Ukraine’s D·Vision SDR detects video from Russian drones

Kyiv startup CODE380 has developed the pocket-sized D·Vision SDR receiver to pick up live camera video from many Russian drones. Ukrainian drone teams can view the feeds on its screen and see where a drone is heading and what its pilot is aiming at.

The drones transmit video over the air without scrambling it, allowing anyone with a suitable receiver to watch. According to Defense News, the device weighs about 10 ounces, less than half the weight of competing Ukrainian models, one of which weighs a couple of pounds. The receiver also monitors radio channels that Russia’s newer Molniya drones began using for video in June.

Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, a radio specialist who advises Ukraine’s president, said in a June Facebook post cited by Defense News that “most detectors don’t see these frequencies, or see them poorly.” He warned that relying too heavily on a detector could prove fatal.

Beskrestnov has also warned that digital video could eventually replace analog, which would leave receivers like the D·Vision SDR unable to detect the feeds. The New York Times reported in August that some Molniya drones use AI guidance, Nvidia chips and emit no signals.