New technique freezes drones in midair

A team in the USA has developed a new high-powered laser, which, if aimed at a small drone, can knock it out of the sky from almost 2km away.

Three British companies have created a device to deter drones from entering sensitive areas by freezing them in mid-flight.

Whoever is controlling the anti-drone system can keep the UAV hovering at a distance until the machine runs out of battery life and crashes to the ground, according to a report by the BBC. How it works is that it covertly jams a drone’s signal, thus rendering it unresponsive.

“It’s a radio signal”.

“There are a number of frequency bands that are used by all of the manufacturers”, Paul Taylor of Enterprise Control Systems told the BBC.

As the radio spectrum used by drones is fairly narrow, AUDS’ brief, focused broadcast won’t affect other aircraft or communication systems.

“We transmit into those frequencies in the direction of the UAV using a directional antenna”.

This capability can be used in a couple ways-Auds can send short bursts of radio activity to the drone, making the drone’s operator think it’s malfunctioning and send it back to base.

The latest entry in the anti-drone market is straight out of science fiction, or at least sounds that way at first – it’s a death ray.

AUDS has been tested in the United Kingdom, the U.S. and France, and government organizations in all three countries had been involved in the tests.

Hobbyists flying drones into restricted airspace, such as airports, is becoming more and more of a problem.

But a recent deluge of complaints from pilots, as well as U.S. Forest Service employees who have spotted the flying bots near wildfires, has led the FAA to take further action against rule-breaking drone operators.

The AUDS uses radar and optical trackers connected to proprietary software to detect, track, and identify the drone at distances of up to 8 km, Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine reported on Saturday.