FAA May Hijack Careless Drones
This post is also available in: 
עברית (Hebrew)
The problem once again arises – how can the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) manage the danger of drones flying too close to commercial flights and risking a crash? Despite regulations stating a certain distance from airports, the FAA is still receiving around a 100 reports every month from pilots detecting drones during flight.
The FAA is testing different technological projects to raise awareness to drone aviation regulations – where they can be legally operated. Some tried to introduce legislation to set up virtual fences around sensitive areas. Software baked into drones would keep them from entering the fenced-off areas. But the problem is that it isn’t very complicated to modify or disable this geo-fencing software. Others suggested the FAA build a database with every drone operator’s details, but the size of this database might just be too large for the FAA.
Now the FAA decided to test a new technology, which also has military uses, which could take over the drones remotely and keep them away from airports and other sensitive aerial territories. For this the FAA is partnering with CACI International, an intelligence, military and information technology federal contractor in order to choose a technology to detect these unmanned aerial vehicles near airports.
This technology is even more advanced than the geo-fencing software, as it “invades” the drone, among other capabilities. It can also track and locate the drone and its operator, force the drone to land or return to the operator. In other words, it can redirect it in a different direction and have the operator come and take it back.
Maybe this new technology can finally put an end to amateur operators breaking the law and guard against hostile actions.
