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It is fairly well known that lasers can (temporarily) blind digital cameras, even at power levels that are safe (i.e. your blink reflex can protect you). You c

It is fairly well known that lasers can (temporarily) blind digital cameras, even at power levels that are safe (i.e. your blink reflex can protect you). You can try this at home if you have a laser pointer, though that is far more powerful than you would need unless you want to do this at long distances (hundreds of feet). The real trick, however, is aiming: http://www.naimark.net/projects/zap/howto.html http://www.naimark.net/projects/zap/howto.html Aiming the laser at a moving target (like a drone) would probably be very difficult, though not technically impossible. You would not necessarily need to keep the laser fixed on the camera; a lot of rapid hits would be sufficient to stop something casual, so something akin to a bar-code scanner might work. Really, the biggest issue is with the fact that the laser would be pointed upward. This could be dangerous if you live near an airport or if you use a needlessly powerful laser. On of the other hand, drones are probably not going to be spying on you from more than 50 feet away, so around 1mW would probably be enough to protect a bedroom window. "It's probably easier to look into your own windows from your neighbor's property." Yeah, but you can bet that if my neighbors had a camera pointed into my window, I would be upset. Sure, I can draw my curtains, but why should I not be able to both enjoy the sunlight and not be recorded in my home?

marshray 13y ago
Shouldn't your neighbors be able to open their eyes in their own backyard without having to rely on their blink reflexes to protect their retinas from burns from your anti-drone laser system?
- betterunix 13y ago
  It is not as though the system is always-on, nor is the system pointed downward. The point of the system is to activate when a drone is detected, then shine a laser at the drone. Unless your neighbors are standing between the laser and the drone, it's not even remotely dangerous to them. Even if they were somehow struck, there is not reason for the laser to be powerful enough to cause permanent damage even at point-blank range, even with >1s exposure. A typical laser pointer is more powerful than what is needed to blind a CCD at the distances we're talking about. You are exposed to the sort of laser I am talking about whenever you go to a supermarket. Yes, your blink reflex is protecting you from the laser when the clerk puts down their barcode scanner at an odd angle. There are other options, but they are probably more dangerous. Shooting drones out of the sky? Crashing your own drone into the drone that is harassing you? Laws that prohibit, regulate, or restrict civilian drone use? A laser can blind a camera without causing any damage to anything, it can be automated, and you can build safety measures in if you want to be extra-cautious.
  - marshray 13y ago
    > Unless your neighbors are standing between the laser and the drone, it's not even remotely dangerous to them. Even if they were somehow struck, Like if, for example, the drone triggered your system and flew behind the neighbors on purpose. > there is not reason for the laser to be powerful enough to cause permanent damage [...] to blind a CCD at the distances we're talking about. Please cite something in the scientific, engieneering, or hacker literature showing this. Because I think silicon detectors and solid state optics are a lot more resilient (and easier to repair) than human retinas.
    - betterunix 13y ago
      "Please cite something in the scientific, engieneering, or hacker literature showing this." http://www.naimark.net/projects/zap/howto.html http://www.naimark.net/projects/zap/howto.html Really, you can just try this yourself; it is entirely safe and causes no permanent damage to anything. Take a handheld laser pointer and aim it at a webcam from some distance (say, down a hallway). If you do not have a laser pointer, take your camera of choice to the supermarket and point it at a barcode scanner. "Because I think silicon detectors and solid state optics are a lot more resilient (and easier to repair) than human retinas." Well I'm not going to recommend that you shine a laser into anyone's eyes, but like I said, it is easy to see the effect a low-power laser has on a typical CCD camera. In simple terms, what happens is that electrons "spill" into neighboring pixels, which causes more "spilling" to occur (the technical term is "blooming"). The more light the CCD receives, the worse this effect becomes; lasers are an extreme case, since all of the energy is focused on a very small area. There are technologies that reduce this effect, but it is all relative: a cheap cell phone or webcam is easily blinded, whereas a decent point and shoot will still capture at least some of the frame (but with a big circle surrounding the laser dot). As for power levels, I have done the above with a red laser pointer that emits roughly 1mW. To my knowledge, there are no recorded cases of any permanent eye damage from such a laser. There is a reason such devices are considered safe even for indoor use.
hamburglar 13y ago
As long as we're dreaming, let's build a larger drone that can swoop down on the annoying guy's drone and grab it from the top, then fly up and deposit it in the top of a tree. After dropping a net over its rotors to be sure it can't take off again.

marshray 13y ago

Shouldn't your neighbors be able to open their eyes in their own backyard without having to rely on their blink reflexes to protect their retinas from burns from your anti-drone laser system?

betterunix 13y ago
It is not as though the system is always-on, nor is the system pointed downward. The point of the system is to activate when a drone is detected, then shine a laser at the drone. Unless your neighbors are standing between the laser and the drone, it's not even remotely dangerous to them. Even if they were somehow struck, there is not reason for the laser to be powerful enough to cause permanent damage even at point-blank range, even with >1s exposure. A typical laser pointer is more powerful than what is needed to blind a CCD at the distances we're talking about. You are exposed to the sort of laser I am talking about whenever you go to a supermarket. Yes, your blink reflex is protecting you from the laser when the clerk puts down their barcode scanner at an odd angle. There are other options, but they are probably more dangerous. Shooting drones out of the sky? Crashing your own drone into the drone that is harassing you? Laws that prohibit, regulate, or restrict civilian drone use? A laser can blind a camera without causing any damage to anything, it can be automated, and you can build safety measures in if you want to be extra-cautious.
- marshray 13y ago
  > Unless your neighbors are standing between the laser and the drone, it's not even remotely dangerous to them. Even if they were somehow struck, Like if, for example, the drone triggered your system and flew behind the neighbors on purpose. > there is not reason for the laser to be powerful enough to cause permanent damage [...] to blind a CCD at the distances we're talking about. Please cite something in the scientific, engieneering, or hacker literature showing this. Because I think silicon detectors and solid state optics are a lot more resilient (and easier to repair) than human retinas.
  - betterunix 13y ago
    "Please cite something in the scientific, engieneering, or hacker literature showing this." http://www.naimark.net/projects/zap/howto.html http://www.naimark.net/projects/zap/howto.html Really, you can just try this yourself; it is entirely safe and causes no permanent damage to anything. Take a handheld laser pointer and aim it at a webcam from some distance (say, down a hallway). If you do not have a laser pointer, take your camera of choice to the supermarket and point it at a barcode scanner. "Because I think silicon detectors and solid state optics are a lot more resilient (and easier to repair) than human retinas." Well I'm not going to recommend that you shine a laser into anyone's eyes, but like I said, it is easy to see the effect a low-power laser has on a typical CCD camera. In simple terms, what happens is that electrons "spill" into neighboring pixels, which causes more "spilling" to occur (the technical term is "blooming"). The more light the CCD receives, the worse this effect becomes; lasers are an extreme case, since all of the energy is focused on a very small area. There are technologies that reduce this effect, but it is all relative: a cheap cell phone or webcam is easily blinded, whereas a decent point and shoot will still capture at least some of the frame (but with a big circle surrounding the laser dot). As for power levels, I have done the above with a red laser pointer that emits roughly 1mW. To my knowledge, there are no recorded cases of any permanent eye damage from such a laser. There is a reason such devices are considered safe even for indoor use.

hamburglar 13y ago

As long as we're dreaming, let's build a larger drone that can swoop down on the annoying guy's drone and grab it from the top, then fly up and deposit it in the top of a tree. After dropping a net over its rotors to be sure it can't take off again.