It looks like a Festo bird see http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/11369_11439.htm#id_11439
Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
31–40 of 45 posts
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am interested in what kind of protection or defence is there against the drones. First is how would one detect them and how would one knock them out. Can one make another drone that patrolls an area looking for these spy drones and then somehow shoots them down. Homes in on them then autodestructs... A radar + a laser? An EMP device that would fry their electronics? Would a small heat seeking missile work? Well the…
Jam it. The birds are not (currently) autonomous. A jammer is lightweight, reusable, non-lethal to civilians and simple technology.
If jamming becomes common, it would take very little time for drones to be modified to be autonomous, or to follow a predetermined flight path if they lose contact with the controller. It might be effective now, and it gets points for being fairly easy to implement, but it's not going to be effective for long.
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am interested in what kind of protection or defence is there against the drones. First is how would one detect them and how would one knock them out. Can one make another drone that patrolls an area looking for these spy drones and then somehow shoots them down. Homes in on them then autodestructs... A radar + a laser? An EMP device that would fry their electronics? Would a small heat seeking missile work? Well the…
You could probably use pretty standard ECM techniques to figure out what is a drone and what isn't by listening for their control signals. Of course that wouldn't help with autonomous drones, but those are still a ways off. A laser sounds pretty good, they're big but you can swivel the beam very fast since you just have to move the mirrors. And they don't fall back to earth like bullets do. EMPs are hard to produce w…
"Of course that wouldn't help with autonomous drones, but those are still a ways off."
I can assure you that those are not a long way off. Fully autonomous drones can be deployed today by anyone with a few hundred dollars and a little electronic skills.
http://diydrones.com http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Main_Page
For someone with a few thousand dollars, there's more options and higher quality autopilots in the commercial market.
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#34Here's a potentially scary thought for you: in ~2000, this would have been proof positive of state involvement. In 2011, this is barely newsworthy. In 2021, this will be about as within the reach of the average middle class teenager as a three ounce device capable of instantaneous worldwide encrypted communication. This is not going to be a happy adjustment for people who have to maintain physical security of e.g. a…
Several years ago I thought about writing a short story which included an attack/assassination of an important political figure. The point was to do some brainstorming about ways such an attack could be conducted. After an hour or two, I decided never to write about this subject. The exercise was very eye-opening. The difference between a normal, naked person and a person armed with tech is increasingly dramatically.…
> After an hour or two, I decided never to write about this subject.
I have to say, you made the right choice. You would have probably ended up with a visit from Secret Service, FBI or other such organization.
Someone I know wrote about a similar hypothetical scenario and ended up getting a visit from FBI at their workplace, in front of everyone, then also at home. You know, just a friendly "chat"... They ended up lecturing him about 1st Ammendment rights, oh the irony.
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#35Here's a potentially scary thought for you: in ~2000, this would have been proof positive of state involvement. In 2011, this is barely newsworthy. In 2021, this will be about as within the reach of the average middle class teenager as a three ounce device capable of instantaneous worldwide encrypted communication. This is not going to be a happy adjustment for people who have to maintain physical security of e.g. a…
repetition of the same old story from century and a half ago about Smith and Wesson, etc...
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
They've already clamped down on model rocketry as a hobby. I wouldn't be surprised to see restrictions on flying devices capable of carrying payloads larger than a certain size. As you point out, it's not hard to imagine nefarious uses. Which is, of course, one of the reasons we can't have nice things.
"They've already clamped down on model rocketry as a hobby" Someone should tell these guys: http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/
Or these guys:
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Nobody is going to want to outlaw RC planes, or wearable cameras, or some sort of AI-augmented robotics. Never underestimate the power of a well-funded PR campaign spreading FUD. "Could HACKERS be targeting YOUR CHILDREN with ROBOT BIRDS? More at 11."
No, thinking about it some more, you're correct. And they'll do it just the same way they're doing the internet: a little nibble at a time. It will be efforts to "Save children" "protect orphans" "help the little guy" "control the evil corporations" and every other overused FUD campaign that's worked so well in the past. They'll just re-purpose it -- and take tiny bites. If they told us up front how much control they…
"The really sad part is that "they" -- who will be different people in different situations -- mean well and only want to help out."
I used to think so, but no longer. It looks to me that issues are merely pasture for politicians to feed on. They don't care about the issues or the people the issues affect, they only notice an issue that can be used to further their career.
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#38Here's a potentially scary thought for you: in ~2000, this would have been proof positive of state involvement. In 2011, this is barely newsworthy. In 2021, this will be about as within the reach of the average middle class teenager as a three ounce device capable of instantaneous worldwide encrypted communication. This is not going to be a happy adjustment for people who have to maintain physical security of e.g. a…
in 2031 your secure communicator and your [lethal] personal drone will be the same device. You will talk into the headset of your nokia murderator.
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#39Here's a potentially scary thought for you: in ~2000, this would have been proof positive of state involvement. In 2011, this is barely newsworthy. In 2021, this will be about as within the reach of the average middle class teenager as a three ounce device capable of instantaneous worldwide encrypted communication. This is not going to be a happy adjustment for people who have to maintain physical security of e.g. a…
I am interested in what kind of protection or defence is there against the drones. First is how would one detect them and how would one knock them out. Can one make another drone that patrolls an area looking for these spy drones and then somehow shoots them down. Homes in on them then autodestructs... A radar + a laser? An EMP device that would fry their electronics? Would a small heat seeking missile work? Well the…
Drone combat seems like an unnecessary step.
I think you'd just float some blimps with various sensors to watch for anything suspicious. [1] If you did spot anything suspicious, you'd simply move your high-value target as if you'd spotted someone with a gun or a suspicious bag in the area.
A jammer could be put into a ground-based vehicle and activated as part of a response, but even if you could engage a suspicious drone with your own, you'd still need to move the would-be target for safety's sake. So why bother?
[1] I'm rather surprised these things aren't already in use. They could be trivially disguised as promotional material for an event and even be tethered to provide superior power/data resources to your spotter blimp.
Re: Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
You'd need to pick a scalable solution; where we have one drone today, we could have 20 in the same place for half the cost in the future. In my opinion, the best solutions I can think of are: 1) EMP. May not shut off the motors, but should shut off the brains. 2) Base station with targeting system. Laser would be too slow, too dangerous. Maybe a high-powered water jet. Knock them right out of the sky. Break their wi…
I think a laser would scale much better than a water jet. Not to mention, isn't it hard to justify spraying water at every bird that flies by when you're stationed in a desert? I think in the end, the cheapest thing will be something like a small gun mounted on turnable mount, with a camera attached. If it sees small something flying overhead, it shoots - normal airplanes will be too far up to hit, and if you have a…
Lasers aren't magic. They take time to cut through things, unless you have a massively, massively powerful beam.