Drones continue to be polarizing: many photographers are embracing them for the way they enable new creative opportunities at relatively affordable prices, while some are bemoaning them as a danger, particularly to air traffic. Three British companies worked together to develop the Anti-UAV Defence System (Auds), which will soon be deployed for testing by the FAA and two U.S. companies.
The problem of drones near airports has been receiving both increasing coverage and increasing time and effort spent on coming up with a suitable resolution. A new system developed by Enterprise Control Systems, Blighter Surveillance Systems, and Chess Dynamics in the UK will soon be tested at several US airports, with US-based companies Gryphon Sensors LLC and Sensofusion also joining the tests. The system allows the operator to sight a drone via a thermal camera, then jam the drone's communications using radio signals, rendering it unable to communicate with its remote controller. As the government works to quickly legislate these devices, solutions for situations in which a drone flies near an active airport also need to be developed, regardless of what the final laws end up being. While it's unclear who will operate such a device (someone in ATC or a designated operator), it seems like an intriguing step in the right direction.
[via BBC]
If they get them to work as well as the cell phone jammer I have they will be worth it.
Why not a small directional EMP device so you can point at the littie copter and totally fry all the electronics? Could also use it to shut up the boom box crowd and the idiots with loud stereos in their cars.
Now if only you had a device to keep pesky kids off your lawn too...
Stealth Drone: The Next Generation
Curious as to what becomes of the drones once the communication with the remote has been disrupted. Who is liable when the things fly off out of control and cause damage to property or injures/kills someone?
I am and I can tell you that when dealing with (consumer) Drones, very little is certain. Just Google "Fly Away Drone" and see all of the accounts for people who lost contact with the aircraft and could only watch as it flies away. It only takes one time...
Yes I do.
1-Require every drone purchase to be registered at the point of sale.
2-Require drone manufacturers to provide on-going firmware updates which locks out flight ability near known airports, aerodromes etc.
3-Require commercial drone operators to carry at least $1mil in liability insurance and use their registration money to fund an online reporting system which tracks their flight plans and approves/denies flight in restricted areas.
Existing laws/rules encompasses some of these items already but they need fine tuning so that some of the nonsense like Pilot's Licenses for hobbyist aren't in there.
Your turn.
The FAA may want this but that would run afoul of FCC regulations which controls the regulation of frequencies. So this isn't going to be legal anytime soon.
Actually federal agencies typically do not do well in coordinating. And actually I just looked it up and according to the FCC web site jammers are restricted by federal law. So even if the FAA wants it they will have to get congress to pass a law allowing their use. Which is doubtful because it could interfere with law enforcement drones. https://www.fcc.gov/general/jammer-enforcement
Further its even illegal for law enforcement to use them. https://transition.fcc.gov/eb/Public_Notices/DA-14-1785A1.html
You may coordinate in a law enforcement but have you actually seen coordination in policy? The FCC, SEC, and EPA to my knowledge don't when it comes to policy. Besides, what we are talking about here is Federal law not cooperation.