DJI will harden the airport geofencing after the recent disruption of a drone

A three-dimensional giant barrier will prevent DJI drones from flying too close to major European airports. Although the company's drones have been incorporating geofencing technology since 2013, the new technology – developed by aeronautical technology company Altitude Angel – extends the restricted area from a simple two-dimensional circle to a much larger three-dimensional area.

The announcement came after drones had shut down Gatwick, the UK's second airport, as Christmas approached, blocking hundreds of flights. Although a local couple was arrested by the police, they were later released without charge. As a result, we still do not know who was responsible or what brand of drone was used. Gatwick and Heathrow airports also purchased their own anti-drone systems as a result of the disruption.

Image: DJI

The new DJI system, dubbed Geospatial Environment Online (GEO) 2.0, uses three different size exclusion zones, depending on the size of the airport. In addition to restricting flights in an oval around the runway itself, the geographical fence also includes an "altitude zone" at both ends of the airport. This last zone is three-dimensional, which means that you can still pilot a drone at low altitude once you are far enough away from the runway.

According to the UK, DJI has announced that the update will involve 32 European countries in total, including 19 countries that previously had no geofencing badistance. The update of GEO 2.0 will be available from the end of the month. Users will need to update the firmware of their drone and badociated DJI Go 4 mobile app.