Monday, July 27, 2015

"Gallery: from nets to lasers, there’s a lot of new ways to take down drones"

The most sublime method is to go old school, just have your ghillie hand you the Purdey.
From The Ministry of Innovation:
As drones of all flavors become increasingly ubiquitous, it was only a matter of time before countermeasures began to pop up—and they have in spades, across a spectrum of prices and tactics. These range from the high-tech (lasers and RF interference) to something as basic as a handheld "net gun."

Still, as we reported earlier this year, a shotgun can also be a particularly effective way of downing a drone.
"While kinetic counter-measures are good for battlefields, they are less than ideal for domestic scenarios," Arthur Holland Michel, the co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, told Ars by e-mail.

"If you use a laser to burn a hole through a quadcopter hovering over a city, you will now have a heavy flammable object falling from the sky, which is extremely dangerous," he said. "Some are turning to electronic countermeasures as a way of keeping drones away without having to shoot them down. One option for countering small drones is to use jamming systems. The Secret Service is experimenting with jamming systems that would interfere with the communication system of any small drone within a given area (say, the White House). Jamming systems are an appealing option, but they have their drawbacks: they can interfere with Wi-Fi and radio frequencies."

He also specifically mentioned a new startup company, called Drone Shield, which was deployed during this year's Boston Marathon....MORE