By Foluso
Adelaja
Operators of
unmanned drones lately inflicting untold damages on operations at Gatwick
Airport can now be apprehended without delay with the aid of a new device
employed to stem the onslaught of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (U.A.V.).
Incessant
attacks of malicious drones at the airport have forced its authority to install
the device to thwart operations of illegal unmanned aerial vehicles.
After some 1,000
flights were grounded due to these UAV illegal operations, the airport spent
over one million pounds on a military-grade system to intercept these rogue
operators.
According to
a recent publication of The Times of
London, radar, radio frequency and optical detection systems were installed to
combat the drone disturbance.
The core
function of the Auds anti UAV system made by Chess Dynamics is not only to
combat the drones but also to help track down the operator of any drone.
The system
works through about ten networked sensors around the airport and a control
center inside the facility.
Electro-Optical
trackers featuring long range color cameras and high sensitivity color imagers
capture visual data while radar and video frequency sensors are also used in
the war against the drones.
The
sophisticated network of gadgets employed against these unmanned drones is
presently manned but an upgrade that will automate the detection of drones is
already in the offing.
The Auds
system has the capability to jam a drone’s radio frequency in the bid to deter
it from functioning.
According to
the Chief Executive of Chess Dynamics, the maker of the detection system, “if
we know what the drone is doing, where it comes from, we can follow it back because
the operator is communicating with the drone. It’s a two-way communication, you
can detect both ends. You can make a forensic analysis…to determine a probable
control site and launch site.”
The British
Government has recently published a Counter Drone Strategy which described the
Gatwick disruption as a risk to the public as hundreds of thousands of people
had their travels disrupted with tens of millions of pounds in economic damage.
Government
is also liaising presently with the industry on improving geo-fencing
capabilities that restrict commercially available drones from flying in certain
areas.
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