DronesSound waves disable drones by disrupting the drone’s gyroscope

Target drone converted to civilian drone // Source: commons.wikimedia.com

Hobbyists’ drones are becoming a growing national nuisance – violating people’s privacy, breaching security-sensitive airspace, disrupting attempts by firefighters to bring wildfires on the West Coast under control, and more (for a longer list of drone problems, see Craig Whitlock, “Rogue drones a growing nuisance across the U.S.,” Washington Post, 10 August 2015).

South Korean scientists report that sound waves could offer an effective protection from drones.

The New York Daily News reports that in twenty trials, the scientists incapacitated 50 percent of the targeted drones by using concentrated sound waves.

Most drones rely on gyroscopes to maintain level flight and orientation. High-frequency sound waves disrupt these gyroscopes, thus disabling e the drones and causing them to crash to the ground.

“These systems can malfunction because of physical quantities that sensors fail to measure or measure sensitively,” the South Korean report said. “Most commercial devices with sensors are not equipped with any ability to detect or protect against such attacks.”

The News notes that for the experiment, scientists attached wireless speakers to remote-controlled drones, about four inches from their gyroscopes. These speakers could be used from up to 120 feet away. The experiment, which aimed to prove the concept, used close-range sound waves to minimize the number of intervening variables, and the scientists say that there is still a need to test the approach at longer distances.

“Our real-world experiments showed that an acoustic attack can completely incapacitate a target drone equipped with a gyroscope,” according to the report. “But we need to find out possible attack distance or sound level of a sound source required to destabilize a target drone in the air.”