltage 1.5W is going to draw about 190mA.

So what we need is a resistor that will drop the voltage by 3V with 190mA flowing through it. That's easy with a little bit of rearranging V=IR to R=V/I, we get 11/0.19=~16Ω. BE VERY CLEAR THIS IS AN EXAMPLE WITH PHONY VALUES... THE ACTUAL CURRENT NEEDS TO BE MEASURED, AND ACTUAL RESISTOR DETERMINED.

Put the 16Ω resistor in line with the +11V lead before the RID module and you're good to go. While none of these numbers are static, chances are near certain the voltage, while dropping as the flight progresses, it will stay between 3.3 and 9V.

Now, this only addresses the electronic aspect of using one of these. There's an entirely different set if mechanical issues with accessing power in the first place that needs to be solved.

 

[Firedude635]

Thanks for the replies. I saw that adapter on a website, but it was not available. Guess it was just moved to ebay. The voltage directly out of the battery is an issue,. I have rebuilt phantoms as well as built my own UAV so the guts are very similar. I have the Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual with has a micro USB port on the top. Don’t know if that could be used for something other than the supplied attachments.

 

[AMann]

The Dronetag BS RID can take 3.7v up to 17v input. It uses very little power though- an 80mAh 3.7v battery can run it for 4.5 hours.

 

[mavin]

Our standard mounting adaptors work with most RID Modules currently made. I use the DB120 (on right above ) in the You Tube video on my Matrice 200. These fit on all our mounts for Mavice, Inspire, Matrice,Disco, Yuneec H series and more. I am always looking for new ideas to create mounts for the community . Let me know if you have any needs that you feel the community can use.

A click my ad on side bar or go here: IronSky Mounts | eBay Stores

As we get closer to Sept 2023 more RID modules will show up. My choice is diffenately the self power units. I do not feel that the user community should abandon drones that are useful except not having the RID capability. Its also a good time to pickup more capable hardware at value pricing. I use the Matrice for heavy lift. There is now way a Mavic is going to lift multple cameras and lighting when needed. I also beleive our triple mount for Mavic series is a great choice for multiple lights and a 360 camera. (if within the payload limit of 400-500g)

Awesome stuff, thanks

 

[LoudThunder]

This thread prompted a question...if your drones won't support internal RID do you need a separate, dedicated external module for each drone, or can you move the module from drone to drone?

This question requires two answers, if you are flying recreationally, only one module is required, and the module may be used on any and all drones when you are flying recreationally.

If you are flying under your Part 107 License and the drone is being used in a commercial operation, each drone, no matter how small, or how light the drone might be, all those "commercial" drones requires its own unique Remote Identification Module. Yes, even the sub-250-gram drones.

So if you have a Part 107 license and you use the following three drones in your business, a Mini, a Mini 2, and an old Air 2S that is not updated to transmit RID, then all three drones must have its own Remote Module.

And if the cost of each module is not high enough, you must then register each module separately as you did for your drones on the FAADroneZone for $5.00 each…

Just keep saying to yourself, "I am from the Government and I am here to help you…"

 

[LoudThunder]

89.320 Minimum performance requirements for remote identification broadcast modules.

For your reading pleasure… There are two similar provisions, What and How…

"§ 89.320 Minimum performance requirements…" specifies the construction, but

"§ 89.315 Minimum performance requirements…" specifies the message requirements…




And don't you just love the vagueness of the rules, ie: "An indication of the latitude and longitude of the take-off location of the unmanned aircraft."

I wonder how Kevin or Karen would find a pilot flying with a RID Module if the pilot turned the Module on before they got to the takeoff location… like a block away, or the parking lot, or a Bark Park?