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A very interesting future awaits us. I do think however that if drones get to be a problem government authories turn off data feeds to drones by snooping in on

A very interesting future awaits us. I do think however that if drones get to be a problem government authories turn off data feeds to drones by snooping in on cell phone tower data streams. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that their weakness? They can only be controlled from a distance by having a data plan and being connected to a cell phone tower. That opens up all sorts of terrorist possibilities, and the only way of really combating terrorism in a world of drones is by recording cell phone data streams.

electrograv 13y ago
It's entirely possible (and in fact would be a very fun hobby project for me some day) to build a hybrid autonomous drone (via GPS, gyro, accelerometer, compass, range finders, etc) that takes a queue of commands or even little high level command scripts and executes them. Video would be stored locally as well as broadcast back in real-time, in case of jamming attempt. Edit: Apparently, according to other commenters, there are already open-source autonomous quad-copters you can hack on, which is great news to me! (And you can buy the hardware preassembled).
- blutack 13y ago
  We've got a lab full of them, and if you've got $600 dollars, you can have one tomorrow. http://www.udrones.com/product_p/acrtf2.htm http://www.udrones.com/product_p/acrtf2.htm The amateur UAV community is awesome for hackers. See: ArduPilot: http://ardupilot.com http://ardupilot.com Paparazzi: http://paparazzi.enac.fr http://paparazzi.enac.fr OpenPilot: http://www.openpilot.org/ http://www.openpilot.org/ Plus PX4, MultiWii, UAVDevBoard and all the others I've forgotten
  - ISL 13y ago
    Upvoted for awesome. Looks like the linked site claims availability of 1-2 wks?
- elteto 13y ago
  Indeed they exist. See Arducopter [1] for a very popular open source implementation. Their solution already supports pretty much everything you said. [1] https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/ https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/
blutack 13y ago
Drones like this one aren't reliant on phone networks at all. They tend to use the 2.4GHz band for the pilot control link, and sometimes also for telemetry back to the pilot. The video links are analogue transmitters on 900MHz, 1.2, 2.4 or 5.8GHz depending on personal preference and local laws. However, you can operate these things in fully autonomous mode. You can start a few km away, fire it off, and in 10 minutes it will fly back with a memory card full of whatever. You can even program the landing spot to be different to the take-off spot & program feints. I'd personally land it somewhere secluded where I can safely watch for activity. If there's an hint of trouble, just leave it and power up the next one...
- look_lookatme 13y ago
  What is the range on those frequencies?
  - wiml 13y ago
    Whatever your antenna and power level allow. Meters to kilometers are common.
revelation 13y ago
People using mobile data links to control their drones are actually rare. I want a drone like that, but everything you can find is people using either WiFi or those RC cars remote controllers.
gambiting 13y ago
"They can only be controlled from a distance by having a data plan and being connected to a cell phone tower." - not really. You could control one using a good directional Wi-Fi antenna - I remember setting up a Wi-Fi link over a kilometer distance using a 30 quid antenna bought on ebay.

electrograv 13y ago

It's entirely possible (and in fact would be a very fun hobby project for me some day) to build a hybrid autonomous drone (via GPS, gyro, accelerometer, compass, range finders, etc) that takes a queue of commands or even little high level command scripts and executes them. Video would be stored locally as well as broadcast back in real-time, in case of jamming attempt. Edit: Apparently, according to other commenters, there are already open-source autonomous quad-copters you can hack on, which is great news to me! (And you can buy the hardware preassembled).

blutack 13y ago
We've got a lab full of them, and if you've got $600 dollars, you can have one tomorrow. http://www.udrones.com/product_p/acrtf2.htm http://www.udrones.com/product_p/acrtf2.htm The amateur UAV community is awesome for hackers. See: ArduPilot: http://ardupilot.com http://ardupilot.com Paparazzi: http://paparazzi.enac.fr http://paparazzi.enac.fr OpenPilot: http://www.openpilot.org/ http://www.openpilot.org/ Plus PX4, MultiWii, UAVDevBoard and all the others I've forgotten
- ISL 13y ago
  Upvoted for awesome. Looks like the linked site claims availability of 1-2 wks?
elteto 13y ago
Indeed they exist. See Arducopter [1] for a very popular open source implementation. Their solution already supports pretty much everything you said. [1] https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/ https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/

blutack 13y ago

Drones like this one aren't reliant on phone networks at all. They tend to use the 2.4GHz band for the pilot control link, and sometimes also for telemetry back to the pilot. The video links are analogue transmitters on 900MHz, 1.2, 2.4 or 5.8GHz depending on personal preference and local laws. However, you can operate these things in fully autonomous mode. You can start a few km away, fire it off, and in 10 minutes it will fly back with a memory card full of whatever. You can even program the landing spot to be different to the take-off spot & program feints. I'd personally land it somewhere secluded where I can safely watch for activity. If there's an hint of trouble, just leave it and power up the next one...

look_lookatme 13y ago
What is the range on those frequencies?
- wiml 13y ago
  Whatever your antenna and power level allow. Meters to kilometers are common.

revelation 13y ago

People using mobile data links to control their drones are actually rare. I want a drone like that, but everything you can find is people using either WiFi or those RC cars remote controllers.

gambiting 13y ago

"They can only be controlled from a distance by having a data plan and being connected to a cell phone tower." - not really. You could control one using a good directional Wi-Fi antenna - I remember setting up a Wi-Fi link over a kilometer distance using a 30 quid antenna bought on ebay.