On a presidential lawn – that‘s how a drone (precisely a quadcopter) flight ended steered by a participant of a party in Washington who decided to fly over the White House and unexpectedly crashed into the presidential garden. The presidential couple wasn‘t in the House at that time but their daughters were. Barrack Obama got furious that anyone can enter the premises of the one of the best secured places in the world. It has to be admitted that the pilot was unlucky as this seemingly minor incident was qualified as a federal offence.
Free as a bird?
Since drones became common quite a few similar incidents have happened. Use of drones has been rapidly growing and these devices become increasingly sophisticated but also cheaper. Majority treats them as toys but reckless use may have dire consequences as they may endanger not only head of states but also ordinary people. In 2016 a drone crashed into a British Airways jet over Heathrow, no serious damage was done on this occasion but it raised a debate on enforcement of the rules concerning use of drones and protection of the airports. In 2016 the Telegraph reported that ‘the number of near misses involving aircraft and drones quadrupled in the past year‘.
What can be done?
Now Clint Eastwood should appear with a shotgun and pipe in his mouth that would protect his premises against flying peeping Tom and finally shoot it – such situations have actually taken place in the United States (Clint himself was not involved of course). There are quite a few other ideas – Boeing has tested an anti-drone laser weapon that locates a drone and destroys it using a laser. Airports were offered to buy a small army of drones to serve as guards securing their premises and catching intruders in a real net. More and more popular are becoming drone jammers and, if I were to choose, I would use this method to protect against them.
How do jammers work?
One of the best devices of this type available – Defender Zoro DZ-B1 – locates a drone in a 2-km range, jams its operation without breaking it and safely brings it down. It works in the frequency range from 2.4 to 5.8 GHz. It‘s used not only in the highly protected public places like police headquarters, airports and military complexes but also by common clients who want to protect their privacy. The second example of an effective jammer is powerful Defender Zoro DZ-01 Pro that locates a drone in a 5-km range and brings it down allowing for preview of the action on its screen. Similarly to the model described above, it guards privacy and safety of airport, governmental, military or even foreign services buildings and is also available to private clients.
Drones VS law
A drone is not a harmless toy, yet we get thousands of these each year as gifts for birthday or Christmas. They can spy, transport weapon and also contribute to less or more serious accidents that can even result in death. That‘s why the British government has recently announced significant changes to the UK drone law. It requires owners of certain types of drones to register their devices and pass mandatory competency tests proving they‘re familiar with security, safety and privacy regulations. Also, according to the Civil Aviation Authority, consumer drones cannot be used above ‘120 metres, need to be kept away at least 50 m from people and private properties and 150 m from crowds and built up areas.‘ If a drone somehow manages to reach your premises it‘s worth to have a drone jammer, as per the famous words of Alexis de Tocqueville, ‘The liberty of one citizen ends where the liberty of another citizen begins‘.