DJI Drone Data

PILS can perform automatic decoding of the .DAT file created by the DJI Matrice 600. The resulting conversion does not return a detailed file such as DATCON but has all the required fields for the project analysis. The details for DJI drone data is presented here.

Supported Formats

CSV ExportDAT Files

DATCON CSV exports:

datetime,latitude,longitude,altitude,height,velocity_x,velocity_y,
velocity_z,pitch,roll,yaw,gimbal_pitch,gimbal_roll,gimbal_yaw,...

Encrypted binary flight logs:

• .DAT files from DJI Matrice 600
• Internal decryption tool available
• XOR-encrypted messages
• Organized by message type (GPS, RTK)

DAT File Format & Decoding

DAT files contain encrypted binary messages that are parsed and decrypted by PILS.

Message Structure

Each message in a DAT file follows this structure:

Byte 0:       0x55 (marker)
Byte 1:       Message length
Bytes 2-4:    Reserved
Bytes 4-5:    Message type (little-endian uint16)
Byte 6:       XOR encryption key
Bytes 6-9:    Tick (timestamp, little-endian uint32)
Bytes 10+:    Encrypted payload

Decoding Process

1. Split messages: File is split on 0x55 marker bytes
2. Extract header: Parse message type, encryption key, and tick
3. Decrypt payload: XOR each payload byte with the key byte
4. Unpack fields: Use struct format codes to extract fields from specific byte offsets
5. Convert units: Apply conversion functions (e.g., lat/lon scaling)
6. Organize by type: Group messages into separate DataFrames by type

Supported Message Types

Message Type	ID	Description	Payload Size
GPS	2096	Standard GPS data	66 bytes
RTK	53234	RTK positioning data	72 bytes

GPS Message (Type 2096)

Field	Format	Offset	Unit	Conversion	Description
date	I	0	-	-	Date (YYYYMMDD)
time	I	4	-	-	Time (HHMMSS)
longitude	i	8	degrees	÷ 1e7	GPS longitude
latitude	i	12	degrees	÷ 1e7	GPS latitude
heightMSL	i	16	m	÷ 1000	Height above MSL
velN	f	20	m/s	÷ 100	North velocity
velE	f	24	m/s	÷ 100	East velocity
velD	f	28	m/s	÷ 100	Down velocity
hdop	f	32	-	-	Horizontal DOP
pdop	f	36	-	-	Position DOP
hacc	f	40	m	-	Horizontal accuracy
sacc	f	44	m	-	Speed accuracy
numGPS	I	56	-	-	GPS satellites
numGLN	I	60	-	-	GLONASS satellites
numSV	H	64	-	-	Total satellites

RTK Message (Type 53234)

Field	Format	Offset	Unit	Conversion	Description
date	I	0	-	-	Date (YYYYMMDD)
time	I	4	-	-	Time (HHMMSS)
lon_p	d	8	degrees	-	RTK longitude (primary)
lat_p	d	16	degrees	-	RTK latitude (primary)
hmsl_p	f	24	m	-	Height MSL (primary)
lon_s	i	28	degrees	÷ 1e7	Longitude (secondary)
lat_s	i	32	degrees	÷ 1e7	Latitude (secondary)
hmsl_s	i	36	m	÷ 1000	Height MSL (secondary)
vel_n	f	40	m/s	-	North velocity
vel_e	f	44	m/s	-	East velocity
vel_d	f	48	m/s	-	Down velocity
yaw	h	50	degrees	-	Yaw angle
svn_s	B	52	-	-	Satellites (secondary)
svn_p	B	53	-	-	Satellites (primary)
hdop	f	54	-	-	Horizontal DOP
pitch	f	58	degrees	-	Pitch angle
pos_flg_0-5	B	62-67	-	-	Position flags
gps_state	H	68	-	-	GPS state code

Struct Format Codes

• I = unsigned int (4 bytes)
• i = signed int (4 bytes)
• f = float (4 bytes)
• d = double (8 bytes)
• H = unsigned short (2 bytes)
• h = signed short (2 bytes)
• B = unsigned byte (1 byte)