Drone security

​Irresponsibly-piloted drones can cause a lot of problems, such as when they're flown into restricted airspaces. And while anti-drone measures do exist, many cause the aircraft to fall to the ground, potentially harming bystanders. A new system, however, takes remote control of rogue drones.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has announced new plans to put drones into the air over the Big Apple, listing search and rescue missions and hostage situations as a couple of the intended applications.

​We've seen portable drone-jamming devices before, although they tend to take the form of big guns that would be a hassle to carry for long distances. The new clip-on Pitbull, however, is designed to be worn by dismounted soldiers for hours at a time.

There are various places where people aren't allowed to fly consumer drones. If someone does so anyway, it's always possible to shoot the thing down or remotely disable it. Another option, however, is to net it in mid-air, using the new-and-improved DroneCatcher.

Drones are increasingly crowding the airspace, so it’s only natural that the counter-drone market is growing too. The wide arsenal from DroneShield just got a little wider with the DroneGun Tactical, a new handheld jamming weapon that disrupts more frequencies from a smaller, more portable package.

​​​Drones can go just about anywhere – which is a problem for airports and government facilities. Two new systems, soon to launch in the US, might offer more permanent protection. DroneSentinel will detect unauthorized UAVs and, if local laws allow, DroneSentry will jam their signals to ground them.

Surveillance drones and security robots are not new innovations on their own, but Singapore company Otsaw Digital has brought the two together. The O-R3 is the world's first ground-aerial outdoor security robot that combines an autonomous roving ground vehicle with a surveillance drone.

Scheduled for December this year, DroneClash is a drone dogfighting event organized by Delft University that pits pilots against one another not to be the first across a finish line, but to take down as many drones as possible in the name of safety.​​

As more reports emerge of terorists using weaponized consumer drones to strike allied forces, one unnamed Middle Eastern government is bringing in a high-tech solution, the long-range Dronegun that can ground unmanned aircraft from kilometers away.

If you don't have access to a flock of drone-hunting eagles, a new weapon could be the next-best option, with the ability to ground unmanned aircraft from up to 1.3 mi (2 km) away. ​