Drone manufacturing company DJI has announced that seven of its drone models have been approved for compliance with Remote Identification mandates as required by the Federal Aviation Administration in the US.
This makes the company – the world’s biggest drone manufacturer – the first civilian drone maker to submit and earn approval for complying with the FAA’s Remote Identification protocols.
“The FAA has approved the Declarations of Compliance for seven of DJI’s newest and most popular drone models, including what is officially known as America’s “RID000000001” for the DJI Mini 3 Pro,” the company said in a statement.
“DJI always complies with the laws and regulations of the countries where we operate, and is ready to comply with the FAA’s Remote ID mandate as well. DJI customers can fly with confidence that they can comply with the FAA rule.”
Remote ID is a kind of electronic license plate system for drones, which allows aviation authorities to identify who is flying them by receiving identification information through radio signals to receivers on the ground.
As a requirement for integrating drones with other air traffic, Remote ID was designed to make the skies safer, improve public acceptance of drone technology, and open up new possibilities for drone pilots to routinely fly in ways that have until now been restricted for safety and security reasons – like flying at night or directly over people.
The FAA effected rules for remote identification in April last year, which mandated drone manufacturers to upgrade their drones with identification information which would be available to authorities whenever they ask for it.
Drone manufacturers are required to have complied with the rule by 2023 for older drone versions. For newly manufactured drones, the deadline is September 2022, with enforcement likely to start in December the same year, according to DJI.
But DJI – perhaps keen to get back on the good side of the US federal authorities once again following years of attrition over espionage suspicions – chose not to wait that long and began implementing identification requirements almost immediately.
Said the company; “DJI’s initial approvals, as posted on the FAA website, cover seven of its newest and most popular drone platforms: Mini 3 Pro, Avata, Air 2S, Mavic 3, Mavic 3 Cine, M30 and M30T. Newly manufactured versions of those drones will comply with Remote ID rules with no further action required; customers who already own those drones will be able to comply with Remote ID rules by downloading a free firmware update at a later date.
“DJI is seeking FAA approval for additional drone models which will be posted on the FAA website as they are approved. Models with Remote ID functionality include the notation “ASTM F3411-22a-RID-B” on the regulatory label attached to the drone.
The company added that older models of DJI drones will be able to comply with Remote ID using a separate add-on module.
“DJI’s Remote ID approvals from the FAA come a month after DJI also became the first drone manufacturer to earn a C1 EU-type examination certificate for drones under the new European Drone Regulation.
“The C1 certificate for the Mavic 3 series, which is applied through a firmware update, gives DJI customers more freedom to fly in previously restricted environments.
“As the drone industry leader, DJI is committed to supporting safety and security measures that keep the airspace safe in the drone era, and to providing our customers convenient ways to comply with new regulations.”
According to DJI’s former VP of Public Policy, the US government has prioritised creating Remote ID since 2016, when security agencies made clear they would not support allowing drones to fly more complicated missions in more places without a way to identify who was flying them.
The FAA then started working with stakeholders across the drone world to learn about potential solutions to this challenge and first proposed rules in late 2019, then revised them a year later based on more than 53,000 comments from interested people and organisations.