The Big Book of Drones

Drones are taking the world by storm. The technology and laws governing
them change faster than we can keep up with. The Big Book of Drones cov-
ers everything from drone law to laws on privacy, discussing the history and
evolution of drones to where we are today. If you are new to piloting, it also
covers how to fly a drone including a pre-flight checklist.
For those who are interested in taking drones to the next level, we discuss
how to build your own using a 3D printer as well as many challenging proj-
ects for your drone. For the truly advanced, the Big Book of Drones discusses
how to hack a drone. This includes how to perform a replay attack, denial of
service attack, and how to detect a drone and take it down.
Finally, the book also covers drone forensics. This is a new field of study,
but one that is steadily growing and will be an essential area of inquiry as
drones become more prevalent.
The Big Book of Drones
Ralph DeFrangesco
Stephanie DeFrangesco
First Edition published 2023
by CRC Press
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and by CRC Press
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© 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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ISBN: 978-1-032-06281-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-06282-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-20153-3 (ebk)

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533

Typeset in Sabon
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents

About this book xi

1 Introduction1
Construction 5
Cinematography 5
Agriculture 5
Entertainment 6
Save lives (drop life-saving ring to drowning victims) 6
Drone delivery 6
Finding people 6
Drone racing 7
Fun 7
Military 7
The drone market 8
Top five states that will benefit from drone manufacturing 9
DoD drone classes 9
Other classification systems 10
Summary 13

2 The history of drones15

Ancient times 16
1400s 16
1700s 16
1800s 17
WWI 18
WWII 19
The use of military drones today 22
Iran shoots down a US drone 22
Military drones used in other countries 22

v
vi Contents

Fixed wing 23
Remote controlled 23
Takeoff and landing 23
Which other countries own drones? 23
Countries that do not have drones 24
Iranian anti-drone capability 25
The history of the FAA 26
Summary 27

3 Laws governing drones29

Airports 30
The White House 30
Sports arenas 31
Wildlife refuges 31
Forest fires 32
Military bases and Department of Energy (DOE) sites 32
Prisons and other correctional facilities 32
National parks 33
Schools 33
City parks 34
Large social gatherings 34
Local laws 34
Drone rules and regulations 35
Part 107 pilot’s license 35
Register your drone 36
Drone accidents 37
Accidents/incidents 37
Reporting incidents 37
Government involvement 38
Drone insurance 38
State drone laws 39
Privacy 39
Privacy legal cases 40
International laws 40
Europe 40
Austria 41
France 41
Germany 41
Ireland 42
Italy 42
South and Central America 42
 Contents vii

India 42
Southeast Asia 42
Africa 43
Oceania 43
Countries to avoid 43
Summary 43

4 Drone hardware/software45
Consumer versus commercial drones 45
Consumer drone manufacturers 46
Fixed-wing drones 49
Underwater drones 50
Commercial drone manufacturers 50
Military drones 53
Drone costs 55
Consumer drone add-ons and accessories 56
Sensors 56
Troubleshooting 59
Testing with Linux 60
What if one or more motors are not spinning? 60
What if your camera does not work? 61
Analyzing the controller signal 61
Other troubleshooting 62
Summary 62

5 Flying a drone65
Safety tips 66
Location 69
Spare parts 70
Commercial flying 72
Controller specifics 77
Drone incidents 77
UA visual perception 78
Military drone pilots 80

6 Hacking a drone81
The Telnet protocol 82
Telnet to the Parrot AR 82
Transferring files to and from the Parrot AR 84
Getting the MAC address 85
viii Contents

Telnet to the Phantom 3 85

How to turn on Telnet 86
Transferring files to and from the Phantom 3 87
Other drones 87
Deauthenticating the Parrot AR 87
Replay attack 88
How to identify a drone 89
Approach 1 89
Approach 2 93
Taking down a drone 97
Protecting your drone 99
Protect the controller 99
Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) 99
Use strong passwords 99
Use encryption 100
Buy a dedicated controller 100
Fly in a remote area 100
Be aware of your surroundings 100
Summary 101

7 Programing a drone103
Code explanation 105
Using other languages 105
The code behind the project 107
Using Python to program a drone 108
Other ways to program a drone 110
Summary 112

8 Build your own drone 115

Drone racing 115
Videography 116
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) drone kits 116
3D printing a drone 117
Build your own underwater drone 121
A very cheap alternative 123
Summary 123

9 Do-It-Yourself (DIY) drone projects125

What are some of accessories you can mount on your drone? 126
What can I use my drone for? 127
 Contents ix

Drones to help the blind 127

Drones to watch your kids 128
Drones to watch your house 129
Personalized drone videos 130
Build a drone race course 130
Drone bug-out bag 132
Multiple drones 133
Drone versus drone 134
Drone fishing platform 135
A drone light show 136
Take your drone snowboarding 137
How to make money with a drone 137
Selling photos and videos 137
Wedding photography 137
Selling drones 138
Working with a realtor 138
Working as a drone pilot 138
Summary 139

10 Drone forensics141
Introduction to forensics 142
Let’s analyze the data 148
Summary 149

11 More on drones151
Drone conferences 152
A closing note on drones 155
Register your drone 155
Weather 155
Flying at night 155
Weight they can lift 156
Battery length 156
Banned countries 156
Privacy 156
The future of drones 159

Definitions163
Index 167
About this book

Like so many other things in technology, necessity is the mother of inven-

tion. Three things happened that were the drivers for writing this book; first,
this book started out as the two of us keeping notes. There were notes, more
notes, and even more notes after that. Some notes were just reminders such
as the preflight check material. Some were notes related to observations when
flying. We transferred the many notes written down on pieces of loose paper
to a notebook. Obviously, the notebook kept growing.
Second, many times when out flying our drones, people would stop and ask
us questions. Most were basic questions about flying. Some were questions
about drone-related laws, and some were hardware and software related. We
started writing down the questions and how we responded. We would do a
little research to make sure we were right in our responses.
Lastly, we noticed that people wanted to learn more about drones.
Undoubtedly the internet is a quick go to solution, but the internet can
only take you so far. We decided to start our own drone conference called
USDroneCon. At USDroneCon, you can learn how to fly, or fly a drone you

xi
xii About this book

have never flown before. There are hands on labs and guest speakers that talk
about their expertise and experiences they have with drones.

PREAMBLE

This book covers the history, laws, and uses of drones. It will explain how
the military, commercial, and consumer sectors have adopted drones. Where
applicable, the difference is notated and explained. Drones are a fast growing
technology. The material presented in this book is the latest available; how-
ever, the technology is evolving so quickly that it could be outdated by the
time this book is published. This is especially important when talking about
laws governing the use of drones. All drone pilots should be familiar with the
laws governing their individual state. Not knowing is not an excuse.
This book is organized by the following chapters.

Chapter 1 – Introduction
This chapter gives the reader a basic introduction to drones. It defines what a
drone is and what a drone is not. It discusses the differences between air, sea,
and terra-firma (land based) drones. Military drones are touched on briefly
and the types of drones that are used today. The market for drones is dis-
cussed then the chapter ends on the classification of drones.

Chapter 2 – History of drones

This chapter discusses the history of drones from ancient times to today’s
drones and how the technology has evolved. This chapter touches on military
drones in other countries, and some countries that do not allow the use of
drones.

Chapter 3 – Laws governing drones

This chapter is important since it discusses the laws that govern the use of
drones. Specifically, this chapter lists the places that drones are banned and
why. The drone registration process is discussed in addition to drone insur-
ance. The chapter ends with reported drone incidents that have occurred
recently.

Chapter 4 – Drone hardware/software

Hardware and software are really the focus of drone technology. This chapter
discusses how consumer drones differ from commercial and military drones.
A few drone manufacturers and some of the drones they sell are introduced
along with sensors and options available for drones.
 About this book xiii

Chapter 5 – Flying a drone

This chapter discusses the checklist that a drone pilot should use before flying
a drone. The know where to fly list is discussed along with how to do stunts
and how to set the auto land function.

Chapter 6 – Hacking a drone

Hacking a drone is different than hacking a computer. The processes and
procedures may be similar, but the end result is very different. You will learn
several ways that a drone can be hacked and what treasures the drone might
hold!

Chapter 7 – Programming a drone

Not all drones can be programmed, but for the ones that can this opens up
a whole new world for programmers. You will learn how to connect to your
drone, send it off to do a mission and then return safely to you, all through
programming.

Chapter 8 – Build your own drone

Most computer enthusiasts enjoy tinkering with hardware. People who fly
drones, share the same enthusiasm. This chapter will show you how to build
a drone from a kit and take you through 3D printing your own drone body.

Chapter 9 – Do-It-Yourself (DIY) drone projects

Have a drone and not sure what you can do with it? The uses for a drone are
endless. This chapter shares several projects that drone pilots might want to
tackle.

Chapter 10 – Drone forensics

Did the drone crash into the crowd on accident or on purpose? This chapter
walks the reader through how to perform forensics on a drone. You will learn
how to make a scientific guess at who owns that drone and how far it might
have flown before it crashed. This chapter includes a forensic checklist to use
in a forensic investigation.

Chapter 11 – More on drones

Do you need replacement parts for your drone? Want to add Lidar or a high-
definition camera? This chapter includes links and information to companies
that supply parts for drone enthusiasts.
Chapter 1

Introduction

Drones are not new by any means. They are, however, new to today’s con-
sumers. Drones date back thousands of years, where they were mostly used
for military operations. They still play a major role today in military oper-
ations, but they also have found their way into the hands of an average
consumer.
Drones are pervasive since they are cheap and readily available. Costs have
plummeted to where a consumer can purchase a drone for as little as $20 or
less. The capabilities will be limited at this price range, but it still functions

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-1 1
2 The Big Book of Drones

as a drone. If we look at the opposite end of the spectrum, you can easily
drop $1200 or more on a consumer drone. Of course, a drone in this price
range has multiple cameras, an active gimbal, GPS, and a dedicated control-
ler, which we will explain more throughout this book.
Let’s start our journey by asking, what is a drone? Drones are referred to by
several names: Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,
Remotely Piloted Aircraft, and quadcopters. Whatever you call them, the
basic concept is the same. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) defines
a drone as a vehicle which is not piloted by a human from within the vehicle
itself. This is a good start as a definition, but negates the fact that some spe-
cialized drones do use a wired tether by design. We will explain more about
these drones later.
Whatever you call them, they all have one thing in common, there is no
pilot in the vehicle, and the vehicles flight or maneuver is Remotely Controlled
(RC), either directly by a pilot or preprogramed software. Drones that are
made to go underwater are the exception. They can use wires for control and
communications. This is necessary because a consumer underwater drone is
not capable of receiving wireless signals through the water. Maybe they will
get there someday.
Now that we have an idea as to what a drone is, well then, what is not con-
sidered a drone? Balloons are not considered drones, although history consid-
ers hot air balloons as the very first drones. Wind-up rubber band airplanes
and kites are not drones either.
If we look at the above, none are piloted remotely with wireless technol-
ogy. Although some people would argue that a kite is piloted remotely, it is
controlled with a string which is not a remote-controlled technology, and you
are limited in maneuverability by the string itself.
Now, let’s take a look at the types of drones in the market. Drones that go
underwater are in trend now. The limiting factor is the distance they can go
and their cost as they tend to be quite expensive. As an example, the QYSEA
FIFISH V6 Underwater ROV is a sea drone. This model sells for roughly
$1300.00. It’s capable of diving roughly 160 feet. It has a 4k camera, which
can take video and 12MP photos. The QYSEA FIFISH V6 Underwater ROV
has a top speed of 3 knots and the manufacturer claims it can stay submerged
for up to 4.5 hours on a single charge.
Land drones or terra-firma drones have probably been around the longest.
We have come to know them as RC cars. In general, RC cars can reach a top
speed of 46 km/h. They can last roughly 40 minutes on one battery charge
or longer if there are extended battery options. The RC car below is charged
with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable, but other cars have batteries that are
removable which means you can be using the car while charging another set
of batteries.
 Introduction 3

When people typically think about a drone, they think about a drone that
flies in the air. The picture below shows a typical quadcopter. The model
shown has a camera mounted to a gimbal. The quadcopter shown below has
a 20-minute battery life, a separate dedicated controller, and is capable of
aerial stunts.
4 The Big Book of Drones

A fixed-wing drone is the newest family of consumer drones that fly in the air.
Typically, you have to throw them in the air in order to get them airborne, and
then take over flying them. However, some do have propellers to assist with
takeoff. The fixed-wing drone below would need to be thrown into the air
for takeoff. It does have a landing gear, but it’s very impractical when land-
ing. You would need a perfect landing surface along with a perfect landing in
order for it to land on the wheels. When flying this type of drone, landing is
more of a controlled crash.

We now have a definition for a drone and have examples of drones. All of
these have been in regard to consumer drones. Let’s see how the military
defines a drone. According to the military, a drone is a land, sea, or an air
vehicle that is remotely piloted or automatically controlled. In this book, we
will only touch on military drones that fly.
The military has many different types of drones to meet their mis-
sion requirements. The MQ-1B Predator is operated by the US Airforce.
This drone is capable of flying on a long range, long endurance mission.
Predator missions might include reconnaissance, surveillance, close air
support, search and rescue, precision strike, convoy overwatch, and ter-
minal air guidance. The MQ-1B is manufactured by General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems and costs roughly $20 million dollars depending on
its configuration.
The MQ-9 Reaper is operated by the US Airforce. The Reaper is primar-
ily an attack platform and can be used as an intelligence collection tool.
 Introduction 5

The Reaper utilizes a laser range finder and a synthetic aperture radar. The
platform is capable of carrying four laser-guided Hellfire missiles which can
be deployed in anti-armor and anti-personnel engagement missions.
The RQ-4 Global Hawk is operated by the US Airforce. The Global Hawk
is a high-altitude and high-endurance reconnaissance platform. Northrup
Grumman is the prime manufacturer. By now, we should now have a pretty
good idea as to what a drone is and some examples of drones. However, what
can drones be used for?

CONSTRUCTION

The construction industry is one of the largest users of drones. They use com-
mercial drones primarily for inspection purposes. A drone can get into places
a human cannot, or at least to places that are not very easy to go, without any
risk to human life. As an example, a bridge inspection company can send a
drone to look under a bridge, checking the integrity of its beams and girders.
Drones have cameras, so they can inspect and document at the same time
without putting a human at risk. If something is found, then a human can be
used to verify the findings of the drone.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The use of drones in cinematography has brought about new perspectives

for the movie-making industry. Action shots that were either not possible or
costly to make have been easily made with drone technology at a fraction of
the cost. Drones have replaced humans in making dangerous video shots less-
ening the threat to human life.
The first major movie to use a drone for film scenes was Skyfall in 2012,
starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, and Naomie Harris. The director
decided to use a drone rather than a traditional helicopter to film the aerial
footage.
Other films that used a drone were The Expendables 3 (2014), The Wolf of
Wall Street (2013), and Chappie (2015).

AGRICULTURE

Although not the largest users of drones, the agricultural industry uses com-
mercial drones in a big way. Drones have been used to help farmers for many
years. Sensors mounted on drones have been used to track crop diseases, cre-
ate irrigation maps, and track the crop output. This advanced technology
has helped farmers to increase crop yield and produce crops resistant to bugs
and diseases.
6 The Big Book of Drones

ENTERTAINMENT

Drones purchased by consumers are bought for various reasons. Parents buy
drones for their children to be used for entertainment. Adults purchase drones
for novelty purposes. The witted homeowner will occasionally use a drone to
check that their gutters are not clogged or for worn or damaged shingles. For
the most part, consumers have no “need” for a drone except to have fun with.

SAVE LIVES (DROP LIFE-SAVING RING

TO DROWNING VICTIMS)

Research work has been done with drones to see if they can detect if a per-
son is in distress and might need help from drowning. Drone technology can
determine that a person is thrashing around in the water and waving their
hands. This might be an indicator that they need help. A life preserver could
be dropped from the drone until help arrives.

DRONE DELIVERY

In 2013, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, announced that they would start
utilizing drone technology to assist in the delivery of small payload packages.
In 2016, Amazon made good on its promise successfully delivering a package
to an Amazon Prime customer in the United Kingdom.
Amazon started Amazon Prime Air delivery service in order to fulfill this
business model. The idea was to be able to deliver packages weighing less than
5 pounds in less than 30 minutes. The delivery address cannot be more than
10 miles from any Amazon fulfillment center. In 2020, the Amazon drone
fleet did receive FAA clearance to begin its delivery service. As of December
2020, Amazon has yet to deliver any packages on a commercial basis using
this service except the initial package delivered in 2016.
Another company using drones for delivery is Dalsey, Hillbloom and Lynn
(DHL). DHL China is delivering small packages weighing less than 12 pounds
and within a 5-mile radius, in less than 8 minutes.
In April 2019, Google received permission from the FAA to start testing
drone deliveries in the United States. In October 2019, Google delivered its
first package via drone for Pharmacy retailer Walgreens. We will see who
wins the drone delivery war: Google or Amazon?

FINDING PEOPLE

In July 2019, a family was joining in a community celebration in Westerville,

Ohio. While enjoying the activities, a father approached the Fire Chief explaining
to him that his nine-year-old daughter was missing. The Westerville fire company
 Introduction 7

and police had just spent $34,000 on a drone as part of their new drone pro-
gram. The police immediately put the drone in flight to find the girl. The drone
spotted her within 10 minutes. She had walked back to the family car where she
was sitting on the ground. The drone spotted her quickly because of the detailed
description the family gave of her and the high-definition cameras on the drone.
In November 2019, the police in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, used a drone
equipped with thermal imaging to find a missing man. The man was thought
to have had a medical emergency while driving his car. The man drove his car
into a field and wondered out. A police officer found his car running by the side
of the road without anyone around it. They called in a drone to try and find
him. The drone picked up a thermal signature of the man within 2–4 minutes.

DRONE RACING

Drone racing is a fairly new sport that started in Australia in 2013. The pilots
use First Person View (FPV) to observe what the drone sees. Drones have a
camera that transmits images from the drone to goggles that the pilot is wear-
ing. Any drone can be fitted with FPV, but many pilots utilize high-quality,
after-market gear that can cost thousands of dollars.
The Drone Racing League (DRL) was founded in the United States in 2015.
The DRL operates internationally airing professional racing on National
Broadcasting Company (NBC) Sports, Sky Sports, ProSieben, Groupe AB,
and Fox Sports Asia. There are many racing leagues that host drone racing:

• MultiGP
• DR1 Racing
• RotorMatch League

Each organization sets the standards for their racetracks. This could include
the size (length), obstacles, indoor versus outdoor, and track location. A lot of
racing is done in stadiums because of the possibility of bad weather.

FUN

People just like flying drones and the most amount of fun you can have is
using drones to do tricks. It tests your skill and agility along with the drone’s
capabilities.

MILITARY

The US military has used drone technology for over a hundred years. Drones
were used for observation in the beginning. They have been used to drop
bombs and spy on other armies. Today, they are used as sophisticated missile
platforms and for reconnaissance purposes.
8 The Big Book of Drones

THE DRONE MARKET

The following graphic shows the worldwide sales growth projection for drones
through 2030. In a whitepaper from Levitate Capital (2020), the largest market
segment in 2020 was the defense market. However, Levitate Capital expects
that the commercial market will surpass the defense market by 2025.

The following two graphics show how the commercial market is broken
down in sales from 2020 to 2025. As we can see from the chart, the largest
growth is expected in the construction industry followed by inspection and
agriculture.
 Introduction 9

TOP FIVE STATES THAT WILL BENEFIT

FROM DRONE MANUFACTURING

As you would expect, with this much growth on the horizon, someone will
benefit from it. The chart below shows which states will benefit the most from
drone production.

State Number of jobs Total economic impact

California 2108 400M
Washington 1157 218M
Texas 958 181M
Florida 557 105M
Arizona 494 93M

As we can see, California is one of the top states. This is not surprising given
they are such a high-tech state. Washington, Texas, Florida, and Arizona
complete the list.

DoD drone classes

Not all drones are created equal. Certainly, consumer drones have a dif-
ferent function than commercial and military drones. They differ in size,
shape, capability, and functionality. The Department of Defense (DoD) and
10 The Big Book of Drones

other agencies have developed ways to classify drones based on criteria that
they set.

• The following table is used by the DoD to categorize drones. The chart
includes categories, size, maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTW
in pounds.), normal operating altitude (feet), and airspeed (knots).
Categories range from Group 1–5, sizes range from the smallest to larg-
est, MGTW from 0 to greater than 1320 pounds, normal operating alti-
tude of less than 1200 feet Above Ground Level (AGL) to greater than
18,000 Mean Sea Level (MSL), and airspeed from less than 100 knots
to any airspeed.
• Most consumer drones will fall into Group 1, small drones. These are
the lightweight drones that you see consumers flying around the neigh-
borhood. Commercial drones would fit into Group 2. Commercial
drones include drones utilized in agriculture, cinematography, and
drone delivery.
• The remaining groups, Group 3–5, are where most military drones
would fit into. These are large drones that the military utilizes for recon-
naissance, troop protection, scouting, and missile deployment. These
drones can cost millions of dollars not including their payloads. They
are RC with the pilot sitting thousands of miles away.

Maximum gross takeoff Normal operating Airspeed

Category Size weight (pounds) altitude (feet) (knots)
Group 1 Small 0–20 <1200 AGL <100
Group 2 Medium 21–55 <3500 <250
Group 3 Large <1320 <18,000 MSL <250
Group 4 Larger >1320 <18,000 MSL Any airspeed
Group 5 Largest >1320 > 18,000 Any airspeed
Note: If the UAS has even one characteristic of the next level, it is classified in that level.
AGL: Above Ground Level.
MSL: Mean Seal Level.

Other classification systems

There are a number of other drone classification systems. The North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) uses a similar classification system to the DoD
system. Class and weight in kilograms, category and weight in kilograms,
normal operating altitude in feet, normal mission radius in kilometers, and an
example platform are all similar.

• Drone classes range from Class I to Class III

• Weight is from 150 kilograms to 600 kilograms
 Introduction 11

• Normal deployment can be tactical, strategic, or operational

• Normal operating altitude ranges from less than or equal to 5000 feet–
65,000 feet
• Normal mission radius ranges from 5 kilometers to unlimited
• Some examples shown in the chart are the Luna, Skylark, Hermes 450,
Global Hawk, and the Predator

Class and Category and Normal Normal

weight weight Normal operating mission radius Example
(kilograms) (kilograms) employment altitude (feet) (kilometers) platform
Class I <150 Small >20 Tactical Unit <5000 AGL 50 (LOS) Lina, Hermes
90
Mini Tactical Unit <3000 AGL 25 (LOS) Scan Eagle,
Skylark,
Raven
Micro Tactical <200 5 (LOS) Black Widow
Patrol/
Section
(single
operator)
Class II Tactical Tactical <10,000 200 (LOS) Sperwer, Iview
150–600 Formation 250, Hermes
450
Class III >600 Strike/ Strategic/ <65,000 Unlimited
Combat National (BLOS)
HALE Strategic/ <65,000 Unlimited Global Hawk
National (BLOS)
MALE Operational/ <45,000 Unlimited Predator A &
Theater (BLOS) B, Heron,
Hermes 900
Note:
LOS: Line of Sight
MSL: Mean Sea Level
BLOS: Beyond Line of Sight
AGL: Above Ground Level
HALE: High Altitude Long Endurance
MALE: Medium Altitude Long Endurance

If we compare the NATO table against the DoD table, the main difference
is drone weight by class. As an example, the smallest drone in the Group 1
category of drones from the DoD table is 0–20 pounds. However, if we look
at the NATO table, the smallest drones are in Class 1 weighting less than 150
kilograms, which is roughly 300 pounds. They do break this category down
further into three additional weight classes.
 12
The Big Book of Drones
Operation UAS
UAS
Remote pilot MTOM/ Main technical Electronic ID/ operator
Subcategory Area of operation competency Class Joule (J) requirements GEO awareness registration
A1 Fly over You can fly over Read consumer C0 <250 grams Consumer info, Toy No No
people uninvolved people info Directive or <19
(not over crowds) Consumer info, C1 <80 Joule or m/s, no sharp
online training, 900 grams edges, selectable
online test height limit
A2 Fly close You can fly at a safe Consumer Info, C2 <4 kilograms Consumer info, Yes, unique SN Yes
to people distance from Online training, mechanical for
uninvolved people online test, strength, no sharp identification
theoretical test edges, lost-link
in a center management,
recognized by selectable height
the aviation limit, low-speed
authority mode
A3 Fly far Fly in an area where Consumer info, C3, C4, <25 kilograms Consumer info, If required by Yes
from people it is reasonably online training, privately lost-link zone of
expected that no online test built management, operation
uninvolved people selectable height
will be endangered limit
and keep a safety
distance from
urban areas
 Introduction 13

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) differs drastically

from the DoD and NATO classification systems. EASA only classifies con-
sumer drones. The EASA standard covers subcategories, area of operation,
remote pilot competency, class, maximum takeoff mass, main technical
requirements, electronic ID/Geo awareness, and UAS operator registration.
Interestingly enough, in subcategory A1, the EASA framework allows a
drone to fly over people. The drone can only fly over uninvolved people, or
people that are not part of the pilot’s team. However, in no circumstances
can it be flown over a crowd. The other important EASA requirement is that
drones that fall into class C1, C2, and C3 must broadcast an E-Identification
signal. This signal broadcasts an ID and the takeoff location of the drone.

SUMMARY

This chapter was a basic introduction to drones. We covered what the defini-
tion of a drone is. We discussed the different types of drone that are there:
air, Terra-firma, and underwater. We then discussed some of the key uses
for drones; these include, but are not limited to cinematography, agriculture,
package delivery, finding people, personal entertainment, and professional
drone racing.
With the sales of drones increasing yearly, we discussed how much is
expected to be spent over the next few years, what industries are spending the
money, and what states will benefit from the manufacture of drones.
Finally, we discussed drone classification systems. There are many classifi-
cation systems. We discussed three of the major ones used worldwide: DoD,
NATO, and EASA. Now that we have a good understanding of what drones
are and how they can be used, Chapter 2 will discuss the history of drones.
What were the first drones? What were they used for? What do drones look
like today and what does the military use them for? All of these questions and
more relating to the history of drones will be covered in Chapter 2.
Chapter 2

The history of drones

You may be wondering why drones are called drones? The use of the word
has an interesting connotation. A male bee has one job; to mate with a queen
bee. This is obviously a luxury job and is considered idle work as compared
to a worker bee. So this type of bee is known as an idler or drone, hovering
around waiting to mate with a queen bee.
As we mentioned in Chapter 1, balloons are not really drones, but history
does consider their use as “drone like”. They are not really piloted remotely
but can deliver a payload if needed. We have seen this throughout ancient
history where people have used balloons for delivering fire bombs to try and
destroy distant cities. This chapter looks at the history of drones from ancient
times through modern times.

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-2 15
16 The Big Book of Drones

ANCIENT TIMES

The use of unmanned aircraft has been traced back to ancient Greece.
Supposedly, Archytas, an inventor from the city of Tarantas, built a mechan-
ical bird that was steam powered. Folk lore states he flew his mechanical
bird 200 meters, but this cannot be confirmed through historical records
or facts.
Around the same time, the Chinese were experimenting with crude aircraft
technologies. They developed hot air balloons and kites they used for military
purposes. They managed to figure out how to “bomb” their enemy from the
air. Although not technically like drones, but they had the same effect on the
enemy. Of course, one weakness with hot air balloons is that they can be shot
down easily, even with crude bow and arrows.

1400S

In the late 1400s, Leonardo Da Vinci put his ideas for the first helicopter
down on paper. It used a screw to turn a shaft, which in turn provided rota-
tion for the blade. Da Vinci was also credited with developing a mechanical
bird that used crankshafts and a cabling system to make the wings flap. Da
Vinci’s ideas died on paper as he never built either design. One could only
imagine that if he built either of these, how further along the technology
might be.

1700S

The 1700s were a very interesting time in drone history. Commercial balloons
came into existence. We begin to see aviation pioneers like the Montgolfier
brothers, Carl Friedrich Meerwein, and Jean-Pierre Blanchard experiment-
ing with balloon technology and various flying machines. Meerwein, as an
example, was a university graduate with a background in mathematics, phys-
ics, and engineering. He graduated from the University of Strasbourg with
a degree in civil architecture. Meerwein loved the idea of flying. In 1781, he
designed and supposedly flew an ornithopter. This is a bird-like device that
gets its lift by flapping its wings under human power. However, attempts by
Meerwein in 1784 and 1785 failed, which put in doubt regarding his first
alleged successful attempt.
 History of drones 17

The above is an example of the ornithopter that Meerwein developed in 1781.

The idea is that a person would strap themselves into the device and begin
flapping their arms causing the device to flap its wings that provides lift.

1800S

Nikola Tesla was a pioneer in remote control technology. He demonstrated

that he could remotely control a boat with electricity in 1898. Little did Tesla
know that the technology he just unleashed would be used by the military to
control machines of war.
Roughly in 1849, the Austrian military used unmanned balloons filled with
explosives to bomb Venice, Italy. The plan had some success until some of the
balloons blew back into Austria. What this showed is that it was possible to
bomb a country miles away and cause fear in people.
18 The Big Book of Drones

WWI

Both the United States and the UK developed drones during WWI. The
United Kingdom developed the Aerial Target and the United States developed
the Kettering Bug. Both were considered radio controlled aircrafts.
The above picture is the control apparatus for the Kettering Bug. The “Bug”
was also known as an aerial torpedo. As we can see in the picture, it was a
rather fragile looking aircraft. It had no landing gear as we are familiar with
today. It used skid bars as a type of crude landing gear. It could strike targets
up to 75 miles away and reach speeds of 50 mph. It was developed by Dayton-
Wright Airplane Company. Orville Wright was a consultant on the project.
The Bug was essentially made of paper and wood and cost only $400.00 at
the time to produce.
The Bug was modified several times. The below picture is one of its many
iterations. This one included steel wheels as a landing gear along with a bi-
wing. This version was a little larger and heavier than its predecessors but was
capable of carrying a larger payload. It is shown below on a set of metal rails
to help it to takeoff.
 History of drones 19

WWII

The actor Reginald Denny (see picture below), also known as Reginald
Leigh Dugmore, was an aviator, inventor, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV) pioneer from the 1920s through the 1950s. In 1934, Reginald Denny
started selling radio controlled planes under the brand Reginald Denny
Hobby Shops. Denny was able to show the US military that they could be
used as target drones. During WWII, the Unite States converted a used
B-17 bomber into a radio controlled weapon. The bomber was packed with
explosives and then using radio control technology, the bomber was guided
to its target.
20 The Big Book of Drones

In the 1950s, the United States continued with developing drone technology.
The F6F-5K Hellcat drone carried a 100-pound bomb. A radio repeater was
used to guide the bomb to its final destination. The F6F-5K is pictured below
in a non-drone configuration.
 History of drones 21

On August 16, 1956, the Hellcat drone was involved in a rather ugly incident.
Shortly after the drone took off from the Naval Air Station Point Mugu in
California, the operator lost control of the drone. Luckily the drone did not
have any ordinance onboard. The Navy, who was running the exercise at
the time, scrambled two fighter jets from Oxnard Air Force base a few miles
away. The jets engaged the runaway drone and fired several times at it with
on-board rockets. Unfortunately, they missed. The jets then unloaded their
entire ordinance at the drone, while some rockets did hit the drone, they
failed to detonate. The drone finally ran out of fuel and crashed in the desert
near Palmdale Regional Airport. The drone destroyed several power lines and
caused numerous fires.
During the 1960s through mid-1970s, the United States used the Lightening
Bug. This was also known as the Ryan Model 147, developed by Ryan
Aeronautical. It was a small, jet powered, low-altitude drone that was pri-
marily used for reconnaissance missions. The data collected from this drone
was used for battle planning and combing damage assessment.
22 The Big Book of Drones

As we can see from the photograph above, the Lightening Bug was deployed
without landing gear. The drone was launched from the ground or from an
aircraft. At the end of its mission, the drone fell back to earth using a para-
chute deployed by the operator.

THE USE OF MILITARY DRONES TODAY

Although they do a somewhat similar job, the drones of today differ signifi-
cantly from the drones of 20 years ago. The military drones today are faster,
larger, can carry more weapons, fly longer and farther, and they are remote
controlled from across the world. Today’s drone pilots sit in sophisticated
command posts with another pilot and ordinance specialist. Most of the time,
these command posts are not even located where the drones takeoff and land.
As part of their reconnaissance mission, drones carry sophisticated video
recording and photographic systems. The equipment today is so sensitive it
can easily take photographs that can be used to identify a person or even a
license plate.

IRAN SHOOTS DOWN A US DRONE

In June 2019, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down
an RQ-4A Global Hawk BAMS-D surveillance drone owned by the United
States. The Iranian government claimed that the drone invaded Iranian air-
space near Kuhmobarak in the southern province of Hormozgan. The United
States claimed that it was in the international airspace over the Strait of
Hormuz and had the proper authority to operate in that area.
The Iranian government claimed that two other drones have crashed on
Iranian soil, both in 2005. In 2011, Iran claims to have brought down a
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) owned drone, which is believed to have
jump started Iran’s drone program.

MILITARY DRONES USED IN OTHER COUNTRIES

The United States pioneered drone technology, but by no means is it the only
country to have drones. The United States frequently sells its technology to
its allies. Drone technology is a hot item and is no different in this regards.
However, they frequently do not sell all of the bells and whistles along with
the drone. After all, you can’t give it all away!
Whether they are US built or foreign built, most military drones are
designed to do two things; reconnaissance and surveillance, and/or act as a
weapons delivery platform. All military drones have a few things in common.
 History of drones 23

The vast majority of military drones are turboprop powered. This is for a
few reasons:

• The lag time in controlling them remotely.

• The video would be hard to see at high speeds.
• Dropping ordinance at high speeds.

Fixed wing
• The vast majority are fixed wing.

– Some research has been done on multi-rotor.

⚬⚬ MQ-8B Fire Scout
⚬⚬ Schiebel S-100

Remote controlled
Today, drones are controlled from across the world with control signals
bouncing off of the satellites. There is no need for a pilot to be located where a
drone either takes off or lands. Controlling a military drone looks very much
like a video game display.

TAKEOFF AND LANDING

Manually operated drones need roughly a 5000 feet runway to takeoff and
land. Automated drones can takeoff and land in as little as 3000 feet Crews
maneuver the drones onto the runway and the pilots take over control from
there. When a drone finishes its mission, flight crews recover the drone and its
payload if it’s a drone performing reconnaissance.

WHICH OTHER COUNTRIES OWN DRONES?

The following is a short list of countries that own combat drones. Countries
may operate more than one drone type, so only primary drones are shown
for each country.

• Brazil – Elbit Hermes 450

– The Elbit Hermes 450 is manufactured by Israel. It’s an older plat-

form that is capable of reconnaissance, surveillance, and communi-
cations relay. The platform costs roughly $2M.
24 The Big Book of Drones

• China – Chengdu Wing Loong I, CH-3, CH4

– The Wing Loong lines of drones are manufactured by the Chengdu

Aircraft Industry Group in China. The primary operation of the
Wing Loon is reconnaissance; however, the aircraft can be fitted
with an air-to-surface missile. The Wing Loong is capable of carry-
ing a 2200 pound air-to-surface weapon with a maximum service
ceiling of 26,000 feet and 20 hours of flight time.

• India – IAI Harop (IAI Harpy 2)

– The IAI lines of drones are manufactured by Israel. This specific

drone is capable of homing in on radio emissions. When the IAI
Harop detects an emissions signature and locks in on it, then heads
straight for it and explodes on contact. The Harop can either oper-
ate autonomously or with human intervention. The Harop can carry
a 23 kilograms warhead, fly for 6 hours, and cover 1000 kilometers
on one fueling.

• Iran – Shahed 129

– The Shahed 129 is manufactured by Shahed Aviation Industries. The

drone is primarily a reconnaissance platform. The Iranians tried to
mount a missile on the drone, but it failed as an attack platform.
The Shahed can carry a 400 kilograms payload. It’s capable of flying
for 24 hours with a service ceiling of 24,000 feet.

• Russia – Sukhol S-70 Okhotnik

– The S-70 Okhotnik is manufactured in Russia jointly by Sukhol

and MIG. The S-70 is capable of performing a reconnaissance and
attack mission. The S-70 can carry two internal weapons up to 2000
kilograms each. It has a speed of 620 miles per hour with a range of
6000 kilometers.

COUNTRIES THAT DO NOT HAVE DRONES

Believe it or not, there are several countries that have banned the use of
drones. You may ask yourself why? These countries just do not know how
to deal with the laws and controversies of flying drones. Developing polices
to address privacy, injuries, legal issues, and insuring a drone, all take time.
Many countries just don’t want to address them right now, so they banned the
use of drones. The following are countries that have banned their use:
 History of drones 25

• Algeria
• Barbados
• Brunei
• Cote d’lvoire
• Cuba
• Iran (military intelligence shows this to be false)
• Iraq
• Kenya
• Kuwait
• Kyrgyzstan
• Madagascar
• Morocco
• Nicaragua
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• Sri Lanka
• Syria
• Uzbekistan

The one notable country here is Iran. Even though they outlawed the use of
drones, the government does have a substantial reconnaissance and combat
drone program. The Iranian arsenal has been under development since the
Iraq-Iran war in the early 1980s. Early drones were called Mohajer. They
were crude frames with stationary cameras. Today, the Mohajer-6 can be
equipped with a laser guided missile, precision striking bombs and sophisti-
cated optical equipment.
Other Iranian drones include the Ababil, Karrar, Shahed-129, Saeqeh,
Yasir, and the Kaman-12, their newest in the drone arsenal.

Iranian anti-drone capability

In 2011, the Iranians claim to have taken down a Lockheed Martin RQ-170
Sentinel drone. The Iranian government claims to have forced the drone
down by its cyberwarfare unit. The US government claims the drone was
shot down.
Also of note was that in 2019, Iran shot down the US drone RQ-4A Global
Hawk surveillance drone. The Iranians claim the drone invaded their airspace
and had the right to shoot it down. The matter is still disputed today.
The United States had a ban on the international sales of Unmanned Aerial
Systems until 2019. The Trump administration changed the policy to allow
the sale of military and commercial drones to just about any country that
wants one with minimal restrictions. Armed drone platforms are subject
to assessments under the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy and the DoD.
There are no restrictions on the sale of consumer drones.
26 The Big Book of Drones

THE HISTORY OF THE FAA

It would be remiss of us if we didn’t discuss the history of the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) since they are the federal agency tasked with determin-
ing the laws regulating drones. The origin of the FAA dates back to 1938 when
President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Civil Aeronautics Act. This legislation cre-
ated a three member board to oversee accident investigations. In 1940, President
Roosevelt split the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) into two agencies: the Civil
Aeronautics Administration and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). The CAA
was responsible for air traffic control, pilot, and aircraft certifications. The CAB
was responsible for investigating accidents and general air safety.
In 1958, President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aviation Act, which cre-
ated the Federal Aviation Agency. All duties performed by the CAA were
transferred to the FAA. Retired Air Force general Elwood “Pete” Quesada
became the first FAA administrator.
In 1963, President Johnson was concerned about the state of aviation, cre-
ated the Department of Transportation (DOT) and moved the FAA under
that authority. In doing so, its name was changed to the Federal Aviation
Administration (again FAA). The accident investigation duties were trans-
ferred to the National Transportation Safety Board.
In 1970, the FAA created the Air Traffic Organization (ATO). The Air
Traffic Control Systems Command Center (ATCSCC) is the operational arm
of the ATO and is responsible for real-time command and control of the
nation’s airspace. According to the ATO’s website, their functions include:

• Aligning data-driven changes in the operation

• Modernizing training to educate and prepare the ATO’s technical
workforce by focusing on timely delivery, operational priorities, and
competencies
• Monitoring mitigations and changes to the nation’s air space
• Informing stakeholders of successful strategies to meet safety goals

The ATO also provides a number of safety functions, which include:

• Event investigation
• Data analysis
• Corrective actions
• Training for over 14,000 air traffic controllers and over 6000 airway
transportation system specialists
• Policy development, performance measurement, and promotion of a
positive safety culture

The ATO realizes the need to address our nation’s air space congestion and
expansion. The ATO is developing the Next Generation Air Transportation
System (NextGen). NextGen is an attempt to take US aviation into the 21st
 History of drones 27

century and beyond. The system will be redesigned from the ground up
addressing air gridlock, improvements in communications, satellite naviga-
tion, and shifts some of the decision making from the ground to the cockpit.

SUMMARY

This chapter really describes the history of drones. We covered the earli-
est drones all the way through today’s military drones. We discussed which
countries are known to use drones and which countries claim not to have any
drones. There is disagreement about some of the countries on the list. Finally,
we covered a thorough history of the FAA, since they play a critical part in
the regulation of drones in the United States.
As a drone pilot, Chapter 3 is probably one of the most important. The
chapter discusses drone laws in the United States, as well as in other coun-
tries. Specifically, it discusses places in the United States where you are not
allowed to fly. There are many places where you are not permitted to fly your
drone including airports, military bases, and the Whitehouse just to name
a few. Local laws are discussed along with roles and regulations. Notable
drone incidents are highlighted where drones have caused issues. One thing
you will want to consider is drone insurance. We discuss what it is and how
you can get it. Privacy is a big factor regarding drones today along with
notable incidents involving drones and privacy are presented. Finally, inter-
national laws along with countries that do not welcome drones in their coun-
tries are listed.
Chapter 3

Laws governing drones

As we have discussed in the previous chapter, the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) is the governing body in the United States when it
comes to regulations on drones. We will see in later chapters how states have
enacted additional laws to combat privacy and using drones for things like
hunting.
When drones first appeared on the market, there were a few restrictions.
However, as the market increased and more and more consumers purchased
drones, the FAA imposed flight restrictions. Today, drones cannot be flown
just anywhere. The following is a list of places where drones are prohibited or
at least with restrictions imposed. As always, it’s best to check the FAA site
for updated laws and your state for any additional restrictions.
Check the B4UFLY application to get more information on where you
should and should not fly your drone. This site is updated regularly and
should be your definitive guide on restrictions on where not to fly your drone.
The application is available for free at the App Store for IOS and the Google
Play Store for Android.

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-3 29
30 The Big Book of Drones

AIRPORTS

It is not legal to fly within 5 miles of an airport. Any mishap could cause a
plane to crash, and no responsible drone pilot would want to be a part of
that. Legally, in the United States, drones cannot be flown within five miles
of an airport. It is best to check which airports are near you before flying any
drones.
At Gatwick Airport near London, between December 19 and 21 of 2018,
hundreds of flights were canceled due to a drone interfering with flight opera-
tions. The authorities reported that approximately 140,000 passengers were
inconvenienced. The police arrested two drone pilots that lived nearby but
released them due to insufficient evidence.

THE WHITE HOUSE

The White House is off-limits to drone flying – period! In fact, all of the
Washington, DC, is off-limits to drones. There is a no-fly zone within a
15-mile radius of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The FAA
wants it known to anyone that might consider flying a drone in the city that
it is illegal and you will be prosecuted and fined to the fullest extent of the
law … bottom line, don’t fly anywhere near Washington, DC!
 Laws governing drones 31

• Recent scare at the White House

– In 2015, a man was arrested for flying a drone above Lafayette Park,
which is across the street from the White House. The drone was
visually spotted by the Secret Service and the pilot was arrested. As
a side note, the radar that the Secret Service uses was not able to
detect the drone.
– In 2020, a drone almost crashed into Air Force 1 while landing at
Andrews Air Force base. President Trump was returning from a
trip when the drone just missed the aircraft. The pilot was never
caught.

SPORTS ARENAS

The reason why sports arenas are out of bounds is because of the number of
people they hold in one place. It would not be unheard of for a sports arena
to hold 40–50 thousand people or more.
In September 2019, a drone pilot flew his drone over Michigan Stadium
during a game. The Detroit police managed to identify the pilot and
arrested two people in connection to the incident. According to the police,
flying a drone over a stadium in Michigan is subject to arrest and/or civil
penalties.
Flying near too many people is a bad idea for even the most experienced
pilot. It’s tempting to fly a drone to try and catch the action of a professional
or college sports game but this would be a big mistake.

WILDLIFE REFUGES

Policy makers do not want drones near wildlife areas because some species
might become frightened by the sight or sound of a drone. Animals might be
driven into areas that put them at risk. You might think it’s going to be dif-
ficult to catch someone in a forest flying a drone, but people do stupid things
and post videos and pictures on social media and get caught.
In a study by National Geographic, scientists tested the reaction of drones
engaged with black bears. Although the bears didn’t look frightened, their
heart rates increased significantly. The scientists had implanted heart sensors
into the bears previously. Some bears ran with their cubs to avoid the drones
while some just went back into their dens.
In 2020, an eagle in Michigan took down a drone and sent it diving into a
lake, score one for the eagle. Most people that use drones for photographing
wildlife have been photographing wildlife their whole careers with traditional
camera equipment. They know when to leave an area or wildlife alone.
32 The Big Book of Drones

FOREST FIRES

According to the US Code of Federal Regulations, 43 CFR 9212.1(f), “it is

illegal to interfere with the efforts of firefighters to extinguish a fire”. This law
was put in place to deter drone pilots from distracting firefighters or colliding
with air-based firefighting equipment.
Not surprisingly, firefighters do use drones to help fight fires. Drones can
go places that are just too dangerous for people to go into. They can give
firefighters an aerial view as to how much the fire has spread, hot spots, and
if personnel are in danger. Additionally, drones can fly in poor weather, carry
high-resolution cameras, infrared sensors, and fly into places that conven-
tional aircraft cannot.

MILITARY BASES AND DEPARTMENT

OF ENERGY (DOE) SITES

• The FAA has banned the flying of drones over and around 145 military
bases. The FAA sites national security concerns. Check the FAA site for
the complete list.

The following are just a few DOE facilities and nuclear sites that are banned
from drone flying:

• Hanford Site, Franklin County, WA

• Pantex Site, Panhandle, TX
• Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM
• Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID
• Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC
• Y-12 National Security Site, Oak Ridge, TN
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN

PRISONS AND OTHER CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

Many states have implemented laws that ban a drone within so many feet of a
correctional facility. This is in response to recent incidents where people from
the outside have dropped drugs, money, and supplies to inmates on the inside
of these facilities.
In 2018, the Virginia Department of Corrections reported 33 drone sight-
ings near correction facilities. To site just one incident, a security staffer at the
prison reported seeing a drone with a package attached to it on the side of the
road. He reported it to his superiors. They called in the state police to investi-
gate the incident. The results of the investigation concluded that the package
contained drugs, money, a cellphone, and a handcuff key in the package.
 Laws governing drones 33

People have gotten away with this because law enforcement cannot respond
fast enough to these types of incidents. They do not have the technology to
take down drones. The list of prisons that are banned from drone use is too
large to list here. Check the FAA site for a complete list.
In October 2020, an ex-convict was arrested and charged with trying to use
a drone to drop contraband into the Fort Dix federal prison. This included
tobacco, cellphones, and chargers. The man allegedly dropped similar items
in the prison in 2018.

NATIONAL PARKS

Authorities do not want drones in national parks because they could scare
the wildlife, crash into animals and people, and ruin natural vistas. Park
rangers now have the ability to fine drone pilots or confiscate them if needed.
Many states now ban the use of drones in their park systems for similar
reasons.
The FAA has banned the use of drones in the following landmarks and
National Parks and Monuments:

• Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York, NY

• Boston National Historical Park (USS Constitution), Boston, MA
• Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, PA
• Folsom Dam, Folsom, CA
• Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, AZ
• Grand Coulee Dam, Grand Coulee, WA
• Hoover Dam, Boulder City, NV
• Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, MO
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Keystone, SD
• Shasta Dam, Shasta Lake, CA
• Valley Forge National Park, Valley Forge, PA

In 2014, a tourist wanting to take pictures from a drone crashed it into the
Grand Prismatic Spring. This followed many instances in national parks
where drones have chased bison, big horn sheep, deer, and elk. Rangers are
concerned about the effect that drones will have on wildlife.

SCHOOLS

Flying near a school is just a bad idea. The possibility exists that a drone
pilot could crash into a group of school children. Flying a drone near school
children with a drone capable of taking pictures is not a very good idea and
should be avoided at all costs. No parent wants pictures taken of their chil-
dren without their knowledge or consent.
34 The Big Book of Drones

At least four school districts in New Jersey have banned the use of
drones over their schools. Ramapo Indian Hills, Fort Lee, Oakland Lake,
and Franklin Lake prohibit remotely controlled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAV’s) flying on, over, or landing on school property while occupied during
the school day by students, staff, parents, or community members.

CITY PARKS

Given any nice day, you will find people in a park. Wouldn’t it be great to
take your drone to a park on a beautiful summer day? Well, there is some
good news here. The city of Raleigh, North Carolina is drafting a revised
policy that would allow drone pilots to fly in most city parks. After months
of deliberations, the city council decided to ease restrictions on drone use.
Drones weighing less than 400 grams can be flown in city parks except those
designated as wetlands or nature preserves. Sounds like a good reason to
move to Raleigh!

LARGE SOCIAL GATHERINGS

Some states have banned the use of drones within so many feet of any
large social gatherings. These include fairs, municipality celebrations, and
feasts. The concern is that they may crash and do inadvertent harm to
people or property. According to the FAA, it is illegal to fly your drone
over crowds.
There have been many incidents where drones have crashed into crowds. A
drone was involved in an incident in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture, Japan where it
crashed into a crowd injuring six people, including children.
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, a drone flew into an MLB baseball park
where the San Diego Padres were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks. The
drone appeared to veer out of control and crashed into an empty seat. Due to
the size of the drone and speed, it could have done some real damage to any
spectator.

LOCAL LAWS

Check with your county or municipality. There may be additional local laws
that apply to drones. All pilots need to be sure they are flying legally. Most
local laws relating to drones usually ban drones from flying over city owned
property or private property. Some of these laws may conflict with state or
even federal laws. You can find out about any local ordinances by calling your
city hall, township, or county and asking if there are any ordinances relating
to drones.
 Laws governing drones 35

As an example, in Ventnor, New Jersey the city prohibits drones from tak-
ing off or landing on any government or public buildings. Drone pilots can-
not fly less than 400 feet around any of these buildings or operate in any city
parks or city owned property.
Pennsylvania takes a broader approach. As of October 2018, no county,
city, borough, or municipality in Pennsylvania is allowed to legislate the own-
ership or operation of a UAV. Any legislation is preempted by Pennsylvania
state code Title 18 Section 3505 and by any FAA regulations.

DRONE RULES AND REGULATIONS

Although we will discuss rules and regulations in future chapters, the follow-
ing is a good starting point for even experienced pilots:

• Keep your drone within line of sight or use a visual observer who is co-
located that can spot it for you.
• Never fly near aircraft. Flying near aircraft, commercial or not, puts you
and the aircraft in danger. If your drone should make contact with an
aircraft, it could cause the aircraft to crash. The liability of a crash, lives
lost, and damages will be your responsibility.
• Never fly near group of people. No matter how hard you try not to
crash, the possibility always exists. Wind can blow your drone off
course, a minor distraction, or malfunction (hardware or software) all
could cause a drone to crash. Crashing into a crowd is a pilot’s worst
nightmare.
• Do not fly under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This is a good rule
of thumb no matter what the sport. Flying a drone at high speed while
intoxicated is a very bad idea and can put you and other people at risk.
Reflexes are not as quick to respond and judgment tends to become
impaired, making flying difficult.
• Do not fly after dark
• Ceiling limitation

– Drones can only fly to a legal height of 400 feet Above Ground Level
(AGL).

PART 107 PILOT’S LICENSE

Although not required for the average consumer, you can take a class and
subsequent exam and become a certified drone pilot. This would allow you to
fly your drone for commercial purposes. We will discuss why you might want
to do this in future chapters.
36 The Big Book of Drones

• Pilot Classes
• License – Part 107 class allows you to fly your drone for commercial
use

– Videography
– Photography
– Construction inspection

• Commercial versus private

– If you are going to use your drone for your personal use, you
do not need a license or insurance. That means you cannot be
hired to take pictures, videos, or use your drone for anything
that involves being paid for your services.
– If you intend to use your drone for commercial purposes, you
need to take the Part 107 class. It’s highly recommended that
you get special drone insurance in case you crash your drone and
cause damage or hurt someone.

REGISTER YOUR DRONE

Drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds and less than 55 pounds must be
registered with the FAA. The FAA enacted this law in 2015. Although the
FAA cannot force a drone owner to register their drone, failure to do so could
result in a fine.
The FAA makes registration easy by providing a website at: https://
www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/register_drone/. The drone’s owner
must provide the appropriate information including name, address, phone
number, etc. The cost to register a drone is $5.00 per drone and is valid
for 3 years.
Commercial drone owners must register their drones under either Part 107
or Section 336. If an owner registers under Part 107, then it is being registered
for recreational, commercial, or governmental purposes, and agrees to oper-
ate the drone under Part 107 regulations. Under Section 336, the pilot must
fly their drone as part of an aero-modeling club and agrees to fly their drone
under the Special Rule for Model Aircraft.

• Get a tail sticker

– Once a drone is registered, the owner will receive a sticker in the

mail with a registration number. The sticker must be placed on
the drone so it can be easily seen. Stickers cannot be placed on
unregistered drones under penalty or fine and every drone must
have its own sticker.
 Laws governing drones 37

• Drone registration database

– The FAA takes the registration information and saves it in a

database. The database is used for statistical purposes. However,
if the drone pilot is involved in an incident, legal authorities can
contact the FAA with the sticker number and request owner
information.

DRONE ACCIDENTS

Accidents/incidents
• From August 2015 to January 2016, the FAA has received 583 com-
plaints and reports on drone incidents. These incidents involve pilots
flying into restricted airspace, buildings, and people.

In 2015, a drone fell into a crowd of people in Seattle Washington injur-

ing two people. The pilot was found guilty of endangerment and received a
30-day jail sentence and a $500 fine.
In September 2016, a woman sued a University of Southern California fra-
ternity and an event planner as the result of a drone crash, claiming head
injuries.
In August 2016, guests at a wedding in New Hampshire sued the wedding
party and an event planner after the groom crashed a drone and injured a
woman, causing severe damage to her nose and orbital bone.
These were only the drone incidents that were reported. Also of note is that
these were incidents that were reported as happening in the United States.

Reporting incidents
• Today, most people will report a drone incident to local authorities.
Most police departments are ill-equipped to investigate incidents relat-
ing to drones. These types of investigations involve media forensic
expertise, people that understand aviation forensics, and have a strong
drone background. However, this is just a starting point. It’s best to get
the incident on the official record in case it leads to an arrest.
• Next, you need to report the incident to the FAA. The best place to
report the incident to is the FAA Flight Standards District Office. You
can find an office close to you by searching the FAA site. Every state has
an office although they might not be close to your location.
• You will need several pieces of information to report an incident. This
is a case where the more you have the better. Don’t try approaching the
pilot. Depending on the person, you might put yourself in jeopardy.
While you are at the scene, take a photograph of the drone. You might
38 The Big Book of Drones

be able to zoom in on the tail number. If there is a car near the scene,
take a picture of the license plate. Taking a video of the pilot breaking
FAA regulations would be very helpful. Logging the date, time, and
location is a necessity.

Government involvement
Recently, drones have been involved in collisions or close encounters with com-
mercial aircraft. In these situations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and National Transportation Safety Board are brought in to investigate. If you
witness a situation where a drone puts an aircraft in danger, call the police
immediately and stay on site. Collect the information as described above.

DRONE INSURANCE
Like any other sport, it’s a good idea to carry insurance. Insurance pro-
vides peace of mind should there be a problem when flying your drone.
Insurance provides coverage for medical claims, property damage, and
personal injury. Check with your current provider to see if they offer
drone insurance. If you can add it to your current policy, it probably will
be cheaper.
If your current provider does not provide drone insurance, it can be pur-
chased from a multitude of places. Try to choose a company that has been in
business for a while. Drone insurance has developed into a cottage industry
with many people wanting to take your money.
Even if you are able to get insurance through your current provider, ensure
you read the policy. You will need to know exactly what your policy covers.
Here are some questions to keep in mind:

• Does the policy cover theft?

• Does it cover you when you are flying?
• Does it cover all of your drones or just a few or just one?
• How much personal damage does it cover?
• Does it cover medical expenses, when you hit someone with it?
• How much physical damage does it cover?
• Does it cover you, if your fly is for recreational and commercial use?
• Do I need it even though I use it for recreational use?

– Even though pilots that fly drones commercially require insurance,

a recreational user should still consider insurance. For the minimal
amount a policy costs, it’s well worth the investment. An incident
where someone is injured could easily cost millions of dollars to
settle, especially if it involved a child.
 Laws governing drones 39

• What can I expect to pay for insurance?

– Looking online, prices start at $7.00 (USD) per month for a basic
policy for a recreational user and go up from there. A commercial
policy starts around $500.00 (USD) a year for a basic policy and
could be higher depending on the options you choose. Check with
your insurance provider to get exact pricing.
– Choose the insurance that makes sense for you. Your homeowners
policy may cover you and provide the amount of insurance you need
if you are just a recreational flyer taking out your drone occasion-
ally. However, as a commercial flyer you would need to ensure you
have yourself covered from all angles.

STATE DRONE LAWS

Almost all states have some sort of laws governing drones. Drone operators
need to be aware of the laws that govern the states in which they fly. Failure
to follow state laws could end up in fines or jail time for the drone operator.
Not knowing is not an excuse. All laws are published and available online to
everyone. More on drone regulations will be covered in future chapters.

PRIVACY

With the increase in drone usage comes the chance of misuse. Since even the
most basic drone carries a camera, privacy is a major concern. It’s very easy
for a drone enthusiast to fly their drone a little bit above the fence line to see
what is on the other side. Some states do have laws against flying over another
person’s property and when it involves the use of a camera, the laws are even
stricter. Know your state laws before flying.
As an example in Florida, the state forbids using a drone to fly over another
person’s property. This is in violation of a reasonable expectation of privacy.
In Arkansas, the state forbids drones from taking pictures over another per-
son’s property. This is considered video voyeurism. California forbids video
recording another person without their permission. Nevada prohibits a
weapon on a drone. Anyone who owns a drone should check with their state
for laws regarding drones before flying them. The penalties, financial and jail
time, could be rather stiff depending on the state.
Commercial drone pilots do not have any rights at all when it comes to the
violation of privacy. In some states, commercial pilots cannot fly over your
house and take pictures or videos without asking permission, and you have
the right to say no.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the federal government is exempt from any
of the above. As an example, the military does have the right to fly over your
property. State and local authorities have more restrictions.
40 The Big Book of Drones

The real question here is how high above your property do you own? Well,
it varies from state to state. Before the invention of air travel, landowners
owned an infinite amount of space above their homes. This was known as,
“Cujus est solum ejus usque ad coelum”, which is translated from Latin into,
“whose is the soil, his is up to the sky”. As of today, the Supreme Court has
not acknowledged an upper limit on this matter. However, the federal govern-
ment considers anything above 500 feet as navigable airspace.
In the European Union (EU) privacy is taken much more seriously. Privacy
is considered a basic human right. Any violation against it is considered ille-
gal. Even unintentional collection of personal data (pictures, video, location,
house numbers, etc.) that could easily happen with a drone could be a viola-
tion of basic human rights. The collection and storage of personal data is gov-
erned by the General Data Protection Regulation and is much more restricted
in the EU than in the United States.

PRIVACY LEGAL CASES

In 2014, a drone pilot was arrested for flying a drone next to a hospital and
taking pictures of patients in examination rooms. The pilot was arrested and
charged with attempted unlawful surveillance. The pilot was found innocent.
The jury cited that the operation of the drone did not violate the patient’s
privacy.
In 2015, a police officer in Georgia was found to be flying a drone over
a neighbor’s yard on several occasions. The officer was charged with felony
eavesdropping and fired from his job. As we can see, the outcomes can be
drastically different depending on the state and circumstances.

INTERNATIONAL LAWS

If you are living outside of the United States or you are planning on traveling
with your drone, you must familiarize yourself with the respective countries
drone laws. Failure to do so and you could wind up paying a significant fine
and/or a jail sentence. If you are visiting another country, then you must obey
all of the laws in that country. Being a visitor does not exempt you from their
laws and not knowing is not an excuse. The following is a high-level break-
down of some of the laws you should be familiar with.

Europe
Countries in the EU, abide by laws as set out by the European Aviation Safety
Agency (EASA). One big difference between Europe and the United States
regarding drone registration is that in the United States the drone has to be
registered with the FAA and in turn you receive a tail number. In Europe,
 Laws governing drones 41

the pilot must be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority. The pilot then
receives a registration number.
EASA is still working to pass legislation on drone use. EU countries have
agreed that drone use should fall into one of the three categories: Open,
Specific, and Certified. Open use would equate to someone using their drone
for recreational purposes. Specific use means that the drone could be used for
riskier flights. Commercial use would fall into this category or drones that
might come into contact with humans. Certified use means that the drone is
involved in dangerous flights. This might include drones that someday carry
people or dangerous cargo.

Austria
Drones that do not exceed 79 joules of energy or fly a maximum of 30 meters
and weigh less than 250 grams do not require any approval from the govern-
ment. The Austrian government does require you to hold $1 million (USD)
dollars’ worth of insurance in order to fly your drone. In addition, you can-
not fly your drone in a city or town without a pilot’s license. You can obtain
a license from Austro Control. You cannot fly with First Person View (FPV)
goggles unless you have a second person present to keep an eye on the drone.
Finally, you cannot fly over airports, government facilities, or large crowds
of people.

France
In France, the pilot must pass a test and be registered for all uses recreational
or commercial. Drones may not be flown over 150 meters in uncontrolled
airspace. You must have proof of insurance and an ID tag must be placed on
your drone. The ID tag is good for 5 years. Drones may not be flown within
10 kilometers of an airport or over people. Currently, you cannot fly any
drones over Paris without special permission from the government due to
safety considerations.

Germany
Drone laws in Germany are determined by the German Federal Aviation
Office. In Germany, there is no difference in laws between recreational and
commercial use. All drone pilots who fly drones heavier than 2 kilograms,
must take and pass a knowledge test. Any pilot flying a drone weighing less
than 2 kilograms does not need any permission to fly. All drones weighing
more than 0.25 kilograms must have a sticker on it displaying the owners
name and address. A pilot wanting to fly a drone heavier than 5 kilograms
must obtain special permission in order to fly it. FPV goggles can be used
if you are flying below 30 meters and the drone weighs less than 0.25 kilo-
grams. An exception would be if you have a second person spotting the drone.
42 The Big Book of Drones

Ireland
Drones are considered as model aircrafts, and the same rules apply to both
the aircrafts. The governing body in Ireland is the Irish Aviation Authority
(IAA). Drones cannot be flown over crowd of 12 or more. The drone must
stay within 30 meters of the operator and be in a visual site. The drone can-
not fly within 30 meters of a person or structure. All drones must stay below
120 meters, not fly within 5 kilometers of an airport, and are prohibited from
flying near military installations.
Drones weighing more than 1 kilogram and less than 25 kilograms can be
registered online. Any drone heavier than 25 kilograms must be registered
in person with the IAA. Any drone heavier than this must be registered as a
manned aircraft.

Italy
In Italy, drones are governed by the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC).
Recreational drones must be flown within the visual sight of the operator.
Drones cannot be flown over crowd or at night. Recreational drones cannot
be flown higher than 70 meters, commercial drones cannot fly higher than
150 meters, and both are prohibited from flying within 5 kilometers of an
airport.
Pilots wanting to fly drones for commercial use must obtain training, an
operator’s license, and a health certificate. Before every flight, the pilot must
submit a statement of operations declaring exactly what they are planning to
do with the drone including flight path information.

South and Central America

South and Central American countries have a few restrictions regarding
drone use. There are some subtle differences, so check the laws for the spe-
cific country you are planning to fly your drone in. Some common regulations
include registering your drone and the maximum altitude your drone can fly.

India
According to Indian laws, only Indian citizens may fly drones. As a foreigner,
you may lease a drone from a registered agent. The agent must then file for a
Unique Identification Number (UIN) for the time you will be flying the drone.
Drones must be in the visual sight of the operator and fly below 400 feet.

Southeast Asia
For the most part, Southeast Asia welcomes drone use. There are 11 coun-
tries that make up this region: Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia,
 Laws governing drones 43

Brunei, Timor-Leste, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Burma.

Brunei is the only country that has banned drones. If you take your drone to
Brunei, it will be confiscated at customs and you run a risk that it will not be
returned when you leave.
Most other countries do require a permit to fly. However, the process is
quick and cheap to obtain one. Cambodia does not require anything to fly in
the country whether it’s for recreational or commercial use. Most countries in
this area do not want you flying within 10 kilometers of an airport, so please
take note.

Africa
Africa is a large continent and the rules vary as much as the countries do.
Some countries do not allow flying drones and will confiscate your drone.
Others have very relaxed regulations. You should check with the specific
country before bringing your drone and risk getting it taken from you.

Oceania
Oceana is made up of 14 countries. Australia, Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati,
Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa,
Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Of all of the countries that
make up this area, Australia and New Zealand have clear regulations on
drones. In Australia, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority is the main govern-
ing body and in New Zealand, the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
is its main authority. As recommended before, check with the country you are
planning on visiting to get specific laws on drones.

Countries to avoid
There are some countries where drones are banned or make it so difficult to
get a license that it’s just not worth the risk. In a few of the countries listed
below, you could be arrested and jailed for flying in their country.
Algeria, Azerbaijan, Antarctica, Bahrain, Belize, Bhutan, Brunei, Cuba,
Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nicaragua, North Korea,
Oman, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, and Vatican City

SUMMARY

This chapter is an important chapter. Regardless of how good a pilot you are
and how long you have been flying, you must follow any government issued
laws, state, and even local laws. The single most important fact you can take
away from this chapter is there are many laws regulating drones today. Know
where you can and cannot fly your drone!
44 The Big Book of Drones

Chapter 4 discusses drone hardware and software. In this chapter, we dis-

cuss hardware and software manufacturers and associated costs for purchas-
ing a drone. Consumer, commercial, and military drones are discussed and
compared. Of great importance is a troubleshooting section. Should you have
a problem with the motors, controller, or camera, you will learn techniques
to check if each is operating properly.
Chapter 4

Drone hardware/software

Drones generally fall into one of the three categories: consumer, commercial,
or military. We will compare consumer drone capabilities with commercial
drones here, since military drones are really in a class by themselves and will
be discussed later in the chapter.

CONSUMER VERSUS COMMERCIAL DRONES

• Extensibility

– Commercial drones can be modified to carry different payload

configurations from Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR)
to multiple cameras. It’s possible but more difficult to modify

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-4 45
46 The Big Book of Drones

consumer drones to carry similar payloads. We will discuss how

to do this in a later chapter.

• Capability

– Commercial drones can be used for a multitude of uses includ-

ing searching for people, delivering packages, and dropping life
preservers to people drowning. Consumer drones are not made
to do any of the above but can be if you have the ingenuity.

• Speed

– Consumer drones excel in speed. The Drone Racing League uses

modified consumer drones to race with. Commercial drones do
not need to have this speed capability. They are generally the
“working drones” and speed is usually not a necessity.

• Payload weight

– Commercial drones generally can lift much more than con-

sumer drones. This is what commercial drones are designed for.
Consumer drones do not need to lift heavy loads. This is not to
say that they can’t, but their payload is usually limited.

• Price

– Given the above, I don’t think it’s a surprise to see that com-
mercial drones can cost a lot more than consumer drones. An
entry level consumer drone can cost as little as $20–30 (US),
while an entry level commercial drone could easily cost over
$5000 (US).

CONSUMER DRONE MANUFACTURERS

• Today, there are many companies that manufacture drones. The fol-
lowing is a shortlist of some of the more popular consumer manu-
facturers and selected models:

– DJI
– Parrot
– Yuneec
Drone hardware and software 47
48 The Big Book of Drones
 Drone hardware and software 49

FIXED-WING DRONES

Fixed-wing consumer drones are fairly new. This type of drone works differ-
ently than a quadcopter. Typically, they only have two motors. Rather than
taking off from the ground, they are thrown into the air. It is possible for one
person to fly the drone, but works best with two people.
The controller is similar in that it looks like a quadcopter controller, but it
controls the motors and ailerons, which cause the drone to go up and down
along with motor speed. Cheaper models are usually made of styrofoam while
more expensive models could be made of plastic or carbon fiber, which would
increase the price significantly.
Fixed-wing drones fly similar to a quadcopter. As mentioned above the
takeoff is different and the landing seems more like a controller crash. They
do come with landing gear, but you would need a perfect piece of ground to
land it on its wheels, like the way a plane lands.
50 The Big Book of Drones

UNDERWATER DRONES

Underwater drones are the newest class of drones available to consumers.

Underwater drones tend to be very expensive and you could imagine why. It
takes a lot to make a drone waterproof. If you want to learn how to build your
own underwater drone, or just want to understand how they work, there is
much more in Chapter 8.
Many drone manufacturers produce a myriad of drones. It seems like every-
one is cashing in on the drone market today. The following is a chart of some
of the more popular drones with capabilities and cost estimates.

Range Camera Flight time Cost

Manufacturer Model (kilometers) resolution (minutes) (USD)
DJI Air 2S 8 20MP 31 $999
DJI Mavic Air 2 10 12MP 34 $799
DJI Mini 2 10 12MP 31 $499
DJI Mavic 2 Pro 8 20MP 31 $999
DJI Mavic 2 Zoom 8 12MP 30 $1329
Ryze Tello 100 meters 5MP 13 $99
DJI Phantom 4 Pro 8 20MP 30 $999
PowerVision PowerEgg X 6 12MP 30 $1245
DJI FPV 10 12MP 20 $739
Parrot Anafi 2.4 21MP 25 $691
DJI Inspire 2 7 30MP 25 $2599
Parrot Bebop 2 14MP 25 $775
Syma X5HC 100 meters 2 9 $66
UDI 818A-HD+ Unknown 2 8 $60
Potensic D80 Unknown 720P 20 $200
Holy Stone HS165 300 meters 1080P 15 $150

Although these are not in any order, DJI certainly does top the list. You can
see that the majority are close in their flight time capability, but there is a
significant gap in their range in which they can cover the camera resolution
varies and, of course, the price.

COMMERCIAL DRONE MANUFACTURERS

Commercial drones look similar to their consumer counterparts but vary in

capability. They are designed to carry bigger payloads, have longer-lasting
batteries, and fly further. The cost of the drone typically increases when addi-
tional capabilities are being added. The following are a few popular commer-
cial drone manufacturers and models.
 Drone hardware and software 51

The above drone solution is offered by RMUS. It includes a 640 × 512 radio-
metric thermal camera and daytime 10× Red, Green, Blue (RGB) zoom cam-
era that are remotely controlled. The drone includes a Watts Prism Quad
aircraft, RMUS position lighting system, and a ground control station with
charger.
52 The Big Book of Drones

The following table is a list of top commercial drones. It is not unusual to see
consumer drones on this list. Many professionals who fly drones like the way
the drones handle, their capabilities, and most of all, their price.
 Drone hardware and software 53

Range Camera Flight time Cost

Manufacturer Model (kilometers) resolution (minutes) (USD)
DJI Matrice 100 2 N/A 40 $3000
DJI T600 Inspire 6 12MP 20 $3000
DJI Phantom 4 Pro 7 20MP 25 $750
Hubsan H301S Spy Hawk 1 1080P 30 $360
Vantage Vesper 45 1080P/ 60 $8000
Thermal
Autel EVO II 9 48MP 40 $1200

The brand DJI is one of the more popular selling drones that consumers have
recognized due to its quality and affordability. Just like the consumer drone
list, DJI is a top-selling brand. However, many commercial drone manufac-
turers make quality drones. Similar to any investment or purchase, this will
depend on your requirements and your price range.

MILITARY DRONES

Military drone capabilities will differ widely from consumer and commercial
drones. Military drones have two functions: reconnaissance and surveillance
and can be utilized as an attack platform.

The MQ-1 Predator has a long and dependable history in the United States
drone arsenal. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems first produced the
Predator in the early 1990s as the RQ-1 Predator. The initial mission of the
54 The Big Book of Drones

Predator was for reconnaissance purposes. It was renamed the MQ-1 because
of its multi-purpose role, including its attack capability. In 2000, the MQ-1
was fitted with Hellfire missiles and successfully attacked a tank making
it a perfect attack platform. The Predator was successfully used in Bosnia,
Kosovo, Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan. In 2018, the US Airforce retired the
Predator and replaced it with the MQ-9 Reaper. The Predator pictured above
is flying over a desert and is configured with a Hellfire missile.

The MQ-9 Reaper is developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

for the US Airforce. The Reaper is a hunter-killer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV). The platform caries a variety of weapons including the GBU-12 laser
guided bomb, AGM-114 Hellfire missile, the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile, and
the GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition. The Reaper pictured above is
shown flying over a desert.
 Drone hardware and software 55

The MQ-1C Gray Eagle is also known as the Warrior, Sky Warrior, and
Extended Range Multi-Purpose UAV. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
develop the platform for the US Army. The UAV was first developed in 2002.
It entered service in 2009 as an attack platform. It is capable of carrying a
Hellfire missile or GBU-44/B Viper Strike guided bomb. The Gray Eagle is
still deployed today, supporting troops in South Korea and Niger. The Gray
Eagle pictured above is shown flying over an unpopulated area.

DRONE COSTS

Drones vary widely in price. Small consumer toy drones can be purchased for
under $20–30 (US). These drones have minimal capabilities and features. On
the other side of the spectrum, DJI makes some of the high-end drones that
can easily top a thousand dollars but can include many more capabilities than
the under $30 drones.
Commercial drones can be much more expensive than consumer drones.
Commercial drones can run into thousands of dollars depending on the
functionality. However, we should note that to use a drone for commercial
purposes, which entails making money with the drone, you need a Part 107
license. We will discuss how to obtain the license and insurance in subsequent
chapters.
56 The Big Book of Drones

Military drones could cost millions of dollars. Cost depends on their pur-
pose and, of course, their configuration. High-definition cameras are expen-
sive, and the ordinance is even more expensive. These drones are only flown
by military personnel. A civilian cannot drop an explosive device or fire a
missile on another country.
Additionally, Military drones can be flown by pilots located thousands of
miles away and are typically flown in teams. One team member is the pilot,
and the other operates the camera or manages the ordinance and acts as a
backup pilot if needed.

CONSUMER DRONE ADD-ONS AND ACCESSORIES

Sensors
There are many sensors available to drone enthusiasts today. However, sen-
sors are limited to the drone type or manufacturer. Most add-on sensors are
for commercial use. These can include LIDAR, ultrasonic sensors for dis-
tance, thermal sensors, chemical sensors, and depth cameras.

• LIDAR sensors use ultraviolet light to image objects or provide

ranging capabilities. LIDAR is used in many cases, including acci-
dent scenes, forestry, agriculture and landscaping, terrain modeling,
and archeology. A LIDAR system for ranging can be purchased for
as little as $100.
• Oxygen sensors can measure the amount of oxygen in the air. These
sensors can be mounted to drones and flown into areas that a human
should not enter into. An oxygen sensor can be purchased for under
$100.
• A thermal sensor can detect human movement and can be purchased
for under $100.
• Forward-Looking InfraRed (FLIR) cameras can be an excellent
addition to any drone. Hobbyists can purchase a FLIR camera for
their drone for under $500. FLIR has an additional capability of
connecting to smartphone devices for under $300.
• Several cellphones have time-of-flight (ToF) or depth cameras as
standard equipment. For example, the following cellphones have
ToF capability, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G Ultimate Edition, LG
G8 ThinQ, and iPhone 2020. Thus, allowing the average hobby-
ist 3D imaging capability. With a bit of ingenuity, this could be
mounted to your drone.

• Mission planning software

– Mission Planning Software (MPS) allows a drone pilot to layout and

test their flight without actually flying a drone. You can set camera
 Drone hardware and software 57

angles, speed, flight path, and even trigger sensors all in a virtual
environment. MPS software can run on a computer or even a mobile
phone.

• Cameras

– Almost all drones have some picture or video capturing capability.

The number and quality of cameras vary by drone manufacturer
and line of drones. For example, a top drone manufacturer, DJI,
offers a 4k camera mounted on an active gimbal. An active gimbal
allows the drone operator to lock onto a target and follow the object
with smooth camera motion and limited jitter. Smaller drones have
picture capturing capabilities but usually have cameras with fewer
pixels.

• Global Position Systems (GPS)

– GPS capabilities are used on higher-end drones. Drones that have a

GPS capability will fly based on utilizing GPS coordinates. Thus, a
drone can be sent to a specific GPS coordinate or programmed to fly
to a location using GPS coordinates.

• Recording software

– Software that is available for flight planning allows the user to

record a flight path and utilize the exact flight path for replay later.
Pilots who race drones might find this valuable to see how well they
are flying, but commercial pilots might use it to see the area they
cover using a scanning sensor.

• Controller

– Drones vary in how they are controlled. Some drones have a dedicated
controller, while others use a cellphone, touchpads, or a MacBook.
Some drones use a combination of each device. The drone is flown
with the dedicated controller, but the pictures and video come back
to the cellphone or MacBook.

• Drone pontoons

– Small and lightweight, pontoons add another dimension to your

drone. With these accessories you can land or takeoff from the
water. If you want to take nature pictures, you will find these
handy.
58 The Big Book of Drones

• Propellers

• Changing your propellers out can change the dynamics of your

drone.

– Larger propellers will give your drone more power and lift.
Generally, larger propellers add stability. You may notice that
your drone is a bit less responsive when you fly with larger
blades. This is normal and the price you pay for stability.
– Smaller propellers will make your drone fly faster. Your propel-
lers will spin faster, so the drone will fly faster. However, you do
lose stability when you go with smaller propellers.
– There is no fast rule for deciding what size propellers to use. You
can research to see what other drone pilots are using or you can
experiment. Propellers are relatively cheap unless you purchase
the carbon fiber type.

• Batteries

– You more than likely have the standard battery that came with
your drone. If you want to make your drone more powerful and
fly longer, look to upgrading them to a battery that has a higher
mAh (Milliamp Hour). Check with the manufacturer for the
maximum mAh that you can use in your drone, or you will burn
out the electronics.
– Make sure that the voltage is the same as the original battery or
this will cause problems. You cannot just increase the voltage of
the battery.
– Watch the weight of the new battery. If the weight is significantly
higher, then you are defeating the purpose of putting in stronger
batteries.
– Generally, stronger batteries will allow your drone to lift heavier
payloads.
– Today, wireless charging a battery is possible. However, you need
to make sure your drone battery can be wirelessly charged. If not,
this will cause damage to your battery. If your drone battery can
be charged wirelessly, then this opens a whole new door for you.
– Chapter 9 discusses Do-It-Yourself projects. As an example, one
project shows how to use your drone to watch your house. In
order for your drone to be ready when you need it, the battery
needs to be fully charged. One way to ensure it is always ready
is to use wireless charging. One caveat is that the drone needs to
fit over the wireless charger with the battery in it. Not all drones
will be able to take advantage of this option. You will have to
experiment to see if your drone will fit over the charger.
 Drone hardware and software 59

• How to choose a drone for you

– Now that we have a good idea as to what drones and accessories are
available, let’s end the chapter by discussing the factors in choosing
a drone.

⚬⚬ For consumer use, the factors are few in number. The main ques-
tions are:

▪▪ What will you use it for?

◽◽ Entertainment, racing, etc.

▪▪ What is your budget?

⚬⚬ For commercial use, the factors vary a bit more:

⚬⚬ What will you use it for?
⚬⚬ What is your budget?
⚬⚬ What accessories or sensors will you mount on it?
⚬⚬ Do you need mapping or GPS software?
⚬⚬ What kind of flight time do you need?

▪▪ Related to battery life

TROUBLESHOOTING

Troubleshooting a drone is part art and part science. There are a myriad of
techniques and software to troubleshoot drones, so we will only discuss a
few, but these will apply to most drones.
Let’s start with the basics:

• Are the batteries in the controller good?

• Is the battery in the drone fully charged?
• Do all propellers spin freely?
• Do the lights on the drone light up properly?
• Can you download the operational logs from the drone? (See the File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) section to do this)
• How do you know if your controller is transmitting, or your drone is
just not receiving the signal? We can quickly test to see if your controller
is transmitting by capturing the controllerʼs signal.

You will need the following hardware and software:

• Laptop (running Windows)

60 The Big Book of Drones

• Antenna such as HackRF One, BladeRF, RTL-SDR, LimeSDR

• Universal Radio Hacker if you are using Windows

Use the following procedures (Windows):

1. Connect the antenna to the laptop and boot it up

2. Start Universal Radio Hacker
3. Select Spectrum Analyzer
4. Select the antenna from the device pulldown list
5. Select the frequency that your controller is transmitting on (you can get
this from the manufacturer or sometimes it’s on the back of the controller)
6. Set the gain at 0, IF Gain at 32 and the baseband gain at 34
7. Leave the DC correction box checked and the Bias Tee unchecked
8. Click start

Do not turn your drone on at this point. You should see an Radio Frequency
(RF) signal in the readout pane. Put your controller near your antenna and
start pressing buttons or moving the joy stick. You should see the signal
increase in the waterfall chart at the bottom or an increase in the RF signal in
the top box. Either one indicates that the controller is working. Now, it might
not be sending the correct signal, but it is sending a signal.

Testing with Linux

You will need the following hardware and software:

• Laptop (running Linux)

• Antenna such as HackRF One, BladeRF, RTL-SDR, LimeSDR
• GQRX

Use the following procedures if you are running Linux:

1. Plug in an antenna and turn on the laptop

2. Start GQRX
3. You will have to select your antenna and speaker output
4. Start the capture
5. Look for a signal at or near the frequency your controller is transmit-
ting at

What if one or more motors are not spinning?

Let’s try something simple first. Try taking some compressed air and blow
out the motors. Sometimes dirt and other particulate get wrapped around the
motor spindle. If this does not work, check the connection to the motor and
controller board. It might be possible that the motors become disconnected.
 Drone hardware and software 61

If neither of the above work, then let’s check if the motor is getting power.
You will need a multimeter to check voltage. Some drones have the connec-
tions to their motors exposed. If you can see the connections to the motors,
then place both probes on the motor connections. It does not matter which
probe goes on the motor connections. Switch the multimeter to DC voltage.
More than likely, the voltage will be around 3 Volts DC, but check the speci-
fications from the manufacturer. Turn on the drone and the controller. Hold
the drone and move the throttle up. You should get a voltage reading on the
meter.
If your drone’s motors are not exposed, on some drones you can see the
board that the motors are connected to. Touch both probes to the board
where the motors are connected and again turn on the drone and throttle up
the motors. You should get a voltage reading.
If your drone does not have motors exposed or you cannot see where they
are connected to the controller board, you will have to take the drone apart.
You should see the motors at this point. You may even have to cut into the
wires that connect to the motors. If you have to go this route, you can get
some heat-shrink wrap to repair it.

What if your camera does not work?

This is a common problem with drones, since the camera is exposed and
susceptible to damage due to crashes or exposure to the elements. Look at
the camera for obvious damage including the wires that connect it to the
drone. The drone is powered by the battery. You will need a multimeter to
check the voltage to it. Using the same technique as above, place the meter’s
probes to the connections to the camera or where it connects to the drone.
You should see approximately 3 Volts DC but check the specifications from
the manufacturer.

Analyzing the controller signal

There are times when you will need to analyze the signal coming from the
controller to the drone. Using the example above, the controller may be trans-
mitting, but how do you know if it’s transmitting the proper signal?
You will need the following hardware and software:

• Laptop (running Windows)

• Antenna such as HackRF One, BladeRF, RTL-SDR, LimeSDR
• Universal Radio Hacker

Use the following procedures (Windows):

1. Connect the antenna to the laptop and boot it up

2. Start Universal Radio Hacker
62 The Big Book of Drones

3. Select Spectrum Analyzer

4. Select the antenna from the device pulldown list
5. Select the frequency that your controller is transmitting on
6. Set the gain at 0, IF Gain at 32, and the baseband gain at 34
7. Leave the DC correction box checked and the Bias Tee unchecked
8. Click start

When you click on the controller, you should see a spike in the RF readout in
the top box and a spike in the waterfall box at the bottom. You will need to
move the pointer at the top to adjust to the exact frequency your controller
is transmitting at. Click on stop. Go back to the Main panel and click record
signal. The file will be pretty big, so only record a few seconds of the signal
and save it out to a file using the save icon. If you change the default name,
you will have to use the “.cs8” file extension.
Now that you have the signal captured, change the modulation to “PSK”.
The signal view should be analog and the show signal box checked with the
pulldown “Bits”. The box to the right will change to show you a binary rep-
resentation of the signal.
You will have to get the manufacturers specifications to compare your sig-
nal to. This could be rather hard, but you might be able to find signals that
other drone pilots have posted online or you can send the file to the manufac-
turer for analysis.

Other troubleshooting
Not everyone will have a quadcopter. Some people might have a Tera-firma
vehicle, an underwater drone or a fixed-wing aircraft. The above trouble
shooting suggestions will work no matter what type of drone you have.
You will have to use your head a little bit on how to apply these techniques.
Motors are motors and require voltage to work. You just need to know how
to check it.

SUMMARY

In this chapter, we discussed drone hardware and software. We presented

consumer, commercial, and military drones, and compared consumer drones
against commercial drones, hardware add-ins, costs associated with purchas-
ing them, and a handy section on troubleshooting.
Chapter 5 is an exciting chapter, since it discusses how to fly a drone. We
start out reviewing safety tips, which should be a priority for all drone pilots.
Registration of your drone should also be a top priority for all responsible
drone pilots. A review of registering your drone, where to go, and how much
it costs will also be reviewed.
 Drone hardware and software 63

Do you know the best place to fly? Do you know if your drone has auto
takeoff/land, obstacle avoidance, or where the emergency land button is? Do
you know what First Person View (FPV) is? We will discuss all of these topics
at the end of the chapter, and we will review some memorable drone incidents
that have made the news and social media broadcasts.
Chapter 5

Flying a drone

This chapter was a fun chapter to work on since this is where the rubber hits
the road or is it where the plastic hits the sky? Some people can fly drones,
and some people can “really” fly drones. Some people have the natural abil-
ity to do tricks and do some exciting things while flying their drones. This
chapter provides some safety tips before flying your drone. A fundamental
process you must follow before flying is to register your drone, and we walk
you through the process of doing that. There are certain places you can and
cannot fly. We discuss this multiple times in this book, and this is just another
reminder to know before you fly.
Even expert pilots crash their drones. A prepared pilot would want to know
what parts you should have on hand. We suggest a few spare parts to carry.
You may want to fly using First Person View (FPV) goggles. We discuss what
is on the market and how you might fly using FPV. Today’s drones have many

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-5 65
66 The Big Book of Drones

features such as obstacle avoidance, return home, Autoland/takeoff, and

some drones can perform stunts with the push of a button.
Since we are talking about flying your drone, we want to take the opportu-
nity again to discuss some notable drone incidents. A theme we are trying to
convey is that flying a drone should be taken seriously and what better way
than to share stories of what could go wrong.
Spatial disorientation is a serious problem that some people suffer from. We
discuss what it is and why people suffer from it and how it differs from visual
perception problems.

SAFETY TIPS

• Safety tips are essential and should be reviewed before flying the drone
as it ensures a safer flying experience, which also adds to the enjoyment
of flying. Before flying, check the drone for damage and ensure the bat-
tery is at total capacity to measure the approximate flight time. Know
the drone and the functionality of the controls. If there is a home button
for an emergency landing, ensure it has been configured to the home
setting before takeoff. Proper configurations will ensure the drone has
an emergency route back to the operator.
• Safety tips before flying

– August 29, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imple-

mented a flying restriction that identifies where you can’t fly your
drone to maintain a safe airspace for not only yourself but others in
your flying area.
– Know your surroundings

⚬⚬ Powerlines, wires, trees, cars, people, rivers/lakes, children play

areas, local airports, walking paths, parks, etc.

– Fly your drone in the line of sight (LoS). This means in your LoS, if
you can’t visibly see your drone then you are not in the LoS.
– Do not fly near other aircraft.
– Do not fly over groups of people, public events, or stadiums full of
people.
– Do not fly near or over emergency response efforts.
– You should never fly above people, animals, or moving vehicles.
– Do not fly near or interfere with manned aircraft operations.
– Do not fly after dark.
– Many outdoor areas such as parks, ski resorts, community parks,
and other outdoor sporting areas DO NOT permit unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAV). Fines, penalties, and even the confiscation of your
UAV by an authorizing official could be a hefty consequence. We
will discuss this in depth in other chapters.
 Flying a drone 67

• Check the weather and avoid flying when it is windy. Drones are
unstable in windy conditions, and rain could compromise all func-
tionality and could cause severe damage not just to your UAV but
also surrounding objects due to failed components. The home func-
tion on the specific drone might not take wind conditions into con-
sideration when returning home and could prohibit or delay the
home function from completing and returning the drone to the
expected location.
• Registration

– How to register

⚬⚬ The best place to get started is to register your drone in the FAA.
The following website is where to register your drone:
⚬⚬ https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/register_drone/

In order to register your drone, you will need to provide some basic
information:

⚬⚬ Email address, physical address, make and model of your drone,

and a credit/debit card.
⚬⚬ The registration fee is $5 (US) per drone and the registration is
valid for 3 years.
⚬⚬ In order to register your drone, you must meet the following
requirements:

▪▪ 13 years of age or older

▪▪ A US citizen or permanent resident
▪▪ Foreign applicants will be issued a certificate that is a rec-
ognition of ownership rather than a US aircraft registration

When the registration arrives, the certificate must be on the operator at all
times when flying the drone. Any Federal, State, or local law enforcement
officer can request to see your certificate.
Failure to register a drone that requires registration can result in a fine or
imprisonment. The FAA can assess a fine of up to $27,500. Criminal fines can
be assessed as high as $250,000 and/or 3 years in jail. For five dollars, do not
be the poster child for not registering your drone.

– Label your drone

⚬⚬ After you get your registration number from the FAA, you must
affix a label with your registration number to the drone. You can
print or handwrite the number to a label as long as it is legible.
The label should be in a place that is viewable.
68 The Big Book of Drones

– You are now responsible

⚬⚬ Keep in mind that if you use your drone for something illegal or
cause damage with your drone, the label ties the drone to you
directly, so fly responsibly!
• Know your drone

– Controls

⚬⚬ Distance – what happens when you hit the maximum distance

that your controller works with your drone? Does your drone
auto return home? Does it auto land?
⚬⚬ In flight time – you need to know the approximate time that you
can fly your drone with some added time to return back to you.
Some drones have a battery charge indicator right on the display
and others do not. If your drone does not, then it’s even more
important to know your drone’s limits.
⚬⚬ Lighting identification – does your drone have a separate control
for lighting? This will help to identify your drone in low lighting
conditions.
⚬⚬ Sound identification – this might seem superfluous, but I am
always listening to the sounds my drone makes. Is it straining?
Are there any issues with the propellers? It’s like listening to a
car engine, you can tell a lot from the sound it makes.
⚬⚬ Controller buttons – what do the buttons do? Do you know how
to go forward, backward, or hold the drone in a hover?
⚬⚬ Camera – Do you know how to turn on the camera to take a
picture? Do you know how to take videos?

– Modes

⚬⚬ Manual Mode – most pilots fly in manual mode. This gives you
more tactile control over the drone.
⚬⚬ Altitude Mode – this will vary by manufacturer, but the basic
idea is that you set the maximum altitude your drone can fly.
⚬⚬ Auto/waypoint programming – you would use this mode in con-
junction with navigation software. You can preprogram in a
course and the drone will follow it using way points.
⚬⚬ Normal Orientation Mode – this will vary by manufacturer, but
it resets the drone to manual mode and points the camera in the
direction you are flying.
⚬⚬ Return to home (Fail safe) – This is a built in safety system for
your drone. Let’s say you are 100-yards out and over a heavily
wooded area. Your battery is about to die. Using return to home
would bring the drone back to you before the battery dies and
 Flying a drone 69

you lose the drone in the wooded area. You find this capability
mainly on more expensive models.
⚬⚬ Takeoff – almost all drones, cheap and expensive, have a takeoff
capability with the push of a button.

LOCATION

As the saying goes, location, location, location! Flying location does make a
difference. Even after you have done all of your checks, you could still be in a
bad place to fly your drone. There have been many reported instances where
drone pilots have lost control of their drones due to flying near high-voltage
lines or where a lot of metal is in the area such as a factory.
Areas to avoid that might interfere with your drone are radio transmission
towers, mining areas, high-voltage lines, substations, cell towers, microwave
towers, train tracks, and high fences. Some pilots have noted that flying over
or near parking garages and junkyards has caused problems, probably due to
the high metal concentration.
The point here is that if you notice anything strange with the response in
your controls, land your drone and move to a different location. It’s not worth
taking the chance that you might cause a crash or lose your drone.
EMERGENCY LAND – it might not seem obvious, but if you have never
flown a drone before, or are flying a new drone, it’s very easy to lose control
of a drone. We knew a woman that bought her son an expensive drone for
Christmas one year. She never flew a drone before but decided to try and
teach her son how to fly it. The drone must have had a preprogramed flight
path in it already, so when the drone took off; it disappeared into the sunset,
never to be seen again. This is a tough lesson to learn for a first-time pilot with
an expensive drone.
The proper thing to do when flying a drone you have never flown before
is to know the controls, especially the emergency land, panic button, or kill
switch, whatever the drone manufacturer calls it. This is just good practice in
general because you could lose control of the drone and crash it into a build-
ing or person. Knowing how to land the drone safely before it does damage
or gets away from you will save you grief and perhaps a jail sentence or fine
in the future.

• Drone Bag (repair kit)

When flying the drone, you might crash, and it might need repairs. Your
drone bag should include a small Philips and flat head screwdriver, needle
nose pliers, a spare battery for the drone, and propellers. You should also
include additional hardware needed to install the propellers and spare batter-
ies for your controller. In most cases, higher-end drones will include tools to
do this kind of work.
70 The Big Book of Drones

• Drone maintenance

Your drone should require little maintenance. I will caveat that statement
with it depends on where you fly and how you fly. The motors do not require
any oil so no need to even touch them. However, if you take your drone to
the beach for the day and remember to check before you take it there as to
whether or not you can fly there, when you are finished flying for the day, take
a can of compressed air and blow out the motors, where the propellers meet
the motors, the camera, gimbal, and in the battery compartment.
The batteries for the drone should be stored in a bag approved for battery
storage. Unless the drone is being used every day, the batteries should not be
kept in the charging unit. Run the batteries down, store them and only charge
them when needed. The batteries in the controller should also be removed
when the drone is not in use. I have seen many instances where the batteries
have broken open and caused havoc on the electronics due to inactivity of a
device. This is especially important during the hot months or if the batteries
are stored near a heat source.
Depending on where you fly your drone or if you crash it like I have many
times, you may need to clean it every once in a while. Use a light plastic
cleanser and ensure not to get any cleaner on the registration sticker or
drone markings. Some cleaning solutions will cause the stickers to come off.
Obviously, if you have crashed your drone, then you will want to make sure
all dirt and grass has been removed. Even a little dirt could cause the drone
to be out of balance. Regularly cleaning the drone will ensure that the motors
do not work harder to keep the drone balanced.
Finally, depending on the camera, it will determine how often maintenance
is needed. The camera on the drone should be treated just like any other
camera; it should be handled with care. A camera has a glass or plastic lens
that can become dirty from flying, which a typical camera is not regularly
exposed to.
Bugs are the biggest enemy. Before flying the drone, clean the camera lens
with an approved lens cleaner recommended by the manufacturer. It is good
practice to clean the lens after every flight as well. Regular cleaning will
ensure the removal of any dust that it might collect between any flights. Use a
rag that will not cause scratch marks.

SPARE PARTS

You will find that with many drone purchases, you are provided with spare
parts for your UAV, including propellers. You will need to know how to
remove and install new propellers as needed, especially if you are out flying
and need to do an on the spot repair.

• Labeled Identification:
 Flying a drone 71

• Your propellers can be identified in a variety of ways. The UAV

should be equipped with two sets of two different props: one set of
“clockwise” (CW) and one set of “counter-clockwise” (CCW).
• When labeled like so, the “R” stands for CCW while the lack of an
R means the prop is a CW prop.
• Propeller identification: Look at the propellers on the drone; the pro-
pellers should be identified as A & B or 1 & 2 or R & non-labeled,
which indicates CW. In some cases simply identifying the propel-
lers are as easy as identifying which direction they are spinning.
Propellers match the opposing sides diagonally. The installation and
removal will also spin in opposing directions.

• Non-Labeled Identification:

– Perhaps a better identification that is universal would be to iden-

tify the leading edge, which identifies the direction the propellers
spin.
The leading edge is identified as the edge that is raised compared
to the other side of the propeller. This is identified with a slight
concave curve underneath it. All propellers have a slated side, and
identifying this early will help with the installation of new propel-
lers as needed.

• Calibration:
Calibrating a drone is essential, especially if you notice it is not flying
and responding as expected. In many cases, when relocating a drone to
a new flying area, calibration is needed to reset the compass location.
Altitude drops, unstable drifts, or unstable hoovering are a good indica-
tion that calibration is needed. After any impact, calibration is essential
before the next flight.
• For a successful calibration, ensure the drone is clear from surrounding
metal objects and objects that could interfere, such as nearby cellphone
towers and powerlines
• Turn the transmitter on (Controller)
• Turn on the receiver (Drone)
• Set the calibration of the compass
• Keep the drone level on the ground and proceed in a circle until the
lights turn green (color may vary depending on the make and build of
the drone)
• Spin the drone again until it turns green again
• The drone will blink colors and you are now calibrated

The above process will, of course, vary by drone manufacturer. If you are
unsure how to do this, check the drone’s manual or manufacturer’s website
for detailed instructions.
72 The Big Book of Drones

COMMERCIAL FLYING

In accordance with the FAA, commercial drone use is any use of a drone
(quadcopter or otherwise) “in connection with a business”. Essentially, if your
drone is being used to provide a profit or a function for a business, it would
fall under the commercialized drone category. Commercially used drones also
have to be vetted through the Transportation Safety Administration regula-
tions. However, as of today, no license or certification is needed for terra-
firma or sea-based drones.
Commercial drones are used for a wide variety of projects, from surveys,
aerial views for monitoring an area for change, security, photography, or vid-
eography. This identifies any type of business, whether large, small, or inde-
pendent that utilizes the functions of a drone for business purposes.

• What to have on hand when flying

– Part 107 certificate if you have taken and passed the exam
– Driver’s license
– Insurance verification
– Aircraft registration number
– A summary of the Part 107 rules for reference
– Flight operation manual for reference that explains:

⚬⚬ Takeoff
⚬⚬ Landing
⚬⚬ Emergency Landing

• Communications sheet (phone numbers and frequencies of local

authorities)

– Maintenance log
– Maintenance Kit
– Knowledge of your aircraft’s weight
– Knowledge of nearby airports
– LAANC authorization (only applies if you need LAANC
authorization)
⚬⚬ Application process

• Taking pictures and video

– Auto: An auto setting allows for easily capturing of photographs

and video. When using the auto feature, it allows the camera to be
set to the optimal settings for your photo or video.
– Manual: The manual setting allows the pilot to adjust the aperture
and shutter manually for maximum control.
 Flying a drone 73

• Using headless mode

Using headless mode is great for beginner pilots. It allows the beginner
to control their drone easier in each direction while the drone orienta-
tion is tracked with its transmitter and not its general in-space orienta-
tion. This flying mode allows for a more effortless flying experience and
is typically already available on many drones.

– The activation of headless mode on many drones varies since many

drones use different methods for activating the headless mode; in
most cases, you will find the configuration details in your manual.

• Using FPV
Many drones support FPV capabilities. FPV is acquired by putting on
a pair of Virtual Reality (VR) goggles. The video feed from the drone
is transmitted back to the goggles. The drone operator sees what the
drone’s camera sees. In most cases, the FPV operates on the 5.8 giga-
hertz frequency; the transmitter sends a signal to a receiver linked to an
external monitoring system or goggles acting as the receiver.

– FPV Goggles
74 The Big Book of Drones

FPV goggles could set the average user back anywhere from $50 to $500 or
more. Makerfire has an entry level FPV goggle that operates at 5.8 gigahertz
with dual antennas and a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The above FPV gog-
gles get their input from a cellphone. The video is transmitted to a phone that
is inserted into the goggles.
Orqa FPV.One Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) FPV Goggles typically
cost about $500. The FPV goggles have a 1280 × 960 OLED display with a 44°
field of view. The Orqa FPV.One OLED FPV Goggles come with a head tilt
alarm letting the user be aware that the goggles are out of optimal alignment.
The unit also comes with a built-in defogger and support for many receivers.
FPV monitors are a cheaper alternative to FPV goggles. Operators can pur-
chase a FPV monitor for as cheap as $40. There is even a FPV watch by
Flysight that can be used as a monitor in a pinch. Of course, the watch only
has a two-inch display but it operates at 5.8 gigahertz and has an LCD display.

• Return to Home

– How to Return to Home Safely

⚬⚬ How does your drone respond?

The return to home (RTH) is a feature that could save a drone when the
RTH is triggered. The RTH feature is implemented when the Intelligent Flight
Battery is triggered by low or erratic battery detection. When the battery hits
a certain threshold, the RTH feature will be triggered, and the drone will
return to the preconfigured location.

– Failsafe RTH

⚬⚬ Some drones will trigger a return to home if they lose connection

with the controller for a given period of time. This could vary from
three to five seconds. Some drones will immediately land if connec-
tion is lost. Not a good feature if you are over water or a crowd.

– Smart RTH

⚬⚬ A button on the controller can be used to return the drone to

home for any reason. This might be because you lose sight of the
drone, its flying in a dangerous area, is flying erratic, or you just
want it back quickly.

• Obstacle Avoidance

Obstacle avoidance can detect obstacles in real time to avoid damaging colli-
sions. The sensor that is a main contributor to the detection of objects when
 Flying a drone 75

continuously scanning the open space for obstacles might not come prein-
stalled on your drone. This must be installed on your UAV and configured to
work simultaneously with your controller.

– Enable obstacle avoidance under the “Active Track” section of the

application on your controller.
– Enable RTH Obstacle Check to enable the feature that would allow
your UAV to descend to a safe altitude while returning to home.

• Follow me feature

– Some UAVs support a follow me feature. This allows a drone to

follow a color or design while shooting video. Some pilots use this
feature while skiing, snowboarding, or surfing. This is explained in
detail in a future chapter.

• Stunts

A stunt drone is considered a quadcopter capable of having the ability to navi-

gate in multiple directions and in many cases is done through a joystick or an
additional featured button or buttons on your controller.
A stunt drone has the ability to complete a 360° flip or multiple flips. Other
capabilities include pretracked acrobatic.

The above graphic shows which directions drones can spin in to perform
stunts. Not all drones can do this easily, but most can be made to do some
sort of aerial stunts.

• Auto takeoff/land

Many drones support auto takeoff and auto land. Auto takeoff and auto land-
ing could be used in areas where the drone might land in water or a bad place
if the drone got away from the pilot. The pilot registers where the auto land
76 The Big Book of Drones

or home area is. If the pilot feels the drone is in danger, they could press the
auto-land feature, and the drone will land where the drone was registered
with the home position. Additional features can be enabled for landing a UAV
safely, including landing protection and precision landing.

• Landing Protection can be enabled through an installed application

or a manual controller. Landing protection allows a feature to be
enabled to identify a suitable landing space for a touchdown.
• Precision Landings are enabled through a preinstalled application or
a manual controller. Precision landing must be turned on and will
attempt to land a UAV in the exact spot it took off when RTH was
enabled.
• Landing/Takeoff

– Instructions – Read the instruction manual that came with

your drone or reference an online manual provided by the
manufacturer.
– Controller identification – what functions does your controller
support?
– Tracking – track your drone. It’s easy to get disoriented when
doing stunts.

• How to build an obstacle course

• Determine the area size

• Identify course timing (If any)
• Identify indoor/outdoor course needs

– Boundary lines
– Netting if indoors

• Identify what the age group will be

– Depending on the age group, the level of difficulty will be

determined

• Identify a start and finish point

– Creating a landing identification pad

• Obstacles

– User must move up/down

– User must move side to side
– User must be able to hover
 Flying a drone 77

– User must be steady to maneuver through the obstacle course

– User must remain in boundary line

• Point system

– How are points earned

– How are points deducted

How to build your own drone race course will be discussed in detail in the
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) chapter.

CONTROLLER SPECIFICS

It would be impossible to discuss all of the controllers on the market and how
they work. However, there is a benefit in discussing at least two types: a dedi-
cated controller, one that comes with the drone when purchased, and drones
controlled by a cellphone or tablet.
Most dedicated controllers are advertised as working at 2.4 gigahertz.
Many people might recognize the 2.4 gigahertz range as the wireless access
point in their homes and this is correct. However, dedicated controllers oper-
ate at 2.4 gigahertz, 5 gigahertz, or 900 megahertz for control and 1.3, 2.3,
3.4, or 5.8 gigahertz for video transmission. The lower the transmission rate,
the further the signal can carry. Controllers that operate at 2.4 gigahertz typi-
cally have an operating range of 1 (1.6 kilometers) to 4 miles (6.4 kilometers),
but much of this depends on having a full LoS.

DRONE INCIDENTS

As more and more drones take to the sky, there will inevitably be incidents.
An incident can be anything from a crash causing severe damage to a drone
flight over a cow pasture landing in a pile of manure. If it was reported, then
most countries collect and use the data in statistics.
In February 2021, several drones were spotted over Frankfurt airport, can-
celing or delaying several flights. The polices spent several hours looking for
the drones and their owner but could not find either. The police opened a
criminal case and are looking for more eyewitnesses.
On February 10, 2021, Yemen’s Houthi rebels crashed a bomb-laden drone
into an Airbus A320 passenger jet at Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi rebels are backed by the Iranian state and consider this retribution
for the bombing of their country. The Saudi military does not know what type
of explosive material was utilized in conjunction with the drone attack.
On January 23, 2021, a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone collided with a Chilean
Navy helicopter. The two aircraft collided at high speed, causing the drone to
78 The Big Book of Drones

fly through the windshield of the Bell UH-57B JetRanger III helicopter. One
passenger in the helicopter was injured and treated for their injuries.
In December 2020, a Philadelphia, PA drone pilot was fined $182,000
(USD) for breaking multiple FAA regulations. The FAA was able to deter-
mine that the pilot broke at least 12 regulations over 26 flights. Legal experts
guess that the FAA used YouTube videos that the pilot posted to determine
the illegal flights and build a case against the pilot. The FAA warned the pilot
multiple times about the illegal flights, but the pilot disregarded the warnings.
In October 2020, a drone interrupted a football match at New York Stadium
in South Yorkshire, UK. The game was only 5 minutes into play when a ref-
eree spotted a drone flying over the field. Players were escorted off the field,
and the game was halted for 10 minutes while the police was alerted. An
investigation was launched, and the police was able to locate the drone and
the pilot. The police confiscated the drone, and the investigation is ongoing.
In October 2020, a Georgia (USA) man was arrested for shooting at a
drone owned by Georgia Transmission. Workers for the company stated that
they notified the man that they would be flying their drone nearby, inspecting
transmission lines. The man said he understood. The workers heard shots.
When they landed the drone, they saw that the battery and part of the landing
gear were destroyed. The workers called the police reporting the incident. The
police contacted the man and he denied the incident. Police found a shotgun
in his truck located on his property. The man was arrested and charged with
reckless conduct and criminal damage to property. He will have to repair or
replace the drone he damaged.

UA VISUAL PERCEPTION

Today, many drones come with Global Position Systems (GPS) technology
built in. However, this feature is mainly available on high-end drones. Even
if the drone has this capability, using it is another challenge in itself. Having
GPS coordinate feedback means nothing without the capability to apply
them against a map or vice-versa, using a map to program the flight path
into a drone.
GPS capability only works when flying into a relatively open area or high
enough that the operator will not fly into any obstacles. It is possible to fly
a drone into a situation that the operator cannot fly out of using GPS. For
instance, let us say you are flying into a heavily forested area. If you fly below
the tree line, GPS will not be able to get you out. You would then have to take
over manually and that would pose a challenge.
Keep in mind that when flying a drone and using a controller with a moni-
tor, you view the world in 2D. Even if using FPV goggles, accurately measure
the distance to an object is nearly impossible. Compounding this problem is
that drones do not use 360° cameras, so there will always be a blind spot at
any given time.
 Flying a drone 79

If, for instance, a drone is 500 feet away from the operator, it may become
challenging to comprehend what situation the drone is in. Perception at that
distance is inferior. Are you flying over someone or a car? Are you near a
telephone pole or wire? How close is the drone actually to the building? Some
drones do come with obstacle avoidance; however, that technology only goes
so far. For example, the operator is flying the drone, and the obstacle avoid-
ance system kicks in and auto lands the drone. You may think that is a good
thing. However, since the drone is so far away, you didn’t realize that it is
about to land on a baby carriage or into a crowd of people.
One could argue that a person’s quality of vision does play a part in this
and it does. A younger person will see a drone further away better than an
older person with poor vision. Also, the color of the drone, weather condi-
tions, and drone speed all make a difference.
You will see your drone further away if you take the following steps:

1. Put bright colored stickers on your drone. If your drone is white, it will
blend in and make it more difficult to see against a cloud.
2. Don’t fly into fog, it will make it more difficult to see no matter what the
color of your drone is.
3. Keep the drone on a sharper angle to you.

What this means is to fly higher versus lower. The sky is blue and white, so
seeing a red drone will be easier than against objects on the ground.
Add lights to a drone, such as red or blue flashing lights work best and
provide good contrast against the sky. Use a visual observer. Two sets of eyes
are better than one. Operators can quickly lose a drone if you take your eyes
off it to check your controllerʼs battery life or indicators. Therefore, having a
spotter or a co-pilot will help maintain consistent visualization of the drone,
even if the operator has to glance down at the controller.
If you do lose sight of your drone, you have options. You can use the hover
feature. Thus, allowing the operator to gain time to regain sight of the drone.
The return-to-home feature will bring the drone back to the designated spot
and allow it to regain sight. Finally, you can always use the autoland option.
However, if you donʼt know where the drone is, auto land may cause more
problems than just losing sight of it.
Although there are a few documented cases where a drone auto landed on a
person, it does not mean that it did not happen; it is simply not documented.
Most investigations involving drones list the incident as a crash, and this is
because of the lack of experience of the people investigating the incident.
When a drone’s auto-land feature kicks in, you may not be able to take con-
trol of it. For instance, if you fly far enough away from the controller and lose
the signal connected to the drone. On some drones, this will cause the auto-
land feature to kick in. Additionally, there have been documented cases where
pilots claim to have lost control of their drones once auto land starts its pro-
cess. Some drones will return home when they lose signal with the controller.
80 The Big Book of Drones

MILITARY DRONE PILOTS

Recreational drone pilots are not the only ones to suffer from visual percep-
tion problems. Military drone pilots could suffer from spatial disorientation
and vertigo. Researchers tested a group of military pilots flying drones from
within a moving vehicle. The pilots did suffer from vertigo. However, drone
pilots typically fly from within stationary trailers or buildings, which is less
likely to happen. Spatial disorientation is another story. Pilots could become
spatially disoriented for several reasons. Chief among them are control latency
and lack of sensory indicators.
Latency is the time between when a pilot issues a command with the stick
and the time it takes the Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to respond to it.
Remember, there could be thousands of miles between the pilot and the
drone. There will be a natural latency between the two. Even under the worst
of circumstances, a recreational or commercial drone pilot would most likely
not experience these circumstances.
Researchers also noted a lack of sensory indicators. Flying a drone versus
a piloted aircraft is different in that the pilot cannot hear how the aircraft
is responding. Sound can indicate that there might be a problem, and they
cannot feel the stick getting heavy. A drone pilot knows that there is latency
and could miss a problem due to a heavy stick. Some pilots also noted that
smell could be an indicator of a problem. A pilot inside a cockpit could smell
electrical malfunctions or burning oil, whereas a drone pilot lacks that sense.
A drone pilot only has camera vision and limited instrumentation. Vision is
limited to where the camera is pointed, and we know you cannot cover all of
the angles with a single camera.
Chapter 6

Hacking a drone

This chapter will discuss how to hack a drone. Hacking means different things
to different people. Some people think of hackers as a teenager in a hoodie,
eating junk food while sucking down gallons of caffeine-enriched drinks. I
am sure some of those people exist. However, in the context of this book, a
hacker is simply someone who modifies their drone to gain more capabilities
by adding additional functionality from the baseline configuration, allowing
the hacker to increase advanced, undocumented features.
Specifically, this chapter will teach you how to connect to a drone to down-
load information, push data, and look at configuration files. As we have seen
many times in the news, drone pilots have used drones to spy on people or
invade the privacy of others. This chapter will teach how to identify a drone
by sound signatures. After understanding this basic concept, you will learn
how to control a drone using deauthentication techniques.

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-6 81
82 The Big Book of Drones

Finally, if you are a drone owner, you will learn how to protect your drone
from being taken over by a nefarious hacker. There are steps you can take to
protect yourself and your drone. The majority of work in this chapter centers
around the Parrot AR and the Phantom 3, but the techniques can be used on
other drones.
Many drones have the ability to Telnet into them. Telnetting into a drone
gives you the ability to look at and change configuration files. This feature is
also helpful for performing a forensic analysis, which we will cover later in
this book.

THE TELNET PROTOCOL

Telnet is a protocol that runs on almost every computer platform today. It has
been around since the early 1980s. Unfortunately, it is a very insecure proto-
col since it passes the credentials in clear text. This means if someone was on
your network, they could easily sniff your login and password using readily
available software.
By default, a Telnet server listens on port 23 for connections from a
client. Your drone is the server, and your laptop would be considered the
client. Most drones come with Telnet enabled. A much better alternative
to Telnet is SSH. The SSH protocol allows a secure connection between
your laptop and drone. If SSH is not enabled, you can easily enable it.
People tend to use Telnet because it is easier to use, but you should use
SSH where possible.

TELNET TO THE PARROT AR

In order to Telnet to the Parrot AR, first, establish a wireless connection to

the drone. With the connected laptop, look for Ardrone2_256083 or some-
thing similar in the available wireless connection menu and connect to the
device. It will not ask for a password.
The Parrot AR runs a version of BusyBox. You can use any piece of soft-
ware that supports Telnet, such as PuTTY, MobaXterm, Solar-PuTTY,
Xshell. ExtraPutty, etc. In this example, I will be using PuTTY. When you
run PuTTY, you are presented with a configuration window. You can find
out the default IP address that the Parrot AR uses by running a quick inter-
net search. The search should return 192.168.1.1. In the Host Name (or IP
address) box, type 192.168.1.1. In the Port box, type 23. This is the stan-
dard port for Telnet. Make sure the Telnet radio button is selected. Finally,
click, Open.
 Hacking a drone 83

You should see a pop-up box that states “BusyBox v1.14.0 ( ) built-in shell
(ash)” or something similar depending on the version Parrot AR you own.
When you connect, you are “root” on the drone, which means that you can
do just about anything without restriction. As the saying goes, “with great
power comes great responsibility”. You can do damage to your drone by
removing or changing things you should not be touching unless you know
what you are doing. This book will not discuss administrative functions on
your Parrot AR. However, this book will give a basic primer on how to tra-
verse the file structure.
Start by typing “help” at the command prompt (#). Typing help will show
the built-in commands the device uses. As mentioned earlier, the Parrot AR
uses BusyBox, a Linux-like operating system, and uses very similar com-
mands. The following commands might be helpful (all commands are in
lower case):

cat – Short for concatenate. This command shows the contents of a text
file. Windows uses the “type” command. To use this command type cat
<file-name>.
84 The Big Book of Drones

cd – Change directory. Used to more from one directory to another. This

is similar to the Windows “cd” command. To use this command, type
cd <directory>.
ls – List. This can be used to list files in a directory. This is similar to the
Windows “dir” command. To use this command, type ls.
pwd – Print working directory. This shows the current directory you are in.
There is no Windows equivalent, but looking at the prompt will show
the current directory you are in. To use this command, type pwd.
vi – This is one of the oldest editors in Unix. You can use this command to
edit a file by typing “vi <file_name”. There are books and tutorials on
how to use this editor, so it will not be covered in depth here. One of the
equivalents in Windows is using “notepad <file_name>”.

If you want to see all of the binaries available to you, you can “cd/bin”. This
is the directory where the binaries are stored. Once there, you can type “ls”
to see what binaries exist.
Another file you will be interested in is the “config.ini” file. If you type “cat/
data/config.ini”, it will display the contents of that file. The config.ini file con-
tains configuration data. For instance, the name of the drone is kept here, the
serial number, the date the drone was built, you can enable/disable the camera,
set the time zone, display the name when connecting to WiFi, set the max/min
altitude and much more. Your specific drones configuration file may vary.

TRANSFERRING FILES TO AND FROM THE PARROT AR

You can transfer files to and from the Parrot AR using an FTP client. Windows
has a built in FTP client depending on the version, but you can use any FTP
client you would like. In this example, I will be using the Windows FTP client.
In order to FTP to or from the Parrot AR, you need to establish a wireless
connection to the drone. On the device you are connecting with, look for
Ardrone2_256083 or something similar in the available wireless connection
menu and connect to the device. It will not ask for a password.
You will need to open a command shell. Click the start icon in Windows.
Type “cmd” at the prompt. These commands will vary depending on the ver-
sion of Windows you are running. At the prompt, type “ftp 192.168.1.1”. The
software will ask for a user name, just hit enter. You will be dropped onto the
Parrot AR. Unfortunately, you have limited capability in FTP mode. You can
list files using “ls”. By default, you will be in the/data/video directory. Thus,
you can only get files that are in that directory.
To get files from the Parrot AR and put them on your computer, type “get
<file_name>”. The FTP software will transfer the file to your computer.
Whatever directory you type FTP at, is the directory your file will be in.
Typing “quit” at the prompt will stop the FTP connection. Typing “dir” on
your computer will show you the file you just transferred.
 Hacking a drone 85

To transfer files to the Parrot, again make sure you are connected through
WiFi. You will need to type “ftp 192.168.1.1” at the command prompt. The
file you want to transfer to the drone must be in the directory you were just
in when you typed “ftp 192.168.1.1”. Once you are connected through FTP,
type “put <file_name>”. File_name is the name of the file on your system that
you want to transfer to the Parrot AR. Any files you push to the Parrot will be
put into the/data/video directory unless you move them to some other direc-
tory. Type “quit” to stop the FTP connection.

GETTING THE MAC ADDRESS

There might be times when you need the MAC to address versus the IP
address. The MAC address is the hardware address, while the IP address is
the logical address. In order to get the MAC address, connect to the Parrot
AR using WiFi as described above. You will need a Telnet session. Connect to
the Parrot AR using a Telnet client as described above. You can get the MAC
address in a few places. The best place to get it is in the/data directory. Type
“cd/data” once you have a Telnet session. The MAC address is in a file called
“random_mac.txt”. Type “cat random_mac.txt” and it will be displayed. The
second place you can get it is in the config.ini file. If you are in the/data direc-
tory, type “cat config.ini” and scroll down to the MAC address heading.

TELNET TO THE PHANTOM 3

The Phantom 3 is similar to the Parrot AR in that you can connect to it using the
Telnet and FTP protocols. This means you can view and change settings, down-
load logs, pictures, and video right off the drone. You can do this using standard
software tools or programmatically as part of something that you build.
The DJI Phantom 3 uses the following default IP addresses:

Controller – 192.168.1.1
Drone – 192.168.1.2
Camera – 192.168.1.3
Phone (DJI App) – IP is assigned. You will need to use a tool like NMAP
to get this IP address.

The default credentials for the Phantom 3 are:

WiFi

Username: non needed

Password: 12341234
86 The Big Book of Drones

Telnet

Username – root
Password – Big~9China

By default, you cannot Telnet into the controller or the drone itself. You
can enable these, but you can only Telnet into the camera initially. FTP
is enabled on all interfaces, and you can log into each of these using the
default credentials listed above. We will run through each of these to show
how it can be done and what information can be collected from each
interface.
Connect to your drone with your wireless network connection manager. If
you are using a Windows operating system, you will need to use a Telnet cli-
ent. There are numerous applications to choose from. For this example I will
be using PuTTY. However, you can use:

Xshekk
Solar Putty
MobaXterm
mRemoteNG
SmarTTY
SuperPuTTY
ExtraPuTTY

Start PuTTY in a new window. Enter the IP address that you want to con-
nect to. In this case, we will be connecting to the camera at 192.168.1.3.
Set the port to 23, and make sure the connection type is Telnet. Click the
Open button to connect to the device. You should now be connected to
your drone.
Once connected, you can look at configuration files to check settings.
Additionally, you can look at log data to get an idea of any problems you
may be having and why. If you want to download the log data for further
analysis, you can do this by using FTP which will be covered in the follow-
ing sections.

HOW TO TURN ON TELNET

What if Telnet is disabled on your drone? The short answer is it is very easy to
turn on telnet./etc/init.d/rcS is one of the most important network configura-
tion scripts. It can load modules, configure the network, run applications and
start graphical based interfaces. The script runs when the system is booted
up. You will have to download the script and add a line to start up Telnet. To
download the file, follow the directions below on how to use FTP. Once you
have the file downloaded, add the following line to start Telnet:
 Hacking a drone 87

telnetd –l/bin/ash &

This will start the Telnet service and move it in the background.

TRANSFERRING FILES TO AND FROM THE PHANTOM 3

Connect to your drone with your wireless network connection manager.

Once connected, if you are using Windows, open a command line and type
“ftp 192.168.1.3” and press enter. You should be connected directly to your
Phantom 3’s camera. You should now be able to download videos and pictures.
To download video and pictures, type “dir” at the command line. This will
list all of the files in the directory. Type “get file_name” where file name is the
name of the file you want to download to your computer.
If you are using linux, connect to the drone using your wireless connection
manager. Open a terminal. At the prompt, type ftp 192.168.1.3. To get video
and pictures, the process is exactly the same as with a windows computer
type “get file_name”.
In both the windows and linux examples, the video or the picture will be
put in the directory that you ran the FTP command from. This is an impor-
tant note since a lot of people forget where they ran the original command
from. Of course, you could always look for the file, but keep in mind that a
lot of data like this might not have a very memorable name. More than likely,
it will be some long string of numbers.

OTHER DRONES

Not all drones support the Telnet or FTP protocols. You might have one last
alternative to be able to connect to the device. Connect to your device using
your wireless network connection manager. Open any browser. Try connect-
ing to your device by putting in 192.168.1.1 in the url box. You can use any
operating system for this.
If your drone supports the http/https protocol, you will see a screen that
shows you are connected and will display data in your browser. At this point,
you are limited as to what the drone manufacturer displays back to you. More
than likely, you will not be able to change any settings in this view, but you
might be able to view log data.

DEAUTHENTICATING THE PARROT AR

The deauthentication attack explained here was conducted on a Parrot AR,

but the procedure should work on just about any drone that supports WiFi.
The following procedures should be followed in specific sequence in order to
88 The Big Book of Drones

deauthenticate the drone. This example was accomplished with a laptop run-
ning Linux.

1. Use your phone to see what Access Points are available. You should see
the Parrot AR as one of them. Connect to the Parrot. There is no login
or password.
2. Start the phone application for the Parrot AR. This can be downloaded
from the Google store. It’s called AR.FreeFlight.
3. Start flying the Parrot.
4. Using your Linux laptop with the Aircrack-ng suite installed, type the
following commands:

a. Airmon-ng start wlan0

b. Airodump-ng mon0
c. Airodump-ng –c 1 –bssid 00:00:00:00:00:00 –w drone mon0
d. Aireplay-ng -0 2 –a bb:bb:bb:bb:bb:bb –c ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff –ignore-
negative-one mon0

When you execute (d) from above, the drone pilot will lose control of the
device. The application running on the cellphone will say, “no signal detected”.
If you do nothing, the pilot will gain control back in 5–7 seconds. However, if
another person is running the same application and is connected to the Parrot
AR, they can take over the drone when control is restored.
Four files are created when you run the above:

drone-01.cap
drone-01-csv
drone-01.kismet.csv
drone-01.kismet.netxml

It is not required to do anything with the files for this exercise. These are just
supplied for reference purposes.

REPLAY ATTACK

It is possible to complete a replay attack on some drones. A replay attack

allows an attacker to capture the pilotʼs signal to the drone and then replay
it. A replay attack works best on cheaper drones. The reason is that more
expensive drones use an encrypted connection between the drone and the
controller.
You will need the following hardware and software:

Laptop (running Windows)

Antenna such as HackRF One, BladeRF, RTL-SDR, LimeSDR
 Hacking a drone 89

Universal Radio Hacker

Use the following procedures (Windows):

1. Connect the antenna to the laptop and boot it up

2. Start Universal Radio Hacker
3. Select Spectrum Analyzer
4. Select the antenna from the device pulldown list
5. Select the frequency that your controller is transmitting on
6. Set the gain at 0, IF Gain at32and the baseband gain at 34
7. Leave the DC correction box checked and the Bias Tee unchecked
8. Click start

When you click on the controller, you should see a spike in the Radio Frequency
(RF) readout in the top box and a spike in the waterfall box at the bottom.
You will need to move the pointer at the top to adjust to the exact frequency
your controller is transmitting at. Click on stop. Go back to the Main panel
and click the record signal. The file will be pretty big, so only record a few
seconds of the signal and save it out to a file using the save icon. If you change
the default name, you will have to use the “.cs8” file extension.
The replay box will pop-up with the recorded signal in it. To replay the
signal back, Change the modulation to “FSK”, under additional parameters,
check the additionally detect noise and additionally detect modulation boxes.
On the send signal box, set the gain and IF gain to maximum. Turn off the
controller and turn on the drone. Now, click on start. The drone should
respond to the commands from the Universal Radio Hacker software.
Because of their size, low radar profile, and low noise, drones are hard to
detect. There is a lack of a cost effective and automated way to detect drones.
However, there is an increasing need to detect drones, especially when flown
into restricted or unwanted airspace such as government installations, air-
ports, and your backyard.

HOW TO IDENTIFY A DRONE

What if you needed to discover drones flying in your area? As an example, let’s
say you work for a government agency or a company and want to know when
a drone comes near your facility? There are several ways to be able to accom-
plish this. The following sections explain just a few ways that will do just that.

Approach 1
Today, drones come with some very sophisticated equipment. You can pur-
chase a Global Position System (GPS) systems, high resolution cameras and
a myriad of sensors. A highly researched way to discover drones involves a
90 The Big Book of Drones

solution that finds the direction of the control signal, and then disrupts the
link to the drone. These types of solutions are costly and greatly depend on
the geographic layout, and the amount of RF noise in the vicinity.
There have been many solutions proposed to address the problem of drone
detection. Researchers have developed a detection system based on radar that
can be expanded for the tracking, recognition, and imaging of drones.
One specific way is to use radio frequency wireless signals to detect drones.
This can be further split into two solutions; one using active tracking that
sends a radio signal and then listens for a returned signal and the second
approach uses passive listening where it receives, extracts, and then analyzes
a wireless signal.
The materials used to test this proposal are standard off-the-shelf hardware
and software. The parabolic dish antenna was purchased off Amazon for
under fifteen dollars. The software used to record the sound was Audacity
and can be downloaded for free. However, any recording software can be
used in lieu of Audacity.
A six-inch parabolic dish microphone, similar to the one below, was used
as a primary collector.
 Hacking a drone 91

The parabolic antenna above has a microphone pointed in the center of the
dish in order to collect signals. The antenna is powered by a 9-volt battery
and has an earphone jack to listen to any output.
The antenna was placed facing upwards, towards the sky. When the test
drone flew over the antenna, you could see the waveform increasing in inten-
sity, reaching a peak, and then tailing off as seen in the following graphs.
This indicates that a drone was approaching, flying near the collector, then
continuing on.
The drone used for testing was a Parrot Mambo. Any drone could have
been used for testing. This drone was used as a matter of convenience. The
Mambo is shown below.

The detector was mounted to pole thirty inches above the ground. This height
was chosen for convenience. For the first test, the Parrot Mambo was flown
over the detector at the height of two feet. The drone signature was easily
identified as it flew towards the detector, as it flew over the detector, and
then when it flew away from the detector. As we can see in the below image,
the decibel level increased when the drone flew over the detector. A decibel
is defined as a gain or loss in power. Decibels are typically used to describe
values in microwave, satellite, and audio systems (Beasley, 2002).
92 The Big Book of Drones

In the second test, the Parrot Mambo was flown towards the detector at the
height of six feet. The drone signature can be seen flying towards the detector,
over the detector, and away from the detector.

In the third test, the drone was flown twenty-feet over the detector. See image
below. The drone signature can be seen flying towards the detector, over the
detector, and then away from the detector.
 Hacking a drone 93

For greater coverage many larger parabolic dish microphones could be used.
These could be mounted on fences, buildings, and signs for the maximum
coverage.
Since a drone uses a specific and identifiable acoustic signal, the system will
not confuse a drone with a bird, balloon, or stray signal.

Approach 2
There has been an increase of drones in the skies over the last few years. The
increase in drones is primarily due to drone manufacturers developing cheap
products for consumer use. Availability and low cost make it difficult for the
government to provide oversight over commercial operations. For less than
$500 (USD), a consumer can purchase a drone that can take video at 2.7k HD
and has a 12MP camera with a three-axis gimbal mount.
Consumers purchase drones for various reasons. Some people purchase a
drone out of curiosity. They are not quite sure what the hype is about, so they
purchase one to have it. Some people purchase them to do aerial tricks. Many
drones are capable of doing air acrobatics. No matter what the reason, drones
are a popular gift for many children and adults.
Along with an increase in drone, usage comes an increase in drone
incidents. Drone operators have been behind many near collisions with
aircraft in controlled air space. Drone growth is expected to rise signifi-
cantly. The following chart shows worldwide drone sales by units sold
through 2020.
Drone pilots frequently fly into no-fly zones. There have been numerous
drone incidents where drones have flown into no-fly zones or near mid-air
collisions. The question that law enforcement is trying to answer is how do
we detect them?
94 The Big Book of Drones

The following chart shows drone incidents by state from October 2020 to
December 2020. Incidents include aircraft hits or near misses, drones com-
ing in contact with humans or buildings, and reports of drones involved in
privacy incidents.
 Hacking a drone 95

California has the highest incidents, followed by Florida, Texas, and Arizona.
It is not surprising that California has one of the highest incident rates. First,
California is a high-tech state that produces many drones. Second, it is a very
popular state. This data was taken from the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) website. You can get more data like this dating back to November
2014.
A drone, like any other machine, makes a sound. Sounds are not one fre-
quency but are made up of multiple frequencies. It is possible to fingerprint
a drone by capturing its sound and looking at the multiple frequencies con-
tained in it.
The sounds from three devices were analyzed, a drone, a lawn mower
and a helicopter. First, the. WAV files were down loaded. For this research,
Zapsplat was used to download the recordings of existing sounds, since they
were recorded with high quality. The recordings were played and captured
in Friture using a screen capture of the output. Friture shows the dynamic
frequencies of each file as it plays. The screen captures were put into MSPaint
to identify the clear images.
The frequencies were then analyzed to see if they could be uniquely identi-
fied. Friture was used to analyze the frequencies because it shows the data in
multiple formats, a scope, 2D, FFT and octave spectrums (Friture, 2018). For
this paper, the octave spectrum option was used.
On the drone octave spectrum chart below, we can see that frequencies in
the range 1–2 kilohertz and the 4–5 kilohertz are the most prevalent for this
drone. This is expected because a drone has a high pitch to it.
96 The Big Book of Drones

On the other hand, a lawn mower should show more substantial frequencies
in the lower and middle range of the spectrum. We can see that the frequen-
cies that were more prevalent in the drone octave spectrum chart below are
not in the lawn mower chart. The lawn mower has frequencies in the range of
400 hertz to 2 kilohertz are more prevalent for the lawn mower.

As a third example, a helicopter was analyzed. A helicopter has primary

frequencies in the lower to middle end of the frequency range. The lawn
mower has many frequencies in the range of 50 hertz to 800 hertz fre-
quency spectrum and very few in the higher ranges, as we can see in the
chart below.
 Hacking a drone 97

We can see a difference in all three of the octave spectrum charts. Drones tend
to have higher frequencies in their sound spectrum, while lawn mowers and
helicopters do not.
Remember that not every drone, lawn mower or helicopter will create the
same frequency fingerprint as shown above. However, through analysis, there
should be frequencies that distinguish them from each other.
Drones have been involved in accidents where people have been injured. It
is not out of the realm of possibility that a drone could kill someone, given
the size and weight of some of the commercial drones available to consumers.

TAKING DOWN A DRONE

Drones have been involved in incidents many times with commercial aircraft.
Legal authorities have tried numerous methods to try and take them down or
detect who is flying them. Some methods authorities have used to take down
a drone involve shooting it down with a special harpoon and net to “capture”
the drone. This has had mixed results.
98 The Big Book of Drones

Army researchers have experimented with an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)

gun to take down drones. Initial research show promise that this technology
can work if implemented correctly. However, you can imagine the possible
adverse outcomes resulting from using an EMP.

The above graphic shows that the EMP pulse gun is based on an M4 rifle
platform. The platform allows a ground-based soldier to fire a blank, which
creates an electromagnetic pulse that is directed through the antenna to the
desired target.
It is possible to make your own anti-drone “killer” gun. Several articles
on the Internet explain how to make one out of a mosquito racket or a cheap
throw-away camera. Caution should be taken as these are hazardous devices,
and Federal law prohibits the operation, marketing, or sale of any type of
jamming equipment. An EMP could take out your neighborhoodʼs electronic
devices, which you would be responsible for. Additionally, if someone near
you were to have an electronic device in them, such as a pacemaker, you could
disrupt the device and kill them. The following are some more examples that
can be used to take down a drone:

• Bombarding it with signals

– A drone can only respond to so many connections at once. If you

overload it with too many connections, it is possible to cause it
to shut down.
 Hacking a drone 99

• Using a laser

– Shooting a laser at the camera could destroy it

– Cameras have sensors that change photons into electronic pulses
which then become pictures. The light from a laser is intense and
can damage these sensors. At the very least it would temporarily
blind the camera.
– This is difficult to accomplish on a moving target. You would
have to fire it when the drone is hovering over a stationary target.

PROTECTING YOUR DRONE

We dedicated most of this chapter to detecting a drone, hacking a drone or

how to take one down. However, not all readers will want to hack a drone
nor do they want their drone to be hacked. In fact, they just want to fly their
drone and be left alone. So, how can you protect your drone from someone
hacking it? The simple answer is, do not take it out of the box, don’t turn it
on, and definitely do not fly it! Well, that’s just not practical. Defensive secu-
rity is the way to protect your investment.
Every drone has a computer in it. As we have seen all too often in the news,
computers can be hacked into pretty quickly today. The remainder of this
chapter is dedicated to protecting your investment.

Protect the controller

• Apply all up-to-date patches and updates
• Use anti-malware
• If possible, don’t use it for other purposes
• Disconnect it from your computer when not updating it.
• If you are connected to a laptop, make sure your laptop is fully patched
and updated.

Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

If you do need to connect to the internet, then use a VPN provider. A dedi-
cated VPN connection will provide encryption between you and the internet.
This lessens the likelihood that someone will attack your device.

Use strong passwords

Strong passwords will make it difficult for someone to take control of your
drone controller. I recommend making your password 12 places long. This
should be a combination of alphanumeric, numeric, and special characters.
Weak passwords account for the number one way to hack a system
100 The Big Book of Drones

Use encryption
The best way to prevent someone from taking over your drone or getting to
its data is to use encryption. Software like eMotion flight planning software
uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256 encryption. For all practical
purposes, this is not breakable by the average hacker.
Since this is a chapter dedicated to hacking, I have to mention that you can
also write your own software to encrypt your communications link. Because
of the speed needed, it would be best to write it in a language that uses a com-
piler versus an assembler. The “C” programming language is a great language
to use for this type of application.

Buy a dedicated controller

A dedicated is best from a security perspective because it’s harder to hack it.
However, a lot of drones are sold that use WiFi. Using a controller that uses
2.4 or 5 gigahertz makes it harder to capture, analyze, and reuse a replay
attack against your drone. 2.4 or 5 gigahertz are standard frequencies that
most WiFi devices use. This means that your drone traffic will blend into
every other WiFi device. That being said, someone could launch a Denial of
Service (DoS) attack against that entire frequency and shut you down, along
with everything else that uses that frequency.

Fly in a remote area

This recommendation is a double edge sword. Flying in a remote area means
that there is no one around near enough to do any damage to your drone. This
includes capturing your signal. However, if someone followed you or used a
powerful enough antenna, they could more easily figure out your signal and
can capture it because of the sparsity of signals in the area. The benefits out-
weigh the chance of someone capturing your signal.

Be aware of your surroundings

Good OPSEC (Operational Security), means being in tune with your sur-
roundings. Do you see someone with a laptop or notebook near where you
are flying? Do you see the same person around whenever you are flying your
drone? Did a stranger just ask you for information about you or your drone?
Call it paranoia, but people have been hacked using the exact scenarios
described above.
 Hacking a drone 101

SUMMARY

This has been one of the most interesting chapters to write. We are hackers at
heart. So it was natural to extend hacking to drones. We covered how to con-
nect to a drone and look at configuration files using Telnet. We also discussed
how to pull from and push data to your drone using the File Transfer Protocol
(FTP); two important capabilities to learn.
We learned how to deauthenticate a drone and take control over it. A replay
attack allows you to capture the signal a pilot has sent their drone and replay
the signal to take control of it. In order to take a drone down, you need to be
able to identify a drone. We presented several ways how to be able to iden-
tify a drone using signal analysis. Now that you have identified it is indeed a
drone, we discussed commercial tools to be able to take a drone down.
Finally, we discuss how to protect your drone from the above. We identified
several ways to protect yourself and your drone from securing the controller,
using a dedicated VPN, strong passwords, encryption, and being aware of
your surroundings.
Chapter 7 discusses how to program your drone. There are times when
you will want to fly your drone by a computer versus a controller. We discuss
the many languages that can be used to program a drone and give several
examples that include code.
Chapter 7

Programing a drone

This chapter will discuss how to program a drone, the programing languages avail-
able to program drones, some examples, including code how to program a drone,
and some available software that brings out additional features of your drone.
Most drones can be programmed to fly specific flight paths. Usually, the
cheaper drones will not have this feature. Drones like the Parrot AR and DJI
Phantom make it extremely easy to program them because of the operating
system and the support for the languages.

• What languages can you program a drone in?

– Python
– C
– Java
– NodeJS
– Many more

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-7 103

104 The Big Book of Drones

Python is one of the most popular languages with programmers today.

Python’s history goes back to the early 1990s and was developed by Guido
van Rossum. The language is an interpreted language that means no com-
piler is required and is open source available for most operating systems.
The language is easy to pick up by most beginners and is a must learn
language if your work in the Science Technology Engineering and Math
(STEM) field.
Python can be used to program most drones. An example program is
included later in the chapter to get you up and flying. Your drone’s package is
not going to say Python compatible. You will need to test to see if your drone
can be programmed and identify what languages it will support.
C is an old language. Its humble beginnings go back to the early 1970s. It
was developed by Dennis Ritchie. The language is a branch off of the “B”
language developed by Ken Thompson. Thompson and Ritchie were also the
developers of the original UNIX operating system. C is a compiled language
and is open source, which is available for most operating systems.
Again, your drone is not going to say that it’s “C” compatible. Like with all
programing languages, you are just going to have to tinker with it until you
get it to work.
In the history of programing languages, Java is a fairly new language. It was
developed in 1995 by James Gosling, while working for Sun Microsystems.
Java was originally developed for interactive television but it just had too
much functionality at the time. The language was originally called Oak,
which was named for the oak tree outside of the Sun Microsystems building.
It was changed to Green, then to Java after a type of coffee from Indonesia.
Node.js is an open source run-time Java Scripting language that operates
outside of a browser. Node.js is available for Windows, Linux, MacOS, and
most Unix operating systems. Its libraries support programing a drone.

• Programing a specific flight path

– Node.JS is a freely available application for download
– A simple program to fly a drone programmatically, is shown below:

var drone = require("ar-drone");

var client = drone.createClient();

client.takeoff();
client.after(5000, function() {
this.up(0.25);
this.stop();
})
client.after (5000, function() {
this.clockwise(0.5);
this.stop();
 Programing a drone 105

}). after(3000, function(){

this.stop();
this.land();
});

CODE EXPLANATION

The above program is designed to do the following:

var drone = require("ar-drone");

Sets the variable drone type as “ar-drone”. You will have to put your specific
model/type in this field.

var client = drone.createClient();

Creates a variable client type. This makes the drone the client as opposed to
the server.

client.takeoff();

This tells the drone to take-off.

client.after(5000, function() {
this.clockwise(0.5);

This tells the drone to rotate 180° clockwise after 5 seconds.

}). after(3000, function() {

this.stop();

After 3 seconds the drone to stop and stay in place after 3 seconds.

this.land();

Finally, this command tells the drone to land.

USING OTHER LANGUAGES

• Using a program to program the drone

– In the following sample code, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is

used to generate code to do the above. You could easily modify the
code to develop a serious application that automatically generates
Node.JS code by just clicking options.
106 The Big Book of Drones

– VB was chosen in this case since it is readily available on most desk-

tops as part of the MS Office suite. Any language could be used to
generate the same code.
 Programing a drone 107

THE CODE BEHIND THE PROJECT

Private Sub CommandButton1_Click()

Dim myFile As String

myFile = "c:\Users\admin\Desktop\DroneApp.txt"

secs = TextBox1.Value

stopSecs = TextBox2.Value

degRot = TextBox3.Value

If CheckBox1.Value = True Then

varDrone = ("var drone = require(""ar-drone"");")
varClient = ("var client = drone.createClient();")

End If

If CheckBox2.Value = True Then

CB2 = ("client.takeoff();")
End If

If CheckBox3.Value = True Then

CB3 = "client.after(" + secs + "," + "function()" + " {"

End If

If OptionButton1.Value = True Then

OPB1 = "this.clockwise" + "(" + degRot + ");"
Else
  OPB1 = "this.counterclockwise" + "(" + degRot + ");"

End If

If OptionButton2.Value = True Then

OPB2 = 1
Else
OPB2 = 0
End If

If CheckBox4.Value = True Then

CB4 = "this.land();"

End If
108 The Big Book of Drones

Open myFile For Output As #1

Print #1, varDrone

Print #1, varClient
Print #1, ""
Print #1, CB2
Print #1, ""
Print #1, CB3
Print #1, "this.up(.25);"
Print #1, "this.stop();"
Print #1, ""
Print #1, CB3
Print #1, "this.up(.25);"
Print #1, "this.stop();"
Print #1, ""
Print #1, "}) client.after(" + stopSecs + "," + "function()
{"
Print #1, OPB1
Print #1, "this.stop();"
Print #1, CB4
Print #1, "});"

Close #1

MsgBox ("Code Created")

End Sub

USING PYTHON TO PROGRAM A DRONE

In order to control a drone with a programing language, either the drone

will have to support the language, or you will need to add an external board
or two to the drone. The Raspberry Pi is the board of choice for controlling
drones. If you add the Navio2 shield to the Raspberry Pi, you will have all the
functionality you need to control your drone programmatically.
 Programing a drone 109

The above picture is a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. This specific model has 2 GB

of Random Access Memory (RAM) and a Quad Core processor running at
1.5 gigahertz. It has multiple Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports; the two silver
boxes on the bottom right, a gigabit Ethernet port, and the silver box on the
top right, and have 802.11b/g/n/ac wireless capability. The long row of pins
on the top is the Input/output (I/O) header. This allows you to control devices
in the physical world.
Once we have the hardware set up, we will need to program our drone.
The following is just a small snippet of code that will allow the drone to take
off and then immediately land. This specific piece of code uses the DroneKit
library. DroneKit makes developer tools for drones. The library can give add
autonomous flight, live telemetry, and flight path planning through a Python
Application Programming Interface (API) that support multiple platforms
including Android, laptops, and web. According to the website, the DroneKit
is currently free to subscribers.

– Add a little code in Python

110 The Big Book of Drones

From dronekit import connect, VehicleMode,

LocationGlobalRelative, APIException
import time
import socket
import exceptions
import math

def arm_and_takeoff(targetHeight):
while vehicle.is.armable!=True:
time.sleep(1)
vehicle.mode = VehicleMode("GUIDED")

while vehicle.mode!=’GUIDED’:
time.sleep(1)

vehicle.armed = True
while vehicle.armed==False:
time.sleep(1)

vehicle.simple_takeoff(targetHeight)
while True:
if vehicle.location.global_relative_frame.
alt>=.95*targetHeight:
time.sleep(1)

return None

vehicle = connect(‘127.0.0.1:14550’, wait_ready=True)

arm_and_takeoff(5)

vehicle.mode=VehicleMode(‘LAND’)
while vehicle.mode!= ‘LAND’:
time.sleep(1)

OTHER WAYS TO PROGRAM A DRONE

• Follow-me feature

– The follow-me feature allows drones to follow objects or colors.

EZ-Robot makes free software that allows drones to take advan-
tage of the follow-me capability. The concept is that you register
the drone with a color or design. Once the drone sees the color or
design, it will follow it.

• Using EZ-Builder

– Download and install EZ-Builder from http://www.ez-robot.com/

EZ-Builder
 Programing a drone 111

In the following example, we will use the AR Parrot. After EZ-Builder is

installed, you will need to connect to your AR Parrot. Use the following
instructions to connect to your AR Parrot:

1. Power on the drone by connecting the battery.

2. Using your PC or WiFi device, connect to the drone by selecting it from
the wireless network menu.

How to connect to your drone with EZ-Builder:

1. From the start menu, select EZ-Builder

2. From the Project tab, select Add Controls
3. From the Third Party Robots tab, select AR Parrot Drone Movement
Panel
4. From the Project tab, select Add Controls
5. From the Camera tab, select Camera Device

Now your screen should look like the following:

112 The Big Book of Drones

Let’s connect to the drone using EZ-Builder:

1. Make sure that you are still connected to the AR Parrot with your WiFi
device
2. On the AR Drone Movement Panel, press the Connect button
3. When EZ-Robot connects to your drone, the button will change to
Disconnect
4. Press the Camera On button
5. In the Camera control, select, AR_Drone from the Video Device drop
down

a. You should now see the video image from your AR Parrot’s camera.

Let’s configure your drone to follow a color:

1. Make sure that you are still connected to the AR Parrot with your WiFi
device and EX-Robot is still running
2. Press Config in the Camera control
3. Select the Movement Tracking checkbox
4. Select the Allow Left-Right Movement checkbox
5. Press Save

Warning: If this is the first time you are using this feature, deselect Allow
Forward Movement. The drone will follow you very quickly and may have a
hard time stopping and possibly hitting you and causing harm.

6. Select Color from the tracking type checkbox list.

7. Select the color settings tab.
8. Tune the Color Brightness value until only the colored object is detected

Let’s take off

9. Make sure the drone is on a flat surface or a flat spot on the ground.
10. Press the Flat Trim button once
11. Press the takeoff button

Now your drone will search for the selected color or shape you taught it. The
drone will begin to follow the color or design.

SUMMARY

In this chapter, we learned how to program a drone. We presented a few sce-

narios why you would want to do this. We discussed several languages that
people use to program drones and even showed some code as examples.
 Programing a drone 113

We discussed how to use EZ-Builder to program your drone and how to

unlock some of the features in your drone such as the follow-me feature.
In Chapter 8, we will discuss how to build your own drone. Building your
own drone has gained popularity over the past few years due to Do-It-Yourself
(DIY) kits and 3D printers; it’s a very easy thing to do. We will discuss why
you would want to build your own drone and give some examples. There are
many DIY drone kits on the market and we mention a few of them and what
they have to offer. If you decide to build your own, what tools will you need?
We discuss an assortment of tools you should have on hand.
If you decide to build your own with a 3D printer, there are many materials
to choose from. We discuss different materials and what they have to offer a
drone hobbyist. After you print the body, you will need motors, propellers, a
controller, and receiver. There are many on the market. We discuss what to
look for when purchasing them.
Chapter 8

Build your own drone

Today, building a drone is easy and fun. You might ask why you would want
to build one versus purchasing one. There are a number of reasons to build
your own drone as we have discussed in Chapters 1 and 5.

DRONE RACING

• Many people who race drones, custom build their own drones. They
can get exactly what they want by doing it this way.
– www.thedroneracingleague.com
– Racing drones could start as cheap as $200
– A top racing drone could run $1000 to $1500

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-8 115

116 The Big Book of Drones

– What makes a racing drone?

⚬⚬ It’s fast and maneuvers easily

VIDEOGRAPHY

• Many people that use drones to shoot video or pictures, build their
own drones. This is because of the weight needed to carry cameras.
Multi-rotor devices are used to handle this load along with custom
sensors which can only be custom built.

– Who uses a drone for photography?

⚬⚬ Realtors
⚬⚬ Wedding photographers
⚬⚬ Land surveyors
⚬⚬ Agriculture
⚬⚬ Landscapers
⚬⚬ Bridge inspectors

DO-IT-YOURSELF (DIY) DRONE KITS

There are a few ways to build your own drone. A good way to get started is
to purchase a DIY drone kit. The parts have already been sized, so if it’s built
properly, it will fly with no issues.
There are a number of companies that make DIY drone kits:

GILOBABY – Makes a mini racing drone for beginners. The drone is easy
to put together and costs around $30.
Hobbypower – This company makes a nice mini racing drone (H250).
However, you will need a transmitter in order to fly this drone. This kit
costs around $90.
QWinOut – Makes the Tarot hexacopter. This DIY kit is made out of car-
bon fiber. Although this kit is pricy at $650, it does include everything
to get up and flying.

Most kits will not include the tools need to assemble the drone. It’s a good
habit to have a toolkit handy to make repairs to your drone. Some of the basic
tools you will need are:

Exacto knife for trimming the parts

Small screw drivers. Jewelers screw drivers work nicely. Slotted and philips
head
 Build your own drone 117

Needle-nose plyers
Magnifying glass
Finger-nail sanding board
Scissors
Paperclips

Spare parts such as propellers, batteries for the drone and controller, SD cards
if your drone uses one for video, and picture storage.
There are a few things to keep in mind when purchasing a DIY kit. As
indicated above, not all kits include a transmitter. Depending on what you
want to do with your drone, you could purchase a cheap one just to fly around
with, or a top of the line to compete with. The costs can vary from roughly
$80 to $1000 or more.
Take your time when building your kit. A drone must be perfectly balanced
in order to fly properly. Sometimes parts from a kit might have extra scrap
on them from the molding process that might need to be trimmed off. Make
sure that if you need to trim any wires, that you trim them all the same length
where possible.
If you are building a quad-copter, you will be given four propellers. Two
will be installed in the Clockwise (CW) direction and two in the counter
clockwise (CCW) direction. You will need to pay strict attention to get these
correct or your drone will not fly correctly.

3D PRINTING A DRONE

After building a few drone kits, you might want to custom build your own
drone. Drone parts are readily available online or from hobby stores. People
who build their own drones, frequently custom 3D print their own drone
bodies to specific needs. The advantage is that it’s relatively easy and cost
effective to change body designs. Drone 3D body designs are free and are
available by searching on the internet.
The PICO 110 High Performance Foldable Micro Quadcopter can be found
on many sites that carry 3D printer designs. For this example, I downloaded
the files from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2064676. When you down-
load the zip file, there will be six files that make up the design; a top, bottom,
and four connector arms. You will need to print two CW and two CCW
arms. The other two files can be used if you decide you want First Person
View (FPV). Since the body parts bolt together, you could always add this
functionality later.
I used the DaVinci XYZ printer to print my parts but you can use just
about any printer as long as the bed can handle the part size and the mate-
rial you plan to use. The designer recommends using Polylactic Acid (PLA)
to minimize warping, but the parts are so small, that the warping will be
minimal. I used Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) just because that’s
118 The Big Book of Drones

what was in the machine. With my setup, it took about 70 minutes to print
all of the parts.
Once your model is printed, you will want to start to install the com-
ponents to make it fly. The designer recommends using high performance
Spintech Sidewinder 7 millimeter brushed motors. For the flight controller,
there are a few recommendations including the Emachine FRF3 EVO with
built in FRSKY receiver or the Emachine DSF3 EVO with built in DSM2
receiver. Whichever flight controller you choose, make sure it is compatible
with your transmitter.
If you do not have a transmitter, the Spektrum DXe 6 channel transmitter
or the FlySky FS i6 6 channel transmitters are both good choices. Hubsan
makes good propeller blades. Remember to order two CW and two CCW
blades. It would be beneficial to have extra handy just in case.
A variety of materials are available for 3D printing. Depending on the
printer type, Nylon, ABS, PLA, metal infused, and a multitude of carbon
reinforced materials are available to print with. A more complete list of mate-
rials is covered in the next section. Almost every part of the drone can be 3D
printed with some exceptions. The motors, battery, and receiver/controller
cannot be 3D printed at this time. This should not be a show stopper since the
price of these parts is pretty cost effective to purchase.
Some other 3D printers that are good to use are:

The AnyCubic Mega is an entry level printer that uses a filament rack and
will work with PLA, Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU), and ABS fila-
ments. This printer costs roughly $279 US dollars. The bed is 8.27 ×
8.27 × 8.07 inches.
R-QIDI technology makes the i-Mates printer. This printer is totally
enclosed with an all metal frame. The printer supports PLA, ABS, TPU,
and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETG) and more. The i-Mates cost
roughly $449 US dollars. The bed size is 10.24 × 7.87 × 7.87 inches.
QIDI Tech makes the model-X industrial grade printer. It has a large touch
screen, WiFi, and can print a multitude of filaments including ABS,
PLA, TPU, and flexible filament. The bed is 11.8 × 9.8 × 11.8 inches.

For those of you that want to build a 3D printer in order to build a drone,
there are a number of options:

LABIST
Voxelab Aquila
Creality Ender
Geeetech
Tronxy

• Where can you get the drone designs?

 Build your own drone 119

• There are many sites that offer drone designs that you can download
to print your own drone at home. These sites make. STL or stereo-
lithography files available for download. Some top sites that offer.
STL files include:

– Cults
– Thingiverse
– YouMagine
– Pinshape
– MyMiniFactory
– GrabCad
– Autodesk 123D
– 3Dagogo
– 3DShook
– Instructables

Designing your own drone is an undertaking in itself. However, many advanced

drone pilots go this route because they see weaknesses in the drones they own
and want to make them better. You could start by copying the drone you have.
Take dimensions and build a design around what works. From there you can
modify it. Be careful not to put that design on any public sites. Since the design
is more than likely copyrighted, it would be a violation of their rights.
In order to design your own drone, you will need software to create the
designs with. The following software is available for free download or online
for free use:

• Design your own drone (CAD software)

– Cura
– matterControl
– 3DPrinterOS
– Slic3r
– MeshLab
– TinkerCAD
– 3D Slash
– 3D Builder

You could also use almost any Computer Aided Design (CAD) software for
the design. However, you then have to convert the design to a. STL (stereo-
lithography) file. If for example you are using AutoCad, it’s pretty easy since
AutoCad supports this file format natively. After creating your design, simply
use the export feature and save it as a. STL file.
If you do not have AutoCad or CAD software that supports the. STL file
format, don’t worry. You can still convert it. There are numerous online sites
that you can use to convert your design to a stereolithography format.
120 The Big Book of Drones

Once you have your design, you will now want to print it. What material
should you use? There are many materials to build your drone with. Some
materials are better than others to use, but it mainly depends on what your
intention for the drone is.

• Body material options

– ABS – It is highly durable, withstands higher temperatures but gives

off hazardous fumes. It has to be used with a heated bed and shrinks
a lot when cooling.
– PLA – It is cheap, low melting temperature, does not require a heated
bed, odorless, and is available in a myriad of colors.
– Nylon – Is high strength, flexibility, and durability. Like PETG, Nylon
absorbs moisture so it needs to be kept dry when cooling. It requires
a high nozzle and heating bed temperature to extrude a part properly.
– PP – Polypropylene is chemically resistant and food safe. An unfor-
tunate feature of PP is that it is difficult to print and warps a lot.
– PET/PETG – It (Glycol-modified) absorbs water easily from the air.
This means that the part has to cool in a dry place to avoid shrink-
ing. PETG is exceptionally good for parts that are subject to stress.
– HIPS – High Impact Polystyrene is a hard material with elasticity
of rubber. In 3D printing, it is typically used as a support material.
That means that you can extrude another material with HIPS and
then strip away the HIPS, exposing the structural material.
– PVA – Polyvinyl Alcohol is soluble in water. Products that require
them to dissolve in water, such as dishwasher pods can easily be cre-
ated with PVA.
– Metal – Metal infused filaments are available in a variety of metals
including copper, bronze, iron, aluminum, and stainless steel.
– TPE – Thermoplastic Elastomers have rubber like features. They are
durable and flexible, which mean they can tolerate repeated stress
and compression.
– Wood – Filament manufacturers have come up with a way to infuse
wood into PLA. Wood-PLA filament looks like read wood, but has
the durability of plastic. Wood PLA comes in many simulated wood
species including Pine, Birch, Cedar, Cherry, and Bamboo.
– Conductive – Conductive filament can be used to projects requiring
electrical conductivity. You can print circuit boards, sensors, and
keyboards. Virtually anything requiring electrical conductivity and
be printed with conductive filament.
– Carbon fiber – Produces and extremely strong part that is very light-
weight. One negative about the material is that it puts a lot of wear
on the extruding nozzle.
 Build your own drone 121

• Motors

There are many companies that make motors for quadcopters:

AKK, EMAX, Readytosky, and Crazypony are just to name a few. A
larger selection of motors will be recommended in Chapter 11, more
on drones.

• Propellers

– Drone propellers can be purchased in a variety of materials includ-

ing carbon fiber, nylon, fiber glass, and titanium. Again, it really
depends on your intent. Cheap plastic propellers are great for just
learning how to fly. You will crash it many times, and plastic pro-
pellers take a beating. There is a bit of a double edged sword here
because if you use carbon fiber blades, which are very expensive,
and you crash, you just wasted your money. So choose the blades
you use and what you plan on use them for wisely.

• Controller/receiver

– Every drone needs both a controller, also known as a transmitter and

receiver. Some transmitter manufacturers include Flysky, Hubsan,
and iFlight. There will be more recommendations in Chapter 11,
more on drones. Transmitters come in both 2.4 and 5 gigahertz ver-
sions and come in numerous channel varieties.
– The receiver is an electronic device attached to the drone and uses a
built-in antenna to receive the radio signals from the drone control-
ler. The transmitter and receiver need to match. It’s best to get the
transmitter and receiver from the same manufacturer, although not
mandatory. However, if you have a problem, then you only need to
go to one place to resolve the issue.

BUILD YOUR OWN UNDERWATER DRONE

There are not a lot of underwater drones that the average consumer can
afford to purchase. The ones that can be bought tend to be very expensive.
Additionally, keep in mind that underwater drones do use a tether. So, when
looking for an underwater drone, look for one that has a long tether.
It is possible to build your own underwater drone. I am in the process of
building one as this book is being written (see picture below). The drone I am
building will be made out of plastic tubing, some waterproof motors, a water-
proof camera, and a tether that connects to a control box. The control box
has a joystick that controls the drone’s forward and backward direction and is
connected directly to the motors and the power source. Diving and surfacing
are controlled manually by moving the tether up and down.
122 The Big Book of Drones

The body is ½′′ PVC tubing. The connectors are ½′′ as well. After the drone is
tested, you can weld the caps and connectors with PVC glue making it water
tight. If the body floats, then sand can be added to the body to make is less
buoyant.
The better underwater drones use a floating wireless access point. The idea
here is that the drone is connected by a tether to the floating wireless access
point. The drone pilot then connects wirelessly to the floating wireless point.
Pictures, videos, and control data are transmitted through the wireless con-
nection. This is a nice option to take pictures and videos without getting in
the water.
 Build your own drone 123

Not all underwater drones use a floating wireless access point. Some just
have a tether attached to a controller. This will allow people who want to
snorkel or scuba dive take picture and video of their underwater experience.
The only drawback is that you can’t see the output until you download the
pictures and video to a system for viewing. So if you thought you took a pic-
ture of you with a great-white, you will have to wait until the data is down-
loaded to see if you actually captured it or not.

A very cheap alternative

Some of you will still want to experiment with underwater drones but find
the cost prohibitive and building one from scratch is just out of the question.
If you just need to take pictures or video underwater, it’s possible to do it
cheaply. You simply need a glass jar, an underwater camera, silicone sealant,
waterproof glue, and some strong string. I think you get where I am going
with this. Put the camera in the jar in the on mode and taking video. Seal it
with silicone sealant inside the lid as well as outside. Tie the string, then glue
it to the lid and jar. You can now lower the camera into the water and it is
taking video. Even if a little water should get into the jar, it’s a waterproof
camera, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

SUMMARY

By using a DIY kit, anyone can build their own drone. For those of you that
have a 3D printer, you can now easily print your own drone and purchase
the parts easily online. We discussed why you would want to build your own
drone and discussed where you can get a premade design to 3D print one
yourself. We discussed the different materials that you can use to 3D print
one and what parts you will need to complete it. Finally, we showed an under-
water drone that we are currently working on and how you can build one
yourself.
Whether you are an experienced drone pilot or just a casual weekend flyer,
you can easily make your own drone.
In Chapter 9, we discuss DIY drone projects. Whether you purchased your
drone, built one from a DIY kit, or 3D printed one, this chapter will show you
different uses for your drone. There is a project that helps the seeing impaired,
one to check on your kids, projects to build your own drone race course and
many sensors and accessories you can add to your drone. If you like building
your own drone, Chapter 9 takes it to the next level.
Chapter 9

Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
drone projects

So now you own a drone, but what do you do with it? This chapter will walk
you through several projects that you can build yourself and also plants the
seeds so you can take them to the next level. Some projects are easy to build
and some you will find harder. The theme of this chapter is to use your drone
for other things than just entertainment.
We will describe how to use your drone to help a sight-challenged person,
how to use your drone to watch your kids when they are at the playground
and how to build a drone race course. Some people are into prepping these
days. Why not include a drone. We will discuss what you need to include
in your drone bug-out bag. What if you discover a drone flying over your

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-9 125

126 The Big Book of Drones

property? What would you do? We discuss some alternatives. We also cover
how to build a light show with your drone and how to use your drone to pho-
tograph you while skiing or snowboarding.
One big topic we discuss is how do you make money with drones? We cover
jobs that drone pilots might be interested in as well as some websites that hire
drone pilots.

WHAT ARE SOME OF ACCESSORIES YOU CAN

MOUNT ON YOUR DRONE?

For the most part, drones are small. You will need a large enough platform to
hold your sensors. What sensors could you add to your drone?

• Ultrasonic sensor

– Gives distance to an object. This could be used to detect what’s

in front of a drone and automatically stop or redirect itself

• Lidar – Light Detection and Ranging. A radar like system that uses
light from a laser.
• Multiple cameras

– Multiple cameras means multiple photo angles

You need to keep a few things in mind before embarking on building

your own drone projects; weight, balance, and aerodynamics. The more
weight you add, the harder the drone will have to work and the battery
will not last as long. So be careful to only add what you need to get the
job done.
Keeping the drone balanced is very important. By default, your drone will
work to try and keep things stable, but that only works to a point. Keep any-
thing you mount on the drone as close to the center as possible. If you can’t,
then balance out the drone by adding something (weights, second sensor, etc.)
to the other side. Also, keep in mind that you have to keep it in balance front
to back and side to side.
You will quickly find that a stable, lightweight platform to mount your sen-
sors on is very important. For many of the projects below, I used a diffuser
found in many overhead lights. The panel is made of plastic and is lightweight
because it has many square holes in it. The panel can be purchased at many
home improvement centers for under $10 USD. I cut a piece of the panel to fit
up under the drone between the four drone legs and used a zip tie to attach
it to the drone.
 DIY drone projects 127

WHAT CAN I USE MY DRONE FOR?

Drones to help the blind

People needing visual assistance do not have too many options today.
Companies offer the blind smart walking sticks. These devices can give
obstacle feedback; detect pot holes, and changes in surface texture. Other
manufacturers offer supposedly artificial vision and Global Position System
(GPS) capability. Where they lack is detecting low hanging objects, sign
boards, or open windows. Additionally, bumping into people is a common
problem. There is no call for help if someone should need assistance except
for the dependence on another person placing a call to law enforcement or
Emergency Medical Services. This proposal will offer a solution that will
do all of the above and give constant distance to object feedback, object
identification, and make a call to a monitoring service or emergency help if
needed. All of this will be accomplished with drones that fly and are terra-
firma based.
128 The Big Book of Drones

A man with a visual impairment is walking to the store. Aerial and terra-
firma based drones follow him, giving feedback on the environment around
him. In this scenario, the man would be alerted via a signal to his headphone
that a low-hanging tree is in front of him. The distance and type of object is
relayed so he can make course corrections. This is a fairly easy project to build
and code. There are many resources to help you with this. Check with the fol-
lowing associations that are available to help the visually impaired:

• American Council of the Blind

• American Foundation for the Blind
• Blinded Veterans Association
• Foundation for Fighting Blindness

Drones to watch your kids

It’s far too often that we see children abducted from play grounds. Another
idea for the use of a drone is to use it as a monitoring system for your chil-
dren. A drone can be programed to fly from your house to the playground
your child is playing at. You could do reconnaissance on your child without
them even knowing it. However, please keep in mind that you would be doing
reconnaissance on other children as well. This might not be acceptable to the
parents of those children.
Chapter 7 focused on programing a drone that you will need in order to
develop this project. You can either use GPS coordinates or distance as long
 DIY drone projects 129

as you are not too far from the area you want to monitor. You will need a
drone that you can download GPS coordinates to. Start by downloading map
software for your area. Depending on the software you are working with,
you can just click on the starting point, way points, and ending point, and
download the data to your drone. When you start your drone, it will fly the
coordinates you sent it.
A second option is to program it manually as described in Chapter 7. This
is pretty easy to do. Start by roughly measuring the distance to the area you
want to monitor. You can always adjust the distance by tweaking the value.
If you don’t want to use distance, you can program in GPS coordinates much
like described above. Today, you can get GPS coordinate information from
most cellphones.

The above picture is just a generic picture of an ordinary school playground.

We can see some swings, a soccer goal, and climbing poles in the background.
Regardless of the type of playground, the equipment or the location, a drone
can be programed to fly there and capture video. There might be some chal-
lenges if the playground is covered with trees. In that case, you might have to
be creative and fly closer. This might put you in jeopardy if you are flying over
people so you need to be very careful how you fly over a playground.

Drones to watch your house

This project involves tying your drone into your outside camera system. If you
have a whole house camera system, it might be possible to sync your drone
into it. As an example, if camera one is watching your back door and it trips
130 The Big Book of Drones

in the middle of the night, a program can be written to launch the drone to
that specific spot to “put eyes” on whatever or whoever is there.
Here is how you get started. You will need to review how to program your
drone as described in Chapter 7. So, you will need to program in the flight
path around your house. You can follow the program listed in Chapter 7 and
change the coordinates.
You will need a camera system that can act an alert. For instance, when
your camera detects movement, it might turn on a light with a relay or per-
haps it has a pull-up resistor. If there were one per channel, that would be
ideal. You will need a raspberry PI and a network to connect everything
together with.
If you only have one relay, then when the camera detects movement, it sends
a signal to the raspberry PI’s input (GPIO). The Raspberry PI then sends the
signal to the drone to takeoff. The drone will fly the path around your house
taking video or pictures the whole way. You will see what your drone sees and
have it recorded to give law enforcement should you need to.

Personalized drone videos

Drones are used quite frequently in the filming industry for those hard to
get shots in movies. Once, only the purview of helicopters and non-fear-
ing pilots, drones became cheaper and better for movie makers. Drone
pilots can fly drones into areas that helicopters cannot and don’t com-
plain about it.
You too can shoot your own videos with drones. You will need a drone,
high-definition camera, gimbal, large SD card, good weather conditions, and
a topic to shoot. Here is how to get started. Your drone is a flying camera, so
you just need to point it in the direction that the action is in. If you are using
a separate display for video, you will see what the camera sees.
When shooting video from a drone, slower movements are better. The
movements should be smooth and deliberate. Remember you have an advan-
tage over a regular camera, you can go vertical. So taking pictures from above
adds a new dimension to your shots. Also, don’t forget, you can use your
drone to pan out and away from a scene, again difficult for a fixed camera
to do.

Build a drone race course

It’s highly unlikely that you will have access to a major league football or
baseball stadium to create a real drone race course, but almost all communi-
ties have a little league or pee-wee baseball park. Optimally, you will need
poles or markers that are least 8–10-feet tall. For a simple race course, put the
markers 100 feet away from each other. You will need two people to make
 DIY drone projects 131

sure that each drone goes around the markers, and no one cuts them short.
Put the drones on the ground, in-line with one of the markers. The pilots
should stand mid-way between the markers. Use a whistle or air horn to start
the race. You can race as many times around the poles as you want. If anyone
cuts the markers short, then they get assessed a penalty.

An outdoor basketball court would work just as nice. The markers are built in
and hard to cut short. Put the drones in the center and the pilot’s should stand
mid-way on the sideline. Again, use a whistle or air horn to start the race.
132 The Big Book of Drones

If all else fails, on open field or backyard will do. This will give you the most
flexibility in building a drone course. If you own the property, then you can
do whatever you want, assuming you comply with any local building codes.
You can put up markers to fly around or through, hoops, to fly though, boxes
can be used as tunnels, and a net mound on poles makes a great back stop to
catch your drone at the finish line.
What if you live on a small property or apartment? No problem! We have
set up drone race courses in as little as a 10 foot × 10 foot area. You can fly
around and through boxes, chairs work well, and soccer cones make for great
markers. Speaking from experience, I would avoid using any lamps! I should
mention that you are obviously limited to the size of the drone you can use
indoors.

Drone bug-out bag

Are you a Prepper? Preppers believe that a catastrophe or massive disaster is
likely to occur during their lifetime and they want to be prepared to protect
their families and property. Whether you answered yes, no, or not sure you
may want to consider including your drone in your bug-out bag. For those
readers that are not Preppers, a bugout bag is a collection of supplies that you
would take with you, should there be an emergency and you need to leave
your primary residence.
The Prepper Journal, recommends using a drone as a force multiplier mean-
ing that it will increase your efforts of being successful in a disaster scenario.
A drone can be used for multiple purposes in a bug-out scenario. It’s impor-
tant to be able to see if your bug-out route is clear and passable. A drone
 DIY drone projects 133

can perform reconnaissance and show you exactly what is going on ahead of
where you are travelling.
Drones can be used to deliver supplies when roads are closed. Although the
capacity of a consumer drone is limited, commercial drones can carry a few
pounds of food or supplies.
Perimeter security is extremely important during a disaster. Knowing if
someone is coming at you is key to being prepared to defend against it.
If a drone does not have power, it can’t fly. You will need to keep your drone
charged and ready to go when needed. Carrying portable chargers is critical
to keep your drone charged. You might need three to four chargers for this.

MULTIPLE DRONES

Did you ever want to fly multiple drones at once? Let’s start with how to fly
two drones at once. You will need more than one antenna on your laptop or
notepad. Alpha Networks makes a nice antenna that’s affordable and plugs in
via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port. It would be better to use Linux for this
project, but it is possible to use Windows with some work. Once you plug in
your second antenna, you will have two wireless connections available to you.
Next connect each antenna to a separate drone wirelessly.
In Chapter 5, we learned how to program a drone. We can use the code
we saw in that chapter to control both drones at once. The code is enclosed
below:

var drone = require("ar-drone");

var client = drone.createClient();

client.takeoff();
client.after(5000, function() {
this.up(0.25);
this.stop();
})
client.after (5000, function() {
this.clockwise(0.5);
this.stop();

}). after(3000, function(){

this.stop();
this.land();
});

The definition in line one, “var drone = require("ar-drone");” will have to be

changed for one of the drones if you are using two different drones.
134 The Big Book of Drones

Drone versus drone

What if a neighbor has a drone and they fly it over your property? This is a
common issue that non-drone enthusiasts complain about. There are some
irresponsible drone pilots out there that do not respect the privacy of other
people. What if you could use your drone to take down another drone?
There are a couple of ways to do this ranging from the very primitive to the
very sophisticated. As an example of a primitive method, you could hang a
row of streamers from the bottom of your drone and fly in the direction of the
drone, aiming to get the streamers caught in the blades of the invading drone.
This would work best against an unskilled pilot, a non-agile drone or a drone
that does not fly fast.
Remember that drones are nothing more than flying computers with wire-
less and video capabilities. What if you could capture the signal from the
controller that is giving the drone commands and then replay them on your
drone? It is possible to do this, but very difficult to pull off. If your drone is
slower, then the best you can do is follow the other drone. You would need a
faster drone that you wouldn’t mind crashing into another drone.
Another option would be to use the follow-me feature that some drones
have. You would have to have this preprogramed and ready to work. Using a
picture of a drone could trigger the follow-me feature. Although you would
never take the drone down, it could lead you to the person controlling the
drone and then you could approach the pilot asking why they are flying over
your property.

Drone + Pwnagotchi = a lot of cracked passwords

 DIY drone projects 135

A Pwnagotchi is a device that can be used to capture and crack WPA/

WPA2 passwords. The Pwnagotchi is an open source project that is based
on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. You will also need a screen (Waveshare 2.13 inch
ePaper HAT), a large SD card, a battery pack, cables and a platform mounted
to the drone to carry all of the above.
You will need to flash the Pwnagotchi.img file to your SD card. When you
turn on your Pwnagotchi, you will need to keep it on for at least 30 minutes
in order to train it. Once it’s trained, you can mount the device on your drone,
with the battery pack, and fly it around your neighborhood collecting pass-
words. Keep in mind that the passwords are encrypted, for now.
When you feel you have enough passwords, or the battery on your drone
is about to die, fly your drone home. Take out the SD card and insert it into
your computer. The Pwngotchi created Packet Capture files (PCAP) on your
SD card. You can use Hashcat on Linux, MAC or Windows computer to
crack the passwords. You must first convert the PCAP files to Hccapx format
in order to use Hashcat. To crack the passwords follow these directions:

1. Get a copy of a password list like RockYou and put it into the Hashcat
folder
2. Execute the following command:

a. hashcat.exe –m 2500 PCAP.hccapx rockyou.txt

This could take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours to crack depending on

how much PCAP it has to process.

Drone fishing platform

Are you a fishing enthusiast? How about combining your love of fishing with
your love of drones? This is a simple project to pull off. You will need the fol-
lowing equipment:

Drone (a good size one to lift a fish out of the water)

Drone pontoons
Fishing line
Bobber
Bait

Of course, you use any configuration that you want regarding the fishing por-
tion. You will need to attach the fishing line across the landing rails. If you
only attach it to one, you run the risk of tipping the drone over. Attaching it
evenly to both rails will equal out the load. Leave several feet of line to the
bobber. Land the drone on top of the water and wait. When you see the bob-
ber dance up and down, you know you have caught something. Gently take
the drone off and back to shore, hopefully with a fish onboard.
136 The Big Book of Drones

I would avoid flying the drone over the water while waiting for a bite. The
noise will scare them off. Landing on the water with pontoons will provide a
quieter environment. Also, avoid tying directly to the drone without a bobber.
If a fish does bite and pulls your drone, it might pull the drone under water.
That would be one for the fish and zero for you!

A drone light show

Many hobbyists use their drone for light shows. You will need the following
hardware and software to be able to accomplish this:

Drone (large enough to carry the following devices)

Arduino UNO R3
1k Ohm resistor + red Light Emitting Diode (LED)
Breadboard with wires
9V battery with Arduino connector
Arduino Software IDE
Platform to mount all of the above on

Copy and paste the following Arduino sketch code into your Arduino sketch-
book (IDE).

int led = 13;

void setup() {
pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(led, HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(led, LOW);
delay(1000);

After you paste in the code, you will need to save it. Next compile the code. It
should compile without any errors. Then simply upload your code.
This project can easily be expanded to include multiple color LEDs or an
LED strip.
You will have to remember not to fly your drone at dark. The temptation
is there, but it is illegal in most states to fly at night. However, you can fly up
to dusk.
 DIY drone projects 137

Take your drone snowboarding

What will you need?

• Drone
• High-definition camera
• Gimbal
• Follow-me software

There are a lot of examples of people using their drone to take footage of
themselves doing sports. This is pretty easy to do. Chapter 7 explained how to
set up the follow-me feature. Once you have the drone setup with this feature,
launch the drone and it will follow you down the hill.

How to make money with a drone

Keep in mind that if you make money with your drone, you will need a pilot’s
license. That means taking and passing the FAA Part 107 test. The test costs
$150 USD and if you pass, the license is good for 2 years.

Selling photos and videos

There is a large market for drone pictures. Remember, that not everyone has
a drone. I used to live under a hot-air balloon flight path. I was very fastidi-
ous about keeping my lawn cut in a checker-board pattern. I would get many
people knocking on my door asking if I know how good my property looked
from the air. Someone always wanted to sell me a photograph of my property
taken from the air.
If you want to make money with drones, you have to spend some money.
The following are basics for drone photography:

Extra batteries
Filters for the camera
Photo editing software

Wedding photography
What better way to add to a wedding than showing pictures taken from a
drone. With the wedding party outside, you can take-off and take pictures
from all angles that a photographer could never get.
138 The Big Book of Drones

Selling drones
Reselling drones is a profitable business. Even though they can be purchased
online today, many people want to see the drone and fly it before buying one.
You as a drone reseller can offer this to your clients.

Drone clubs – Join a drone club. There are many drone enthusiasts out
there and they join clubs to be with other drone enthusiasts.
Drone events – Setting up a table at a drone flying event is a great way to
generate drone sales.
Drone conferences – You may not sell many drones at a conference, but it
is a great way to get your name out there.
Online sales – Evidently, people look to the internet to purchase just about
anything. Having an online presence allows for additional publicity and
sales that can be placed around the world.

Working with a realtor

Drones offer a new dimension to viewing a house. With a drone you can fly
the property, showing the potential buyers what the property looks like.

Working as a drone pilot

There is not a big need for professional drone pilots at this point. This will
change in the future as more companies adopt drones for commercial use.
You will need your Part 107 license, there is no getting around that.
Sites that offer employment to drone pilots:

www.soldbyair.com
https://dronebase.com/pilots
https://www.droneseed.com/
https://www.eversource.com/

If you are still interested in becoming a drone pilot, then the following indus-
tries use drones and are good sources to look for employment:

Agriculture
Construction (Inspection)
Bridge Inspection
Forestry
Mining
Gas (pipeline inspection)
 DIY drone projects 139

SUMMARY

We covered how to create a home-made drone race course, sensors you can
add onto your drone, taking your drone fishing and skiing, and how to make
money with your drone. How to make money with drones has been a huge
topic of interest. The job market is small, the interest and talent are big. There
are ways to make money flying drones, you just have to spend the time look-
ing for it and have patience. One option is to start your own business rather
than fly for someone else. Whether you fly for someone else or start your own
business, you will need a commercial drone pilots license which you can get
from numerous tech and secondary institutions today.
Chapter 10 is a very specialized topic. Most people that fly drones don’t
even think about how forensics applies to what they are doing, but it does.
Unfortunately, we only hear about it when someone does something they
shouldn’t with their drone like flying near an aircraft or crashing into a crowd.
This chapter is meant to help those who perform forensic investigations or
someone interested in working as a forensic analyst. We have included a tem-
plate showing the questions to ask and the evidence that should be collected
after a drone incident.
Chapter 10

Drone forensics

This chapter is dedicated to drone forensics. You might be wondering why you
would ever want to perform forensics on a drone. Unfortunately, we have seen
drones in the news that have caused problems at airports, privacy concerns,
and have even crashed and caused physical harm to people and property.
When we think of forensics, we think of a Medical Examiner trying to
figure out how or why a person died, or someone trying to pull fingerprints
off of a door or piece of furniture. The basic premise of forensics is based on
science and facts.

DOI: 10.1201/9781003201533-10 141

142 The Big Book of Drones

When a drone crashes into a crowd and injures someone, if the owner of
the drone is not apparent, then we will have to find who indeed owns it and
why it crashed. It could have been an accident, intentional, or a malfunction
of the drone. Additionally, someone must be held accountable for causing
the injury.
Performing forensics is not easy. It requires years of education and expe-
rience. We have tried to give you some criteria to ask questions to get you
started. The checklist discussed later in this chapter is a great starting point.
We can direct you as to what questions to ask, but in the end you will have
to do the analysis.

INTRODUCTION TO FORENSICS

There has been a huge proliferation of drones over the last few years. This is
mostly due to a reduction of hardware cost and ease of availability. Today, a
drone for consumer use can be purchased for as little as $20. Of course, the
functions and capabilities are limited in that price range. A drone with an HD
camera, GPS, long battery life, and a dedicated controller can easily top $800
or more. Cost is directly related to options added and capabilities.
Consumers purchase drones for various reasons. Some consumers are not
quite sure what the hype is about and so they purchase one just to have it.
Whatever the reason, drones are quickly filling the skies. Many consumers do
not take the time to learn how to fly them properly, and crash into and destroy
private property or fly into restricted air space. There are no established pro-
cedures for conducting a forensic review of a drone.
Forensic researchers have not developed a specialized approach to drone
forensics, which may have future legal implications. This research will
develop a set of forensic procedures, which can be applied to a broad range of
drones that is necessary to address the larger issues of ownership and mission
purpose. This work is paramount in the fact that drone sales are rising rapidly
and are expected to reach over 3 billion by 2024. More drones in the sky will
equate to more incidents and the need to identify issues like ownership, mis-
sion purpose, and responsibility.
Research on this topic will focus on the forensic techniques, exploits, and
data collection analysis of drones in the DoD Group 1 category, small drones
while producing a set of standards for a forensic investigation. This study can
help identify whether the procedures developed for forensic investigators can
be applied to other categories of drones. As an example, forensic techniques
already exist for performing analysis of removable media. Drone forensics
offers a unique opportunity, which requires unique forensic techniques to
collect and analyze information about the whole drone.
Not all drones have the same options or operate the same way. Some drones
are controlled by Wi-Fi devices and cellphones. Some drones have a dedi-
cated controller, which operates in the WiFi (2.4 gigahertz) range, but are not
 Drone forensics 143

considered true WiFi devices. Some have on-board storage while others do
not. Some drones have removable media and other devices you must connect
to the device to download the data. Many drones have some kind of cam-
era on-board and some come with multiple cameras and top-of-the-line optic
packages to enhance image capture.
A loss of opportunity analysis would quickly show traditional forensic
media analysis will only go so far in investigating drone incidents. Drones
are quickly filling our air space so a deeper, more focused, long-term solu-
tion to drone forensic analysis is needed to analyze the opportunities that
drones have to offer. Without a forensic analysis technique specifically geared
towards drones, forensic investigators will undoubtedly be trying to fill a large
void in analysis possibilities, which no other forensic technique can fill. As an
example, the direction the drone came from could be valuable information.
Digital media analysts are not trained to look at this information. However,
it could play an extremely important role in determining whom it belongs to
and what its mission is.
Key questions to answer are:

1. How do you best determine drone ownership?

It is very difficult to determine who owns a drone due to the fact that
although it is mandatory to register a drone, there is nothing in place to
force registration. Additionally, a drone can be flown from miles away
making it more difficult to determine who flew it. Some drones can be
programmed to run a specific flight path without an operator interven-
tion at all.
2. What information can be collected to determine drone ownership?
Drone operators flying a drone weighing >0.55 lbs but <55 lbs, must
register their drone with the FAA. Failure to register can result in a fine
and/or criminal charges. This registration information can be used in a
forensic investigation to determine drone ownership. However, outside
of a monetary penalty and a possible criminal action; nothing forces
a drone owner to register it. The last thing on a criminal or terrorists
mind is to register their drone with the FAA.
3. What was the main mission of the drone?
A hacker can disable security features on a drone to do things such as
fly the drone in a no fly zone or allow the drone to fly higher than it
was intended. A forensic analyst may never know the exact mission of a
drone; however, they are left with the aftermath, trying to assemble the
pieces back together to determine what happened.
4. What private information was collected by the drone?
A major concern regarding drone usage is they could record images of
people. Drones could be outfitted with sensors such as a high-zoom lens,
microphone, and a Global Position System (GPS), which would allow
additional personal information to be collected on people. Lawyers
could argue this might be a violation of privacy.
144 The Big Book of Drones

Evidence collection, analysis, and correlation are key to determining who

owns a drone and what its mission was. When there is an incident involving a
drone, forensic analysts are the last person thought of. It’s not the fault of law
enforcement. They are often forced to deal with new technologies without
having the proper training or tools to deal with these situations.
A Forensic Analyst with drone experience can be invaluable when there
is an incident involving a drone. They will know what evidence to collect
and how to collect it. It’s important to treat the accident scene like any
other crime scene. That means not touching anything, especially the drone.
The crime scene still needs to be processed, but the drone and associated
devices need to be processed by someone with experience processing digital
media and avionic data. Most local law enforcement agencies do not have
this experience.
The following evidence collection form can be used to collect the data that
is in need of processing. Keep in mind that this form is only for evidence
collection and not analysis. A trained analyst will be able to look at all the
evidence as a whole and answer the questions who owned the drone and what
its true mission was.

Evidence collection form

Direct evidence Collection examples
Real or physical evidence Laptop
Cell phone
Tablet
iPad
Drone controller
Demonstrative evidence Maps of crime scene
Mapping software
Photographs of crime scene
Video of crime scene
Diagrams of crime scene
Documentary evidence Drone manual
Assembly directions
User manual
Pics/Video
Custom application code
Questioned documents Journal entries
Threating letters
Confessions
Computer links
Witness testimony

(Continued)
 Drone forensics 145

Circumstantial or indirect evidence

Scientific evidence Fingerprint identification
Drone serial number
Drone manufacturer
Drone make/model
Sales receipt
Attached sensors
Accessories
Empirical evidence Temperature
Weather
Location
Date/time
Direction drone was found facing
Remaining charge on battery
Individual evidence Fingerprints
Drone tail number
Class evidence Drone material
DoD class
Homebuilt or bought
Computer generated evidence Memory dump
Storage analysis

The form above covers the following items:

Laptop, cellphone, Tablet, iPad, drone controller – This is an obvious
one. If we are able to get ahold of this device, then we could determine
ownership.
Maps of crime scene, mapping software, photographs/video/diagrams of
crime scene – finding these could indicate the intent. If anything, it could
show the crime that was committed. Frequently, criminals post videos of the
crimes they committed on YouTube or other social media. You might get
lucky and spot a person in the video, which may lead to a name or two. It’s
also possible to find video on the drone itself. This could even be older video
that may lead to who owns the drone
Drone manual, assembly instructions, user manual, pics/videos of drones,
custom code – none of this could be considered evidence in itself. However, if
you have a drone that was used in a crime and the user manual and/or code
that was used to control it, you might have enough evidence to determine who
owns it.
Journal entries, threatening evidence, confessions, computer links, and eye-
witness testimony – this evidence could tie a person to a drone that might tie
them to a crime. Having a taped confession stating exactly what the person’s
intentions were would prove helpful to determine motive.
146 The Big Book of Drones

Fingerprints, serial numbers, drone manufacturer, make/model – hav-

ing the drone manufacturer/serial number/make and model, an investigator
could ask a drone manufacturer to get drone sales for a specific area and
possibly tie it back to a person. As an example, a drone crashed into a crowd
at a public park and injured someone. The police now have the drone. It’s a
DJI Phantom 4 Pro. An investigator could contact DJI and ask if they sold
any drones to anyone in the area. Now, there are number of factors here to
consider. The drone could be borrowed, the pilot could be from out of town,
or the drone could have been resold several times. This is just one avenue the
investigator has.
Temperature, weather, date/time, direction the drone was facing when
found, and remaining battery charge – none of these can determine drone
ownership or the underlying mission of the drone. However, some of these
might be indicators. As an example, if a drone was found with 98% bat-
tery life, this could indicate that it didn’t fly very far and the owner could be
nearby.
Weather could indicate why it crashed. It’s important to record the weather
conditions when arriving on a crash scene. If it is windy or rainy, it could be
a factor in why a drone crashed. The direction the drone was found it along
with the battery life could help find the owner. Assuming it was found in a
northerly facing direction with 98% battery life, one could easily assume it
came from a southern direction, but obviously not always.
Even the date and time could tell us something about a drone’s owner or
mission. What if someone crashed a large drone into a crowd of people on
September 11? Is this someone trying to avenge something? What if a drone
was involved in an incident at 3:00 am? More than likely an adult is involved
and not someone under age, but we are just making blind assumptions here.
We would need the full picture in order to make informed decisions.
Fingerprints, drone tail number – Drone tail numbers are easy to look up.
There is an Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) database that will show
the town and state the drone is registered in. You will have to be in law
enforcement in order to find out who actually owns the drone. This informa-
tion is not released to the general public.
A drone can be dusted for fingerprints. It is doubtful that any matches will
come back, but it does put the fingerprints in a documented database. If an
arrest is made, then there will be something to compare them against.
Drone material, DoD class, homebuilt versus bought – any of these could
help to determine drone ownership. IF a drone was 3D printed for example,
asking around the neighborhood if anyone owns a 3D printer might be a good
clue to follow. DoD class would indicate if the drone is a recreational or com-
mercial drone. How many individuals own a commercial drone?
Memory analysis – A memory dump of the drones memory will yield quite
a bit of information about the drone and possible its owner and true mission.
First, dump the memory with DumpIT an open source software application.
Memory can then be analyzed with Volatility by the Volatility Foundation,
 Drone forensics 147

an open source software package that runs on Windows, Linux, or MAC

operating systems. During analysis, look for commands that the drone was
given. Initial GPS coordinates might still be available along with graphics and
flight information.
Storage analysis – Most drones come with some way to store images.
Cheaper drones may only hold them in onboard memory and you might need
a cable to connect to it to download the storage. We would mainly be look-
ing at images. Images might lead to who owns the drone or where it took
off from and what it was photographing, giving way to what its real mission
was. Storage analysis can be conducted with a number of tools. Autopsy is
one of the easiest to use. This software will recover any deleted data as well.
Although not open source, Autopsy is free to download.
Remember that nothing is really deleted in a computer, so doing a forensic
analysis could show images that were tagged for deletion and again, lead to
who owns the drone. One thing to take note here is that if the drone was
resold, you might pick up images from the previous owner. This again could
be helpful as they might tell you who they sold it to.
To recover data in Autopsy, use the following directions:

1. Click on Autopsy to start the application

a. Select New Case

2. A window asking for Case Information will be displayed

a. Fill in Case Name and Base Directory

b. click next

3. An Optional window will be displayed

a. You do not have to fill in anything in this form, but if you are doing
a real case, you will want to
b. A new case will be created

4. The Add Data Source window will be displayed

a. Choose your data source. If you are analyzing the SD card from a
drone, then choose Local Disk. If you took an image, then choose
Disk Image or VM File
b. Click next

5. Choose the disk you want to analyze from the Select Disk button

a. The rest of the fields are optional

b. Click next
148 The Big Book of Drones

6. The Configure Ingest Modules will be displayed

a. Use the default modules chose

b. Click next
c. Your image will be ingested into Autopsy

i. Depending on the size of your disk or image, it could take quite

a while to load in the data

LETʼS ANALYZE THE DATA

Now that we have collected all of this data, what does it mean? If you work
as an investigator, then this section will be pretty easy for you. If you do
not, then analysis is hard to teach. Its part art, part science and part “gut”
feeling.
As we alluded to in the descriptions above, you are looking for correlations.
The simple way to explain this is with an example. You get called to inves-
tigate a drone incident. You show up at the scene and are told that a drone
was flying in a neighborhood, flying close to houses and looking in windows.
One of the officers on scene, found the drone in a field. You connect the
drone to your laptop and discover that the drone is owned by someone named
“Johnny”. You got this information from the “Drone Name: Johnny’s drone”.
An astute investigator would start knocking on doors asking if a Johnny lives
in the neighborhood.
This is a very simple example and not all incidents will end this cleanly.
Using a more complex example, you get called to investigate a drone flying
over a local airport. This concerns the airport owners given the damage a
drone can do to an airplane and put people’s lives at risk. You arrive at the
scene to find the local police have found the drone crashed off the side of a
runway. You plug the drone into your laptop and search for a name, but can-
not find anything. You notice that some pictures have been taken and down-
load them. You ask the local police of they can pinpoint the area of any of the
pictures taken. One policeman says yes, he knows the neighborhood of one of
the pictures. He indicates that it’s only a few blocks away.
You check the battery level and see that it is only 5% used. This tells you
that the pilot must not have been far away. You are taken to the neighbor-
hood the policeman identified and start knocking on doors. It only took three
tries until a neighbor identified someone a few doors down has a drone. The
scenarios can go on and on and we cannot cover every one. The point here
is that you will need to do some work to find out the owner of the drone and
what their intention was.
 Drone forensics 149

SUMMARY

Due to the increase of people flying drones, there has been an increase in
drone incidents; thus, forensics has become increasingly important. This
chapter concentrated on drone forensics and what it takes to perform a drone
forensic investigation. We have included some of the questions that would
need to be asked during the investigation. We have also included some exam-
ples of the evidence that would need to be collected by investigators as part
of the investigation.
By now you probably have a huge interest in drones. Chapter 11 shows
you where to buy a drone, what drone conferences you can attend and where
to buy sensor and accessories. Privacy is become a big problem so we have
included some states that have passed privacy laws that you should be aware
of. We also included a closing note on drones which discusses flying at night,
if you add anything to your drone; weight is always a problem, and bat-
tery length. Finally, the chapter closes with the future of drones. This is our
attempt to predict the evolution of drones five, ten, and even twenty years or
more into the future.
Chapter 11

More on drones

Now that you are part of the drone community, you will want to grow with
this community. This chapter will give you resources in order to enhance your
drone’s capabilities, attend drone conferences, get a 107 pilots license, and
understand the future of drone flight.
It’s very important to keep up on drone laws and what other people are
doing with drones. the best way to do this is to attend a drone conference. The
following are some drone or drone related conferences:

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152 The Big Book of Drones

DRONE CONFERENCES

• USDroneCon – This conference used to be held in Maryland, but

will be moving to New Jersey. This conference caters mostly to con-
sumers. Check the website for current information at www.usdrone-
con.com.
• Drone World Expo – This conference is for the commercial user. The
conference changes places every year, so check the website for current
information at www.expouav.com. It is also known as Commercial
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) EXPO Americas. This conference
is also held in Europe and is called Commercial UAV Expo Europe.
• InterDrone – This conference moves from place to place. You can get
updated inforamton from interdrone.com. This conference focuses
mostly on commercial uses.
• Xponential – This conference is a conference that focuses on the
commercial user. Go to the website for up to date information at
www.xponential.org.
• Consumer Electronic Show (CES) – this conference is one of the
largest electronic shows in the country. Every aspect of consumer
electronics is exhibited from automotive to home uses, to family,
and sports. You can get the latest information from www.ces.tech.

Throughout this book, we mention resources for purchasing motors, propel-

lers, transmitters, and drones. This section builds on what was already pre-
sented by giving you more places to purchase from.

• Drone manufacturers

– DJI
– Parrot Drones SAS
– Yuneec
– UVify
– Hubsan
– Autel Robotics
– FreeFly
– Air Hogs
– Ambarella
– 3D Robotics

• Sensor manufacturers

– LiDAR

⚬⚬ LeddarTech
⚬⚬ Velodyne
 More on drones 153

⚬⚬ Riegl
⚬⚬ Routescene

– Ultrasonic sensors

⚬⚬ MaxBotix
⚬⚬ FT Technologies
⚬⚬ Grove Ultrasonic

• Camera manufacturers

– 4k cameras

⚬⚬ DJI
⚬⚬ GoPro
⚬⚬ Flir
⚬⚬ Raptor Photonics
⚬⚬ Teledyne Lumenera
⚬⚬ Phase One
⚬⚬ Kappa Optronics

– Active gimbals

⚬⚬ DJI
⚬⚬ Walkera Technology
⚬⚬ Mio
⚬⚬ Pixy
⚬⚬ Gremsy

• Accessories

– Landing lights

⚬⚬ LumeCube
⚬⚬ FlyPro
⚬⚬ AeroLEDs
⚬⚬ Aveo Engineering

– Floatation gear

⚬⚬ Dronerafts
⚬⚬ Thekkiinngg
⚬⚬ Mavic
⚬⚬ Haoun
⚬⚬ O’woda
154 The Big Book of Drones

– Batteries

⚬⚬ Grepow
⚬⚬ Tattu
⚬⚬ Lipo
⚬⚬ Vivitar
⚬⚬ Fytoo
⚬⚬ Hoovo
⚬⚬ Zeee

– Propellers

⚬⚬ Sensenich
⚬⚬ Blomiky
⚬⚬ APC
⚬⚬ T-Motor
⚬⚬ RayCorp
⚬⚬ GIDY
⚬⚬ Genfan
⚬⚬ HQProp
⚬⚬ iFlight

– Backpacks

⚬⚬ Manfrotto
⚬⚬ Lykus
⚬⚬ SSE
⚬⚬ Seasky
⚬⚬ Eirmai
⚬⚬ Mososi

– Toolkits

⚬⚬ ToolBay
⚬⚬ Strebito
⚬⚬ Xool
⚬⚬ Hobby-Ace

– 3D printer manufacturers

⚬⚬ Anycubic
⚬⚬ FDM
⚬⚬ BIQU
⚬⚬ Voxelab
⚬⚬ Creality
 More on drones 155

⚬⚬ FLSun
⚬⚬ Labists
⚬⚬ Elegoo
⚬⚬ DaVinci

– 3D filament manufacturers

⚬⚬ Gizmo Dorks
⚬⚬ NinjaTek
⚬⚬ Duramic
⚬⚬ Overture
⚬⚬ Hatchbox
⚬⚬ Jarees
⚬⚬ 3D Solutech

A CLOSING NOTE ON DRONES

Do the right thing as a pilot, fly responsibly. It only takes a few minutes to
ruin it for everyone.

Register your drone

Unless you have a very small drone, it’s going to need to be registered. Rather
than walk the line on what should or should not be registered, just register
your drone regardless. It’s cheap and relatively painless to register your drone.
This shows that you are a drone pilot that cares about the hobby and would
like to be part of the drone community.

Weather
If you fly your drone in bad weather including windy, rainy, or snowy condi-
tions and crash into a person or building, you could be liable. Although it’s
not illegal to fly in these conditions, it’s a bad practice to do so. If you cause
damages or hurt someone, more than likely, your insurance will not cover you
in these circumstances.

Flying at night
It is illegal in most countries to fly your drone at night. Even though you may
be able to see your drone’s lights at night, you will lose depth perception. If
you fly at night and crash your drone, it is highly unlikely that your insurance
will cover you. You are breaking the law when you do this and insurance
companies generally frown on this type of behavior.
156 The Big Book of Drones

Weight they can lift

Recreational drones are limited in what they can carry. Piling on accessories
could cause you to lose maneuverability of your drone and cause it to crash.
You are the pilot and you are responsible for making sure your drone is safe
to fly. Be careful that if you add accessories to your drone that it can still fly
safely and you have total control of it.

Battery length
Drone technology has come a long way. When drones first appeared for rec-
reational use, battery capacity was limited to a few minutes of flying time.
Today, some batteries will last almost an hour. The DJI Matrice 300 RTK is a
good example of how long a drone can stay flying. It boasts a 55 minute flying
time. However, this is the exception and not the rule. Most drones are still
limited to 10–20 minutes. The rest are somewhere in between.

Banned countries
We discussed several countries that have banned drone use. This is no joke.
If you get caught sneaking your drone into the country and flying it, you
run the risk of being arrested and jailed. Not know is not an excuse. The US
Embassy may not be able to help you out depending on the country. Know
before you fly!

Privacy
We could probably write a book just on privacy. Privacy is a big topic of
discussion in the drone community today. It’s very easy for a drone pilot,
on purpose or by accident, to fly over a neighbor’s property and take pic-
tures or video. This infringes on a property owners privacy. Depending on
the state you are leaving yourself open for arrest and confiscation of your
drone. Respect other people’s privacy and don’t fly over their property. If your
neighbor is having a party, don’t fly your drone above their fence line, you are
just asking for problems and will ruin it for the rest of the people that fly their
drone responsibly.
In 1946, in the United States v. Causby, the courts ruled that, “The
landowner owns at least as much of the space above the ground as he can
occupy or use in connection with the land”. They did not designate how
much above the land that is. This has, and remains to be, a subject that
is open to interpretation. Legal experts feel that the rights the owner has
on their land, extend to the airspace above the land however ill-defined
that is.
As an example is the State of Louisiana v. Benson where a drone pilot was
arrested and is being charged with intent to surveil. This is a very complicated
 More on drones 157

case in that the pilot followed all of the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) regulations during flight operations, but he did fly over his neighbor’s
property. The property owner was a deputy sheriff for the county. The prop-
erty owner confronted the neighbor, the drone operator, and complained.
Less than a week later, the sheriff’s department arrested the drone pilot and
was charged with an intent to surveil.
Some of the sticky points to this case include the fact that the drone pilot
was flying 40 mph at the time over the neighbor’s property. This hardly
shows an intent to surveil. Video collected from the drone substantiates
this fact along with another fact that the pilot did not stop at all over the
property. Complicating this case even more, the state of Louisiana is claim-
ing that they have control of the airspace above a property which directly
conflicts with congress that states the FAA has control of all airspace. This
case has not been resolved yet, but it will be interesting to see how the
courts rule.
The following is a list of states and laws pertaining to drones used for sur-
veillance or invasion of privacy:

Arkansas
Act 293: Prohibits the use of drones to commit video voyeurism (inva-
sion of privacy). Class B misdeLmeanor; Class A misdemeanor if images
were distributed or transmitted to another party, or posted to the
Internet.
Act 1019: Prohibits the use of drones for surveillance and/or the gather-
ing of information on “critical infrastructure” (oil refinery, chemical man-
ufacturing facility, power plants, etc.) without written consent.

California
Civil Code Section 1708.8: Prohibits the use of drones to capture video
and/or a sound recording of another person without their consent (inva-
sion of privacy). Violators are liable for up to three times the amount of
damages related to the violation, and a civil fine of between $5000 and
$50,000.

Florida
Criminal Code Section 934.50: Drones may not be used for surveillance
in violation of another party’s reasonable expectation of privacy; this
includes laws enforcement. However, police may use drones with a valid
search warrant. Violators may be ordered to pay legal fees and compensa-
tory damages; victims may seek injunctive relief.

Michigan
Michigan Compiled Laws Section 324.40112: Prohibits the use of drones
to harass or interfere with a hunter (charged as a misdemeanor; up to 93
days incarceration and/or up to $1000 fine per offense).
158 The Big Book of Drones

Mississippi
Mississippi Code Section 97-29-61: Prohibits the use of drones to peep into
a building for the “lewd, licentious and indecent purpose” of spying on
another party (charged as a felony, up to 5 years in prison; up to 10 years
in prison if the person spied on is a child 16 or younger)

North Dakota
North Dakota Code Section 29-29.4-01: Limits the use of drones for sur-
veillance, crime investigation, and other uses by law enforcement (creates
the requirement of a warrant, etc.)

Tennessee
Tennessee Code Section 39-13-903(a): Prohibits the use of drones to cap-
ture images at open-air events where 100 or more people are gathering for
a ticketed event (statute specifically refers to fireworks events). The law
also prohibits the use of drones over prison grounds.

Texas
Gov. Code Section 423.002(a): Clarifies the legality of using drones to
capture images by certain professionals (such as photographers), with the
requirement that individuals are not identifiable in images unless they have
given express permission.

Utah
Utah Code Title 63G, Chapter 18: Authorizes police to use drones for data
collection at testing sites and to find missing persons in areas where there
is no reasonable expectation of privacy.

Virginia
Virginia Code Section 19.2-60.1: Requires that police obtain a warrant
prior to using a drone for criminal investigations or surveillance (unless it
is for an Amber Alert, Senior Alert, or Blue Alert).

Just because your state does not have a specific law regarding privacy, it does
not mean that you can’t be charged with breaking a law. For instance, let’s say
you fly your drone over to your neighbor’s house to see what he is up to. You
fly around the house to a window and accidently see his wife getting changed.
Accident or not, this could be considered voyeurism and is prosecutable in
most states. The drone has a camera and that’s all that is needed in order to
charge you.
As an example, a couple from Utah was each charged with one count of
voyeurism when they used a drone to film a family in their bedroom and
bathroom. One of the victims saw the drone flying outside of his window
and decided to get into his car and follow the drone. He tracked the drone
to a nearby parking lot and was able to capture the drone and look at the
 More on drones 159

images on the drone’s SD card. He saw quite a few images of his family and
other people in their bedrooms and bathrooms as well. He turned it into the
authorities and they were able to identify the owner.
Utah does not have a specific law that addresses using a drone for voyeur-
ism. However, in the laws eyes, there is no difference using a drone which
does have a camera and a person standing outside the window using a camera
to take pictures.

THE FUTURE OF DRONES

The laws governing what drone pilots can and cannot do with their drones
will get tighter. The fines will get stiffer and the prison time for breaking the
laws will get harsher.
I see drones as going the way of the Segway. When the Segway was released,
it was a sensation; everyone wanted one. It was marketed in 2001 as a trans-
portation alternative. Unfortunately, the company ended production of the
Segway in 2020. Today, drones are a curiosity to most people. To the average
consumer, a drone has little value except for entertainment.
Drone usage will grow in the commercial and military space. Drones will
be used as much as possible to replace people doing dangerous or costly
jobs.
I expect that the controllers a pilot uses to maneuver a drone will evolve. I
can see them voice controlled, much like an Alexa, gesture controlled, or even
mind controlled. Using voice and gesture control is in our current capability.
I don’t see mind control capability for quite a few years yet, but it will come.
Drones will evolve into appliances. Meaning, they will be sold out of the
box with certain functions. As an example, if you want to use your drone
for entertainment, they will come preprogrammed to do tricks; no clicking
of buttons on the controller to do a flip. If you are a commercial company
looking to deliver packages, you will be able to purchase drones that do that
specific function. The drone will have the claws to hold the package and soft-
ware that you can easily program an address into.
Connectivity is a real sticking point for drones. Today, you are limited to
how far you can fly your drone with limited range and connectivity to the
receiving device. On an excellent day, Wi-Fi can only reach 300 feet. This is
with the assumption of good atmospheric conditions and no obstructions in
the way. Tomorrow’s drones will use satellite communications. You will have
the capability to control your drone from miles away.
If you remember, when Global Position System (GPS) became available to
the general public, it had limited accuracy. Only the government had this
capability. The government implemented selective availability, and accuracy
was only to within 16 feet. Eventually, the government lifted selected avail-
ability, and accuracy improved. Today, you can get a GPS with L5 capabil-
ity that is accurate to within a foot. Commercial drones will use satellite
160 The Big Book of Drones

communication technology to fly miles from the controller. At first, the com-
munication bands will be limited, but the government will likely open the use
of satellite communications for drone use.
Unfortunately, consumer drones will not have this capability. Additionally,
you will need a whole new class of license to fly using satellite communi-
cations. Pilots use to having eyes on their drones, will need to learn to fly
using just sensors and cameras. Today’s children and young adults will be well
suited for this type of work given they are excellent at gaming.
Encryption will become increasingly important to drones in the future. The
link must be encrypted so it cannot be intercepted and the drone taken down.
Military drones tend to use this feature more, but we have seen the United
States lose a drone to a poorly encrypted communications link. Commercial
drones will use this in the future. Commercial drones will be bigger and more
costly. No one wants to have an expensive drone hijacked or stolen due to an
unencrypted communications link.
Battery life has been a real problem with drones from day one. Battery life
will be extended into hours in the future. Additionally, you will be able to
recharge literally on the fly. You will be able to land your drone on a charging
station and within minutes, recharge your battery.
In general, drones will become bigger and capable of more lifting power.
This will be needed in order to use a drone as a workhorse. Drones will need
to be bigger in order to lift larger cameras along with sensors in order to make
them useful.
Commercial drone traffic will increase. Air space will have to be devel-
oped to allow for many more commercial drones. Drone ports will be
built in order to takeoff and land drones. These will be similar to airports,
manned with drone-traffic controllers to direct the takeoff, flight and land-
ing of drones. This also means that radar will have to get better in order to
track drones.
Although only a pipe dream today, drones will be used to transport people.
This will obviously be a commercial endeavor, but just like planes and heli-
copters, there will be Do-It-Yourself (DIY) enthusiast that will design and
build their own. The FAA will have to allow for airspace for this new class of
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS’s). In order to fly without a pilot, they will
have to take advantage of the latest, GPS and obstacle avoidance systems,
much like driverless cars do today.
I believe that commercial companies will start out transporting one-to-two
people at first, then eventually the passenger numbers will grow to be like a
UAS bus. There will be commercial routes they will fly with stops like a city
bus. Passengers will get off and on as they wish. This type of UAS will need to
be powered by hydrogen cells with backup systems in case of failure.
Finally, we will see huge gains in the military using UAS’s as vehicles for
transporting people, supplies, and as weaponized platforms. It will start with
using them as supply ships because there is still a lot to learn and little to no
 More on drones 161

risk to human life if they crash. They will be armor plated and capable of
landing in exact places that require resupply.
The military will weaponize these UAS platforms. It’s feasible to mount
laser guided weapons to pinpoint where to drop bombs or fire high caliber
automatic weapons. A spotter could be used to light up a target and the
UAS will fire on that area. Should the UAS be shot down, then it could self-
destruct. The key here is that there would be no loss of life. These platforms
will be produced by the thousands, so the cost will be minimal to manufac-
ture. This is not a new concept to the military. They are using drones heavily
in everything from reconnaissance to firing missiles already, so the jump to
using a larger Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) (quadcopter) platform would
be minimal.

Don’t wait, get out there and start flying!

Definitions

AGL: Above Ground Level. The height that is measured from the ground
surface.
Arduino: An open source hardware microcontroller and software platform that
allows users to connect to and control the physical world. The Arduino
hardware is distributed by the Lesser General Purpose Lucense (LGPL) and
General Purpose License (GLP) license, which allows distribution by anyone.
CCW: Counter clockwise (The direction in which one set of propellers spin
on a drone).
Code: This is the computer code that we typically call an application.
CW: Clockwise (The direction in which one set of propellers spin on a drone).
DIY: Do-It-Yourself. The act of building or modifying things yourself rather
than hiring someone to do them for you.
DoD: Department of Defense. The federal department in charge of national
security.
Drone: The FAA defines a drone as a vehicle which is not piloted by a human
from within the vehicle itself.
EU: European Union. The EU is made up of 27 countries that are located
mostly in Europe. The EU represents almost half a billion people
FAA: Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA is the main authority in the
United States that enforces drone laws.
Fixed wing drone: A fixed wing drone is different than a quadcopter in that it
typically only has two motors versus four, does not take off vertically, it
usually has to be thrown into the air. Most fixed wing drones are designed
to look like fighter aircraft.
Forensics: The science that is used to solve a crime. In the drone field, we are
looking for who the owner is, why the drone failed, and what was the
intent of the pilot.
FPV: First Person View. FPV allows a drone pilot to view video and control a
drone from a driver’s perspective.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol. A protocol that allows one computer to transfer
data to another computer. It should be noted that this protocol is very
insecure since it transfers credentials and data in clear text. Secure FTP
has replaced this protocol which encrypts the credentials and data.

163
164 Definitions

GHz: Gigahertz is a unit of measure for Alternating Current (AC). It repre-

sents one-billion hertz or cycle of time.
GDPR: General Data Protection Regulation. This is the European Union
framework for the collection and processing of personal information.
Hacking: The act of trying to gain unauthorized access to a system or com-
puter. In the context of this book, a hacker is someone that modifies their
drone to do something it was not designed to do. It could also be someone
that uses undocumented features.
IP address: Internet Protocol address. A unique identifier that each computer
uses to communicate on a network. IP addresses are also known as logical
addresses. There are currently two types of IP addresses; IPv4 and IPv6.
IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numbers and typically look like 192.168.1.1.
IPv6 addresses are 128-bit and look like 2001:0DB8:AC10:FE01: (the
extra zeroes are omitted).
LAANC: Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability. A joint
venture between industry and the FAA. LAANC provides drone pilots
access to controlled airspace below 400 feet.
LiDAR: Light Detection and Ranging. A sensor that works much like radar
but uses light from a laser.
MAC address: Media Access Control address. A unique identifier that is
assigned by a device manufacturer. Also known as the physical address.
MAh: MilliAmp Hour. One thousandth of an ampere flowing for one hour.
MHz: Megahertz is a unit of measure for Alternating Current (AC). It repre-
sents one-million hertz or cycle of time.
NATO: North American Treaty Organization. NATO is really an alliance
between roughly 30 countries to provide a collective defense against any-
one outside the alliance.
NTSB: National Transportation Safety Board. According to their website, the
NTSB is charged with investigating transportation accidents. More than
likely, this would be the agency to investigate a drone incident especially
if it involved a plane, train, or caused a major accident.
OPSEC: Operational Security. This is the security you apply to protect your
equipment, computers, your home and even yourself.
Quadcopter: Also known as a UAV, UAS, or drone. A quadcopter has four
motors with propellers that spin to lift the drone.
Raspberry PI: A single board computer originally developed to help teach
computer science in schools. The PI was developed by the Raspberry Pi
Foundation along with Broadcom. Current models include the Pi Zero
(W and WH), Pi 4 Model B, Pi 400, and Pi Pico. The boards are popular
with hobbyist, starting as little as $5 USD for the Pi Zero.
Sensor: In the context of drone technology, a sensor is any device that attaches
to the drone and collects physical data to be processed. As an example,
this could be lidar, radar, or a thermal imaging camera.
 Definitions 165

Telnet: A protocol used to connect to a remote computer. This is an outdated

protocol. SSH (Secure Shell Protocol) should be used when feasible. Most
drones support Telnet, but not all support SSH.
TSA: Transportation Safety Administration. Created after 9/11, the TSA is
tasked with strengthening the security of our nation’s transportation
systems.
UAS: Unmanned Aerial System. Another name for a UAV, quad, or a drone.
UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Another name for a UAS, quad, or a drone.
Index

B Drone maintenance, 70
Flying a drone, 65
Building your own drone FPV, 73
Build your own drone, 115 How to build an obstacle course, 76
DIY drone kits, 116 Know your drone, 68
3D printing, 117 Military drone pilots, 80
Drone racing, 115 Obstacle Avoidance, 74
Underwater drone, 121 Registration, 67
Return To Home, 74
C Safety tips, 66
Spare Parts, 70
A closing note on drones, 155 Stunts, 75
UA visual perception, 78
D Using headless mode, 73

Definitions, 163
DIY Drone Projects H
Accessories, 126 Hacking a drone
DIY Drone projects, 125 Drone Identification, 89
Drone bug-out bag, 132 Hacking a drone, 81
A drone light show, 136 MAC address, 85
Drone race course, 130 Protecting your drone, 99
Drone versus drone, 134 Replay attack, 88
How to make money with a Taking down a drone, 97
drone, 137 Telnet, 82
Multiple drones, 133 Transferring files, 84
Pwnagotchi, 135 Hardware and Software
Drone Forensics Commercial Drone Manufacturers,
Analyze the data, 148 50
Drone forensics, 141 Drone add-ons and accessories, 56
Introduction to forensics, 142 Drone Costs, 55
Key questions, 143 Hardware and Software, 45
Military Drones, 53
F Troubleshooting, 59
History of Drones
Flying a drone Ancient times, 16
Auto takeoff/land, 75 Chapter Two Summary, 27
Commercial flying, 72 Fixed wing, 23
Drone incidents, 77 History of Drones, 15

167
168 Index

The history of the FAA, 26 International laws, 40

Iran, 22 Laws governing drones, 29
Military drones use, 22 National Parks, 33
Other countries own drones, 23 Part 107, 35
Remote controlled, 23 Privacy, 39
Takeoff and landing, 23 Register your drone, 36
Use of military drones today, 22 Sport Arenas, 31
WWI, 18 The White House, 30
WWII, 19 Wildlife refuges, 31

I M
Introduction More on drones
Agriculture, 5 Accessories, 153
Chapter One Summary, 13 Camera manufacturers, 153
Cinematography, 5 Drone conferences, 152
Construction, 5 Drone manufacturers, 152
DoD drone classes, 9 The future of drones, 159
Drone delivery, 6 More on drones, 151
The Drone Market, 8 Sensor manufacturers, 152
Drone racing, 7 States and laws pertaining to drones
Entertainment, 6 used for surveillance or
Finding people, 6 invasion of privacy, 157
Fun, 7
Introduction, 1
Military, 7 P
Other classification systems, 10
Programming a drone
Save lives, 6
Code Explanation, 105
Programming a drone, 103
L Python, 108
Laws Governing Drones
Airports, 30
Drone accidents, 37