Ultimate Resource On Drones

by Monty Henry on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 11:10am

Thanks to a proliferation of inexpensive sensors, chips, cameras and other gizmos that can be tacked onto wannabe spy planes and helicopters, it’s easier than ever for technologists to build craft that fly themselves. Ultimate Resource On Drones

Fighting Wildfires Goes High Tech With Drones, Sensors And Satellites

The techies are sending the three-to-six foot wide drones, guided by computers, radios and soon cellphones, to survey fields, capture action shots from the air or follow them around to snap photos at optimal angles. About their only constraints: a 400-foot ceiling for amateur drones set by the Federal Aviation Administration–and battery life.

A product designer in San Francisco, has built about a dozen drones for $150 to $1,000 each. He says he spends at least 20 hours a week tweaking and flying them. He says drones have allowed him to capture some hard-to-get photos of the Bay Area–including an image of himself on top of Corona Heights shot from far away.

Another hobbyist, pilots a drone as pedestrians watche in Berkeley.

A product designer, who helped design the Flip video camera, is working on technology that allows the drones to be controlled via iPhones and Android devices. He also recently built drones with a fancy chip that can process inputs from three gyroscopes, three accelerometers and a compass.”We’re ahead of the phones,” he says, who adds that he prefers the helicopters to the airplanes, because they are easier to test in his backyard.

At Berkeley Marina, a software engineer at Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar Animation, takes his airplane drone and “quadcopter” out for a spin almost every weekend. His fanciest drone is equipped with a camera that allows him to see what it sees by wearing goggles. “It’s very similar to being in the air,” he says.

The drone subculture in Silicon Valley reflects the widening use of unpiloted aircraft by the U.S. military and law-enforcement agencies. Some entrepreneurs are imagining businesses based on the gadgets, a brainstorm of some computer programmers, which would deliver a taco to a customer’s door.

The growth and increased sophistication of the toy vehicles has raised questions about whether the technology should be in hobbyists’ hands. Privacy advocates, meantime, have raised concerns that drones could be used for surveillance.

The FAA allows amateurs to fly drones for fun, as long as they stick to rules like not flying the machines over people and keeping their drones below 400 feet and in their line of sight. The FAA has said it plans to allow commercial use–meaning businesses that deploy drones, such as the one designed deliver a taco–in the coming years.

Meanwhile, demand is increasing for instruction on how to build a drone. A workshop for hackers in Oakland, plans to hold sessions for building 10 to 20 drones in coming months. The president who works on security communications for the Mozilla Foundation, says building a drone can be detailed, requiring soldering, other mechanical skills and uploading software to run the hardware.

“If things go crazy, it will fly in your face,” He says of the devices. One of the trickiest steps is calibrating a drone to fly outdoors based on the wind and other variables, he adds.

Some are proving drone-building can be a business. In 2009, a drone evangelist, co-founded a drone-building company in San Diego. The firm sells drone parts, such as electronic pilots and sensors. He says it is growing at 50% a year and has multimillions in revenue.

He likens the community of hobbyists to Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club in the 1970s, where Apple Inc. co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak showed off their first personal computer. At the time, the future uses of computers weren’t clear, he says, with the software applications materializing over time. “I think drones will go the same way.”

Organizations That Have Sought to Use Drones

Police departments and universities nationwide have obtained licenses from the FAA to use drones, according to data obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group. See a list of what groups have requested licenses, and the status of that request.

Organization	Status of License

U.S. Air Force	Active
Arlington (Texas) Police Department	Active
U.S. Army	Active
CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection)	Expired
City of Herington, Kan.	Active
City of Houston Police Department	Expired
City of North Little Rock, Ark., Police Department	Active
Cornell University	Expired
DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)	Active
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / CBP (Customs and Border Protection)	Active
DHS (Department of Homeland Security) / Science and Technology	Active
DOE (Department of Energy) – Idaho National Laboratory	Active
DOE (Department of Energy) – National Energy Technology Laboratory	Expired
Department of Agriculture – US Forest Service	Disapproved
Department of Agriculture – US Forest Service	Expired
Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service	Disapproved
Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service	Active
Department of the Interior – National Business Center/Aviation Management Directorate (NBC/AMD)	Active
DOJ (Department of Justice) – Queen Anne’s County Office of the Sheriff (State unknown)	Expired
Eastern Gateway Community College	Active
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)	Active
Gadsden Police Department (State unknown)	Active
Georgia Tech Police Department, Office of Emergency Preparedness	Disapproved
Georgia Tech Research Institute	Active
Hays County Emergency Service Office (State unknown)	Expired
Kansas State University	Active
Mesa County (Colo.) Sheriff’s Office	Active
Miami-Dade Police Department	Active
Middle Tennessee State University	Active
Mississippi Department of Marine Resources	Active
Mississippi State University	Active
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office (State unknown)	Expired
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)	Active
U.S. Navy	Active
New Mexico Tech	Active
New Mexico State University Physical Sciences Laboratory (NMSU-PSL)	Active
Nicholls State University	Expired
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)	Expired
Ogden (Utah) Police Department	Active
Ohio University	Active
Orange County Sheriff’s Office (State unknown)	Active
Otter Tail County (State unknown)	Disapproved
Polk County Sheriff’s Office (State unknown)	Active
Seattle Police Department	Active
Texas A&M University Corpus Christi	Active
Texas A&M University – TEES (Texas Engineering Experiment Station)	Active
Texas Department of Public Safety	Expired
Texas State University	Active
University of Alaska Fairbanks	Active
University of Arizona	Expired
University of Colorado	Active
University of Connecticut	Active
University of Florida	Active
University of Michigan	Expired
University of North Dakota	Active
University of Wisconsin	Expired
USMC (United States Marine Corps)	Active
Utah State University	Active
Virginia Commonwealth University	Expired
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	Active
Washington State Department of Transportation	Expired

Unmanned drones are shrinking — yet their presence in the U.S. military arsenal is growing.

AeroVironment’s Wasp AE represents the latest evolution in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Wasp has been used by the U.S. military for small unit work ranging from reconnaissance and surveillance to tactical intelligence. Hand-launchable at just 2.8 pounds and 16 inches from wingtip to tip, the new model flies 20 percent longer than its predecessor.

The company’s work more than a decade ago on the Black Widow program resulted in a 6-ounce, 6-inch wide micro vehicle that laid the groundwork for today’s micro drones.

And after a year of evaluation and user testing, the U.S. Air Force gave it the stamp of approval, announcing May 22 that the Wasp AE will be included in its Battlefield Air Targeting Micro Air Vehicle (BATMAV) program and placing an order for nearly $2.5 million.

On May 16, the U.S. Army ordered more than $5 million worth of the companion Switchblade UAV, adding to a previous order for $4.9 million.

Able to land on either land or water, the Wasp is fit for both ground warfare and maritime operations. It can relay encrypted video, and voice, text and data, and a miniaturized Mantis i22 AE sensor package lets it capture both color and infrared imagery.

The kicker is that the Wasp is interoperable with other unmanned systems — meaning it is capable of working as a team with other machines to attack the enemy.

While a digital data link lets it work with a variety of other drones — with names like the Puma, Raven and Shrike — the coolest tag team is clearly its partnership with the Switchblade.

In this pairing, Wasp provides the eyes in the sky as Switchblade, also developed by AeroVironment, provides the firepower.

Known popularly as “the kamikaze drone,” the Switchblade works sort of like a grenade and can be guided to a target and set to explode upon impact.

With its micro size and quiet electric propulsion, the Switchblade is difficult for an enemy to track and can arrive on target without detection.

Like the Wasp AE, Switchblade can be either autonomous or remotely controlled by an operator. This lethal platform can recognize objects and provide real-time GPS coordinates and video.

At 5.5 pounds, it fits in a backpack and lets a soldier unleash munitions against even out of sight targets within minutes.

The four-winged UAV is housed in a small tube that is readily pulled out of a backpack and launched from a vehicle, ship or off the ground with a remote controller. When Switchblade has been released, its wings spring open, its propeller starts spinning, and it can move at up to 85 knots (nearly 100 miles per hour).

Switchblade can lock on to a target, and can follow even if it moves — switching off and re-engaging later if need be — meaning minimized collateral damage.

Picture a small unit that comes across insurgents hiding IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and planning to attack U.S. forces. With a Switchblade that unit can immediately strike, remaining safely out of harm’s way.

Teams often have to compete with other units for UAV support — this could help reduce the wait for such key airstrike support, and prevent the enemy from slipping away.

Switchblade is typically deployed by Special Forces units, but brigades like Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division will also begin fielding it this year.

The Air Force has also been using Switchblade — and now the Marine Corps is moving toward procurement as well, to enable its small units to strike more quickly.

Two little machines that fit in a backpack — but the potential is great.

Updated: 1-2-2022

The Second Drone Age Is Here And It’s A Free-For-All

The technology has always had destructive potential, but weaponization has now been honed by burgeoning global commerce.

The pandemic has already given the future a distinctly dystopian look. And then there’s this: the burgeoning of the “second drone age.”

That’s how experts are describing the international drone market — which ranges from tiny startups selling $1,000-to-$2,000 off-the-shelf technology that can be easily weaponized by terrorist groups like the Taliban, to high-tech unmanned vehicles that can carry laser-guided munitions and Hellfire missiles.

It’s an even more highly autonomized proliferation of the first age of drones, which has been dominated by the U.S. since its first attack using a remotely piloted craft in 2001. Now, it’s an ungoverned, unregulated space with billions of dollars to be made and thousands of lives at stake.

The deadly shortcomings of this high-tech violence were placed squarely in the public eye with the U.S. drone strike in Kabul on Aug. 29 that targeted terrorists but instead killed 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children.

It was a failure of military intelligence and, like so many other civilian fatalities of the U.S. air wars, including those featured in a New York Times investigation published in December, there was no finding of wrongdoing against those involved.

The transformation of defense operations has been far-reaching: 102 countries now run active military drone programs. It’s replaced thousands of troops on the ground with controllers behind computers located in bases far away from the air strikes they are launching.

In the U.S., fewer troop deaths mean less pressure at the ballot box and less congressional oversight. It allows leaders of many countries and the proxies that support them to get away with what amounts to murder, often of their own citizens, as we’ve seen in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

All of this is happening without any overarching regulatory regime to protect civilian populations and uphold humanitarian laws, or to examine the operational and tactical ramifications of this remote-control warfare.

That’s what worries experts like Paul Lushenko, a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a Ph.D scholar at Cornell University. Drones are not just a form of war but a tool of unregulated intra-state political violence, Lushenko told me, representing a “dystopian view of what’s developing right now.”

Lushenko, who co-edited the newly released “Drones and Global Order: Implications of Remote Warfare for International Society” with Srinjoy Bose, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of New South Wales, and William Maley, an emeritus professor at the Australian National University, is just one of many advocating for better regulation and more public scrutiny of drone operations.

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August provides an ideal moment for that post-mortem, he notes.

There has been some attempt at oversight. The Missile Technology Control Regime, an informal political understanding among 35 members, seeks to limit the proliferation of and trade in missiles and missile technology — which arguably covers attack drones. But there’s no enforcement mechanism, Lushenko says.

It’s certainly not equipped to regulate armed and networked drones, which can take as many as 200 people to operate, including those controlling them from the U.S., as well as launching them from bases abroad.

Drones are a gateway technology, Agnes Callamard noted in June as she marked the end of her five years as the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

They’ve opened the door to weaponized artificial intelligence, algorithmic and robotic warfare, and loosened human control over the deployment of lethal force.

Today’s armed drones, she wrote, are tomorrow’s killer robots. She says the absence of a control mechanism for a new generation of weapons of mass destruction represents a significant threat.

Callamard, now the secretary general of Amnesty International, has called for a specific “Drone Technology Control Regime” and says nations should establish a multilateral process to develop standards for the design, export, and use of drones as well as stricter controls on the transfer of military technologies.

Sales agreements, she says, should include civilian protection and adherence to international human rights and humanitarian law.

This gaping hole in international oversight has allowed major powers like the U.S. to flout global norms (like the U.S. drone strike that killed the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds force, Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq in January 2020).

Large-scale manufacturers now negotiate sales directly with prospective buyers who have clear military and security uses in mind. It’s seen Turkey emerge as a drone superpower in the sector, which market intelligence firm BIS Research estimated was worth $28.5 billion in 2021.

The U.S. has already expressed its concerns over Turkey’s sale of weaponized drones to Ethiopia, where the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali is suspected of using them against rebel forces in the Tigray region in a civil war that’s killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region saw Azerbaijan emerge as the clear victor using Russian, Turkish, Israeli, and indigenous drones to overpower its neighbor’s less sophisticated military.

All this illustrates the size of the logistical challenges facing the Biden administration and its plans for an “over-the-horizon” strategy in Afghanistan. The policy depends on other countries agreeing to house U.S. bases to enable Washington to continue its counterterrorism efforts, including the use of armed drones.

But without regulation and oversight, the only certainty here is that the technology will continue to advance everywhere. There will be more civilian casualties — and no one will be held accountable.

Updated: 1-5-2022

The Military’s New Challenge: Defeating Cheap Hobbyist Drones

Small armed devices, often bought for a few hundred dollars online, are a big battlefield problem for the U.S. military, and developing a defense that is cost-effective against swarms of them is a conundrum.

The U.S. is racing to combat an ostensibly modest foe: hobbyist drones that cost a few hundred dollars and can be rigged with explosives.

Emerging solutions resemble the stuff of science fiction, from laser zappers to microwave blasters.

Small, cheap drones are the most-concerning new tactical threat to face the U.S. military since the rise of improvised explosive devices in Iraq some 15 years ago, according to the head of U.S. Central Command, Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie.

The rapid development of inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, has enabled irregular forces, terrorist groups and national armies to attack high-value targets at low cost.

“I am very concerned about it,” Gen. McKenzie told the House Armed Services Committee in April. “We still have a ways to go to get on the right side of the curve with this, because right now you can go out and buy one at Walmart or some other location, you can weaponize it very readily.”

Insurgent groups such as Islamic State and Yemen’s Houthi rebels have rigged commercial, off-the-shelf drones with explosives to attack expensive armored vehicles and military installations as well as oil refineries, ports and civilian airports. The UAVs are often bought on the internet or assembled from parts bought online.

Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq stepped up drone attacks in 2021. They included strikes on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi prime minister’s residence, in what security officials called an assassination attempt against him.

Drones slammed into a commercial ship in the Arabian Sea in July, killing two crew, as well as the main Saudi royal complex in Riyadh. Armed drones were brought down at the Baghdad airport on Monday and near an air base in Iraq hosting U.S. troops on Tuesday, and another was shot down early Thursday local time near another Iraqi base.

The bargain-basement weapon is a particular challenge for the U.S., which is focused on the threat of potential war with high-end militaries in China or Russia, and is plowing billions into advanced systems, from sophisticated missiles to giant aircraft carriers.

The high quantities of drones mean traditional defenses against aerial attacks, such as million-dollar missiles, don’t make sense.

Drone attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran and groups it supports have highlighted the cost imbalance. Riyadh often responds by firing Patriot surface-to-air missiles, which cost around $3 million each, and scrambling fighter jets to shoot drones down. Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

The U.S. is racing to develop defenses that meet the technology at a more-equivalent cost. It is focusing on lasers and microwaves because they are powered by electricity, which gives more bang for the buck and can quickly target large numbers of small drones.

The U.S. has fielded a variety of systems across the armed services, from hand-held signal jammers that look like a weapon from Ghostbusters or Star Wars to laser shooters mounted on trucks.

The military has been unable to deploy the systems in large numbers, and no single one has integrated the abilities to track and target several types of drones with the most suitable weapon. Recognizing the urgency and need to consolidate efforts, the Army in 2020 took charge of a new office to lead and direct the search for solutions.

Small drones fly low, slowly and can sharply change course, confusing radar that is scanning for large, fast, highflying aircraft or missiles.

If drones are laden with explosives, simply forcing them out of the sky can endanger people and facilities on the ground. And when deployed in large groups, drones could overwhelm even sophisticated defenses.

To better identify and track drones, militaries are seeking to fuse data from various sensors including radar, cameras and radio-frequency scanners.

Ultimate Resource On Drones

U.S. forces first encountered small attack drones in large numbers in Iraq in 2016, fielded by Islamic State militants. The Pentagon quickly equipped its forces with dozens of hand-held antidrone weapons that jam the signal between aerial vehicles and their base stations.

The downing of an Iranian drone in 2019 in the Strait of Hormuz by a radio-frequency jammer mounted on a Marine utility vehicle aboard the USS Boxer was a turning point. The downing by the electric-powered weapon, its first in the field, was a cheaper option than firing one of the ship’s missiles.

But jamming quickly became outmoded. Drones’ anti-jamming capabilities improved, and attackers adapted by putting drones on autopilot, which curtailed communications and rendered jamming ineffective. Jamming has other drawbacks, because it can interfere with the signals of friendly military or civilian equipment.

Ultimate Resource On Drones

The most promising systems, military leaders and defense contractors say, intercept drones by firing microwaves to fry their electronics or lasers to burn holes in their motors or other critical parts.

A big reason for the focus on these tactics, known as directed-energy weapons, is the cost. Initial investments can be high, in the millions of dollars, but once operational the cost per shot is about the price of electricity: “A cup of diesel,” says Ron Dauk, program manager for laser and electro-optical systems at Boeing Co.

Compared with missiles, “your cost goes down substantially, and you’ve got enough munitions that you can fire again and again and again at however many UAVs are coming,” said Air Force Major Gen. Alexus A. Grynkewich, U.S. Central Command’s operations director.

The systems vary in power and size. A 300-kilowatt laser under development by Boeing and General Atomics is aimed at shooting down missiles and manned aircraft as well as drones. Kord Technologies, a unit of KBR Inc., and Raytheon Technologies Corp. won an Army contract to deliver 50-kilowatt lasers mounted on Stryker armored fighting vehicles.

The Marines and Air Force have already fielded laser systems from Boeing and Raytheon that can be fixed to tripods to provide area security, for example around a forward operating base, or deployed on tactical vehicles for greater mobility, including near the front lines of battle.

The Navy began trying out laser prototypes in 2009, on land and later at sea. In December, it tested a high-energy laser weapon aboard a ship sailing off the coast of Yemen, where Houthi rebels backed by Iran have weaponized bomb-laden drone boats in addition to unmanned aircraft. The Navy said the system “successfully engaged” its target, without providing more details.

High-powered microwave weapons use bursts of intense radio waves that can cook electronics—just like food—and drop small unmanned aircraft out of the sky.

Ultimate Resource On Drones

The Air Force is developing a high-powered microwave weapon to defeat groups of drones with a system made up of a radar dish and microwave cannon mounted atop a 20-foot shipping container.

In a recent field assessment, the system zapped down 90% of its targets, and officials say they can edge toward 100%.

Lockheed Martin Corp. has developed an interceptor that can fit in a backpack and be launched from a six-inch tube to target other drones with microwaves. The weapon can be recovered, charged and reused.

Epirus Inc., a Silicon Valley startup, is collaborating with General Dynamics Corp. to integrate a microwave weapon on Stryker vehicles.

Still, microwaves can interfere with other systems, so they are less effective in urban environments. Even in open fields they can produce “friendly fire,” damaging other weapons systems. Their impact on birds and other animals isn’t known.

Lasers can be impaired by rain, snow, fog or smoke, and they can bounce off reflective surfaces or miss their target and carry on farther, potentially causing collateral damage. Compared with microwaves, which can target a broad area, they can engage only one drone at a time and must focus on each one for a longer period.

Because no single system is capable of defending against the full and growing range of drone threats across the various environments where they operate, the challenge for counterdrone strategists is how to stitch together multiple weapons.

Most U.S. bases in the Middle East have layered their defenses with a variety of systems, which are each designed to confront different threats with varying degrees of effectiveness. The proliferation of systems—each with a specific capability for a specific drone and in various stages of development—complicates operators’ ability to respond to attacks.

“Everything evolved piecemeal. We’ve frankensteined it together a bit,” said Gen. Grynkewich.

The Pentagon is now working toward a unified system that can give early warning, identify a drone’s origin and altitude, and provide options for engagement, according to Gen. McKenzie. “We do not yet have a single system that can do all that,” he said. “That’s part of the problem: We’re not integrated.”

The target for military planners is evolving as drone technology rapidly evolves.

Ultimate Resource On Drones

One growing concern is swarms, where dozens of small drones controlled by artificial intelligence attack a target simultaneously. The problem is compounded if the drones are of various sizes and capabilities, requiring different weapons to counter them.

Epirus is testing a high-powered microwave system it developed for the military. The company says artificial intelligence enables quick targeting of individual aircraft or swarms.

Advancements in counterdrone technology won’t fully address the problem without regular adjustments, said Austin Doctor, a political scientist and counterterrorism researcher at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. As the Pentagon and others invest in new technology, armed groups will keep innovating as well.

“This is the dance—the back and forth of adaptation,” said Mr. Doctor. “In many ways, the battle between governments and militants is about creativity and anticipating the next move.”

Updated: 1-17-2022

Drone Flights Over Nuclear Plants Prompt Swedish Investigation

* ‘Large’ Drone Was Seen Flying Over Forsmark Plant On Friday
* Security Service Will Head Investigation, Cites Security Risks

Swedish authorities escalated an investigation into suspect drone activity at its nuclear power plants, citing increased security risks for the largest Nordic nation.

Sweden’s security service on Monday took over the probe after local media reported a “large” drone flying over the Forsmark power plant on Sweden’s east coast on Friday.

Drones have also been seen near nuclear power plants in Ringhals and Oskarshamn — both in southern Sweden — as well as flying in Stockholm over the Royal Castle, the government’s offices and the parliament over the weekend, media reported.

Drone Worry

Unidentified drones have been spotted near Sweden’s nuclear plants.

The security police would investigate the incidents “in more detail,” it said in a statement. Security threats against Sweden have grown “in general,” while there is a “broader and deeper intelligence threat,” it added.

A police spokesperson told the Expressen tabloid that the drone seen over Forsmark was able to maneuver despite strong winds in the area, and a pursuing police helicopter lost track of it over sea.

Sweden, which isn’t a member of NATO, last week announced its military was reallocating resources, including boosting presence at the strategic Baltic island of Gotland. Security concerns have grown across the Nordic region as Russia is in a worsening standoff with the U.S. and President Vladimir Putin has demanded guarantees that NATO would not enlarge further east.

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war that ensued in eastern Ukraine, tensions also surged in the Baltic Sea, with reports of airspace violations and increased naval activity in the area.

Sweden later that year underwent its largest mobilization since the Cold War amid a hunt for an underwater vessel in the Stockholm archipelago that its media linked to Russia. No clear evidence was found.

Ultimate Resource On Drones

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