DJI Neo, FCC Updates Freqs., Legal Battle in AR, DJI ME Gets 4G

Welcome to your Weekly UAS News update. We have four stories for you this week:

Let’s dive into the details.

DJI Neo Release

First up this week, DJI finally released the Neo. We’ve covered many of the Neo leaks over the past few weeks, but here’s the official information:

• The Neo weighs 135 grams and has an 18-minute flight time.
• It includes QuickShots and can be voice-operated.
• It features a 1/2-inch sensor with a 12-megapixel image and 4K ActiveTrack.
• It has a built-in propeller cage and 22 GB of internal storage.

The Neo will be available for pre-order in the United States starting this week. You can visit the DJI website to learn more. We should be getting our hands on one very soon to test it, and we’ll have some videos to follow.

New FCC Rules for Drones

Next up, the FCC is adopting new spectrum rules for drones. The rule allocates the 5,030 to 5,091 megahertz band for non-network access, meaning these are designed for direct communication without the need for additional network infrastructure—perfect for using with drones.

Along with the new band, there’s also the introduction of what’s called DFMS (Dynamic Frequency Management System), which allows a user to get a temporary frequency to ensure efficient management of that specific spectrum. To get access to the band right now, an operator must submit a request through the FAA and then the FCC. If approved, the operator must complete an online registration with the FCC, but they will ask for approval from the FAA first before you can do that.

It’s unclear at the moment where the request should be going directly to the FAA, but we’ve reached out to the help desk to try to figure this out, and we’ll keep you updated probably next week.

Legal Dispute in Arkansas

A legal dispute has arisen from a drone flight in Arkansas. The company Elemental Environmental Solutions filed a lawsuit against another company called Clean Harbor for a drone flight that flew over their chemical storage facility without any permission.

The lawsuit is based on Arkansas law that considers using a drone for surveillance or gathering information about critical infrastructure without written consent illegal. In addition to the information collected by Elemental Environmental Solutions, the pilot that flew for Clean Harbor admitted that they were “instructed to perform aerial surveillance of the property.” We’ll keep you updated as this unfolds.

DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise Series Gets 4G

Lastly, the DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise Series has gotten a cool new feature. The Mavic 3E is now 4G compatible. The 4G dongle appears to piggyback on the back of the Mavic and uses the data connection port instead of the SDK port, leaving the SDK port open for whatever you want to do with it.

The system is called 4G Enhanced Transmission. It uses both OcuSync and 4G to maintain the link. DJI notes that during a 30-minute flight relying on 4G, the remote controller and the dongle will each use about one gig of data. We’ll see if we can get our hands on one of those.

That’s it for this week. We are live from Vegas next week, and then we’ll be back in the studio. Have a great week, and we’ll see you on Monday for the live show.