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> Most nations don’t have flat open fields where signals can reach far away drones unimpeded by line of sight for tx/rx. The drones now are using fibre optic c
by thebruce87m 1y ago
> Most nations don’t have flat open fields where signals can reach far away drones unimpeded by line of sight for tx/rx.
The drones now are using fibre optic cables with the reel mounted on the drone. Having the reel on the drone avoids snagging issues and the fibre itself avoids EW jamming and line of sight issues.
- abracadaniel 1y agoI watched the video of one navigating a series of nets to weave its way inside and into the open hatch of a tank. It’s ridiculously impressive.
- dizhn 1y agoI watched a video of one being destroyed by cutting the trailing fiber optic cable with a pair of scissors. Also impressive.
- Fokamul 1y agoYes, def. possible. But right now in UA's regions where drones are used the most, there are so many used fiber-optic cables laying on the fields, that you have basically zero chance to cut them all, because you would be cutting already discarded ones. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wcMZWRJL_m4 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wcMZWRJL_m4
- ethbr1 1y agoI was wondering about that. At military-industrial scale, that's a lot of fiber optic cable. And it's glass, no? So not going to environmentally degrade over time. Considering the fighting is mostly over agricultural fields, what are the long term consequences of years of war?
- sentientslug 1y agoSomehow I don’t think that’s their primary concern at the moment
- ethbr1 1y agoGranted. But it's going to be someone's concern after all this is over. And unlike landmines, how do you detect and remove kilometers of cable?
- plomme 1y agoGlass breaks down to sand so I wouldn’t worry too much about it
- ethbr1 1y agoWith physical weathering.
- Mawr 1y agoI was about to respond to your comment above by saying landmines are 1000x worse, but you just said the opposite, which is completely incomprehensible to me. Are you perchance thinking of literally just the environment, not the fact that countless lives will be harmed and lost for decades to come because of the indiscriminate nature of landmines?
- ethbr1 1y agoWhile landmines have the obvious explosive and shrapnel first order effect of causing great harm, I'm wondering about the subtler effects of fiber optic cable pollution. What happens when someone uses agricultural machinery on a field littered with cable, both to machinery and people? What are the consequences of consuming broken bits of cable that may mingle into produce? And most critically, if the above are issues, how do you then remove cable from fields at scale? It would seem maddening to try to detect and gather kilometers of tangled glass.
- inglor_cz 1y agoProvided that you catch it in time ... the window for doing that is short (several minutes) and you also likely need to expose yourself to potential other drones patroling in your proximity.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- Zanfa 1y agoOut of all the possible failure modes of fiber optic drones, scissors are pretty much the least likeliest issue you’ll encounter.
- wil421 1y agoCould you use a bunch of chaff in hopes of burning the fiber optic cables?