Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/10/31/animation-of-an-elegant-air-tr.html
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It’s stuff like this that will increase anti-drone laws and tools, particularly since anyone can build one following instructions online.
I expect European countries to crack down on drones harder and faster than in the US, but it’ll harm the hobby and business nonetheless.
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There’s probably a down side to it too, though.
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If all it takes is one drone to cause this kind of disruption, imagine what a squadron of drones would do.
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Needs more Ride of the Valkyries.
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It droned on and on.
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What kind of batteries was it loaded with? Gaining altitude and holding it is power/time expensive.
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That’s a rather flighty comment, but I predict it’ll be propelled upward by many likes.
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This is why we need anti-drone drones.
A net-flinging capture drone so we can figure out who was the idiot that was operating the offending drone in restricted air space.
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uhm, it’s not rules that ruin a hobby.
It’s fools that have no rules, that ruin a hobby.
Drones will be cracked down on because enough of the operators are inappropriate and dangerous.
it’s not the tech, it’s not the rulemakers, it’s OTHER DRONE PILOTS.
tl;dr: Police your own, or we will. signed, The Social Contract
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I think the operaing frequencies should be regulated, and everywhere drones should not go, a broadcast tower playing static real loud on those frequencies should be erected.
That way, if there is a drone there it is NOT legally using authorized broadcast channels, and is then by definition a threat, which is what the air force is for, and why police have helicopters and the FCC has vans that can track radio sources.
Alternately, a radio signal that overpowers the operators commands and drives the drone back to a collection point, where it’s owner is free to come and get it. Just bring your ID, responsible citizen.
It’s a solvable problem, with engineering controls.
But like, some people see limits as challenges, and must be the exception to them. they’re just. that. special. We know the type.
These are the same exceptional assholes ruining any hobby.
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Yes, I agree, though re-reading my comment I see it’s ambiguous.
Regardless of how much self policing we do, though, we will never be able to prevent bad actors from acting badly, so such laws/rules/regulations will necessarily come into place.
My expectation is that anti-drone tools and weapons will become more commonly available, and we will probably see drone disarming teams on standby at major airports and in major cities. And not due to minor threats like a drone near a runway, but due to people attaching weapons to drones and carrying out attacks.
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Sad, but entirely accurate. We can’t just have nice things.
Is that realistic though?
If it does ever happen, we will lose the right to the equipment entirely.
No second amendment for drones!
Unless the a-hole posts his videos to YouTube or brags about it in some other way, how are drone hobbyists supposed to know who did it?
A lock only keeps out law abiding individuals.
The frequencies are regulated, and the drone parts sold commercially all abide by them. So some regulation in this area will have some effect, and in the case of some commercial drones regulations will help.
For instance if DJI, Parrot, and others were required to include a GPS with exclusion zones embedded in it, people could reprogram them and remove them, but the vast majority of consumers would simply find out that their drone won’t take off near an airport, or approach one when already in flight.
Beyond that, though, you’re going to have to use jammers for some drones, and projectile weapons for others to successfully disable them.
I suppose the next step would be to require transponders on all licensed drones, licenses for all drones, and automatic systems to detect drones flying near sensitive installations which are not broadcasting a correct transponder signal.
Well if any of them want to avoid harsh regulations, they’re gonna have to figure that out themselves. Right?
Not really. We can just ban them, entirely. It’s a lot cheaper.
then ANYONE with one IS a criminal. End Of Problem With Distinguishing.
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At least some of the offending drones are pretty high-end equipment.
That was at ~4700’ up (1.4 km) for at least 10 minutes. That’s not a sub-$1k drone with an average battery pack. Expensive high-capacity equipment should have a transponder/beacon, even if just for recovery purposes.
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