DJI drones Archives - Gizmochina

Russia & Ukraine are deploying DJI drones for combat duties

Jed John Ikoba — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 18:00:06 +0000

Drone maker DJI has been put on the spot concerning the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Both Moscow and Kyiv have deployed substantial numbers of DJI drones in the battle. Although DJI insists that its drones are not for military purposes, they have become a critical fulcrum in the ongoing conflict and even the US Army is also using DJI drones in some ways.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mykhalio Fedorov has formally requested from Chinese drone maker, DJI to cut off support to the Kremlin war machine. Specifically, the deputy PM says that Russia was using DJI products to navigate their missiles that had continued to target civilians including women and children. Fedorov raised concerns about DJI’s AeroScope, which is a drone detection tool and Russia is using it to detect Ukraine’s DJI drones from up to 30 miles away.

While the United States and Europe are united against the Russian aggression which has led to a raft of sanctions, Chinese companies like DJI may be walking a tight rope in the conflict. While China has remained non-committal on the crisis, its companies may face a backlash for not doing enough to ensure the war is brought to an end. The deputy PM’s letter to DJI’s CEO Frank Wang calls for DJI to cut off drones in Ukraine that were not purchased or registered in the country. This will help to restrict Russian incursion into Ukraine via DJI drones. Furthermore, Ukraine is requesting that DJI provide additional information on all DJI unmanned aircraft in the country.

There is also some suspicion, though unverified, that DJI may have already taken some actions that prevent Ukrainians from using its drones, amidst reports of technical issues in the country. Even though DJI insists its products are not manufactured for military purposes, they are increasingly being put into such use as exemplified by the current war. The company may need to do more to assure stakeholders that it has not become a tool for aggression and perpetration of war crimes inside Ukraine.

US Govt adds DJI to Entity List; DJI says users can continue to buy its products

Balaji S — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 13:20:35 +0000

The US Government recently banned China’s partially state-owned Semiconductor company SMIC from using American tech. Now, it has added a dozen of companies including China’s technology and drone maker DJI to the economic blacklist.

As Reuters reports, the US Department of Commerce has added China’s SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd to the entity list. The company has a trade name DJI which is currently the World’s largest drone maker. According to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, DJI has involved in “ubiquitous surveillance to repress its citizens in Xinjiang and elsewhere.”

Some of the companies added to the entity list are as follows:

SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd
AGCU Scientech
China National Scientific Instruments and Materials
Kuang-Chi Group

Specifically, the ban of the above companies is because they led to wide-scale human rights abuses within China. Precisely, the companies reportedly involved in abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance. In case you don’t know, the Entity list is a trade blacklist published by the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.

Generally, it is the Govt’s prerogative to make its companies seek license to export, re-export, or transfer technology to the parties concerned. However, the entity list means that it bans US companies from exporting their technology to the blacklisted members. If we recall, US Govt confirmed that it has added SMIC, CNOOC to the list two weeks ago.

Coming back, DJI has responded to The Verge saying that it is disappointed with the Dept. of Commerce decision. Although it didn’t comment on the result of this action, it says People can still buy its DJI products as usual. Apart from Drones, DJI’s portfolio of hand-held products includes Gimbals, Action Cameras, Flight patrol and propulsion systems etc.

Hence, it will be interesting to see how this affects the enterprise businesses let alone individual consumers. Besides, these are not the only companies that the US Govt has banned. It is targeting Huawei and its subsidiaries like Honor citing National Security and Privacy concerns.

In fact, it is also preaching to other countries to avoid using Chinese technologies including 5G-equipments saying that they might be used for surveillance by the Chinese govt.

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DJI drones worth $16k looted from DJI’s New York store

Jed John Ikoba — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 20:26:19 +0000

Protests and riots broke out across the US in the past weeks as a result of George Floyd’s killing at the hand of police. Criminals have taken advantage of the situation and arr on a looting spree. Recently, it was reported than an Apple store was looted and iPhones were stolen. A DJI store located in Manhattan, New York was also looted the previous week. The looters are said to have stolen six drones worth $16,000. While Apple will deploy the iPhone’s security feature to track down the stolen units, DJI drones are yet to be recovered.

A video which shows some protesters robbing the DJI store on Broadway in Manhattan was shared by Crime Stoppers NY. The incident took place at around 11:25 p.m. The video shows five people forcing their way through the front door of the DJI store, eventually breaking the glass and entering the store. They then proceeded to grab the merchandise.

From the video, it appears as though the drones that were stolen include an Inspire 1, Inspire 2 and the remote, as well as a Phantom 4 drone. It also appears as though a pair of DJI Racing edition FPV goggles and a Ronin-S or Ronin-SC camera gimbal were taken. The group that perpetuated the crime are still reportedly at large as at the time of this writing.

(source)

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DJI, the Chinese Drone maker plans on Global expansion, new technology opens door to new endeavors

Sean — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 08:48:31 +0000

DJI, the known Chinese Drone maker, has recently announced its plans for the near future. The company is now looking at global expansion as the next step, by taking its class leading product offerings to a broader market.

The company wishes to “become a technology company that continues promoting the progress of the human race.” In other words, DJI seeks on becoming a leading figure in the technology its offers and be more known globally. It is already popular for its drones and various supplementing equipment for both enthusiasts and professional in photography.

DJI even offers handheld gimbals for mobile photography/videography

As of right now, DJI is seeing success in the growing consumer drone market with its various product offerings. The brand is well known in this industry, although the company doesn’t plan on just stopping there. Previously, DJI used the CES 2020 event as a platform to introduced new technology like LiDAR, which carries a lot of significance and applications in various fields, and also showcase the advancements being made.

Simply put, DJI’s LiDAR technology allows a new product to use light detection to map the range and shape of the objects around it. One field its showing promise in is the self driving automotive or the car industry. Through technologies such as this, the company plans on diversifying and growing its business portfolio. However, DJI is expected to face heated competition with rivals that are already established in the field.

Furthermore, the company is also planning to make its drones more useful in other areas as well. One of the fields the unmanned flying crafts are being more popularly utilized in is agriculture. Even her DJI faces stiff competition with the likes of XAG, previously known as XAircraft. Although the former is superior technologically with better navigation and reliability, the latter is more user friendly. Infamously, DJI has come under fire for being more business centric, lacking in its customer support and after sales efforts.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro V2.0

Thus, various analysts have also stated that the company has to step up its services to be more viable and seem more friendly. DJI is seen as a more affordable alternative to the American company, GoPro, during various comparisons. So, a solid after sales support will go hand in hand in reaching across more markets, at least on the consumer electronics side of things.

According to an IDC report, the drone market is expected to grow by 10 to 20 percent in the drone market in North America and Europe. Furthermore, the report also forecasts that the Chinese market will see an even higher growth between 40 to 50 percent in the same time period. With DJI already being a class leader in the field with few rivals, its dominance is all but guaranteed.

(Via)

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US Officials ground Drones fearing Chinese Espionage

Sean — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 08:54:18 +0000

Following Huawei being caught in the crossfires of the US-China trade disputes, drones have now become another area that is facing scrutiny by the US Government. Allegedly, Drones that are manufactured or belong to Chinese brands could potentially be used to spy in the US, according to Government officials.

Drones have been increasing in popularity in the US and it is not just limited to cinematography or plain entertainment. They can be highly useful in real world scenarios as well. The best example being the volcano eruption in Hawaii back in May 2018, where a drone was used by US scientists to save a man from the lava by asking him to follow the drone to make it out of a jungle.

A drone from DJI, a renowned brand in unmanned drones and videography equipments

Examples such as these are indicative of the wide range of application and usefulness unmanned drones bring to the table. However, what about “espionage?” is the question the US Government is asking. With the increasing rivalry between the US and the east, namely China, the western nation is scrutinizing every avenue that the Chinese have a foothold in. One of these is the commercially available drones that are widely sold in the US.

DJI or Da Jiang Innovations Science and Technology Company is one of the market leaders in videography equipment and unmanned drones. Its offerings are used both for entertainment and to access areas for scientific research as well. But the company isn’t alone as even more Chinese drone manufacturers are seeking to enter the US market in the near future. These drones are also seeing an increase in adoption in various Government departments and have become a cause for worry for David Bernhardt, the Head of a Federal agency.

DJI Mavic Pro OcuSync

According to Bernhardt, these drones are currently under evaluation and review, which is an effort being made to deem their safety for being used in the nation. Furthermore, during this process, all drones made in China are grounded, as reported by the BBC network. Notably, crucial areas like drones used in fire fighting and to help rescue people are still allowed to fly.

Chinese analysts see US policies that hamper the operations of companies from China as a form of protectionism. In other words, the US is actively against foreign MNCs gaining a large market share within its nation. However, despite all of these allegations and friction, the US and Chinese leaders are well on their way to sign a trade deal to recuperate the ailing relations between the two.

(Via)

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DJI unveils Mavic Pro Drone Featuring Ultra Compact Body & Powerful Features

Jed John Ikoba — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 08:34:07 +0000

Top Chinese drone manufacturer DJI has unveiled its latest Mavic Pro drone which comes in as the company’s first foldable drone which can be folded down to the size of a water-bottle, giving it a very compact body built. The new drone comes in as the smallest in DJI’s line-up of drone and is also said to feature the new DJI Goggles which gives a bird’s eye view of the flight.

The DJI Mavic Pro enters the market battle ready to take on GoPro’s Karma, coming in as the company’s smartest drone so far and tagging along some cool obstacle avoidance and auto tracking features which are both absent on the GoPro Karma. What this means is that users don’t need to put a tracking device on the object they want the drone to follow rather all they need do is select the target on a smartphone and that’s all.

The Mavic Pro comes weighing just 1.64 pounds but the dimensions are not specified even though it is touted as being able to be folded up to a water-bottle’s size which makes it possible to fit into the pocket. The Mavic Pro also includes a foldable controller which allows a smartphone to slide into it and give users both touchscreen and joystick control options.

DJI already has a reputation for its advanced flight options but the Mavic Pro takes things a notch higher, sporting an updated FlightAutonomy system. DJI calls the system a complex network which simplifies the navigation process. There are five built-in navigation cameras, GPS, ultrasonic range finders, multiple sensors and 24 computing cores. These all aid the drone to be capable of achieving several advanced flight modes. DJI also touts the Mavic pro of being capable of avoiding most obstacles even at speeds of up to 22mph The drone is however capable of hitting speeds of up to 40 mph in sport mode.

The DJI Mavic Pro also comes with features which are on earlier quadcopters such as autofollow, crash avoidance, and flight modes. In addition to those, the Mavic Pro has been made capable of achieving precise landing within one inch of its original take off spot with just a simple tap on the return home command. even when racing uphill, you don’t have to be scared of crashing because there is a new mode which keeps the drone at the same distance from the incline as it flies. Gesture control, selfie featres are also part of the new inclusions on the Mavic pro.

On the camera angle, the Mavic Pro is equipped with both a 4K capable built-in camera and a three-axis gimbals which stabilizes the camera. The gimbals are DJI’s smallest till date and is reputed to be able to steady the camera enough to shoot aerial long exposures up to two seconds long. The camera has a 12MP sensor and it shoots in both RAW and JPEG and there are options of using 4K in 30fps, or 1080 pixels at 96 fps.The Mavic Pro was launched along with a new drone camera which gives users live view of what is happening mid-flight. Christened DJI Google, the camera has a display of 85 degrees in 1080p HD and also the Google receives the signal straight from the drone which helps prevent lag time in the footage.The DJI Mavic Pro comes with a price tag of $999, higher than the GoPro Karma but then the more sophisticated features it packs seem to justify the price tag. On top of that, DJI has introduced a new $99 optional DJI Care Refresh option which covers accidental damage for a year. The DJI Mavic Pro is expected to start shipping on October 15.

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DJI will release SDK for its Phantom 3 and Inspire 5 drones in May

Joel Joseph — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 10:59:46 +0000

DJI is undoubtedly one of the world’s best UAV companies. The DJI Inspire and the DJI Phantom both are professional drones for enthusiasts.

Now, to make these drones all the more fun, the company has decided to open up the SDKs (Software Development Kits) for both, the Phantom 3 and Inspire 5 drones in May. This means that pretty soon developers can take advantage of the various high-end hardware on these devices for innovative functions. They can develop applications to tweak Inspire’s image transmission controls and Phantom 3’s camera control, flight control, signal strength, battery, waypoint commands, and PTZ control.

So, after May, we may see some interesting applications for both these UAVs.

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DJI drones Archives - Gizmochina

Russia & Ukraine are deploying DJI drones for combat duties

US Govt adds DJI to Entity List; DJI says users can continue to buy its products

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DJI drones worth $16k looted from DJI’s New York store

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DJI unveils Mavic Pro Drone Featuring Ultra Compact Body & Powerful Features

DJI will release SDK for its Phantom 3 and Inspire 5 drones in May