Knocking a drone out of the sky is sometimes possible using an invisible weapon. The vulnerability in some drones comes from a natural property of all objects.
Take a wine glass: if a sound is created that matches the natural resonant frequency of the glass, the resulting effects could cause it to shatter. The same principle applies to components inside drones. Researchers analyzed the effects of resonance on a crucial component of a drone, its gyroscope. A gyroscope keeps a drone balanced, providing information on its tilt, orientation and rotation, allowing for micro-adjustments that keep it aloft. Hobbyist and some commercial drones use inexpensive gyroscopes.
Read moreLeaked e-mails from Hacking Team show that the company developed a piece of rugged hardware intended to attack computers and mobile devices via Wi-Fi.
The capability, marketed as part of the company's Remote Control System Galileo, was shown off to defense companies at the International Defense Exposition and Conference in Abu Dhabi, and it drew attention from a major defense contractor. But like all such collaborations, it may have gotten caught up in the companies' legal departments. Co-founder Marco Valleri outlined the roadmap for a number of Hacking Team's platforms, including its "Tactical Network Injector".
Read moreA Lufthansa passenger plane carrying passengers narrowly avoided a possible drone fewer than 100 meters away during a landing at Warsaw’s international airport. This is the latest in a series of incidents as RC aircraft gain popularity worldwide.
The Embraer 195 jet was at an altitude of about 760 meters when “a black object appeared on the right side of the plane,” according to a statement from the German carrier, which said it was the first time one of its flights had been disrupted by a drone. The airline was hesitant to call the object an UAV, but said the crew supposed that this object could be a drone. The airline was hesitant to call the object an UAV.
Read moreRecently I had the opportunity to attend the Changellenge Cup Russia 2015 student project competition. I was on the panel of judges for one of the sections.
But today we will not speak of the contest itself, but of some of the problems we discussed at the engineering section. The participants had to elaborate use cases for unmanned aerial vehicles in the business, defense and national economy. I think the outcomes would be good for us to know. UAVs can be used in varied domains. Mainly there are three key categories: public administration, businesses, and onsumers.
Read moreIn classical mythology, Aquila is the eagle carrying Jupiter’s thunderbolts skyward. At Facebook, it is the code name for a high-flying drone, indicative of the social networking company’s lofty ambitions.
The V-shaped unmanned vehicle weighs less than a small car, is the centerpiece of Facebook’s plans to connect with the five billion or so people it has yet to reach. Taking to the skies to beam Internet access down from solar-powered drones may seem like a stretch for a tech company that sells ads to make money. Facebook is under pressure to show that it can pursue projects that are more speculative than product.
Read moreTwo-thirds of consumers expect to receive their first drone-delivered package by 2020, and nearly 80% are willing to pay for it, recent findings reveal.
Moreover, consumers expect to receive a drone-delivered package by 2017, according to the '2015 Future of Retail Study' issued by the digital marketing firm Walker Sands. Consumers are shopping online more frequently for more kinds of products and the surveyed respondents say that drone delivery to their doorstep within an hour of placing an order would make them more likely to shop with a retailer. Consumers are open to getting a variety of products delivered via drone.
Read moreTechnology that allows a drone to be piloted from the ground using only a person's brainwaves has been demonstrated in Portugal. The Tekever drone company behind the development said the technology could in the short term be used to enable people with restricted movement to control aircraft.
Longer term the firm said piloting of larger jets, such as cargo planes, could be controlled in this way without the need for a crew on board. However, one aviation security expert told he thought the industry would be unlikely to adopt such technology due to a perception that it won’t be potentially safe.
Read moreIn Singapore food is a national obsession and finding enough people to bring the food is increasingly becoming a problem. One company thinks it has come up with a solution - flying robot waiters. They are sturdy, reliable, and promise never to call in sick at the last minute.
Keen on slowing down immigration and increasing efficiency, the government has put curbs on the cheap foreign labour on which the restaurant industry has long depended. The unpiloted robots whizz above the heads of diners on paths charted by a computer programme, and navigate using infra-red sensors placed around the restaurant. But young Singaporeans tend to shun service jobs due to their lower wages.
Read moreIf you had any lingering doubts that drones had truly gone mainstream, good news: Like most other consumer technology products, your drone can get malware now, too. Security researcher unveiled a new proof-of-concept malware called Maldrone that claims to give an attacker backdoor access to the popular hobbyist quadrocopter.
Maldrone can be installed on the drone remotely, over a wireless connection, without the operator knowing. Once in place, an attacker can take control of the drone, perform remote surveillance using the drone's video camera, and possibly even spread itself to other drones, too. Any drone with an ARM processor and Linux-based operating system.
Read moreMy fellow editors entrusted me with the task of covering drones in this article. Drones fly here and there, without consent. Do they shoot videos? They do! More than that, check out some interesting cartoons they now can make. But are drones as scary as they seem?
Drones might violate someone’s privacy, unwittingly or not, but we’ve yet to discover and unleash their full potential. Of course, this disregards drones that are used for intelligence by the military – they have arsenals capable of stealthy mischief on a much larger scale. The most obvious concern is unauthorized footage of photo and video.
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