DJI
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| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Technology, Consumer Electronics, Videography, Photography |
| Official website | https://www.dji.com/ |
DJI is a Chinese technology company headquartered in Shenzen. DJI manufactures commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV or Drone) for aerial photography and videography. It also designs and manufactures camera systems, gimbal stabilizers, propulsion systems, enterprise software, aerial agriculture equipment, and flight control systems.
Consumer impact summary[edit | edit source]
Some of DJI's devices require an initial connection to a proprietary app (typically DJI Mimo or DJI Ronin) in order to be usable, as well as to provide firmware updates. This application also requires various permissions to location and other privacy-impacting data which is then provided to and stored by DJI.
In particular, DJI drones have the following limits and caveats on their operation:
- They require persistent online reauthentication with a DJI account. Offline/signed-out operation is possible, however the account will sign out after a period of no internet connectivity (usually a few weeks). When signed out, flight altitude is limited to 30m, and flight distance is limited to 50m. From the DJI Mavic 3 manual: "For increased safety, flight is restricted to a height of 98.4 ft (30 m) and range of 164 ft (50 m) when not connected or logged into the app during flight. This applies to DJI Fly and all apps compatible with DJI aircraft".
- The DJI Fly app consistently checks for new firmware and No-Fly Zone (NFZ) updates, and if detected, can soft-brick the device (preventing takeoff) until the updates are installed, showing the error "Unable to take off. Update Fly Safe database/Fly Safe database requires update".
- DJI drones send out unencrypted RemoteID/Aeroscope packets that can be captured by anyone, to follow the Remote ID law in the USA. They contain, amongst other things, the drone's serial number, camera information, pilot location, and Return-to-Home location. A patch is available to mitigate this feature on certain drone models and firmware versions.
- DJI firmware comes with many GPL components whose sources aren't disclosed, thus violating the GPL license. There is a limited disclosure page for their enterprise platforms, but it is very outdated and doesn't cover the GPL software in newer (post Mavic 2) consumer drones (whose OS is based on Android).