Chinese drone makers DJI announced a software update this week for operators in the U.S.: they are taking the guardrails off all their drones. From January 13th, the geofencing function which prevented the drones from flying in restricted areas such as airports and military based will no longer operate.
Instead, when flying in a restricted area the drone will simply issue a warning message, “placing control back in the hands of the drone operators” as the company puts it.
The move comes at a time when Chinese drone makers in general and DJI in particular are under government scrutiny as the Commerce Department considers a complete ban on Chinese in the U.S. on national security grounds. There are many possible explanations for DJI’s move. One interpretation that the company — which controls around 70% of the global consumer drone market — is showing what it can do at the flick of a switch.
Danger Zones For Drones
Geofencing as many applications. In the case of small drones it uses the drones GPS navigation to prevent it from flying in defined areas.
It has been obvious since the days of hobbyists flying radio-control aircraft that drones present a potential threat to larger aircraft. Bird strikes are dangerous, and have resulted in many crashes, for example the Miracle on the Hudson in 2009 when an Airbus 320 ran into a skein of Canada geese and was forced to ditch in the Hudson river.
Drone strikes are far worse. Birds are comparatively soft, light, organic material. Drones, though no heavier, contain much harder, denser materials such as batteries which will do far more damage to windows or jet turbines, and studies have shown they present a far greater hazard, leading to the description of drones as ‘mechanical geese from hell’.
Airport operations have been suspended on many occasions because drones have been sighted flying nearby, such as the occasion when flights at London’s Gatwick were disrupted for 36 hours during the busy holiday season in 2018.
The dangers of sharing airspace were highlighted again recently when a ‘super scooper’ firefighting aircraft struck a drone in California. The collision left a hole in the wing at the aircraft, which had been fighting the Pacific Palisades fire, was grounded for five days for repairs. The unauthorized drone was flying in violation of the FAA’s temporary flight restriction in the Los Angeles area.
There are other sites as well where drone are not welcome. In 2015 a DJI Phantom drone crashed on the White House Lawn. It turned out that unnamed member of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency had, while drunk, flown the drone through the window of a nearby apartment. DJI promptly updated their geofencing zones to prevent
From ‘No-Fly Zones’ To ‘Enhanced Warning Zones’
DJI’s geofencing has now been made optional. Their press release states:
“Areas previously defined as Restricted Zones (also known as No-Fly Zones) will be displayed as Enhanced Warning Zones, aligning with the FAA’s designated areas. In these zones, in-app alerts will notify operators flying near FAA designated controlled airspace, placing control back in the hands of the drone operators, in line with regulatory principles of the operator bearing final responsibility.”
DJI also note their many contributions to drone safety, including being the first to install GPS-based geofencing , first to provide autonomous return-to-home technology, first to include anti-collision sensors and first to apply remote identification technology to help authorities identify and monitor airborne drones.
A more detailed post on the company’s official blog entitled “DJI’s GEO System Is An Education – Not Enforcement – Tool” dated January 16th reiterates the idea of operator responsibility being key. They state that the decision was not driven by politics and aligns with the FAA’s own principles.
What could possibly go wrong?
When The Geofences Go Down
Geofencing has never presented a real obstacle to determined operators with technical skill. In particular, DJI has publicly stated that its drones should never be used for military purposes and applied geofencing to prevent their use in the Ukraine conflict. But both sides use tens of thousands of DJI drones and have industrial-scale processes for hacking the firmware to counter geofencing.
In that sense, the change will make little difference. Bad actors, including terrorists and drug cartels can already break the rules.
What it does mean is that hundreds of thousands of casual drone users can now do things they could not do before. That includes the casual, the curious and the reckless. And, as the White House incident reminds us, the drunk.
Drones are so inexpensive and easy to use that people can pick one up without much thought. It is not like getting a pilot’s license. This leads to situations like the tourist who accidentally crashed a drone in the World Trade Center in 2021.
There are also many thrill seekers who are willing to break the law to get cool video footage of a place where nobody else has been. Trying to fly a drone over a nuclear power station, an active wildfire, or Area 51 in Nevada, or the White House would be stupid as well as illegal. But that will not stop everyone, and many drone users may believe they will not be caught which adds to the temptation.
There are already plenty of videos of illegal drone flights on YouTube. And while we do not know the cause of the mass sightings of drones over U.S. military bases, nuclear power plants and other sites, throwing hobby drones into the mix will not make the problem easier to solve. The new move may not cause chaos, but the potential is now there .
According to FAA figures there are now more than a million drones registered in the U.S., in addition to the vast number of smaller drones like the DJI Neo which do not need to be registered.
A pious request from the makers — “DJI reminds pilots to always ensure flights are conducted safely and in accordance with all local laws and regulations” – may not be enough to keep a million drone operators out of trouble.
And, of course, this only applies to one country. The decision to remove it in the U.S. may not have been political, but geofencing in China is unaffected.
