As concerns rise about a security menace posed by rogue drone flights, U.S. government agencies are working with state and local police forces to develop high-tech systems to protect vulnerable sites, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Although the research aimed at tracking and disabling drones is at an early stage, there has been at least one field test.
Last
New Year's Eve, New York police used a microwave-based system to try to
track a commercially available drone at a packed Times Square and send
it back to its operator, according to one source involved in the test.
The
previously unreported test, which ran into difficulty because of
interference from nearby media broadcasts, was part of the nationwide
development effort that includes the Department of Homeland Security,
the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department, the
source said.
The sources were not authorized to speak about the effort and declined to be identified.
Asked
about the development of counter-drone-technology, the Department of
Homeland Security said it "works side-by-side with our interagency
partners" to develop solutions to address the unlawful use of drones.
Officials with the Defense Department, FAA and New York Police
Department declined to comment.
But
the sources acknowledged that efforts to combat rogue drones have
gained new urgency due to the sharp rise in drone use and a series of
alarming incidents.
The
number of unauthorized drone flights has surged over the past year,
raising concerns that one could hit a commercial aircraft during landing
or take-off, or be used as a weapon in a deliberate attack, the sources
said.
Drones
have flown perilously close to airliners, interfered with firefighting
operations, been used to transport illegal drugs into the United States
from Mexico, and sparked a security scare at the White House, among
other incidents.
LIMITED POWERS
But
U.S. authorities have limited tools for identifying drone operators,
many of them hobbyists, who violate federal rules that drones fly no
higher than 400 feet (120 meters) and no closer than 5 miles (8 km) to
airports. One reason for the enforcement gap is that Congress in 2012
barred the FAA from regulating recreational drones.
A
system capable of disabling a drone and identifying its operator would
give law enforcement officials practical powers to block the flights.
At
crowded venues such as Times Square or the Super Bowl, police want to
be able to take control of a drone, steer it safely away from the public
and guide it back to the operators, who can then be identified, the
sources said.
A
Reuters analysis of FAA data shows that authorities identified
operators in only one in 10 unauthorized drone sightings reported in
2014, while only 2 percent of the cases led to enforcement actions.
"We
can’t shoot it out of the sky. We have to come up with something that's
kind of basic technology so that if something happens, the drone or
device will just go right back to the operators. It won't crash," one of
the sources said.
To
do that, experts say that a drone needs to be tracked and identified
with a receiver and then targeted with an electromagnetic signal strong
enough to overwhelm its radio controls.
“You
need enough power to override the transmitter. If I just jam it so it
can’t receive signals, it’s probably going to crash. But if I know the
transmission codes the drone is using, I can control that object,” said
retired U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Muddy Watters, an electronic
warfare expert.
Laws
governing the use of drones have lagged their dramatic rise in areas
spanning agriculture, filming and recreational use. Recreational drone
operators are not required to register their machines, obtain training
or put identifying features on the aircraft, making it extremely
difficult for police to track down rogue operators.
FIRE-FIGHTING DISRUPTION, SECURITY SCARES
U.S.
pilots have reported more than 650 drone sightings this year, as of
Aug. 9, well over double the 238 total for all of 2014, the FAA said
last week.
More
than 1 million drones of all kinds are expected to be sold in the
United States this year, compared to 430,000 in 2014 and 120,000 in
2013, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
In California, errant drones forced firefighters to suspend air drops of water and fire retardant on wild fires this summer.
In
January, a "quadcopter" drone landed on the White House lawn after its
operator lost control of the device in downtown Washington. Federal
officials decided not to bring criminal charges.
Police
say their greatest fear is weaponization, as the advance of drone
technology enables the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to travel farther
and faster and carry larger payloads.
Guns
can be fixed to drones and fired with relative ease, as demonstrated in
a popular video posted to YouTube by a Connecticut teenager in July.
The 15-second video, entitled “Flying Gun”, shows a quadcopter hovering
just above the ground in a wooded area and jerking backward with each of
four shots.
The case is under investigation by the FAA to determine whether the drone violated aviation safety rules.
Safety
and security concerns have prompted bipartisan discussions in Congress
about options that include federal support for jamming drone systems and
other potential technology solutions.
Senator
Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, proposed this week that drone
manufacturers be required to install technology capable of preventing
the unmanned aircraft from straying near “no fly” areas such as
airports.
Drone
industry executives say that one possible solution is an industry-wide
agreement to include so-called “geo-fencing” software in drones to
prevent them from straying above the legal altitude or too close to
sensitive sites.
Chinese
drone maker SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd, whose drone was involved in the
January crash on the White House grounds, has since released a software
fix that will restrict flights around sensitive areas.
Federal
authorities say they are also prepared to bring federal criminal
charges against rogue drone operators who violate FAA restrictions
