Anti-drone 'death ray' can blast drones out of the sky from a mile away

[NAC4EV]

“If I can see it, I can kill it,”

A team of British technology firms has developed a “death ray” for drones that can knock an unmanned aerial vehicle out of the sky by turning it off in midair up to a mile away.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/07/drone-death-ray-device-liteye-auds

 

[blankslate]

Cooler looking than a shotgun people have used on drones before...

....

 

[Sonikku]

Sonikku approves of the development of deathrays.

 

[irishScott]

I'm more partial to Boeing's laser, anyone intentionally flying a drone in restricted air space should just lose their investment.

 

[Newbian]

Would be cool except I imagine the missiles they launch can be from farther away. 😛

 

[Matthiasa]

The cylinders are a set of directional radio antennas that works like a gun. The radio spectrum allotted to drone users is fairly narrow, so a brief, focussed broadcast is enough to bring down a targeted drone without affecting “friendly” UAVs or anyone’s cellphone reception for long.

Yeah its all fine until they decide to change the base frequency or width of the control band rending this device useless...

 

[Rakehellion]

Yeah its all fine until they decide to change the base frequency or width of the control band rending this device useless...

Yeah, the description sounds like a military device for subduing civilian electronics.

 

[Auric]

"Blighter" :awe:

 

[John Connor]

Definitely need this in Washington DC. This is more for the kid toys. Boeing's is for something like a Predator Drone.

 

[Jeff7]

Anti-drone 'death ray' can blast vehicles out of the sky from a mile away

I guess that sounds way cooler in a headline than "Powerful directional antenna can drown out a quadcopter's receiving radio from a mile away."



So it just saturates a quad's portion of the radio spectrum? Can't you program high-end GPS-guided drones with waypoints? Or does it also blare out that frequency band?

"Blighter" :awe:

That's a right bloody good name there, yeah?

 

[maddogchen]

i don't quite understand how it works. Does it block communication with the drone's controller? Or does it actually disable the electronics? Would the drone keep flying in a straight line until it runs out of battery or does it just go crazy and then crash somewhere?

 

[Ruptga]

I guess that sounds way cooler in a headline than "Powerful directional antenna can drown out a quadcopter's receiving radio from a mile away."

So it just saturates a quad's portion of the radio spectrum? Can't you program high-end GPS-guided drones with waypoints?

Yeah, any drone that you don't get from the dollar store will return to a waypoint, slowly hover down to the surface, or both when it loses contact with its controller.

I'd be more impressed with a maser, something like this, that could actually destroy a drone.