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Comment by ars | Hacker News Reader

Faraday cages don't block DC, so use that to provide power.

Then run a simple optical fiber cable for communication to an antenna that lies outside the cage.

If you are really good you have multiple antennas that are kept off (with the circuit physically disconnected from the antenna). If you get hit with a pulse activate the next antenna.

It's possible to make simple electronics that can survive such a pulse, with auto-reset fusible links, and you use those for activating the antenna.

Or even a small door and "push" the antenna out of the Faraday cage when needed.

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> Faraday cages don't block DC, so use that to provide power.

Drones carry their own power source - usually a LiPo battery.

What you're proposing would not work if the phaser could just keep firing (which seems likely). Onboard AI seems the solution (assuming the Faraday cage is effective enough, which remains to be seen).

> Drones carry their own power source - usually a LiPo battery.

You misunderstood me. Use that to provide power to the antenna which is outside the Faraday cage, and the battery is inside.

> What you're proposing would not work if the phaser could just keep firing

The phaser has a range though. So program the drone to fly up and away if it gets hit (no need for AI to do that). Then reactivate communication and stay away from the phaser area.

I think this is an expensive solution, which would increase radar cross signature almost certainly. Also, it would protect against a weapon that isn't fielded while doing nothing for any conventional weapons.

Source: I flew UAVs "drones" for the US Army for 482 combat flight hours in Iraq. Lookup the wikipedia for "Ground Control Station" for an old pic of an 18 year old me @ the UAV training center "black tower" in Ft Huachuca, AZ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_control_station

Yeah. The solution is likely more along the lines of making the drones cheap and disposable, and fighting these systems with traditional air defense suppression.

Very much agreed. I see this "phaser" system as a neat tool that could work along side conventional anti-air such as Patriot batteries to make it pretty difficult to gain air superiority.

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