Reverse engineering DJI's TXT log format

[finlayson]

FYI, I have reverse-engineered DJI’s “.txt” log file format, and have made available Open Source code for (command-line) applications that:

1. Read a DJI “.txt” file, outputting a ‘comma-separated value’ (CSV) file (that can be input to a spreadsheet), and
2. Read a CSV file, outputting a KML-format file (that can be read by Google Earth, to display your drone’s track).

(These two applications can be combined (piped) together, so you can generate a KML-format file directly from a DJI “.txt” file.)

You can find this (documentation plus source code) online at:
http://djilogs.live555.com/

We also have a public mailing list - "[email protected]555.com” - that people can use to discuss this software (and the “.txt” log format in general). Information about this mailing list can be found at the web site noted above.

(Note that I won’t be posting much more on this thread - so if you have any questions/comments about this software, please use our mailing list, rather than this thread.)

Ross.

 

[RayOZ]

How is this different to uploading the .txt file into AirData, and downloading the .csv and .kml file?

 

[sar104]

How is this different to uploading the .txt file into AirData, and downloading the .csv and .kml file?

AirData only converts a small fraction of the available data fields into the csv file.

 

[Simmo]

Doesn't Bud walker'sCSview do that?

 

[finlayson]

Doesn't Bud walker'sCSview do that?

Where's his source code?

 

[Simmo]

Dunno Bro?? I've been using this for ages...
CsvView/DatCon

 

[finlayson]

Dunno Bro?? I've been using this for ages...
CsvView/DatCon

That's good. I see that he has source code (in Java) for his DAT -> CSV conversion tool. This will be useful (for documenting the DAT file format).

But he didn't have any source code for his TXT -> CSV conversion tool. For that, he just used the separate "TXTlogToCSVtool.exe" Windows application - which didn't have source code. That's where I've filled the gap. My TXT -> CSV conversion tool has full source code.

 

[Simmo]

OK! I dont know what I am supposed to do now.....
Like at Church.. do I clap???

 

[dvarapala]

Subscribed.

It pisses me off that DJI tries to lock me out of my own data by obfuscating/encrypting it. Any effort to "jailbreak" our flight data has my support.

 

[Simmo]

Subscribed.

It pisses me off that DJI tries to lock me out of my own data by obfuscating/encrypting it. Any effort to "jailbreak" our flight data has my support.

Are you serious??? Are not we talking about the TXT file here???

 

[BudWalker]

That's good. I see that he has source code (in Java) for his DAT -> CSV conversion tool. This will be useful (for documenting the DAT file format).
........

The record structure is well known. You're probably referring to the specific fields within a particular record type. Documenting these will be tough. Every platform-FW combination can be different. And, it's a moving target.

For each record type in a .DAT DatCon will look for different ways to parse that particular record type. If it can't find one that it likes that record type won't be parsed and won't appear in the generated .csv.

The .DAT files are kinda self documenting. You can see this by telling DatCon to produce a RecDefs file.

 

[n8r0n74]

FYI, I have reverse-engineered DJI’s “.txt” log file format, and have made available Open Source code for (command-line) applications that:

1. Read a DJI “.txt” file, outputting a ‘comma-separated value’ (CSV) file (that can be input to a spreadsheet), and
2. Read a CSV file, outputting a KML-format file (that can be read by Google Earth, to display your drone’s track).

(These two applications can be combined (piped) together, so you can generate a KML-format file directly from a DJI “.txt” file.)

You can find this (documentation plus source code) online at:
http://djilogs.live555.com/

We also have a public mailing list - "[email protected]555.com” - that people can use to discuss this software (and the “.txt” log format in general). Information about this mailing list can be found at the web site noted above.

(Note that I won’t be posting much more on this thread - so if you have any questions/comments about this software, please use our mailing list, rather than this thread.)

Ross.

Has this website been moved elsewhere? Don't see the live555.com server up any more. This would be super useful, thanks for the reverse engineering effort.

 

[finlayson]

Has this website been moved elsewhere? Don't see the live555.com server up any more. This would be super useful, thanks for the reverse engineering effort.

The server was down for a few hours today (due to a server problem). It's up again now.

 

[aeropic]

Hi Finlayson,

I really appreciate the open source spirit of your work. It's a huge effort to have documented all this and to have released the source code.
Thank you for this.

At the end of your page, We can see there remain lots of open questions... I wish I had more free time ;-)