As the technology to control and operate unmanned aircraft has become cheaper and widely available, and both commercial-grade and consumer-grade drones sales on the rise, inevitably the likelihood of intrusion of privacy stands increased.
Sydney and Virginia-based counter drone technology provider, DroneShield has not only developed a one of its kind state-of-the-art DroneGun to counter such threats, but has also now been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark office for DroneShield, its acoustic drone detection system.
DroneShield utilizes a multi-sensor approach for analysis and identification of potential incoming drone threats. The radar sensor tracks a moving object, separating it from the background clutter such as trees or birds. The acoustic sensor compares the tracked audio sample to a database of acoustic signatures. On finding a match, the system issues an alert and records identifying information about the aircraft. This multi-sensor analysis allows the system to detect drones with high accuracy, delivering low false-alarm rates.
In addition to this patent, the company has a number of other assets in its drone security IP portfolio, including four previously granted US patents. All of the IP assets relate to the counter drone technologies.
“DroneShield continues to protect our position in the sector by executing on the patent strategy in the critical areas of the business, as we seek to lead the counter drone space globally, as evident by the recent record order for $3.2m of our counter drone equipment for use by a major Middle Eastern Ministry of Defence,” Peter James, DroneShield’s chairman said.
DroneShield recently also secured its biggest ever order for DroneGuns, a rifle shaped mobile jamming device designed to disable intruding drones with electromagnetic signals.
The $3.2 million order for 70 DroneGuns came from an unspecified Middle Eastern country allied with western governments, according to a statement by DroneShield. The order follows on from a European order for DroneShield’s DroneSentinel stationary aerial drone detection system in March. The $210,000 DroneSentinel order also included two DroneGun units.
DroneShield chief executive Oleg Vornik said the order is likely to be just the beginning of the company’s relationship with the Middle Eastern country’s ministry of defence. “We believe that this is a company-making sale and a game-changer for DroneShield,” declares Vornik’s official statement.
“This sale, the largest ever in the industry for this kind of equipment, establishes DroneShield as the leader in the industry globally and places DroneShield well ahead of its competitors in the global anti-drone industry ‘land grab’ ” he elaborated further.