Security

India’s services company Garuda Aerospace says it’s extending the reach of its work-around to the nation’s 2022 protectionist ban on drone imports – and the gaping hole created by excluded DJI craft – through a new agreement with a quintet of specialized international producers compliant with those restrictions.

Designer and manufacturer of security and defense drones, Teal, says it has signed an agreement to use sensors produced by Canadian optical products specialist Immervision to provide its UAVs with low-light vision capabilities for aerial data collection operations.

French officials have echoed concerns expressed last week by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) about the emerging threat of drones in attacks by terrorists or other malevolent forces against major events like the US Super Bowl, World Series, or the World Cup of soccer whose current edition opened Sunday in Qatar.

Leading airspace protection company Dedrone is broadening the range of activity of its drone detection and identification tech into everyday circumstances by teaming up with Johnson Controls, a specialist in building and venue safety services.

Drone tech group Red Cat Holdings has announced its defense and security UAV specialist, Teal, has partnered with Tomohawk Robotics to further enhance the unifying control system of the multiple craft platform known as 4-Ship.

Security, defense, and law enforcement UAV specialist Teal Drones has continued expanding its business base by landing a $1 million-plus contract with the US Customs and Border Protection service to supply its high-performance Golden Eagle craft.

Pennsylvania-based security company Asylan has been granted three beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) waivers by the FAA. The waivers would allow Asylan to leverage its automated security drone-in-a-box system to conduct operations over people and moving vehicles even during nighttime at various sites in the US, including logistics customer GXO’s new facility in Clayton, Indiana.

It is a partnership that’s both timely and, sadly, increasingly necessary. Artificial intelligence-powered ZeroEyes gun detection technology is being integrated into automated drones and robotic ground assets produced by Asylon Robotics to avert, and when necessary, respond to active shooter situations.

In a certain sign of a maturing sector, the heavy investment into manufacturers of all types of drones over the past decade is slowly but perceptibly shifting towards companies developing security systems to detect, identify, and if need be, neutralize the very UAVs earlier funding helped proliferate.

It’s been nearly a year since the Ring’s Always Home Cam was unveiled at Amazon’s hardware event, and the reasons to love or hate the household security drone have been unrestrainedly shouted ever since. Now consumers are finally getting the chance to adopt the aerial watchdog, and either adore or detest it in their very own abode, sweet abode.

Scores of people were arrested in southern England Sunday after drone-flying police busted revelers at a giant rave violating the country’s continuing COVID-19 restrictions. Footage from the craft showed countless cars parked along roads abutting the pastureland used for the illegal party, aiding them in organizing moves to break it up. 

Imagine a formation of unidentified drones brazenly violating banned airspace over a major international event just as dignitaries arrive by helicopter to kick things off. The security threat created would be off the charts – unless you had an enormous high-tech gun capable of picking drones off from far away. That’s exactly what happened, and without fuss, at the opening ceremony of the 30th Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines in 2019.

Increasing use of drones for business and pleasure has been adopted in a few places people might not have expected. Prisons, for example, where sightings of drones delivering contraband have skyrocketed in recent months around the world.

The US military has come up with a new, highly effective weapon for zapping enemy drones out of the skies. Pardon the wonky, technical terminology, but what the Mobile Force Protection (MFP) system does is hock a big loogie of plastic pink stuff that looks suspiciously like Silly String at targeted craft, and down goes Frazier.

Last month we told you about a seriously amped-up drone that performed amazing feats while eluding – and ultimately escaping – pursuing law enforcement helicopters over Tucson, Arizona. New information is now in about the mysterious flight, though both the craft and pilot remains a mystery.

A Nigerian researcher has developed a carbon emission tracking drone he believes will prove effective in locating and arresting criminals, kidnappers, and even terrorists as they try to avoid detection in remote hiding places.

Drone detection in dense city centers poses major challenges – when it’s not flat-out impossible. But one Duke University researcher thinks he may be on the way to solving that problem by pairing old-school radar technology up with self-teaching computers.

University researchers have developed a “smelling” sensor that – once mounted on a drone or robotic vehicle – could replace sniffer dogs in the dangerous work of identifying threats with their snouts.

We’re all familiar with the threat posed by malware and viruses when it comes to our computers. But what about drones? Should we be offering protection for them as well? The concept certainly makes sense, and two companies have joined forces to work on a solution.

Drowsy night security guards had better keep a look over their shoulders. A new indoor security drone may have its sights on replacing them on the midnight shift.

The Israeli startup Indoor Robotics has designed a quadcopter drone it calls Tando to keep an eye on companies once the employees have gone home for the day.

Being an avid drone pilot myself, I always wonder what the current “video surveillance” system would be like if drones were used. If this were a real thing today, how would it work?