Watch this French laser zap drones out of the sky
A small French company has been testing a laser that can knock rogue drones to the ground. Watch the video.
www.popsci.com
Drone killer in France...
- Thread starter MAJ Mavic
- Start date
www.popsci.com
cgmaxed
Well-Known Member
From wiki; Illegitimi non carborundum is a mock-Latin aphorism possibly read as "Don't let the bastards grind you down".
If this stuff stayed unregulated how long before consumers drones are doing to need ECM or countermeasure suites....
CactusJackSlade
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It is currently illegal to point a laser at an aircraft — and drones are aircraft.
Enforcement could be tricky — already is for laser strikes on manned aircraft — but the regulations are already there.
sigi.stiemer
Well-Known Member
TS_Thomas02
Well-Known Member
Although shown being used on a Phantom and a Mavic, I'm thinking these would be used (primarily) in some war-zone where risks to life and limb are already pretty high. Military drone-swarms are likely the big driving force behind devices like this. Given how much time it took to burn through the shell, and issues with targeting a swarm, it's not surprising that a demo video showed a lone DJI drone getting zapped.
In the demonstration videos the laser shines on the belly of the drones. I doubt a low-flying drone (that the laser sees from the side) would be too vulnerable. Also, as soon as these lasers become mainstream, countermeasures can be attached - simple alu foil wrap with some light foam as spacer and insulator.
More importantly, even if there's a technology to guard a 1km circle, detecting a drone would still be very difficult - no radar signature, very hard to see.
Finally, this laser is effective "up to 30mph" - so if I'm up to something bad, I just need a DJI FPV combo, with sudden direction changes and top speeds above 80mph.
More importantly, even if there's a technology to guard a 1km circle, detecting a drone would still be very difficult - no radar signature, very hard to see.
Finally, this laser is effective "up to 30mph" - so if I'm up to something bad, I just need a DJI FPV combo, with sudden direction changes and top speeds above 80mph.
Detecting a drone is incredibly easy.
Anyone with a $30 RaPi and a SDR or HackRF can detect both the uplink and downlink transmission many miles away - far beyond the effective controllable range for a drone.
With not a lot of extra effort even the telemetry can be snagged and decoded.
You don't need radar to detect radio transmitters.
It's not at all as simple as you pretend it is. The worry isn't about drones controlled by RF ... the worry is about drones that are flying autonomous and not under RF control. Those are the ones that the military, and probably many civil agencies, are trying to figure out how to detect and intercept. I know someone who gets paid a lot of money to work on this sort of thing, and everything from trying to hear the audible sound from the propellers to detecting various RF emissions from the drone (CPU data pulses, clock pulses, motor control pulses, motor hash, etc) to detecting them by radar or optics is being investigated. It's not difficult to Faraday shield a drone, and most attempts so far have been almost completely inadequate because the detection range is so limited. Not to mention the difficulty of intercepting a drone ... or worse, a swarm ... with AI evasion capability. I'm no expert at all but I wouldn't be surprised if it will require autonomous drones to detect and intercept an incoming threat. The biggest swarm wins. Right now the military is sweating the vulnerability.
With this in mind, does anyone expect the government to loosen up restrictions on autonomous drone flights? My bet is that they get tighter.
SkyPath Studios
Well-Known Member
Good Point. They do this to prevent accidents...Yet they are the ones causing them!!
jeryslo
Active Member
Interesting video, I wonder what is the operational range of the laser? Couldn't find this information in the article.
Chris P. Chicken
Well-Known Member
Van Belle Jean Marc
Active Member
You can calculate it and see it in the video. If you would put it in sportsmodus on 500 meter and move it very fast left/right this laser will NOT destroy it because they state it is a ONE digit kWatt laser. The other types with 3 digit (100.000 Watt) is military force and can take any drone down in seconds. But that means you need 400 Volt three phase + neutre for this simple laser and a big big generator with 4000 to 40.000 volt for the big military laser. Most people talk about lasers like you could shoot something with a laser as big as a gun out of the air. That is totally science fiction and you would be burned to dead coming close to 400 volt x 250 Ampère = 100.000 Watt or 4000 volt x 25 Ampère. And the laser needs the power exact synchronous and continuous... So do not try with a big industrial energy group: the sinus/syne will not be good enough for the homogenity of the laser (and dito melting capacity).
If they use this near airports against terrorism, i support them by the way. Better than a big fine even!! +je
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