Thoughts on hacking Mavic 2 NFZ/HEIGHT/SPEED...

[Spike151]

Perhaps you've never been in a vehicle that was blown up by an improvised explosive device, shot by a sniper or taken fire in a helicopter while it was landing and being knocked out before it got down to the LZ.

People cannot simply get motivated and regenerate missing tissue or limbs like a lizard tail, as nice as that would be.

Just a little quote from one of your posts Elton
"We are, most recently, quite active in outdoor activities like kayaking, rappelling, shooting, flying our drone and taking out newly acquired underwater sea scooters out in addition to traveling with family and friends."

I guess then you are talking about someone else in your original post about being blown up by IED's.
Here below is a post about Mark Inglis
"
Mark was the first double amputee to climb Everest, which he did in 2006. The New Zealander was 47 at the time, and had lost both of his legs to frostbite. After scaling the mountain, he told reporters: ‘I’m not doing this to be the first double amputee – if I am then it’s the icing on the cake – but it’s more about I’ve been climbing most of my life and Everest is the achievement really. ‘And it gives you the knowledge of empowerment to do other things.’

Read more: These seven disabled people who climbed Everest are all incredible | Metro News
Twitter: Metro (@MetroUK) | Twitter | Facebook: Security Check Required

 

[iCologne]

DJI has handed over the system that secures the firmware to an external provider. They pay hackers for it when they find security holes. This makes it difficult to crack the system. Hackers pay well when they find security holes. They will rather take the money than give away opportunities to others for free.

 

[Jacadasag]

Anybody know if someone finally hacked the mavic 2? Been waiting

 

[zappy54]

Me too still waiting

 

[MMM]

In M1 its working great, so I am waiting for hacking M2.

 

[Prmath]

Legal height is critical........ this can kill innocent ppl if something kooky and oddball happens.
You and I Both know about Murphy’s law

 

[Spike151]

Legal height is critical........ this can kill innocent ppl if something kooky and oddball happens.
You and I Both know about Murphy’s law

This depends on where you are. If you are nowhere near any flight routes or airports then it doesnt matter what height you fly at. The height rule is specifically to prevent drones and other aircraft coming into contact. If there are no aircraft, there can be no collision.

 

[jaysrmc]

It won't be impossible - Mavic 1 makes it very easy, literally a setting via the app (config file change in the drone itself). I don't know about Mavic 2, it may have the same "feature (vulnerability)".

We are working on it. We are able to SSH into the drone but that is as far as I have gotten. Give it some time, we will have it soon I hope.

 

[Prmath]

This depends on where you are. If you are nowhere near any flight routes or airports then it doesnt matter what height you fly at. The height rule is specifically to prevent drones and other aircraft coming into contact. If there are no aircraft, there can be no collision.

Agreed.......

 

[fstop.labs]

We are working on it. We are able to SSH into the drone but that is as far as I have gotten. Give it some time, we will have it soon I hope.

That's surprising that DJI would leave the drone so open! Was there a password or any ssh keys?

 

[jaysrmc]

no but you have to connect directly to the board to gain ssh.. The is on a M2P that was crashed by someone were just trying not to brick it. Direct SSH connected to the micro usb port on the mainbaord.

 

[angell]

You can quite simply buy a drone that doesnt have NFZ if it bothers you that much, Parrot and Autel are two readily available drones.

Personally the only parameter mods that are of any interest to me are the sport mods, I have no interest in flying anywhere near an airport.

I agree I would love to be able to hack the sport modds and have atti Like my phantom has .Then I would be happy

 

[sar104]

I agree I would love to be able to hack the sport modds and have atti Like my phantom has .Then I would be happy

That's a trivial modification.

Mavic 2 Atti mode

 

[unteam]

waiting too for height limits off

 

[jodi2]

After 3.5 years with a P3A (and not enough time for using it much the last two years) I bought a Mavic 2 Pro last week and it's really impressive!

But I also would appreciate a change in the height limit. I don't need to go more than 500m above ground, but more than 500m above starting point would be very helpful in the mountains and without bringing down airplanes each time... I also don't see much sense in the recommendation of always climbing the mountain yourself instead of using a drone. Then you can always stay out of any drone and always go climbing with a hand camera.

My wife’s family lives near an active volcano in South America. The climb to the top is sometimes possible without to much risk, sometimes not, it changes every few months. With some more training I may get there. But it's still at least a two days adventure and with a (bad) night in the refugio and always with the chance to have to return or to have bad weather on the top.
With a drone like the Mavic 2 it would be just a few hours, half an hour drive, maybe max. one hour walk to the refugio, fly to the top about 1000m higher and if the conditions are ok, fly 100-200m over the crater.
If conditions are bad there, I could do several tries a day. Sitting with the family with a cup of coffee, looking outside the window, weather on the top looks fine, and go! This would give me a chance to get the first look inside for me and the whole family. With climbing to the top and starting the drone there, I may need another 15 years of marriage to get there with every 2-3 years there…
And that’s just one interesting vulcano and mountain of several ones there.

Apart from hacking with quite some illegal touch I see two other options. I may be able get an official permit there to fly higher than 500m in that area. Is it possible for DJI to disable the 500m height limit in a case like this like they can disable NFZ limitations if you proof your special needs and official permits in the area?
And the other idea, do DJI drones or “maps” generally already know about the heights (peaks) in your surroundings? So if you fly up a mountain, that the system knows due to your actual GPS coordinates, that you are only a few meters above the ground, even if you may be already 500m over your starting point?

 

[sar104]

After 3.5 years with a P3A (and not enough time for using it much the last two years) I bought a Mavic 2 Pro last week and it's really impressive!

But I also would appreciate a change in the height limit. I don't need to go more than 500m above ground, but more than 500m above starting point would be very helpful in the mountains and without bringing down airplanes each time... I also don't see much sense in the recommendation of always climbing the mountain yourself instead of using a drone. Then you can always stay out of any drone and always go climbing with a hand camera.

My wife’s family lives near an active volcano in South America. The climb to the top is sometimes possible without to much risk, sometimes not, it changes every few months. With some more training I may get there. But it's still at least a two days adventure and with a (bad) night in the refugio and always with the chance to have to return or to have bad weather on the top.
With a drone like the Mavic 2 it would be just a few hours, half an hour drive, maybe max. one hour walk to the refugio, fly to the top about 1000m higher and if the conditions are ok, fly 100-200m over the crater.
If conditions are bad there, I could do several tries a day. Sitting with the family with a cup of coffee, looking outside the window, weather on the top looks fine, and go! This would give me a chance to get the first look inside for me and the whole family. With climbing to the top and starting the drone there, I may need another 15 years of marriage to get there with every 2-3 years there…
And that’s just one interesting vulcano and mountain of several ones there.

Apart from hacking with quite some illegal touch I see two other options. I may be able get an official permit there to fly higher than 500m in that area. Is it possible for DJI to disable the 500m height limit in a case like this like they can disable NFZ limitations if you proof your special needs and official permits in the area?
And the other idea, do DJI drones or “maps” generally already know about the heights (peaks) in your surroundings? So if you fly up a mountain, that the system knows due to your actual GPS coordinates, that you are only a few meters above the ground, even if you may be already 500m over your starting point?

DJI firmware currently does not factor in the terrain elevation, so it only knows about altitude relative to the takeoff point.

 

[Mavhawk]

To those who fly mountains, why dont you climb to the top, fly all the way down to a prearranged spot with someone to collect the drone, then use video editing software to run the video backwards, and lo and behold you have a single flight all the way up the mountain without that pesky 500 meter limit.

You know, that's not a bad idea at all as long as you can climb to the top, only a lot of the mountains in Colorado are too high and mainly too steep for the average person to climb.Marc.

 

[Mavhawk]

Ok, I've got a really scary, hair-brain idea that I'm almost sure wouldn't work, but.....What if you were to fly up to a ledge or rock up a mountain, set the drone down on it and re-set the home point. Keep doing that till your as high as you want, but I can already see the pitfalls. What flat area could you possibly find on a mountain to do that, and one false move and you crash or, what if your drone won't start up again, etc. etc. Believe it or not, I'm not on drugs, but I probably sound like I am. I can just see the desperation here, not being able to fly those beautiful vistas because of the altitude limit. Marc.

 

[DanMan32]

One other consideration is battery power required to get it back down. Apparently at absolute max altitude, it will want to land, rather than RTH at 30%. That was pointed out in another thread. That doesn't leave a whole lot of free flying time as you'll probably need to come home at 50% to be safe.

 

[jodi2]

Marc, this idea ist not too weird, this recommandation is quite common, I forgot to mention it.
I tried it on a soft hill, put a 20m height limit, went up to 20m and landed the M2P 500m away on a flat track 10m higher which I knew and saw very well. After starting again, going to 20m and returning, I was 10m higher than before... ;-)
But in real life on the steep side of an unknown vulcano it will be different of course. Also the connection to the controller can be a problem. Even if I find a suited flat landing area, chances are good, that I will loose signal during landing and can't restart. But for my "family vulcano" this may be a solution if there's no other. I can climb myself once to maybe 300-400m below the top and look for a suited area (or maybe "create" one, install a 2x2 feet horizontal wood board there) and mark the coordinates in the Garmin, to find it easier later. This would make it easy to make several attemps depending on weather conditions the next days or weeks. I will also ask the local guides, maybe there's already something suited to land (I remember for example something like a rectangular "stone house/cabin" on 4200m, maybe also higher?).
I would only take the risk once, not serveral touchdowns. So I need to start at least at 4200m (which was quite easy to reach in the past) to have 200m above the top.

Yes, there is no endless climbing... In the video of a hacked M1 it needs about 24% to climb from sea level to 1200m and 6% to go down the same way, but all with twice the usual vertical speed. With usual speed I guess about 40% more, as M2 has more flight time maybe 33% more, so maybe 32+8%. I would add 25% for the colder temperature and maybe 40% for the thinner air. So maybe 50-55% for the climb and 10-15% for going down. So maybe 35% to cruise around at the top and as reserve. Less as it's not only going up, but also about 2+2=4km forward+backward to the top. Not much reserves, but what I've seen from others, the calculation is still conservative.
But as Beckenbauer said: Schaumerma... ;-)