Ttaskmaster
I did consider that, as you'd then know exactly where the errant controller is, but dismissed it as I assumed no-one would be stupid enough to give away their position like that….. surely?
Hence putting out a site-wide notification before you do it!
You don't need to go far, just within the airport's own area of operations… ie, the space you're not supposed to fly drones within. If local residents don't like it, I'm sure it will be reflected in their attitudes toward drone fliers showing up!
But again, if it's a toss up between losing your internet for a couple of hours every now and then, or having a 747 crash onto your house, which do you think most people will vote for?
Two is not a problem.
As for finding the right signal - You'll already know what signals should be around (because it's your kit), so eliminating them should leave comparatively little left to scan through.
One ‘finder’ locked on gives you a bearing and perhaps a vague idea of distance if you can approximate signal strength. But you need two, preferably more, to triangulate.
Yes, and we used to play Fox Hunt with CB decades ago.
These days you have kit like this thing, which will calculate a bearing to a transmitter in less than a second: http://www.kn2c.us/
Put some of those all around the airport perimeter and fire away. Triangulate inside and outside the fence.
You know those really tall buildings airports have? You know, the ones with all the comms dishes and antennae atop them?
Well………..
Failing that, chuck up some defence towers around the airport perimeter, or employ some drone pilots of your own, to either fly equipped detector drones or even to combat the illegal drones. We're about to make all our fighter pilots redundant, so I'm sure they'll take the job, and each year you'll have a wealth of computer-game-qualified combat pilots finishing school and needing a paying job…
Ender's Game? Sure, why not!!
BTP can really move their behinds when the need arises… especially if they think they'll get the chance to shoot someone.
Deliberately interfering with aircraft could quite conceivably count as an act of terrorism too, so it'd be live ammo all round…
What's the signal range on these things, anyway?
Well we could just let planes crash, and/or simply cancel flights 100+ times a year for several days each time…
Oh, there are ways and means, depending on how many resources you throw at it, but I think you are missing my points, which is that unless the drone numpty is, well, really a complete numpty, it's not entirely straight-forward.
Firstly, as I said, even some cheap drones have fall-back modes in the event of signal loss. That might be “go home”, with that being launch point. So, numpty positions drone at point A, moves to point B, and then initiates a remote launch.
If, then, someone jams the signal, the drone returns to launch position, i.e. point A. Mr Plod, who has dutifully RDF'd said numpty, hotfoots to point B where the signal (if he can isolate it), which by now is empty because numpty, noticing that the drone isn't responding, has shut down the Tx, and is making his way to point A. No signal ever originated from A, making it un-RDF-able.
Or, a variant.
Some drones have auto-takeoff and auto-land.
So, point A is the roof of a block of flats or an office. Numpty, on noticing the drone is not responding, hotsfoots it to the nearest cafe for a bacon sarnie, leaving the drone to head for it's roof-top nest, where it'll likely still be a week later.
Meanwhile, Mr Numpty gets drone 2 out, moves to the far side of airport, and starts again.
And that's without the pre-programmed waypoint options
To actually convict someone, you're pretty much going to need to catch someone in the act. My Tx has settings for 100 different aircraft, all customisable, so even if I happen to be in the area, all I'd need to do is have a couple of model heli's with me, and be “on the way”, to or from, flying them and even catching me with a radio is merely evidence that I fly model aircraft …. which is no secret. Deleting the drone profile from the radio's memory, or renaming/replacing, is the work if about 5 seconds.
Range? Depends on the equipment, and the locale. My kit doesn't have onboard cameras, so I'm limited by keeping the things within sight, but the radios have far greater range than that. Tall buildings, etc, can mess with that, as I said, but so also can a “noisy” environment, like … well, … airport radar and all those police and military radios.
Assuming, of course, Mr Numpty isn't a reasonably competent radio engineer and has built an amplifier/repeater. Y'know, like ex-military radio engineers no doubt could? ;)
