Remember the Tokyo Metropolitan police demo on netting a rogue drone with a net-equipped drone? Yea, that one. An outfit called Airspace is offering to remove pesky, errand drones from the sky with similar methodology – except Airspace’s solution seems a little more sophisticated. For starter, it drone hunter, a multicopter, does not have the obvious giant-ass net dangle beneath it as it approaches its target. The net appears to be hidden under the aircraft and only ejecting out the tethered net when it is above the target. However, the end result is pretty much the same as what the Tokyo police’s net-equipped drone hunter.
Furthermore, Airspace’s solution does not require manual chasing, so to speak. It leverages on autonomous technology to hunt for a drone using a mobile app. It appears that user can just pinpoint the target on the mobile and the hunt is on. The snagged intruder will then be brought back to launchpad unharmed. In addition, the craft can do sentry duty, patroling the an airspace and relying on “machine vision and deep learning” to detect and pick off intruder from the air. Though how efficient is this system is not known.
There’s no telling if this drone hunter will be able to distinguish between drones and birds, and also, there’s no guarantee that birds of prey like the eagle won’t mistakenly hunt it down. We are not sure if this anti-drone service is available to everyday individuals other than law enforcement agencies, governments, and private events. Neither was the price point announced but if you are keen in get rid of buzzing drones swarming hungrily around your compound, you can touch base with Airspace for more information. Skip ahead to see Airspace Drone Security System in action in the embedded video below.
Image: screengrab via YouTube video.
via The Verge
