FAA To Test British Drone-Jamming Device At US Airports

drone

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is getting ready to test a UK-developed system with the capacity to jam signals to small drones. This is part of the efforts by the FAA to find solutions for detecting small, unmanned aerial vehicles around the vicinity of U.S. airports. The technology will be tested at several airports to be selected by the FAA.

The Anti-UAV Defense System (Auds) was developed by three British companies: Enterprise Control Systems, Blighter Surveillance Systems and Chess Dynamics. The AuDs works by jamming signals to drones, rendering them unresponsive.

A thermal imaging camera allows the Auds operator to target the unwanted drone before signal jamming, via a high-powered radio signal, is activated.

The FAA reports that there were about 600 drone sighting reports in the period between August 2015 and January 2016.