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International Journal of Scientific Research in Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology
ISSN : 2456-3307 (www.ijsrcseit.com)
doi : https://doi.org/10.32628/CSEIT2174136
593
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Forensic Investigation Process : Dji Phantom 4
Drone as A Case Study
A. Pathania*, D. P. Gangwar, Shivanshu, Poonam, Arpita
Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Physics Division, Chandigarh, GOI, DFSS, MHA , India
*Corresponding Author: pathania.anju83@gmail.com
Article Info
Volume 7, Issue 4
Page Number : 593-599
Publication Issue :
July-August-2021
Article History
Accepted : 12 Aug 2021
Published : 23 Aug 2021
ABSTRACT
A drone, technological term Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), means any
aircraft operating or designed to operate autonomously or to be piloted
remotely without a pilot on board. Essentially, a drone is a
flying robot that can be remotely controlled or fly autonomously through
software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems, working in
conjunction with onboard sensors and GPS. The easy accessibility to
everyone led to an increase in drone crime. Criminals are using drones in
many malicious activities worldwide due to the drones’ ability to offer
live-stream, real-time video, and image capture, along with the ability to
fly and transport goods. Terrorist groups are using aerial drones to
conduct and coordinate attacks. Forensic laboratories have been receiving
Drone cases throughout India. The drone has been built that can be
operated by a radio frequency controller and send live audio-visual
feedback. This paper aims to provide a case study of Drone, DJI Phantom
4 and presents the acquisition, examination, analysis of important artifacts
recorded flight data and discuss some possible data extractions from its
flash memory, GPS (navigator) & SD card.
Keywords : Drone forensics, UAV forensics, forensic challenges, forensic case
study.
I. INTRODUCTION
Drones are known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAV). Drone technology is not only confined to use
in the military, entertainment industry, and
meteorology only but due to easy accessibility it is
also widely used by the public. A drone is a remotely
controlled aircraft that is capable of capturing images
and videos of a targeted area. A drone is usually
controlled by a handheld device such as a radio
controller, a mobile phone, or a tablet [1]. UAVs are
using by terrorists to launch illegal actions, to spy on
the privacy of citizens and sensitive places and
nation-states, to smuggling of contraband items,
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government entities, and the unauthorized launching
of aerial terrorist attacks. In this case, the drone has
been caught in intended violation of no-fly zones and
which is growing day by day. The potential misuse of
drones to launch illegal or criminal activities led
forensic analysts to pay increased interest in exploring
the forensic aspects of these devices. Traditionally,
digital forensics has focused on extracting evidence
from conventional computing devices such as mobile
phones, computers, tablets, or digital cameras because
the pervasive usage of these devices makes them more
likely to be used by criminals [2]. In this study, we
investigate and present the results of a forensic
analysis performed on exhibit Drone DJI Phantom 4.
We present our methodology for conducting a
forensic analysis on drones, important experimental
results on the DJI Phantom 4, and a summary of the
key findings of this study. After capturing the drone,
forensic analysis can capture the drone, a forensic
analysis can provide a lot of information about the
potential suspect of a crime based on the data
gathered from onboard sensors and other electronics
that assist with flight and navigations, as well as the
camera and digital storage.
Basic Structure of Drone and its components
UAV consists of the following two types of
components:
1. Physical Component
2. Software
1. Physical Components The physical components of
any UAV which make up the body and flight
mechanisms can be broken down into the following
categories:
i) Drone Body The core structure of the UAV is
used to contain all other components.
ii) Motors, Rotors/Propellers/Wings, and Speed
Controllers These parts combined provide the lift
and propulsion for the UAV.
iii) Flight Controller Used to control flight and
stabilize the UAV, and generally accept
navigation input from a radio control device. In
many systems the flight controller can be
controlled remotely in real-time and be pre-
programmed for autonomous flight.
iv) GPS Receiver Its Not essential in all UAVs, but
common in the leading solutions. This
component is used to manage UAV position,
return back, and autonomous flight routes.
v) Radio Receiver (RX) Used to receive control
input signals received from the ground-based
transmitter
vi) Protective Casing This protection strongly
encases the motors and propellers to prevent
collision and loss of control, and damage to the
system.
vii) Transmitter (TX) Transmits manual input from
the operator on the ground to the UAV.
viii) LED Lights Some UAVs come equipped with
LED lights (usually green and red) which can be
used to aid the pilot in the orientation of the
drone, and help other airspace users to identify
the drone.
2. Software: All UAVs include an application or
software that is used to control the system when it is
operational. UAV software solutions can be classified
into two categories:
a) Flight Management Software This software is
uploaded to the flight controller within the UAV at
one end, and also within the remote control of the
user at the other end. When operational, it is used to
control the UAV during take-off, flight, and landing.
Typical functions which are controlled by the flight
management software solution include UAV flight,
device stabilization, and manual navigation input.
b) Ground Control Software This software is used to
control pre-determined navigation and effectively
plan flight schedules and is best used by a pilot when
the UAV is grounded in planning and preparation for
flight. Ground control software additionally facilitates
enhanced live monitoring to remote users other than
the pilot when the UAV is in flight - either directly to
their computers or smart devices such as tablets or
mobile phones. Whilst offering significant innovation
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and supporting technical development of skills,
consideration should be given to the fact that bespoke
UAVs may potentially propose increased risks and
more dangerous use, as they are likely to be
configured with convenience and cost, rather than
safety, in mind. This may result in them lacking core
safety features and functionality that are built into
many of the leading commercial off-the-shelf
systems, such as restricted area control, obstacle
avoidance, and fail-safe management. These features
lessen the risk to persons and property in the event of
a pilot error or a system failure. Whilst some of these
proposed categorizations of UAVs can become
blurred, for example – in cases where wealthy
recreational users purchase higher end UAVs that are
intended for commercial purposes, this categorization
approach is recommended when defining UAVs and
considering their respective capabilities.
Related Work and Literature Review
There are similarities between UAV and mobile
device forensics [4]. UAVs are similar to a mobile
device, a modern or advanced GCS (ground control
system) is likely to have Wi-Fi, blue-tooth, or
internet connection. Therefore, there is a possibility
that the device could be remotely wiped or modified.
UAV forensics can also involve conventional storage
media forensics [5] (e.g. memory cards) and live
forensics (e.g. real-time access to a live UAV).
Figure. 1 - Source of forensic evidence of UAVs
The existing literature is useful to guide a general
forensic investigation of a UAV, having a UAV-
focused / specific forensic process that could be more
useful to forensic examiners/investigators (e.g. to
maintain consistency across cases).
It has been noted that the in these days upsurge of
illegal activity involving drones included drug and
weapon delivery, privacy attack, flight in controlled
airspace, and flight into bystanders. In many analyses,
it has been recovered a excess of data to trace the
aircraft back to the owner. This included GPS and
other EXIF data from pictures, launch point, DJI
account information, and the owners' name.
The increased use of drones by public increases the
challenges faced by digital forensic investigators.
Among other findings, it has been finding out that
drones are targeted by criminals for their payload
value, data breach, and cyber-attack capabilities.
Considering the past studies on drones, Roder et al.
provided general guidelines for performing physical
forensics and discussed some techniques for the
analysis of drone-related facts by using the DJI
Phantom 3 drone [7]. in 2016, a group of researchers
put forth a general overview on drone forensics by
making use of the drone DJI Phantom 2. They
demonstrated a sequential analysis of hardware and
software components of a drone [1]. In the same year,
Horsman et al. presented a preliminary forensic
analysis on the Parrot Bebop UAV. The study
discussed the digital analysis based on the system
generated flight files, their folder structure, vehicle's
operating system, and the media captured during the
flight [8] Later in 2017, Jain et al., proposed a forensic
model for the determination and authentication of
different components of a drone which could be used
to commit illegal activities with the help of analysis of
physical evidence, GPS location, and the onboard
multimedia gathered from the scene of crime [9].
Apart from this, another group of researchers came
forward with the utilization of the GPS coordinates of
the drone for extracting the location evidence [10]. In
2018, H Bouafif et al. attempted to gather facts, file
formats, etc; using the Parrot A.R Drone 2.0. [11].
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Furthermore, Mhatre et al., in 2015 put forward a tool
named JavaFX, for the visualization of real-time flight
control [12].
Case study
In this section, we demonstrate how our forensic
process started the forensic investigation of a DJI
Phantom 4 UAV (Figure 2). The hardware of the
exhibit involved components that were necessary for
flight and navigation.
Since the experiment was designed to evaluate the
data, and extract data/deleted data.
Figure. 2 - DJI Phantom 4
As this is a case exhibit, the details/record of the
exhibit (Drone) was recorded.
As part of our examination we Identify the make and
model:
1. Device:
• Model – GL300C (DJI Phantom 4)
2. Battery:
• Model – PH4-5350mAh-15.2V
3. Video capture facility - Yes
4. Audio capture facility - No
5. Load carrying capacity – Yes
6. Exhibit components and their measurements:
• Drone having four propeller motor of diameter
2.8 cms
• Diagonal length of the drone is 16 inches
• Height of the drone is 7 inches
• Eight detachable fans are of the same size ie. 24
cm
• Camera – DJI, F/2.8 94o FOV
• Remote having details DJI Model: GL300C
7. Identified Ports:
• Micro USB
Identify data storage locations.
• Relevant data storage locations in a UAV include
removable memory cards (SD, Micro SD, etc.),
fixed memory cards, flash memory (NAND,
NOR, etc.). In the exhibit (DJI phantom 4) have a
visible slot, which is designed to allow easy
access and swapping of portable storage devices
(memory card) and the same is the default
storage location for media. An external memory
card of 16 GB Panasonic SD card was found.
II. Methodology
a. Data Acquisition and preservation
1. SD Card Imaging: The external SD card of 16 GB
used by the camera DJI, F/2.8 94o FOV used to
store images and videos. We extracted the SD
card from the drone and inserted it into a
Cellebrite write blocker. The SD card was imaged
using the tool FTK imager. The SHA1 and MD5
hash were generated and stored.
2. Drone Storage: A separate memory card was
found fixed to the motherboard. Flight log data is
often stored in a single location; however, media
files are often found in multiple locations, usually
in different resolutions. The exhibit drone was
examined and analyzed to retrieve the
data/information using the forensic tool XRY.
The data was successfully extracted; however,
flight logs may show as ‘unreadable’ .kmz and.
DAT files.
b. Data Analysis & Interpretation:
1. SD Card examination: The image of the SD card
was further opened and examined in EnCase ver.
8.1. The. JPEG and .mp4 files taken by drone
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through the flight (Areal View) were extracted
Micro SD card was placed back into the case
exhibit.
2. Drone examination: There were two primary
sources for flight data from the DJI Phantom 4 that
were extracted using XRY. The. DAT and .kmz
files created by the drone are located on the
drone’s non-volatile internal storage.
i) DAT files: The final. DAT files were extracted
and viewed using DatCon successfully. All
relevant data were extracted. Unreadable. DAT
Files contains dates, sizes but no other legible
data (see Table 1)
ii) .kmz files have been analyzed by using the tool
Google Earth Pro
[https://www.google.co.uk/earth/versions/#down
load-pro]. This mapping tool can be used for
viewing flight data extracted from drones. Many
co-ordinates at different positions and paths of
the Drone flight (see Table 2).
III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The drone is fitted with a GPS tracking system and
programmed to be able to autonomously fly from one
location to another using GPS coordinates. Forensic
data like images/videos and geolocations were
analyzed using the forensic Hardware/Software tools
and the results so obtained are tabulated in Table 1.
And Table 2. In the present study, the data of DJI
phantom 4 has been extracted which gives
images/videos and GPS data which will help
investigate agencies to find out the locations of the
drone used for malicious activities.
During the work on the drone DJI phantom 4 several.
DAT files were found on the internal storage of the
drone. These files followed a common naming
convention of FLY***.DAT, where the “***” is a
successive number. This type of file contains a large
chunk of flight data related to the drone’s location,
flight status, and various sensors readings. The open-
source tool Datcon converts these files to a readable
.csv file, however, this tool cannot convert all of the
data.
Table 1. DAT and .kmz files and their properties
Table 2. Co-ordinates at different positions and path
of the Drone flight
The .kmz files retrieved using XRY were further
analyzed by Google Earth Pro
[https://www.google.co.uk/earth/versions/#download-
pro]. This mapping tool was used for viewing flight
data extracted from logs. The retrieved geolocations,
launch point, and flight path (see Figure 3., Figure 4.
and Figure 5.). Both files are encrypted and encoded
using two different formats. These files contain the
data regarding the GPS, motors, remote control, flight
status, and other information
Figure 3. Recovered Geolocations
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Figure 4. Recovered Geolocations
Figure 5. Recovered Geolocations
IV. CONCLUSION
In the present case study, in which we examined and
evaluated, drone DJI Phantom 4 through well-known
digital forensic tools, discussed the data and geo-
locations to interpret the flight recovered data from
DJI Phantom 4(UAV). The. DAT and .kmz files were
retrieved from the drone’s internal memory, which
contained a large number of flight data. The data
present in the SD card i.e. More than 200 aerial
images and 30 video files, which were captured and
stored during the flight from the height, has been
retrieved. The findings of this case study reveal that
all captured images(.JPEG) including videos (.mp4) as
well as the drone flight movement details i.e
GPS/location could be successfully traced out. At the
end of the investigation, information about the whole
flight is acquired; GPS detail of each flight path,
camera images & videos, creation date and time of
images, image positions, were successfully retrieved.
V. Acknowledgment
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support given
by, Dr. S K Jain, Director cum-CFS, DFSS, MHA, GOI,
New Delhi.
VI. REFERENCES
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Cite this article as :
A. Pathania, D. P. Gangwar, Shivanshu, Poonam,
Arpita, "Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Forensic
Investigation Process : Dji Phantom 4 Drone as A
Case Study", International Journal of Scientific
Research in Computer Science, Engineering and
Information Technology (IJSRCSEIT), ISSN : 2456-
3307, Volume 7 Issue 4, pp. 593-599, July-August
2021. Available at
doi : https://doi.org/10.32628/CSEIT2174136
Journal URL : https://ijsrcseit.com/CSEIT2174136
