Detection Capabilities

July 26, 2026 · View on GitHub

This document details the drone detection capabilities of the WarDragon platform across the current product lineup — WarDragon Pro (Mobile or Drop-In Kit), WarDragon Elite (Mobile or Drop-In Kit), and the legacy WarDragon Pro v3.

Detection Overview

WarDragon detects drones through multiple complementary technologies:

Technology	Protocol	Hardware	Pro	Elite	Pro v3
DJI DroneID	OcuSync 2 / 3 / 4+	DragonSDR	Yes	Yes	Yes
WiFi Remote ID	IEEE 802.11	Alfa dual-band card (Pro / Elite), Panda + ESP32 (Pro v3)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bluetooth Remote ID	BT5 LR	TI-based board (Pro / Elite), Sonoff DragonTooth (Pro v3)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Analog FPV video	5 GHz race bands	BladeRF + DragonSig	—	Yes	Legacy via wardragon-fpv-detect
RFD900 + MAVLink decode	900 MHz	BladeRF + DragonSig	—	Yes	—
mLRS + MAVLink extraction (active work)	Multi-band	BladeRF + DragonSig	—	Yes	—
ELRS (planned)	Multi-band	BladeRF + DragonSig	—	Yes	—

DJI DroneID Detection

Supported Protocols

Protocol	DJI Models	Frequency	Coverage
OcuSync 2	Mavic Air 2, Mini 2, Air 2S	2.4 / 5.8 GHz	Full telemetry
OcuSync 3 (standard)	Mavic 3, Mini 3 / 3 Pro, Air 3	2.4 / 5.8 GHz	Full telemetry
OcuSync 3 Pro / OcuSync 4+	Mini 5, current generation	2.4 / 5.8 GHz	Activity detection out of the box; full telemetry with DragonScope

Coverage Tiers (Current OcuSync Generations)

Coverage Tier	What You Get	Requirements
Detection only	Hash ID (e.g. `drone-alert-{hash}`), detection frequency, RSSI	Standard DragonSDR (default; included with all current kits)
Full telemetry	Serial, drone GPS, pilot GPS, home point, altitude, speed, RSSI	DragonScope Drone ID Service — annual subscription, requires data connectivity

OcuSync 2 / 3 standard detection is unaffected by DragonScope state and continues to work fully offline.

DJI drones only broadcast DroneID while motors are spinning. Power-on alone activates the OcuSync control link but does not start the DroneID broadcast.

Range Expectations

Real-world detection distances with the DragonSDR:

Configuration	Typical Range	Notes
Stock kit antenna, obstructed / urban	Several hundred meters	Depends heavily on obstacles and noise floor
Stock kit antenna, clear line of sight	1 – 2 km	Common outdoor field-test result
With external LNA and directional antenna	Up to ~10 km	Reported in favorable RF environments with elevated / directional install

These are field observations, not spec-sheet claims — actual range depends on antenna choice, elevation, obstructions, and the specific drone's transmit power.

Field Observations

DJI O4 Air units: activity detection has been confirmed on newer O4-based Air airframes with the standard DragonSDR firmware.
DJI Neo 2 (with add-on): full DroneID decode has been confirmed in the field on the Neo 2 when paired with the appropriate add-on configuration.

More field-confirmed models are added as we validate them. Detection support for a specific model isn't a fixed spec — the DragonSDR firmware and DragonScope service both continue to expand coverage.

Data Extracted

From DJI DroneID signals, WarDragon extracts:

Drone Position: Latitude, longitude, altitude
Drone Velocity: Speed, heading, vertical speed
Pilot Position: Latitude, longitude (operator location)
Home Point: Takeoff/return location
Identification: Serial number, drone type
Signal Data: Frequency, RSSI

Hardware: DragonSDR

Repository: dragonsdr_dji_droneid

The DragonSDR runs custom firmware optimized for DJI DroneID detection:

Frequency range: ~70 MHz to 6 GHz
Dual-channel reception
Real-time decoding
Network output via dji_receiver.py

Performance Factors

Factor	Impact	Optimization
Antenna gain / directionality	Higher gain and directional pattern extend range substantially	Panel or Yagi antennas for fixed installs
External LNA	Adds several dB of usable link budget — this is the single biggest range multiplier we've seen in the field	Optional add-on for extended-range deployments
Line of sight	Clear LoS dramatically improves range	Elevate the receive antenna
RF environment	Urban / congested spectrum shortens usable range	Filtering, siting away from noise sources
Drone altitude	Higher drones stay in LoS longer	N/A

WiFi Remote ID Detection

Standard Support

ASTM F3411 - Remote ID standard
ASD-STAN 4709-002 - EU standard
Broadcast on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands

Data Extracted

Per ASTM F3411 specification:

Basic ID: UAS ID (serial number, registration, UTM ID)
Location/Vector: Position, altitude, speed, heading
Operator: Operator ID and location
System: Timestamp, area count, category/class

Hardware

Current — WarDragon Pro and Elite:

Alfa dual-band WiFi card — 2.4 / 5 GHz, monitor mode, external antenna
Fed into droneid-go (native WiFi Remote ID support, -g)

Legacy — WarDragon Pro v3:

Panda Wireless PAU0D — dual-band 2.4 / 5 GHz, monitor mode capable, external antenna
ESP32 module — separate low-power WiFi Remote ID scanner over UART
Both fed into droneid-go

Current Pro and Elite kits do not ship the ESP32 or the Panda card — the Alfa card handles WiFi Remote ID on its own.

Range Expectations

Real-world detection distances with the stock kit antenna on Pro / Elite:

Environment	Typical Range	Notes
Open / rural field, clear LoS	700 m+	Field-confirmed on stock kit antennas
Busy / mixed environment, some obstructions	Several hundred meters	Depends on noise floor and obstacles
Dense urban with heavy 2.4 / 5 GHz congestion	Reduced	RF congestion is the dominant factor here

Range scales further with upgraded antennas and elevated / directional installs — these numbers are baseline observations with what ships in the kit.

Bluetooth 5 Long Range Remote ID

Protocol Support

Bluetooth 5 Long Range (LE Coded PHY)
Extended advertising packets
ASTM F3411 Bluetooth broadcast format

Data Extracted

Same as WiFi Remote ID (ASTM F3411 specification)

Hardware: DragonTooth Dongle

Based on Sonoff hardware with Sniffle-compatible firmware:

Repository: droneid-go

Feature	Specification
BT Version	Bluetooth 5.2
PHY Support	LE 1M, LE 2M, LE Coded (S2, S8)
Sensitivity	-95 dBm (LE Coded)
Antenna	External SMA

Range Expectations

Bluetooth 5 Long Range significantly extends detection:

PHY Mode	Typical Range	Notes
LE 1M	100-200m	Standard BT range
LE Coded S2	300-500m	2x range vs 1M
LE Coded S8	500m-1+ km	4x range, slower

DragonSig — FPV / RFD900 / mLRS / ELRS Detection (Elite Only)

DragonSig is the signal-detection service that runs on the BladeRF included with the WarDragon Elite kit. Pro doesn't include a 2nd SDR, so DragonSig isn't available there.

DragonSig retunes the BladeRF via software to whichever mission you've configured. Mission set:

Analog FPV video — 5 GHz race bands
RFD900 / 900 MHz telemetry — link detection plus MAVLink decode for SiK / RFD900 links (extracts GPS / heading etc. from decoded MAVLink)
mLRS (active work) — link detection plus MAVLink extraction from the mLRS link to obtain GPS and other telemetry, same way as RFD900
ELRS (planned / on roadmap) — ExpressLRS control-link detection / characterization

The BladeRF is dedicated to whichever mission DragonSig is configured for at any given time — it isn't sweeping multiple bands simultaneously on a single radio. If you need persistent multi-band coverage, contact us about kit options with multiple 2nd SDRs.

DragonSig runs on the BladeRF, so DJI DroneID detection on the DragonSDR continues uninterrupted regardless of which DragonSig mission is active.

DragonSig is proprietary — the binary ships pre-installed on Elite kits. Source is not currently open.

FPV Analog — Frequency Coverage

The DragonSig sweep covers the standard 5 GHz FPV race bands and adjacent channels:

Band	Frequency Range	Channels
A	5725-5865 MHz	8
B	5733-5866 MHz	8
E	5645-5945 MHz	8
F	5740-5880 MHz	8
R (Race)	5658-5917 MHz	8
L	5333-5613 MHz	8
X	4990-5200 MHz	8

Detection Method

Wideband FFT energy detector with adaptive thresholding
FM envelope check filters out WiFi / OFDM signals
PAL / NTSC comb-filter classifier confirms analog video
ML-assisted classification (YOLO / ONNX) extends to additional signal types over time
Alerts publish on ZMQ port 4226 in the same JSON envelope as the legacy detector — DragonSync ingests without changes

mLRS — Long-Range LoRa Control Link (Active Work)

mLRS is an open LoRa-based long-range RC control link (Matek mR900 and similar) used on custom and long-range drones. Unlike SiK / RFD900 it's frequency-hopping LoRa, so DragonSig runs a purpose-built LoRa detector for it. Bands supported: EU868 and FCC915.

DragonSig separates the mLRS output into two alert tiers:

Source	What It Means	Track type
`mlrs_confirm`	The mLRS link is confirmed present in range	RF contact — no verified position
`mlrs_reasm`	A MAVLink packet from inside the link has passed all CRC checks and its GPS coordinates pass sanity checks	Tracked drone with real lat / lon

Identity. Each mLRS link carries a stable per-link 16-bit identifier that survives every hop. Drones show up as MLRS-LINK-<XXXX> in DragonSync / MQTT / TAK — one hopping link = one persistent marker.

See DragonSig for the full mLRS envelope and alert structure.

Notes

FPV analog — no native position data (uses WarDragon GPS as the location)
RFD900 / 900 MHz — position is included when MAVLink from the link decodes cleanly; otherwise WarDragon GPS is used
mLRS — position is included when MAVLink from the link decodes cleanly; otherwise the alert stays an RF contact
Requires WarDragon Elite — the BladeRF and DragonSig binary ship on Elite kits only. Pro and Pro v3 don't include a 2nd SDR.

Legacy FPV Flow (Pro v3)

The earlier wardragon-fpv-detect flow (repo) used GNU Radio with gr-inspector and the suscli fpvdet plugin. It remains documented for Pro v3 and other single-SDR deployments — see the upstream repository.

Multi-Protocol Detection

WarDragon detects drones across multiple protocols simultaneously. Each detection source feeds into DragonSync:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Detection Sources                             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                     │
│  DJI DroneID ─────┐                                                │
│  (DragonSDR)      │  ◄── DragonScope (optional subscription)       │
│                   │      decodes O3 Pro / O4+                      │
│  WiFi Remote ID ──┤                                                 │
│  (WiFi dongle)    ├──► DragonSync ──► TAK / MQTT / Lattice / API   │
│                   │                                                 │
│  BT5 Remote ID ───┤                                                 │
│  (BT dongle)      │                                                 │
│                   │                                                 │
│  FPV / 900MHz / mLRS / ELRS ─┘ ◄── DragonSig (Elite only, BladeRF) │
│  (1 mission at a time)                                             │
│                                                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Note: DragonSync tracks drones by their serial number (ID). If a DJI drone broadcasts both DJI DroneID and standard Remote ID using the same serial number, they will be merged into a single track. However, if the serial numbers differ between protocols (which can happen), they will appear as separate tracks.

Detection Coverage Map

Approximate detection ranges with standard antennas:

                            │
                       1 km │     ★ DJI DroneID (directional)
                            │
                     500m   │  ●─────● BT5 Long Range
                            │
                     200m   │  ○───○ WiFi Remote ID
                            │
                       0    │  ◉ WarDragon
                            └─────────────────────────────

Improving Detection Range

Antenna Upgrades

Protocol	Upgrade	Expected Improvement
DJI DroneID	9 dBi panel antenna	2-3x range
WiFi RID	6 dBi omni	1.5-2x range
BT5 LR	9 dBi Yagi	2-3x range

Site Selection

Elevate WarDragon for better line of sight
Minimize obstructions between unit and sky
Avoid metal structures that cause reflections
Consider RF environment (avoid high-interference areas)

External SDR Integration

WarDragon supports external SDRs for extended capabilities:

KrakenSDR: Direction finding
RTL-SDR: Additional spectrum monitoring
HackRF: Wide frequency coverage