I have debated for a while on making this, but decided to do it. I am not talking about Government drones. We are talking about Improvised small UAS Systems like we are seeing change the battlefield in Ukraine. I am not going to talk about weaponizing them, this will be more on how to avoid detection from them, or detect them. Also ways to Theoretically stop them. So some ground rules.

US Airspace is complicated. Most drones in the US are registered and have tail numbers. So so shooting down a drone is the same as shooting down an aircraft in the US. So we are not going to talk about that. I am going to look at ways of avoiding common 640x512 thermal, using thermal to detect other drones. Co opting the FPV feeds of improvised drones.

So I am filing some waivers to the rules, procured a large indoor space to conduct flights that are out of FAA Jurisdiction. I will employ a fleet from Mavic Mini size to 7 foot monsters. In this thread we all ask questions and I will try to come up with a test to conduct every week. So lets hear some Ideas!

How about... goggle search?
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The best way to jam most commercial drones is with, well, a jammer. Usually wifi as most communicate on that spectrum. Several have been found to be vulnerable to deauth attacks, where you repeatedly spam a deauthentication packet over the band and the link drops. The drone then either lands or returns to its home spot. You could also do directional jamming if you know where the drone is or will be, as a link drop will usually result in the same thing. Most wifi transmitters operate in the milliwatt range (up to ~1W for directional), so you could, theoretically, pump out a few dozen watts (not hard to do) and it would be deafened.

Because the same radio frequencies are used for communication and can be jammed, one can also use RDF to find where they're coming from; you can drop antennas around a location to pick up signals, and with all of them talking to a source and a little software + math it can figure out where the drone is without the use of a directional antenna.

Looking forward to it. I've got two, 249g units from DJI and Hubsan. Use would be seeing what's going on around me for a couple of klicks, if the Planoan's decide to invade the USA.

Well you could to that, but there is a bunch of BS out there. What I am talking about is doing some real testing. Sure some agencies and private entities can get aeroscope, or some of the backpack jammers, none of us are going to be able to get that kind of stuff.

How is that Hubsan? I had a Mini long ago and sold it. Most of mine I was doing commercial work at the times so there was not a lot to gain by being under .55lbs.

Big question here is how is the sound on them? Is one quieter then the other. I am planning on testing some quiet props on some smaller drones as well. See if you can be seen from varying heights. I have a tower to inspect soon, so I will do some zoom testing hopefully from 2400’ and down and test the acoustic signature as well.

90% of my equipment is over 15lbs so none of it is very stealthy

We've had a big problem with drones at my work.  Big enough that we've been told under certain circumstances we can engage them.  so this thread interests me.

Tagscribe.

The Hubsan isn't as polished as the DJI with flight characteristics, but it gets the job done. The software is more feature rich though, as it comes stock with Waypoint flight, and an option to display the grid coordinate it is hovering over (Lat/Long only though). The reason I got it, was that it doesn't care where it is - no 'No Fly Zones'. I got it as a factory refurb on eBay for a friggen steal, wouldn't have bought it otherwise.

On both the Mini 2 and Zino Mini Pro, I installed AirScrewTM Props - there is a definite sound change (like 'Tone' on a suppressor). I'd have to get the exact altitude, but I'd say they can't be heard above 200ft AGL. The one thing about them though (that is sold as a "plus") is that they will damage easier than stock (protects skin in case of an accident). I don't like that, but nothing you can do - I carry a ton of spares, plus the stock props.

Friendly reminder that in the US, your property line extends up to 200'. If they are <=200' from the ground over your property line, they are trespassing. See the rules for your state on how you can deal with trespassers.

If they are flying >200', then they are in regulated airspace. If you can find out who they are, then you can file an inquiry with the FAA to see if they're an authorized flight. Depending upon where you are you might even have a NOTAM in effect, so that's a major no-no if they're doing that.

Can I buy an old microwave at a yard sale, frabricobble it to a Dish Network dish and knock everything out of the sky or not? Preferably without cooking myself.

From what i've seen of Ukraine, future hi-tech warfare is going to be very low tech like WW1. Tanks can't break through entrenched positions because they can be javelined. Same with close air support. There will be some kind of emp type weapon that knocks everything out of the sky, so the drone swarm is useless. We gave the enemy zillions of dollars worth of night vision so that advantage is negated. There will probably be those laser aimed sniper guns that basically can't miss, and some robots that look like something from Chernobyl, hardened against radiation, but spooling a wire back to command and control, not relying on a signal.

There was a certain "infrastructure site" here where the nominally-professional security staff were certain they were having drone incursions, and it was later found to be something else, lucky they weren't shooting at them.

Can you trespass with being present?

These are the questions that need answers. Your idea goes along nicely with my interest in merging a raspberri pi and thermal camera with a consumer drone to make a suicide drone hunter/killer. Launch it and it simply goes up until it detects another drone, and kills it. No signals to intercept or jam; just wind it up and let it go.

Good info.  I'm referring to a secure gov't installation, so the rules are a little different.

At any rate, none of this is in my lane or something I'd ever have to deal with.  I'm simply curious.

Without un-opsec-ing myself, the circumstances I'm talking about involve far more than the drone simply passing through.

Short answer: yes. Longer answer: exact charge will depend, some states have created laws for this purpose, but it can be criminal mischief, trespassing, harassment, etc.


Like many things legal, it's more complicated than that, but that's the tl;dr. Technically speaking, you can go up to 500-700' as that's the start of uncontested airspace in non-regulated areas, but if you build any structure exceeding 200' you have to get FAA approval anyways.

So did this “incident.”

Can you show me a state where it meets the statutory elements of the crime of trespassing? There might be some federal regulations, and you might have some kind of illegal surveillance or harassment crimes under state laws, but trespassing seems like a tough one under any common definition.

+1 on that! Also 107 licensed pilot!