Azeem Mufti
JMU Junior: Engineering
Initially, our sponsor was unaware what information he could share with us without breaking confidentiality. This made it difficult to conduct the first interview with the insight and depth we desired. While he attempts to tackle this problem internally, he gave us a contact named Mark Rosenberg who he thought could answer some of our questions. Going into this interview, I asked “What if the root problem wasn’t taking down the drones but manipulating the drone industry in such a way that helps us track drones being purchased in areas of interest?” Mr. Rosenberg was very helpful in addressing this question. The large reason they were unable to pursue this was because many of the drones are manufactured in other countries such as China, where the United States does not hold jurisdiction. This lack of international power makes it nearly impossible to regulate the drone industry. This insight helped the team narrow the scope of the project, a crucial step in solving this challenging problem!
Lindsey Woods
JMU Senior: Biology
I interviewed Mr. Christopher Woods to understand more about the operation of a drone: how do you fly it, and what the frequencies and radio waves drones use? Mr. Woods is a government employee with CSRA and a drone/airplane enthusiast. During our conversation, I learned how drones (especially ones with cameras) can be operated using a smartphone as a controller because it holds the GPS base position (satellites). Drones are typically run by 2.4 gigahertz radio waves. To communicate with their aircraft, many drone controllers use Wi-Fi, which can be transmitted on the 2.4 gigahertz spectrum, and is something that smartphones and tablets can tap into without any accessories. I also learned that if a drone loses signal (that isn’t regained), the GPS chip inside the aircraft can log the aircraft’s takeoff spot in case it needs to return unassisted through the same route it reached a certain point. This feature will also allow the drown to land itself safely on the group once it had returned to original location.
Sarah Paynter
JMU Senior: Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication
This week, I interviewed several drone enthusiasts that attend JMU as students to get their perspectives on our how to best take down a drone. Bailey Swayne, a JMU student and drone enthusiast explained that because of the mobile nature of drones, hard-kill solutions must exceed the capability of a normal bullet: destination-seeking missiles are the currently-used method of effective drone take-down. Unfortunately, missiles are large and cumbersome, and soldiers want a light solution the size of a pistol. No destination-seeking missiles are currently small enough to exist in this form. This interview helped me understand the problems with current solutions and prompted me to wonder how we could overcome this problem: could we create a smaller missile that would take down a drone? I also spoke to JMU graduate Max Cannon, a drone-building enthusiast, who suggested that the most effective way to take down a drone would be to disable one of its propellers. If you take down one of the propellers, he explained, the drone will try to compensate for the shift in balance and will flip over. This will end its flight. These interviews helped me understand the problem with current solutions and potential future solutions in hard kills.
Ethan Reeves
JMU Junior: Engineering
While conducting the interview with Nick Sipes, a fantastic resource and entrepreneur specializing in drone-based 3D modeling, I found that I had numerous moments of insight concerning the project. The “Aha moment” that remained with me after conducting the interview was the realization of just how sensitive some of drone flight operation is. For example, if a propeller were to become obstructed, or if a gust of wind were large enough to tip the drone, the drone would topple and end its flight. These facts regarding drone flight are already stimulating many ideas within the group about how to design a solution for a hard-kill. It appears to me that detection may be more of a challenge than actually taking down the drone.
Donatine Afful
JMU Senior: Biology
This week I interviewed Mr. Fred Briggs. He is on the Board of Directors for the Drone User’s Network. During the interview, he revealed many insights from his experience with drones, and he mentioned a number of possible measures for taking down a drone. What stood out to me was his idea of spoofing the GPS signal of the drone. This stood out to me because it presented an alternate way of taking down the drone without damaging it, making it an ideal option.
JMU X-Labs
4-VA
