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Top 5 Anti-Drone Technologies

London's Gatwick airport closed its runway as disrupted by a drone, nearly 1000 flights and 140,000 passengers got rescheduled in the run-up of Christmas last year. “How do you stop a drone?” Asked repeatedly to unfold a 3-day drama. In the end, a Military grade jamming technology called "Drone Dome" closed the drone signals. It then turbocharged a new industry: anti-drone defence systems.

With the Second Gulf War a decade later, UAVs came into existence. Today, they are a crucial part of military missions and operations and are in high demand by nearly every military and law-enforcement agency on the planet. Unlike most critical military equipment, however, UAVs also have gone commercial, equally sought by everyone from oil companies to farmers, to news media outlets, to environmentalists, forestry services, and wildlife photographers.

The Anti-Drone "Death Ray" Truck:

It is a 10-kilowatt capable anti-drone laser technology developed by Boeing, but in 2014 this was highly advanced and could function in heavy fog, rain, and wind. Known as the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD), it succeeded in "consistently receiving, tracking and engaging a variety of targets in different environments, demonstrating the potential military utility of directed energy systems". Directional radio antennas work as a gun. The radio spectrum of a drone is very narrow, so a focused broadcast is enough to bring down the drone.

 

The DroneGun:

The DroneGun was made to help keep the increasing number of flying drones in check. It sends jamming frequencies that cut a drone's video-streaming at a range of up to 1,094 yards. The signal also sends the drone back to its starting point or makes it land on the spot. And the new DroneGun is shorter than previous models, so there's no need to carry a bag full of gears. It's presently only available to the defence and government agencies, but that could change soon.

SkyFence :

SkyFence is an electronic countermeasures system which prevents drones from flying into a defended location in any weather conditions. It can be configured horizontally or vertically depending on the operational requirements. SkyFence is fully programmable and can be stimulated via a suite of sensors or human input.

SkyFence is fixed along an actual border fence and generates an electronic ‘wall’ which extends into the sky.  An operator controlled drone cannot fly through this wall. By using Precise Antenna Technology (PAT) SkyFence reduces the impact and affects the drone in the sky.

SkyFence’s Field extends to over 500m in height above the fixed area a drone cannot fly over the electronic wall.  The Secondary Field ensures that there are no gaps in the system.

QinetiQ (OBSIDIAN):

QinetiQ's OBSIDIAN radar has been designed especially for counter drone operations, providing a 180° Azimuth by 85° elevation staring antenna array. OBSIDIAN also uses novel techniques to identify drone features to avoid misclassification of wildlife.
OBSIDIAN has been developed from the highly capable Army ALARM radar, used by the British Army to provide warning of short-range aerial target attacks with >99% per cent probability of detection.
•    OBSIDIAN is an exceptionally low-cost radar solution due to its PCB-based design.
•    It had a fully automated alerting system. Operators can respond quickly to alerts or they can set it to operate automatically.
•    It is a lightweight solution that can be positioned on a tripod or a vehicle or a mast or on a building side.

The DroneKiller  IXI EW:

The IXI EW DRONEKILLER is a handheld Software Defined Radio that can be used anywhere in the counter UAVs kill-chain. DRONEKILLER is an FCC (The Federal Communications Commission ) supported non-jamming device. It uses advanced receivers, processors and transmitters, along with unique software algorithms to detect and mitigate drones. It is used by the Military and authorized agencies worldwide to support the counter UAVs mission.

It is simple to use; switch it on, point in the path of the drone and pull the trigger.