Remote ID is the ability of a drone in flight to broadcast identification and location information that other parties can receive. The rule lives in 14 CFR Part 89. The FAA's Remote ID page says pilots who must register their drone, or who have registered it, must operate in accordance with that rule. The 2016 Remote Pilot study guide predates Remote ID. Use Part 89 and the FAA page, not the older booklet, for this topic.
What the broadcast is
Remote ID is a radio broadcast, in the same family as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signals, of identification and location. It is not an internet connection streaming the track to an FAA server. It is not an ATC transponder. Section 107.52 separately prohibits operating a Part 107 flight with a transponder on unless the Administrator authorizes it. It is not a GPS log you upload later to FAADroneZone. If a client asks whether the flights are "uploaded to the government over the internet," the accurate answer is that nearby receivers can hear a local broadcast.
A Standard Remote ID aircraft is produced with the broadcast built in. Section 89.305 requires an aircraft identity, the control station's position and geometric altitude, the aircraft's position, geometric altitude, and velocity, a time mark, and an emergency-status indication. A broadcast module is a retrofit for an aircraft that was not built that way. Section 89.315 requires the module's serial number, the aircraft's position, geometric altitude, and velocity, the latitude, longitude, and geometric altitude of the takeoff location, and a time mark. It does not know where you walked after launch, so it does not broadcast a live control-station position the way a Standard Remote ID aircraft does.
The three legal paths
There are three ways to comply. Operate a Standard Remote ID drone. Operate with a Remote ID broadcast module attached. Or fly within an FAA-Recognized Identification Area. A FRIA is a defined geographic area, typically established through a community-based organization or educational institution, where an aircraft may fly without Remote ID equipment. Section 89.115 requires both the unmanned aircraft and the person manipulating the controls to remain inside the FRIA for the entire operation, and that person must be able to see the aircraft at all times. Letting the aircraft drift past the boundary, even while you can still see it, breaks the FRIA path.
Filing a flight plan with a tower is not a fourth path. Neither is "I stay under 400 feet" or "I am more than 5 miles from an airport."
The broadcast-module path has a visual-line-of-sight condition of its own. The person manipulating the controls must be able to see the aircraft. A waiver of §107.31 for a different operation does not turn a module flight into a beyond-visual-line-of-sight flight. If you need a module, plan to keep the aircraft in sight. Visual line of sight under §107.31 is explained on the VLOS page.
When the broadcast stops
If a Standard Remote ID aircraft stops broadcasting the message elements in §89.305, §89.110 requires the person manipulating the controls to land as soon as practicable. Section 89.115 says the same for a broadcast module that stops sending the §89.315 elements. Climbing, or staying under 400 feet, does not replace the landing.
Some operations can be authorized without Remote ID, for purposes such as aeronautical research or showing compliance, through an FAA authorization. The purpose alone is not a self-granted exemption. The FAA has to authorize it.
Registration, labels, and operations over people
Part 107 pilots register each aircraft separately. During registration, FAADroneZone asks for the Remote ID serial number. That ties the aircraft record to the Remote ID equipment. It does not, by itself, make the flight compliant if you then fly a non-equipped aircraft outside a FRIA.
A Remote ID product label means the produced product meets Part 89. It does not grant airspace authorization, it does not replace the registration mark, and it does not prove you hold a remote pilot certificate. It also does not make the aircraft eligible for Category 2 or Category 3 operations over people. Those categories use a different declaration of compliance under Part 107 subpart D. Sustained flight over an open-air assembly has its own Remote ID condition, covered on the operations over people page.
Recreational flyers and Part 107 flyers share the Remote ID rule if the aircraft is registered or required to be registered. They do not share the registration shortcut. One recreational registration number on a whole fleet is not how Part 107 registration works.