Sat, Jan 17, 2015
Designed To Track, Disable Other UAVs
A startup company is working to develop something it calls an "intercept drone" that is designed to identify and disable a UAV that may be engaged in an illegal or otherwise nefarious activity.
According to the company, the Rapere Intercept drone sits on a charging base indoors until needed for use. Then, according to the company website: "Simply take it outside, put it on the ground, and press the GO button. The Rapere will take off, while at the same time scanning the sky for drones. It can tell the difference between a bird and a drone, and will fly over top of any drone within range, then disable it.
After the target drone is disabled, it will return to base and land, where you can add a new tangle-line for a second flight."
The target UAV is disabled when strings are dropped into its rotors, making it unable to fly.
Rapere says that the system works using Lots of (12) high framerate (90 fps) moderately low res cameras (VGA) pointing in every direction, with structure from motion being used to guide the drone to it's target - hovering above the free floating target drone. Fortunately for us detecting a free floating object which is well illuminated and far from any other visible object is easy. We can burn lots of watts on the onboard computer, because of the short flight time. This is difficult on normal UAS.
The company claims that it can identify and overtake any commercial UAV on the market because the short flight times allow it to deliver more voltage to the aircraft's electric motors, where another aircraft would be using lower voltages to extend flight times.
The company says it would be useful for people such as celebrities concerned about their privacy. However, there is nothing on the market yet, and commenters on the company's website question whether it can outfly any other UAV, and the legality of the concept.
Stay tuned.
(Images from Rapere website)
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