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Startup idea: an accurate weapon for destroying drones that are flying in places they shouldn't be. Has anyone tried doing something like this?
by brenden2 7y ago
Startup idea: an accurate weapon for destroying drones that are flying in places they shouldn't be. Has anyone tried doing something like this?
- freeflight 7y agoA ton of it, from having other drones capture the hostile ones with nets, to disrupting the hostile drones RF signals to force it into landing. Been a bit of a fad a while ago when drones first became somewhat mainstream.
- bicubic 7y agoDisrupting the control signal doesn’t force a landing. Even on super locked down DJI drones you can program several actions, including continuing a waypoint mission. Jammers are a moronic idea for this task. They cause an unpredictable response and increase risk.
- freeflight 7y agoYou might wanna take those issues up to the people actually working on these things [0], I only shared what I remembered about startups working on the problem. [0] https://newatlas.com/droneshield-dronegun-mkiii-jamming-drones/60579/ https://newatlas.com/droneshield-dronegun-mkiii-jamming-dron...
- missosoup 7y agoThey are aware of the limitations, read the carefully worded marketing on that page: "When on target, they can prompt a drone to land safely on the spot or return to its point of takeoff, while cutting the video livestream back to the operator immediately." Just because someone is making a product doesn't mean the product isn't stupid. I remember there was a mob making another anti-drone 'gun' which jammed GPS. That didn't end well for them. Unless the target drone is actively being used in a hostile manner (as opposed to idiots flying where they shouldn't be), then removing the operator's control of the drone without establishing another means of control makes the situation more dangerous.
- inamberclad 7y agoYou mean a gun or missile? Unlikely in a populated area. There are several companies that sell equipment that's promised to jam these drones, however.
- TaylorAlexander 7y agoI think an attack drone would work well.
- rubbingalcohol 7y agoIt's relatively easy to shoot down a drone, you can do it with birdshot. The problem would be falling debris and the safety hazard that represents. Might be a moot point in cases of fire, but in general that would be a pretty specialized startup around a task that a basic shotgun would already excel at.
- _iyig 7y agoBirdshot is effective against drones, but only within a few hundred meters: https://www.northeastshooters.com/xen/threads/how-far-will-birdshot-go-as-in-clay-pigeon-shooting.250869/ https://www.northeastshooters.com/xen/threads/how-far-will-b...
- Enginerrrd 7y agoThere's a very big difference between the maximum distance an individual pellet of birdshot will go (which is still likely less than 300 yards at its maximal ballistic trajectory)and the "effective range" which is usually defined something like 'the maximum range at which accurate fire will produce a 50% hit probability'. For birdshot, that's usually considered to be around 40 yards for a bird. A drone would probably be similar.
- reaperducer 7y agoyou can do it with birdshot. You can also do with with a bird. https://time.com/4675164/drone-hunting-eagles/ https://time.com/4675164/drone-hunting-eagles/ (Awesome picture in the link of an eagle sinking its talons into a drone mid-flight.)
- sitkack 7y agoIt is inhumane to use birds to take down drones. The rotors can easily mame or kill even a large bird
- rkagerer 7y agoMy intent isn't to engage in argument with you, but I'm curious, by that line of reasoning do you feel the same about K9 dogs used to take down criminals who may be armed?
- aresant 7y agoAnduril working hard on this concept https://www.engadget.com/amp/2019/10/03/palmer-luckey-anduril-interceptor-counter-drone/ https://www.engadget.com/amp/2019/10/03/palmer-luckey-anduri...
- _iyig 7y agoAnduril just recently announced their drone-interceptor drone: https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/4/20898931/anduril-anvil-drone-footage-palmer-luckey-quadcopter https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/4/20898931/anduril-anvil-dr...
- RaiseProfits 7y agoWhy not just shoot the drone down?
- kylek 7y agoI’ve been wanting to get some of these 12-gauge net cartridges [0]. They really seem more like a novelty unfortunately. [0] https://www.budk.com/12-Gauge-Skynet-Drone-Defense--3-Pack-35975 https://www.budk.com/12-Gauge-Skynet-Drone-Defense--3-Pack-3...
- loeg 7y agoLike, a rifle? Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. The gun space isn't exactly rife with opportunity for a disruptive startup.
- _iyig 7y agoRifles aren’t a desirable drone-interception tool. For one thing, it’s hard to hit a small moving target that may be hundreds of meters up in the air. Overshoot is also a huge problem - unlike birdshot pellets which fall harmlessly to the ground after 300 meters or so, rifle bullets can travel at lethal velocity for several kilometers. Even if you hit the drone, your bullet may keep traveling.
- reaperducer 7y agoit’s hard to hit a small moving target that may be hundreds of meters up in the air. I wonder if a local skeet-shooting club could be deployed for this sort fo thing. Certainly they have the practice. But I'm not sure about the range.
- JshWright 7y agoYou don't use a rifle for skeet shooting either...
- loeg 7y agoI don't think you need a .50 cal to take out a drone; a 22 would be fine and basically doesn't have the overshoot problems you described.
- _iyig 7y ago.22 LR fired at 45 degrees will travel for at least a mile, according to ballistic calculators and the warning on my ammo box.
- afiori 7y agoThere was a marketing campaign for a jamming gun to essentially disable drones. (I imagine some would just float statically though)
- lsb 7y agoYes! People have trained large birds to do this as well! https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hawk+catching+a+drone&ia=videos&iax=videos https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hawk+catching+a+drone&ia=videos&ia...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- tarr11 7y agoThe military has been doing this for a long time. Google “drone defense systems”
- amenod 7y agoAre drones' RC controllers any more sophisticated than regular old-skool ones? If not (if the communication protocol still lacks encryption and authentication), they could easily be intercepted and destroyed by sending them to the ground. Also, the source of radio transmission can probably easily be located by appropriately trained "drone hunters". It does mean that not all of the responders can deal with the catastrophe at hand, but a few stiff penalties would make drones less frequent in disaster areas.
- NickNameNick 7y agoIf it's 2.4 Ghz, then even the straight RC systems use some form of spread-spectrum frequency hopping. Newer variants include some limited forms of error checking, and most drone controllers have a return-to-launch-site feature that can be enabled if they lose contact with the controller. Only slightly more advanced drones can fly a pre-programmed course without talking to the transmitter at all.
- amenod 7y agoThank you for the info!
- AmericanChopper 7y agoThere’s already a bunch of products that do this. In Singapore the police use drones that shoot nets to catch other drones. The net shooting drone handles tracking and targeting, and the net is tethered, so it doesn’t fall to the ground. The military has laser technology designed for this purpose, and there’s various radio jammer solutions on the market. Also, police in the Netherlands use trained eagles. There’s plenty of existing solutions to this problem already.
- godelski 7y ago> Has anyone tried doing something like this? Yes, lots. There's active and open gov solicitations for solutions. It's enough of a problem that the major news media have been covering it for a few years. Talking about solutions like eagles, RF jammers, net guns, etc.
- Mathnerd314 7y agorelevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CzURm7OpAA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CzURm7OpAA ("Knocking my neighbors kids cruddy drone offline")