What are your thoughts about "Air Sentinel", a new drone tracking app, and similar apps?

[Dangerly]

I just installed Air Sentinel, a new drone tracking app from AirSentinel, and tried it out with my drones. The only drone it's been able to detect is my Avata, and then only on the first flight where I tried it out and not the second flight. On the second flight, it did not detect the Avata and I don't know why. It did not detect the DJI FPV nor my Air 2, which isn't too surprising.

The amount of data it shows is impressive. I can see the IDs and flight paths of drones in my area, and more information if it's available in the database, which it was not for my Avata.

According to their FAQ:

Authorized users have access to advanced features such as creating watchlists for specific drones using serial numbers or geographic areas. They can share these lists within the AirSentinel ecosystem or keep them private at the organizational or user level. Authorized users can set up real-time SMS text and email notifications whenever a drone on a watchlist is detected or when any drone enters a geographic watchlist area. Additionally, they can request and order ready-to-use monitoring stations that provide airspace monitoring for up to 5 miles, depending on the configuration.

I like this app because I think it can help people be safe from unscrupulous drone pilots. As co-CEO Alan Erickson says:

“Private companies can greatly benefit from our app by safeguarding their premises from unwanted drone intrusions, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring the security of their operations. Public safety organizations and cities can also use the app to monitor and control drone activities in their jurisdictions, enhancing security and minimizing potential threats,”

I'm wondering if others have tried out this app or similar ones and what your thoughts are?

 

[anotherlab]

We are going to see more of this in the future. They are using the users to collect the data and then will at some point charge what they are calling "Authorized User" accounts to have access to historical data.

We already contribute to shared data just by having a cell phone. If you have an iPhone and Bluetooth is enabled, then you are reporting the location of every Airtag that you are within 10 meters of.

If you are flying responsibly, then it's just data being collected that won't affect you. Pilots who don't follow the rules will be leaving a trail that could be used against them.

If you are an emergency responder and some idiot keeps flying his drone near accidents or other events, an app like this could identify the idiot. If enough people use that app, you could determine if this idiot had flown near other situations.

 

[akdrone]

I just installed Air Sentinel, a new drone tracking app from AirSentinel, and tried it out with my drones. The only drone it's been able to detect is my Avata, and then only on the first flight where I tried it out and not the second flight. On the second flight, it did not detect the Avata and I don't know why. It did not detect the DJI FPV nor my Air 2, which isn't too surprising.

The amount of data it shows is impressive. I can see the IDs and flight paths of drones in my area, and more information if it's available in the database, which it was not for my Avata.

According to their FAQ:

I like this app because I think it can help people be safe from unscrupulous drone pilots. As co-CEO Alan Erickson says:


I'm wondering if others have tried out this app or similar ones and what your thoughts are?

You say they say..., "Private companies can greatly benefit from our app by safeguarding their premises from unwanted drone intrusions, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring the security of their operations." I'm not sure how since private companies have nothing to say about how drones fly or don't fly over their properties... Sorry this app even exists for the public to purchase.

 

[Dangerly]

You say they say..., "Private companies can greatly benefit from our app by safeguarding their premises from unwanted drone intrusions, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring the security of their operations." I'm not sure how since private companies have nothing to say about how drones fly or don't fly over their properties... Sorry this app even exists for the public to purchase.

I can't personally testify to the reality of this threat, but lot's of people seem to think it's real. To the extent it's real (and I can't say if it is), this might help, because at least you'd know.

Airborne Drones Are Dropping Cyber-Spy Exploits in the Wild

Drone-based cyberattacks to spy on corporate targets are no longer hypothetical, one incident from this summer shows.

www.darkreading.com

Drones a corporate espionage threat

Although drones have been a positive business decision for various industries, such as agriculture, where drones are used for automated farming, drones can also pose a threat to companies when they are used for corporate espionage, says information and communications technology systems...

www.engineeringnews.co.za

Data privacy, drones and corporate espionage—keeping up with legislation | Legal Insights Europe

REUTERS/Jason Lee As technology advances at an unprecedented rate, how well placed are our global and domestic regulations to deal with rapid change?

legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.co.uk

Drones and business espionage - a new corporate threat - Drone Defence

The idea that gadgets and what is perceived to be quirky technology can steal business information is overall something many

www.dronedefence.co.uk

Lots more links if you search.

 

[anotherlab]

You say they say..., "Private companies can greatly benefit from our app by safeguarding their premises from unwanted drone intrusions, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring the security of their operations." I'm not sure how since private companies have nothing to say about how drones fly or don't fly over their properties...

It's not that they have anything to say about what can or can be flown, they are going to collect and sell the data.

If you have a toll transponder in your car, you are providing data about where you are going and how fast you were going. Every time your cell phone connects to a cell tower, that connection and signal strength are logged. If you have a credit or debit card, you are leaving a digital trail whenever you purchase something. The only difference with RID is the public has direct access to information that normally on the government and marketing companies would have.

Sorry this app even exists for the public to purchase.

This is just the starting point.

 

[Felix le Chat]

We are going to see more of this in the future. They are using the users to collect the data and then will at some point charge what they are calling "Authorized User" accounts to have access to historical data.

We already contribute to shared data just by having a cell phone. If you have an iPhone and Bluetooth is enabled, then you are reporting the location of every Airtag that you are within 10 meters of.

If you are flying responsibly, then it's just data being collected that won't affect you. Pilots who don't follow the rules will be leaving a trail that could be used against them.

If you are an emergency responder and some idiot keeps flying his drone near accidents or other events, an app like this could identify the idiot. If enough people use that app, you could determine if this idiot had flown near other situations.

If I had ten quid for every time I've heard "if you're not doing anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about" I'd have been able to get my mini 3 pro for nothing. This logic falls flat on its arse as soon as you clue on that rules change regularly and what was legal yesterday can very easily become illegal tomorrow. Given the fact that in present times, prosecution for "historic" offences is commonplace, that means all your historic data can be used to criminalise you in retrospect.

 

[Vic Moss]

I know the team behind this very well.

RID is here, there is nothing that's going to stop it any time soon.

They put this together with the expressed purpose of hiding pilot location from anyone except those with a subscription (LEOs, etc.).

This is a good app. And a good team behind it that actually care for this industry.

 

[Vic Moss]

We are going to see more of this in the future. They are using the users to collect the data and then will at some point charge what they are calling "Authorized User" accounts to have access to historical data.

The only reason the team at Air Sentinel is charging for the app is because that is how they'll protect pilot location. They're free version will not have pilot location available.

As far as historical data, the only way any of these apps will collect it is if they actually are on during an encounter. There is no forensic capabilities inbedded in RID. Some cities are likely going to become fully wired for RID.

For instance, El Paso, Tx announced earlier this month that they are the first city to by fully networked for RID. And that's likely due to being a huge area of drone use for smuggling.

We already contribute to shared data just by having a cell phone. If you have an iPhone and Bluetooth is enabled, then you are reporting the location of every Airtag that you are within 10 meters of.

If you are flying responsibly, then it's just data being collected that won't affect you. Pilots who don't follow the rules will be leaving a trail that could be used against them.

If you are an emergency responder and some idiot keeps flying his drone near accidents or other events, an app like this could identify the idiot. If enough people use that app, you could determine if this idiot had flown near other situations.

 

[AnzacJack]

If I had ten quid for every time I've heard "if you're not doing anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about" I'd have been able to get my mini 3 pro for nothing. This logic falls flat on its arse as soon as you clue on that rules change regularly and what was legal yesterday can very easily become illegal tomorrow. Given the fact that in present times, prosecution for "historic" offences is commonplace, that means all your historic data can be used to criminalise you in retrospect.

Come on dude….

 

[SmilingOgre]

Until someone cause problems for me, I don't care. I can't do anything about any of this.

 

[Cafguy]

If you are a private company I really see no use for this app I mean what are they going to do, hire some guy to watch the app all day for drone intrusion? If a drone is giving your company problems, you already know that. having a little map that shows you that its flying around really doesn't do much for you. I feel it is kinda like FlightRadar I have it, but I don't really need to see where the airliners around me come from its just fun to see once in awhile. The users of such an app can do nothing but call the police anyway and they don't need a drone radar app to do that.

 

[Fergy]

Nothing to stop your Drone flying over private property they dont own the air space.

 

[anotherlab]

Nothing to stop your Drone flying over private property they dont own the air space.

While the FAA (in the US) is the authority for regulating air space, there can be other considerations. You can not violate a reasonable expectation of privacy, hover over people, or risk damage to private property. There can be local and state laws that restrict the operation of a UAS over private property for those reasons.

For example, in Virginia, it's a Class 1 misdemeanor to use a drone or other electronic device to "peep" or spy into a building:

§ 18.2-130.1. Peeping or spying into dwelling or occupied building by electronic device; penalty.
It is unlawful for any person to knowingly and intentionally cause an electronic device to enter the property of another to secretly or furtively peep or spy or attempt to peep or spy into or through a window, door, or other aperture of any building, structure, or other enclosure occupied or intended for occupancy as a dwelling, whether or not such building, structure or enclosure is permanently situated or transportable and whether or not such occupancy is permanent or temporary, or to do the same, without just cause, upon property owned by him and leased or rented to another under circumstances that would violate the occupant's reasonable expectation of privacy. A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The provisions of this section shall not apply to a lawful criminal investigation.

Here's a use case for RID:
Your teenage daughter or granddaughter is having a pool party with her friends. The pool is in your backyard and is inside a privacy fence. Someone launches a drone and flies it directly over the pool away and starts taking pictures and videos of the girls. While the pilot has the right to fly his drone over your house, he does not have the right to hover over your pool and take pictures. By running an app that can log and/or share RID information, you can provide LE with the information needed to identify the pilot.

 

[Cafguy]

While the FAA (in the US) is the authority for regulating air space, there can be other considerations. You can not violate a reasonable expectation of privacy, hover over people, or risk damage to private property. There can be local and state laws that restrict the operation of a UAS over private property for those reasons.

For example, in Virginia, it's a Class 1 misdemeanor to use a drone or other electronic device to "peep" or spy into a building:


Here's a use case for RID:
Your teenage daughter or granddaughter is having a pool party with her friends. The pool is in your backyard and is inside a privacy fence. Someone launches a drone and flies it directly over the pool away and starts taking pictures and videos of the girls. While the pilot has the right to fly his drone over your house, he does not have the right to hover over your pool and take pictures. By running an app that can log and/or share RID information, you can provide LE with the information needed to identify the pilot.

This is the law that will get them every time in California. while you can fly over, you cannot linger around. I believe they can also charge you with harassment. Not to mention filming someones daughter swimming in her private pool aint gonna help you with the cops

 

[mavic3usa]

^I get what you are saying but what happens when the chaperone is sitting in his chair and he spots your drone hover over a nearby church 200 yards away but pointed in his direction and he decides that you spying on his pool party and only pretending like you are observing church services? He has seen the power of the Mavic 3 Pro lens and he has an RID app in tow. There will be people that interpret linger as not hovering but being within camera range for even a second or two. What happens now?

 

[Cafguy]

They use the drones data, and recordings when they try you for this I would think. plus any witnesses

 

[LoudThunder]

By running an app that can log and/or share RID information, you can provide LE with the information needed to identify the pilot.

Being realistic, if someone would do something like this, purposely and flagrantly video and photograph the folks at the pool party, then they probably would not be flying a RID compliant drone… Yeah, I know, there are plenty of Dumb Criminals, who would even post those videos on their social media… But then you would need more sophisticated equipment to track the Drone telemetry than a Phone App…

 

[DARKSeifer]

Another karen app, it's only use is to pick the location of the pilot to go confront him and yep, if you are around this forum, you are the pilot.

The other use is drone hunting; drones are expensive and are usually flown in remote areas, RID can be picked at 3.5Km (I did my own testing) with your regular tablet/smartphone and in theory up to 50Km with a really good antenna if the drone is high enough and unobstructed; but ranges up to 10Km should be easily achieved with an inexpensive receiver and a decent cheap antenna.

Expensive gear, alone in the middle of nowhere and with a 3.5-10Km target on your back... a sweet for burglars.

 

[SmilingOgre]

Don't forget that the aliens from Zurcon love to abduct drones to keep up with the latest in technology. Now they can use rid to rid you of your drone!!!

 

[Walleye Hunter]

^I get what you are saying but what happens when the chaperone is sitting in his chair and he spots your drone hover over a nearby church 200 yards away but pointed in his direction and he decides that you spying on his pool party and only pretending like you are observing church services? He has seen the power of the Mavic 3 Pro lens and he has an RID app in tow. There will be people that interpret linger as not hovering but being within camera range for even a second or two. What happens now?

Spying on us is done from a much higher altitude and with a much better lens than any of our drones have. When does spying from above become illegal and for whom?