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malloryerik

Can drones be stopped? They have the potential to wage campaigns of automated political violence.

I see companies trying to protect against them, like Dedrone [1] -- how effective are these?

I imagine most here have seen it, but if not, you must see the slaughterbots video. [2]

[1] https://www.dedrone.com/

[2] https://youtu.be/9CO6M2HsoIA

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Hikvision makes a "rifle" product that jams drones (unmanned aerial vehicles). See http://en.hikrobotics.com/uav/uavinfo.htm?type=18&oid=513

Hikvision also sells the drones, and a bunch of other accessories. Scroll down to page 9 of the following PDF: http://oversea-download.hikvision.com/uploadfile/Leaflet/Bro...

I was able to get invited to hikvision's main product showcase/"museum" in China to see all the products that they make - including the above referenced drone jammer...And they do some pretty awesome (and scary!) stuff. I'm sure there are plenty other companies throughout the world which produce similar drone jammer products too. (Its just that this jammer, i actually saw in person.)

There are a few companies working on drone detection and anti-drone technology. I believe Black Sage ([1], based in Boise) provides protection tech for military applications and for venues like sports stadiums.

[1]: https://www.blacksagetech.com/

Using radio spectrum detection methods is probably effective against the script kiddies of the drone world, but to sell the idea that this could defend motivated, funded attackers, operating with murderous intent, feels like The Illusion of Safety and a heaping spoonful of snake oil at best.

Serious combatants will not be using wifi/cellular 4G LTE drones they bought off the shelf at Best Buy. Or, I mean maybe they will be in the picture but as decoys, why not?

The point being, that obviously a kamikaze DJI drone is some simple simon nonsense, and I would not bet my life on a team of corporate product managers selling some agile/scrum developed MVP product line that relies on sniffing for consumer band radio telemetry.

> Serious combatants will not be using wifi/cellular 4G LTE drones they bought off the shelf at Best Buy.

ISIS was using DJI drones[0] effectively[1][3]. There’s even been drone swarms using commercial drones in Ukraine.[2]. Even well funded armies like the IDF are using these things.[4] Weaponizing hobby drones has been happening for a long time now.

[0] https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/mb9wmb/isis-will-no-long...

[1] (content warning: the propaganda video linked to i this article shows a death.) https://www.funker530.com/abrams-tank-commander/

[2] https://globalnews.ca/news/4236518/the-new-drone-warfare/

[3] https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/uas/2018/01/05/how-650-dro...

[4] https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/06/18/first-isis-i...

Another way drones are weaponized is for information warfare, e.g. ISIS propaganda showing their SVBIED attacks.

> Serious combatants will not be using wifi/cellular 4G LTE drones

if you precalculated its path, you could probably navigate by inertial methods using gyros/accelerometers allowing you to be completely dark in the RF spectrum.

You probably don't even need to do that. Facial recognition is to the point where a drone can navigate to a predefined area and find a specific person before detonating. Especially in a situation like this where a politician is giving a speech at a very specific known location (i.e. behind the podium on the platform).

GPS is passive only, you’re not emitting on the RF spectrum to get a fix

The RF downmixer used by the receiver does radiate.

Not sure if its the same thing but I think rx radios have an "IF" - internal frequency, which could also be disrupted if it wasn't shielded.

These drones were stopped by snipers, so yes.

Do you have some verifiable information on that?

The government narrative is it was a drone attack, but there doesn't seem to be any footage to show that. Has anything been released to verify the attack as being from drones?

Even if not real, half of the people at HN could probably pull off the real thing or far worse -- fortunately the good people here are mainly rational and peaceful, but the rest of humanity isn't always so. I can't help but feel that some nasty bottle has just been uncorked.

The article says an unknown group called "Soldiers in Tshirts" claimed responsibility and said that army snipers shot down the drones. But, the group didn't respond to interview requests and firefighters at the scene said it was a gas tank explosion at an apartment building.

The burn marks on the building look like a few stories tall and a few apartments wide. If it was an aerial explosion is seemed like a pretty big one.

Is it possible that drone explosion caused gas tank explosion?

EMP blast, nets, lasers, signal jamming - there are a few ideas but nothing full proof.

I've heard of multiple people just shooting then down if they trespass, so there's always guns.

I can't remember the article but I saw on HN a story where law enforcement triangulated a drone operator who was doing something criminal like smuggling. I'm sure that would be just as beneficial for deterrence if the operator knew they would be found.

Serious question: Has there ever been an actual weaponized EMP on any scale? I’ve never heard of one, and there seems to be real doubt among nuclear arms control experts that this is likely or even possible in a practical sense.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-overrated-threat-from-e...

Not that I know of, just ideas at this point.

I've seen a few companies not just signal jamming, but actually hijacking the radio signal to take full control of the drone.

Still plenty of consumer models have full autonomous modes guided by gps, so I guess that's got to be part of the mix too.

I think just the act of detonating a nuke sets off an EMP. However all electronics getting fried just before the entire city is incinerated ranks pretty low on the priority list.

Well that's kind of the thing right? Once you launch your ICBM, the fate of your cities are already sealed. On top of that, the effects seem to be highly variable. From a practical point of view, you might as well just use them in a traditional manner.

There is a cruise missile capable of delivering an EMP-like effect under development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-electronics_High_Power...

I wonder if directed energy I.e. microwaves could work?

What a doom and gloom-ish video. I understand that AI is a powerful technology that can be misused, but so just like all other technologies.

This is plain FUD, using popular science fictional dystopia to send some kind of political message. It's trying to appeal to the lower intelligence of people to pretend something bad can happen.

In the end, the military will work on those kinds of techs even if the public doesn't like it.

Much of what’s shown in the video is doable today with some effort. The effort required will decrease exponentially over time.

I don't disagree, but what's the point of the video? To entertain and scare?

To highlight the sheer feasibility of this in the near future and invite policy discussion.

Policy about what exactly?

This kind of tech would be specific to the military, it would be limited to military use, never civilian.

I am assuming you are talking about countering drones in a civilian, non-war setting. Because drones are no use in a war against any nation with any semblance of an air force at all.

Ummm all sides have been using quadcopters and RC planes in the Syrian Civil War for years now

So how does your air force help you against a hundred C4 packed drones swarming your soldiers? A drone costs almost nothing compared to anything an air craft can shoot at it.

No use? Those air forces are going to last a few minutes on the ramp:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andersen_Air_Force_Base#/media...

All within 2 miles of a public highway. Better start building more ramp space at Diego Garcia.

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