What Remote ID Actually Broadcasts About You

If you have worked out which Remote ID pathway you need and are now wondering what your drone is actually saying about you every second it is in the air, this is the answer. The list of broadcast fields is short, it is written into the regulation, and one of those fields changes depending on which pathway you picked.

The short version: a Standard Remote ID drone broadcasts where you are, updated continuously. A drone with a bolt-on broadcast module broadcasts where you took off from, which is fixed for the whole flight. Nobody receiving either one can look up your name.

The two pathways do not broadcast the same thing about you

A Standard Remote ID drone has to broadcast eight things, and they are listed in 14 CFR 89.305. A unique identifier, which is either the aircraft serial number or a session ID. The latitude, longitude and geometric altitude of the aircraft. Its velocity. A time mark. An emergency status indicator.

And two more: "an indication of the latitude and longitude of the control station" and "an indication of the geometric altitude of the control station." The control station is wherever the person holding the sticks is standing. If you walk while you fly, that field walks with you.

A broadcast module is the retrofit option, and its required fields sit in 14 CFR 89.315. Same identifier, aircraft position, altitude, velocity and time mark. But instead of your live position it broadcasts "an indication of the latitude and longitude of the take-off location of the unmanned aircraft," plus that location's altitude. There is no emergency status field either.

That difference is deliberate, and the FAA explained why in the final rule. The take-off point is "intended to provide an approximate location of the UAS operator, based on an expectation that the UAS operator is located in close proximity to the unmanned aircraft take-off location." It works as a stand-in because it can be measured by the module alone, "without any dependency on external systems or equipment," and because module flights are line-of-sight only.

That last part is a rule, not an assumption. Under 14 CFR 89.115, flying on a broadcast module requires that "the person manipulating the flight controls of the unmanned aircraft system must be able to see the unmanned aircraft at all times throughout the operation." The same visual requirement applies to flying inside an identification area without any Remote ID equipment at all.

How precise, how often, and for how long

The performance floor is in 14 CFR 89.310. Positions have to be "accurate to within 100 feet of the true position, with 95 percent probability." Aircraft altitude gets 150 feet, control station altitude gets a tighter 15 feet.

So the pin dropped on you is good to roughly a hundred feet. On an open field that points at a general area. On a suburban street it is close enough to walk to.

The refresh rate is once per second or better, and the data cannot be stale: the rule requires broadcast "no later than 1.0 seconds from the time of measurement to the time of broadcast." The aircraft also "must not be able to take off unless it is broadcasting," and it keeps broadcasting from takeoff to shutdown. Module rules in 14 CFR 89.320 mirror the 100-foot, 150-foot and one-per-second numbers.

There is no minimum range in the regulation, but there is a maximum-effort clause. The broadcast device must be "designed to maximize the range at which the broadcast can be received," using unlicensed spectrum under 47 CFR part 15 that works with ordinary consumer devices.

Can a stranger turn that into your name?

No, and the reason is a mismatch between two different numbers.

What your drone broadcasts is a serial number. What the FAA's public-facing registry answers to is a registration number. Those are not the same thing, and the registration number is not one of the broadcast fields.

The final rule spells this out. "Because the serial number is not generally available to the public, members of the public will be unable to correlate a broadcasted serial number with identifying information of the individual who owns the UAS through the public facing registry." It goes further: "Members of the public cannot generally receive a part 48 registrant's name or address if their request to the FAA identifies only the serial number, rather than the registration number."

For hobbyist registration under part 48, the only registry information generally available to the public is the registrant's country, state, city, postal code, and how many aircraft they have registered. Serial numbers are not in that public set at all.

Part 47 registration is the exception worth knowing about, and it catches people out. That is the older aircraft registration path, used for drones over 55 pounds and chosen by some operators for other reasons. For part 47 registrants the rule states the publicly available registry information "includes the registrant's name, street address, country, state, city, postal code, and additional information about the registered unmanned aircraft." If you registered under part 47, your name and street address were already public before Remote ID existed.

The privacy option in the rule is still not switched on

The regulation lets the unique identifier be either the serial number or a session ID, a rotating identifier issued by a Remote ID service supplier that only the FAA and authorized entities can trace back to the aircraft.

It is not available. The FAA's own Remote ID page still describes it in the future tense: "In the future, operators of Standard Remote ID drones may be able to choose between broadcasting their drone's Remote ID-compliant serial number or a Session ID."

So in practice, today, every compliant flight broadcasts a fixed serial number that stays the same flight after flight. Anyone logging broadcasts in one spot over time can tell that the same aircraft came back, without ever learning who owns it.

Who can actually pick it up

The broadcast is unencrypted by design, and the FAA rejected the alternative outright. Many commenters asked for the control station location to be visible only to the FAA and law enforcement. The agency's answer: "The FAA does not intend to limit who can receive the broadcast messages, and allowing encryption of certain message elements would limit who can receive the broadcast messages only to those with the capability to decrypt the messages. Allowing encryption is inconsistent with the FAA's policy that the remote identification message elements should be publicly available information."

In practice the receiver side is patchier than that sounds. Remote ID rides on Bluetooth 4, Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi Beacon or Wi-Fi NAN, and no single phone handles all four well. The OpenDroneID Android receiver project notes that all tested devices pick up Bluetooth legacy advertisements continuously, while Wi-Fi NAN reception was confirmed on only one handset, and Android throttles Wi-Fi beacon scanning by default from Android 8 onward.

iPhones have a harder limit. Dronetag's Drone Scanner documentation states that "on iOS devices, the reception of Wi-Fi RID signals is restricted, resulting in the inability to detect drones using Wi-Fi for Remote ID, such as DJI drones." An iPhone scanning a field with a DJI aircraft overhead can legitimately show nothing.

Range is the other reality check. AeroDefense, which sells dedicated Remote ID detection hardware and so has an obvious interest here, writes that while smartphone apps can pick up the broadcasts, "their range is incredibly limited" and an app "might only detect a drone when it is practically right on top of you." Their commercial receivers are the comparison being sold, so treat the numbers as a vendor's, but the underlying point about phone antennas is sound.

What the FAA heard, and what it decided anyway

If your instinct is that broadcasting the pilot's live position is a lot to ask, you are in large company. The rule records that "a significant number of commenters" opposed it, citing "concerns about the privacy of their operations and that this information could increase the dangers for UAS operators and their property potentially resulting in assault, home invasion, and theft." Several described confrontations and threats they had already experienced, some involving firearms.

The Consumer Technology Association submitted survey results, summarized in the rule, "showing 90 percent of UAS owners were not comfortable with publicly sharing remote identification information such as pilot location, identification information, and historical flight data; and nearly 40 percent were less likely to purchase a UAS if that is required."

The FAA adopted the requirement anyway. Its stated reason is that "the inclusion of the control station location enables the remote identification message to create a direct link between an unmanned aircraft and its operator; promoting the accountability inherent in manned aviation." On the personal safety point it pointed to existing law against interfering with aircraft and said "community outreach and other precautions are better suited to tackle these issues."

One suggestion drew a specific and practical answer. Commenters compared the broadcast to a locked cockpit door. The FAA replied that "the analogous and appropriate practice would be to operate from a secure or restricted access location as necessary."

What you can actually do with this

Three things follow from the field list, and none of them require any gear.

Where you stand is a choice. With Standard Remote ID the broadcast tracks your real position, so launching from your own driveway and staying there puts your home in the message for the whole flight. Walking a few hundred feet out first is the entire mitigation, and it is the one the FAA itself gestured at.

With a broadcast module, the take-off point is frozen at the moment of launch. Pick that spot on purpose rather than by habit, because it is the only ground location that leaves the aircraft, and moving afterwards does not update it.

And if you want to see what you look like from outside, install a Remote ID scanner app and fly your own drone. Android will show you more than iOS will. Whatever shows up on that screen is the whole of what a bystander gets, minus your name.

Which pathway applies to you is the question that comes first, and it turns on weight, whether the flight is commercial, and whether your aircraft has Standard Remote ID built in. Our Drone Remote ID Compliance Checker walks that decision in a few clicks. Once you know the pathway, the field list above tells you what it costs you in visibility.