Transponders on drones may be required

[warlock 31]

Fox News is about as good a source of information as Weekly World News these days. Their next "expert" will be calling for Bat Boy to be put on anti-drone duty.

At least they don't lie like CNN and MSNBC and the general news

 

[warlock 31]

Do you really believe everything you hear on Fox (Fake) News. My dad use to get all of his news from the National Enquirer. To each his own.

BTW, with the right equipment, HLS or the police for that matter can all ready receive and read the ID off of our Mavic's radio signals. And with the DJI serial number data base, should have the owner's ID.

If you think Fox News is fake news you are a flipping idiot. It's the only true news station out there.

 

[TheoMatthias]

Personally, I don't see the need for political commentary. This site/forum/thread is supposed to be Mavic-related and has, as its goal, to add and enhance sUAS knowledge for our community of pilots.

Just my $0.02!

 

[warlock 31]

I agree so let's not go down that road

 

[jmitteco]

I saw this coming years ago. This isn't new. In the wrong hands, drones can be very dangerous.

 

[netfolks2000]

Do you really believe everything you hear on Fox (Fake) News. My dad use to get all of his news from the National Enquirer. To each his own.

BTW, with the right equipment, HLS or the police for that matter can all ready receive and read the ID off of our Mavic's radio signals. And with the DJI serial number data base, should have the owner's ID.

Please don't bring politics into this site. Please.
As far as tracking and transponders it wouldn't bother me if every flight path was monitored as I have nothing to hide. Our cell phones are probably already in that mode.

 

[George-H]

If terrorists were worried about being legal---they would not be using there drone for chemical warfare.

 

[Callum]

I saw this coming years ago. This isn't new. In the wrong hands, drones can be very dangerous.

There's not a lot that's not dangerous in the wrong hands.

 

[LarryM]

But if the drone transponder signal is used by airplane pilots, emergency helicopters and the like, that could be a good thing. That might provide a huge degree of safety if their flight systems knew there was a drone flying nearby maybe where it was.

Besides Amazon delivery drones will need to keep track of each other, and the transponder technology will come anyway.

 

[AnzacJack]

View attachment 24822
can't get much smaller then that. transponder stuck on bumblebee.

from wikipedia

Aviation
For more details on this topic, see Transponder (aeronautics).

Another type of transponder occurs in identification friend or foe systems in military aviation and in air traffic control secondary surveillance radar (beacon radar) systems for general aviation and commercial aviation. Primary radar works best with large all-metal aircraft, but not so well on small, composite aircraft. Its range is also limited by terrain and rain or snow and also detects unwanted objects such as automobiles, hills and trees. Furthermore, it cannot always estimate the altitude of an aircraft. Secondary radar overcomes these limitations but it depends on a transponder in the aircraft to respond to interrogations from the ground station to make the plane more visible.

Depending on the type of interrogation, the transponder sends back a transponder code (or "squawk code", Mode A) or altitude information (Mode C) to help air traffic controllers to identify the aircraft and to maintain separation between planes. Another mode called Mode S (Mode Select) is designed to help avoiding over-interrogation of the transponder (having many radars in busy areas) and to allow automatic collision avoidance. Mode S transponders are backward compatible with Modes A and C. Mode S is mandatory in controlled airspace in many countries. Some countries have also required, or are moving towards requiring, that all aircraft be equipped with Mode S, even in uncontrolled airspace. However, in the field of general aviation there have been objections to these moves, because of the cost, size, limited benefit to the users in uncontrolled airspace, and, in the case of balloons and gliders, the power requirements during long flights.

i wouldnt bet that that transponder is FAA certified

 

[TheoMatthias]

But if the drone transponder signal is used by airplane pilots, emergency helicopters and the like, that could be a good thing. That might provide a huge degree of safety if their flight systems knew there was a drone flying nearby maybe where it was...{snip}

Yes sir! That's the whole point of ADS-B in GA. Not sure whether a functional ADS-B XPDR could be engineered to be carried aboard a sUAV <55-lbs, though. (see my post above)

 

[gkrug]

This one reminds me of the gun control lobby. The majority of drone pilots are usually operating below 400 ft. If Part 107 pilots exceed this limit they will be on Waivers. The hobbies that flies may occasionally be a wild hair. I’m a pilot with instrument and sea plane ratings as well a Part 107 Commercial. I don’t believe Mode C is useable at such low altitudes where trees, buildings, hills, etc. are present. What would Atc’s scope look like if they saws hundreds of drones in all areas. Magic’s and Phantoms don’t have much baggage capacity. I’ve heard talk that law enforcement may attempt to shoot them down. Really, where do all bullets fall to the earth? UAS units fly on known frequencies. Perhaps narrow band jamming frequencies has some merit. I spent my career as a Safety Engineer with a PE License. I’m fanatical at preserving human life property conservation. I hope common sense prevails and worthwhile solutions are found. Mode C with Altitude Reporting is fantastic aviation. Most drones have small amounts of metal making them hard to detect. FLIR won’t work there’s no heat signature. Wow, it’s a difficult problem.

 

[Kestrel]

Even if all new drones were required to have transponders, there are millions already out there that do not. Anyone intent on using a drone for nefarious purposes would not buy one with a transponder. It would be easy enough to disable the transponder if it had one.

Truth and I can imagine these transponders wouldn't be cheap. So what about all the toy drones out there..

 

[gkrug]

Another issue is our short flying time. With a maximum payload your flying time would be of little value and wind would be hard to handle.

 

[gkrug]

If they require it, we do it.