Unmanned Aerial Vehicle The latest drone news
The 2018 Winter Olympics are underway in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and anti-drone safety is a serious concern.
With about a million spectators, athletes, and company anticipated, in addition to 26 heads of state from 21 international locations, security is high of thoughts for South Korean authorities. And drones are one among the latest attainable threats, in terms of reviewing potential security considerations.
Image supply
But worries a couple of drone carrying a bomb or another hazardous payload isn’t the solely cause drones are a spotlight in South Korea.
Given what number of drones there are in the arms of customers as of late, stopping collisions or crashes that might result in drones falling on individuals is one other motivator in conserving the skies away from rogue drones.
DJI, which owns about 70% of the international marketplace for client drones, has carried out a no-fly zone round the sports activities arenas the place Winter Olympic video games are going down, together with round places in Pyeongchang, Gangneung, and Jeongseon.
Safety is DJI’s high precedence and we’ve at all times taken proactive steps to coach our clients to function inside the regulation and the place acceptable, implement momentary no-fly zones throughout main occasions.
– DJI
This isn’t with out precedent. DJI has beforehand carried out momentary restrictions round the Euro 2016 soccer match in France, each main celebration conventions forward of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and the G7 Summit in Japan.
Drones Catching Drones
While DJI has taken steps to assist forestall rogue drones at the Olympics by itself initiative, the South Korean authorities, in partnership with authorities from the Winter Olympics, has additionally taken measures to forestall unauthorized drones from flying over the video games. In reality, a whopping 60,000 individuals a day will likely be working to fight terrorism and guarantee security throughout the video games.
Although some rogue drones could possibly be attributed to those that merely need to fly over a giant occasion to seize their very own aerial footage, the chance for security considerations can also be fairly actual, and that is the place drones made for catching drones—or Counter UAS (CUAS)—is available in.
The drones getting used for safety proper now in Pyeongchang are outfitted in order that they’ll drop a web over a rogue drone to seize it, and and pressure it to the floor.
Photo supplied by the Pyeongchang Olympics Anti-Terrorism and Safety Headquarters
If a drone approaches a restricted space, drone detection radar developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) will likely be deployed.
If a suspicious drone is picked up by radar, drone radio signal-jamming weapons like these created by Dedrone will likely be used to deliver it down.
But that’s not all. If the rogue drone can’t be stopped with an anti-drone gun or one other drone geared up with a web, South Korean particular forces have been educated particularly to shoot drones out of the sky, and will likely be deployed through helicopter to shoot the drone down.
In addition to those techniques, one other futuristic software South Korea will likely be utilizing is a tactical airplane geared up with facial recognition capabilities, which is able to scan the crowd and detect people who may pose a possible terrorist risk.
Check out this demonstration of a drone catching one other drone made by Tokyo police in 2015
The Future of CUAS
Given the extremely excessive stakes, we are able to assume the know-how and approaches getting used at the Winter Olympics to guard individuals from rogue drones is high of the line.
We’ve written earlier than about the completely different choices on the marketplace for bringing down a rogue drone—from shotgun shells that deploy nets, to educated eagles, to web weapons—but it surely seems to be like many of those choices have been handed up in South Korea for extra certain issues (i.e., drones outfitted with nets, radar, and, when all else fails, taking pictures the problematic UAS out of the sky).
The South Koreans have finished some spectacular preparation to guard these attending the video games. But we now have to say, they might have been in a position to save some huge cash by merely coaching their officers to throw a spear . . . take a look at what we imply in the video under:
Of course, we’re kidding.
As drones proceed to populate our sky in ever growing numbers, measures like the ones at the moment being taken at the Winter Olympics are certain to be extra and extra frequent place for any giant occasion. Dedrone was in the information not too long ago for serving to with anti-drone safety at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and after all there are various extra examples of CUAS getting used at large occasions in current information.
We’re certain to see extra improvement on the CUAS entrance in the subsequent few years—it may even be the case that the go-to anti-drone know-how getting used 5 years from now has but to be invented. But for now, utilizing a drone to drop a web on one other drone will work simply wonderful.
Zacc Dukowitz
Director of Marketing
Zacc Dukowitz is the Director of Marketing for UAV Coach. A author with skilled expertise in schooling know-how and digital advertising and marketing, Zacc is keen about reporting on the drone trade at a time when UAVs may help us dwell higher lives. Zacc additionally holds the rank of nidan in Aikido, a Japanese martial artwork, and is a broadly printed fiction author. Zacc has an MFA from the University of Florida and a BA from St. John’s College. Follow @zaccdukowitz or take a look at zaccdukowitz.com to learn his work.
