Swiss Army Knife of Drone Defense?

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The prevalence and growing sophistication of drones has created a serious obstacle for law enforcement. A joint multi-agency threat assessment issued prior to then-incoming President Biden’s inauguration listed drones as a potential threat.

A number of technologies for detecting, identifying, tracking, and disabling drones have come to market in the past few years. Radiofrequency analyzers effectively detect radio waves sent between drones and their controllers and some units with multiple dispersed antennas can triangulate signal origin location. Acoustic sensors work well in short-range scenarios where there isn’t a lot of background noise, and optical sensors, including infrared and thermal sensors, as well as visual spectrum cameras, are commonly deployed to track drones. Radar is also frequently used to track drones.

Devices to disable drones include RF jammers to disrupt the signal between the drone and the controller, GPS spoofers to confuse a drone about its location, net guns, lasers, etc.

A new anti-drone kit launched recently by French company CERBAIR is a hip-fired electromagnetic rifle. Billed as the Swiss Army Knife of drone defenses, the kit includes a backpack and vest with a detection module, a command and control tablet and an electromagnetic effector. 

According to the company, drone detection is processed by omnidirectional analysis of radio frequency spectrum. Once the alert has been given (both visual and audio), the azimuthal location of the rogue drone and its pilot are tracked using a directional antenna.

Because the kit tracks a rogue drone’s location, the electromagnetic gun can be used beyond line of sight, as reported by zdnet.com.