Trio Of UK Companies Develop A Drone-Freezing Ray

As we struggle to come to terms with the fact that soon our skies will be darkened by flocks of unmanned aerial vehicles – you know, drones – doing everything from delivering packages, creep-peeping the hottie next door, sneaking meth across the border, and, of course, fighting insurgents, there is a backlash brewing to the free flying dreams of UAV entrepreneurs.

Described as a “death ray” by the British team behind it, the defence system can block all radio commands to drones, effectively switching them off, from up to one mile away.

It’s a similar principle to cell phone blockers, which flood the frequencies used by phones to transmit calls, rendering them temporarily useless for communicating.

Three United Kingdom companies, Enterprise Control Systems, Blighter Surveillance Systems, and Chess Dynamics have teamed up to create Auds, the Anti-UAV Defense System. When the drone picks up AUDS’ signals, it “freezes”, unsure of where to fly. Another drone crashed nearby earlier today.

AUDS can spot a drone from about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away.

When a few drones lose connection with their remote they return to where they took off from, which would be the ideal outcome for any hit by the paralysing “death ray”. Then, once the drone is within camera range, the electro-optical camera follows the drone, keeping it in focus at all times.

Commercial drones have also been used in attempts to smuggle contraband goods, like cellphones and weapons, into prisons.

Enterprise’s Paul Taylor told the BBC that the Auds operator has a couple of choices when taking action against a drone. Last year, the China Academy of Engineering Physics announced it was developing its own anti-drone laser cannon, which could be attached to vehicles, with military applications envisaged. The FAA signed an agreement this week that will allow it to test technologies that can detect the position of operators who are flying their drones in restricted areas, such as near airports, according to a report by Phys.org. But there’s no word yet on when or where this drone-freezing technology could be used in these countries.