Trained eagles to target drones
Discussion
halo34 said:
It would be far safer to come up with a means of stopping drones entering specific airspace electronically.
This kind of stuff is already in place on most new GPS controlled drones i think.I hope this is just one of those none stories and not actually something that is happening. All drones fly with a flight controller that is working to keep the drone stable and upright. If you try to grab the drone in flight it will do all it can to right itself. This cant be a good thing for the bird involved. Even the smaller 4" props are lethal in flight let alone a 10" on a DJI type thingy.
It'd be like training a dolphin to bite the propellers of speed boats that stray into the wrong area.
Much safer ways of doing it without risking the lives of Eagles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Zvpx9fFsM
http://www.ibtimes.com/how-shoot-down-drone-ray-gu...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Zvpx9fFsM
http://www.ibtimes.com/how-shoot-down-drone-ray-gu...
halo34 said:
Except that;
Drones can fly anywhere up to thousands of feet and if kitted out well enough can climb pretty rapidly out of range. They can also move pretty damn quickly when they need to either vertically or otherwise.
Drones can also be pretty big, add in a decent set of carbon props on a quad upwards and its basically a flying mincing machine that you don't want to get near.
They can also be made of carbon, which is highly resilient with advanced flight controllers that will keep it stabilised and flying. If you head up in motors, then the loss of 1 even 2 or more motors doesn't mean its going to fall out the sky either.
For me this is just a stupid idea unless nailing smaller quads like the DJI Phantoms, for anything serious about doing some mischief then its going to come with its own problems - I cant see how they plan on the bird not being damaged in some shape or form.
It would be far safer to come up with a means of stopping drones entering specific airspace electronically.
I'm pretty sure the guys from your local clay shooting club to take out 99% of them pretty easily, a drone at 1000 feet is not the kind of thing they are looking at here.Drones can fly anywhere up to thousands of feet and if kitted out well enough can climb pretty rapidly out of range. They can also move pretty damn quickly when they need to either vertically or otherwise.
Drones can also be pretty big, add in a decent set of carbon props on a quad upwards and its basically a flying mincing machine that you don't want to get near.
They can also be made of carbon, which is highly resilient with advanced flight controllers that will keep it stabilised and flying. If you head up in motors, then the loss of 1 even 2 or more motors doesn't mean its going to fall out the sky either.
For me this is just a stupid idea unless nailing smaller quads like the DJI Phantoms, for anything serious about doing some mischief then its going to come with its own problems - I cant see how they plan on the bird not being damaged in some shape or form.
It would be far safer to come up with a means of stopping drones entering specific airspace electronically.
if you think a drone is fast, try a clay, they can be 'launched' at well over 50Mph, show me a drone that can manage these sorts of speeds, or more to the point, accelerate to them at any reap pace?
I heard this on the news this morning. And whilst it is cool, and who wouldn't want to see an eagle swoop down and take on a drone. Probably a gun is easier ..
http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/drones/how-...
http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/drones/how-...
ATG said:
People are being a bit obtuse. The eagles are not going to get hurt because they'll be wearing crash helmets and steel toe capped boots obviously. If they had fists they'd need to wear boxing gloves, but luckily the eagles that the Met are considering all have wings instead of arms. They've thought of absolutely everything.
From the Metro:
I was watching a documentary the other night about the first guided smart bombs. During WWII one guy sucessfully developed a 'smart' bomb guided by a pigeon placed in the nose piece of a bomb with moveable flaps. The pigeon would peck at a screen showing the target thus keeping the bomb on track. The system worked perfectly albeit in the early stages several old ladies in parks were vapourised.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
Surely this project could be re-launched. Pigoens are far more abundant than Eagles and could easily be trained to associate a packet of stale bread with a drone.
As a backup the met coud so with a squad of anti tank dogs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog and some exploding Dolphins ( for the Thames ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dolphin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
Surely this project could be re-launched. Pigoens are far more abundant than Eagles and could easily be trained to associate a packet of stale bread with a drone.
As a backup the met coud so with a squad of anti tank dogs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog and some exploding Dolphins ( for the Thames ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dolphin.
Edited by Timmy40 on Monday 8th February 12:20
ATG said:
People are being a bit obtuse. The eagles are not going to get hurt because they'll be wearing crash helmets and steel toe capped boots obviously. If they had fists they'd need to wear boxing gloves, but luckily the eagles that the Met are considering all have wings instead of arms. They've thought of absolutely everything.
You forgot the hi-viz jacket.
No monkeys were harmed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_lMlUx8FxU
Scuffers said:
I'm pretty sure the guys from your local clay shooting club to take out 99% of them pretty easily, a drone at 1000 feet is not the kind of thing they are looking at here.
if you think a drone is fast, try a clay, they can be 'launched' at well over 50Mph, show me a drone that can manage these sorts of speeds, or more to the point, accelerate to them at any reap pace?
Actually my little racer can clock over 50 mph fairly easily, some out there are heading towards over 100 mph. Even a basic camera drone can trot along around 20-30 mph. The other thing to remember is that its directly human controlled!if you think a drone is fast, try a clay, they can be 'launched' at well over 50Mph, show me a drone that can manage these sorts of speeds, or more to the point, accelerate to them at any reap pace?
So yes low level flying I can see the point of shotguns, but how are you going to deploy someone good enough to hit it whilst its moving towards intended target in time to stop the perceived threat. That's probably the point to any of the solutions like guns and hawks, how on earth can you contain an issue that might be anywhere within a certain radius at any time. A clay also has a defined trajectory (I have tried it a few times) and will all due respect you aren't necessarily dealing with something that will always do that. Utmost respect here to clay shooters as I was frankly rubbish and I agree in certain situations its going to be effective.
Maybe that's the point of the eagles, have eagle stations everywhere ready to go??
Current GPS fencing/boxing comes with firmware for likes of DJS and if you use aftermarket solution you can choose whether its enabled or just not have it at all. Loss of radio signal can be programmed to continue an automated flight as well, so that wont work (even on fairly low end flight controllers).
So for me I see the only practical solution is one that creates an exclusion zone - the practicalities I don't know.
DJI has the right idea in terms of boxing off areas such as airports, but that's only going to account for a very small percentage of flying beasties over time.
I argue for balance - its a great hobby and I respect any rules to the letter, but it does seem to be whipping up a level of paranoia now that makes me a bit more circumspect about it.
Dixie said:
This kind of stuff is already in place on most new GPS controlled drones i think.
I hope this is just one of those none stories and not actually something that is happening. All drones fly with a flight controller that is working to keep the drone stable and upright. If you try to grab the drone in flight it will do all it can to right itself. This cant be a good thing for the bird involved. Even the smaller 4" props are lethal in flight let alone a 10" on a DJI type thingy.
It'd be like training a dolphin to bite the propellers of speed boats that stray into the wrong area.
Actually its mostly only DJI, its not a requirement or built into any of the other flight controllers (of which there are many many!). I hope this is just one of those none stories and not actually something that is happening. All drones fly with a flight controller that is working to keep the drone stable and upright. If you try to grab the drone in flight it will do all it can to right itself. This cant be a good thing for the bird involved. Even the smaller 4" props are lethal in flight let alone a 10" on a DJI type thingy.
It'd be like training a dolphin to bite the propellers of speed boats that stray into the wrong area.
I totally agree with you, I just don't understand how this is a practical solution.
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