There are now more than 1 million drones in the air around the world. But while sales have increased, so too have more worrying numbers: the FAA says it receives more than 100 reports per month of drones flying around airports and other forbidden places.
While most of this appears accidental – an unawares drone pilot could damage sensitive infrastructure or accidentally collide with an engine of a landing airplane – law enforcement is worried about more deliberate misuses.
Drones have already been used to smuggle drugs across prison walls in the United States, and the Secret Service has reported at least two incidents where unmanned aircraft flew into restricted airspace around the White House.
In Japan, an antinuclear activist has been charged with using a drone to deliver a small amount of radioactive sand to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office. There’s also the ever-present worry that terrorists might one day use unmanned aircraft to deliver explosives.
There are already a number of physical options for defending against drones. Japan uses other more specialised drones that drag rogue flyers out the air (with a giant net). Dutch police have been training eagles to take down unmanned vehicles, while the United States favours shooting them out the sky.
One US-based start-up is tackling drone defence via technology. ApolloShield, which looks like a wireless router, is designed to detect drones up to two miles away. It then allows users to turn the drone back around, or force a landing.