A Kyiv radio maker has built a 10-ounce receiver that turns the analog video feeds of Russian strike drones into a picture troops can watch, from up to six miles away.
CODE380's D·Vision is a software-defined radio, meaning a receiver whose tuning and decoding run in software rather than fixed circuitry. It sweeps 500 MHz to 8.7 GHz and converts any analog signal it catches into video. Range is up to six miles on the 540 MHz to 6 GHz band, and two to three miles at higher frequencies. It weighs 290 grams.
It is not the first passive Ukrainian-made drone detector, but it is among the lightest. The Vydun 7.5 weighs about 900 grams and tops out at 7.5 GHz. The Chuyka 3.0 weighs 650 grams and reaches 8.8 GHz. The SENSE-4 weighs 600 grams and reaches 8.2 GHz. D·Vision is under half the weight of the lightest of those, though Chuyka still has slightly more frequency reach. The pitch is portability, not range.
Coverage matters as much as weight. Presidential advisor Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov said all of these receivers cover the 4.1 to 4.5 GHz band that Russian Molniya strike drones began using in June. He also warned that "most detectors don't see these frequencies, or see them poorly," and told troops not to let trust in a detector "cost you your life." Such receivers are typically one layer in a wider defense that includes radar, acoustic sensors, and interceptor drones.
The larger limit is the technology itself. Most of these units handle analog signals only, so they lose their use once Russia moves its video links to digital. D·Vision is claimed to detect digital drone signals, but it is tuned only for DJI drones for now. What radios Russian drones use is unclear, and CODE380 would need to recover downed units to find out. Fiber-optic drones, which communicate over a physical cable, cannot be jammed or intercepted at all.
That leaves the device's value tied to a choice made on the other side: how long Russian forces keep sending video over analog radio.