“invisible radio wave”
Whed have radio waves not been invisible to the naked eye?
British soldiers tune radio waves to fry drone swarms for pennies
Submitted 3 weeks ago by Tea@programming.dev to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
Zacryon@lemmy.wtf 3 weeks ago
Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
In the beta test of Earth. Luckily they realised how much that fucks with us and reverted the change.
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
this makes me nostalgic for r/outside.
Cocopanda@futurology.today 3 weeks ago
What? You don’t have Doppler vision? Pffff.
ripcord@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I think it was just emohasizing that it’s an invisible weapon, not quantifying.
Lemminary@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Oh, yeah, definitely! Yep. I know some of those words.
ceiphas@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Light is also an electromagnetic wave, just like radio
dmalteseknight@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I am assuming undetectable waves. That is the enemy won’t know where the waves are being fired from or even that they are being fired at all.
DrunkenPirate@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
It uses high frequency radio waves to disrupt or damage critical electronic components inside drones, causing them to crash or malfunction.
At a range of 1km…
That‘s useful not just for drones. I wonder if this works against helicopters, too.
skulblaka@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
It sounds like it’s a directed microwave cooker. Works on people too, just not ones behind good cover.
void_turtle@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
They are definitely not blasting gamma rays to bring down drones lol. “radio” is a specific range of frequencies so “high frequency radio” is just frequencies at the higher end of that specific range.
Gamma rays are insanely dangerous. I’m too lazy to do calculations/research to back this up but I suspect that gamma rays intense enough to reliably drop a drone would also give cancer/radiation poisoning to anyone remotely downrange (and also the operators).
Fluke@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
High frequency radio is still below the visible part of the spectrum, gamma is waaay above it.
Arcka@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
Tech Ingredients YT channel made a diy microwave directed energy device to disrupt consumer drones.
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Seriously this! People don’t understand that even hobby drones at a certain price point have robust rf shielding.
Arcka@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
More like: That could be useful, just not for (perhaps many) drones.
1km isn’t that far - the drones that were used for surveillance of Minneapolis protests in 2020 were around 6km up.
If they needed to get close for some reason, would a 1km deterrent be countered enough by approaching from directly above and using gravity for the last km?
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
The drones used in Ukraine are basically just commercial drones with grenades strapped to them. And a 1 km distance they’re unlikely to be able to damage a target even if they detonated.
arrakark@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Anybody know if it has a phased array antenna? a) those are cool b) they can aim much faster than an antenna that needs to physically pivot
AtHeartEngineer@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Judging by the picture I’m sure it is
GhostPain@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Why does that title sound like it’s out of a 1940’s war reel?
Rogue@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Possibly because it’s presented how news used to be - a simple statement of fact without embellishment or click bait.
Would you rather:
You won’t BELIEVE how this weapon built by British boffins can yeet hundreds of Russian drones from the sky in seconds
Jivebunny@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
UK slams dozens of drones with invisible radio waves
con_fig@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
Nice honkers
eronth@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I wager the word “radio” also helps. Early 1900s would have had plenty of radio broadcasts being “the thing” going on, so that word probably helps prime the interpretation, even if not used in quite the same way.
Codandchips@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
So when can we start shipping them to Ukraine? Even from a selfish perspective its a perfect environment to field test this.
scholar@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I would imagine that a demonstration unit has already been sent
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Warzone’s always the best environment to test new battlefield systems.
Look at the difference in technology between the beginning of the first world war and the end. We started off with essentially standing in fields shooting each other over distances you could spit, and ended up with tanks. The second world war gave us nukes.
Will probably have AGI battle droids by the end of this war.
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nah, interesting point from Issac Arthur that the dumbest AI always wins assuming both are complex enough to do the job, the dumb one will have less processing delay to make each decision.
knightly@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
The UK made an invisible weapon?
DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
They won the Battle of Britain with invisible military tech, so it’s not that surprising.
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That be radar or the bombe’s?
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
KulunkelBoom@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
I wondered how long it would take for them to figure this out. Or simply take control of the drones.
squid_slime@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
This is massive. Hope the detail leak so we can use this in the revolution.
piecat@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Step 1: take the magnetron out of a microwave oven
Step 2: …
NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
UK tech is always invented by weirdo boffins in a shed so they also told everyone in the local how it works.
orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts 3 weeks ago
Now we need to figure out a handheld consumer version.
Arcka@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
Check the Tech Ingredients YT channel.
ladfrombrad@lemdro.id 3 weeks ago
The project supports more than 135 highly skilled jobs across the UK
Is that 135 individual positions, or just some mumbo jumbo job titles they’re making up?
The UK police can’t determine what is a legal 249gm drone or not as seen many times over with the auditors, so how on earth is this thing gonna work is beyond me?
Just trash the airwaves I guess.
andybytes@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Everyones got this… It was obvious
scholar@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This isn’t just jamming signals, it’s microwaving the electronics from a kilometer away so it will work against fibre optic controlled drones as well
Lucky_777@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Can we get the waves to produce “Hootie and the Blowfish: I only wanna be with you”? That would be quite epic.
swab148@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
These can only do “Hold My Hand”
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How is knocking out drone swarms different from knocking out any other communications?
I swear, such news are reminiscent of the notorious tech illiteracy in “Wraith Squadron” books from Star Wars EU. With that Bothan being, ya knaw, able to just check all of one planet’s communications from the orbit after arriving there. The author (not to insult him) didn’t even consider how preposterous it would be on our planet, which doesn’t know hyperspace travel and other SW-grade tech yet, to be able to process that amount of information, no “hacking” parts even being discussed.
Which is even worse when pre-Wraith parts of the series are pretty sane and Corran as a character knows what he’s doing.
Of course protocols used in such applications have DoS vulnerabilities that can be found and used. And a lot of existing equipment can be employed in that too. Just - why does the headline read so stupid.
Womble@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
As per the article:
It uses high frequency radio waves to disrupt or damage critical electronic components inside drones, causing them to crash or malfunction.
Its not jamming the comms, its inducing currents inside the electronics of the drone to fry them.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Basically, EMP but directed.
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Ah. OK. That’s nicer. Makes sense in the time of consumer hardware dominating frontlines.
snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
They’ve been using wire guided drones in Ukraine lately so directly damaging the drones is useful in cases where you’re not going to be jamming them
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They’ll just use EMP tech to harden drones against this
BussyCat@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Which will raise weight, costs, and reduce functionality. It’s like a U lock for a bicycle it’s not impenetrable it just raises the bar
IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Wrap it in a bit of aluminum foil
Naich@lemmings.world 3 weeks ago
Much better than those visible radio waves.
Anarch157a@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Also known as “light”, as used in Lasers, which also works to knock down drones.
tate@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
Look around the space you’re in and notice that you can’t “see” the light, only the things.
piecat@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Radio waves are a specific wavelength/band of the EM spectrum. Light is not radio waves, just as radiowaves aren’t light.
They’re both electromagnetic waves.
Morphit@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Infrared lasers aren’t visible. They’re still higher frequency than radio waves. To say that visible light is visible radio is to say that the sky is green, just that it’s predominantly blue coloured green.
rottingleaf@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Lasers are more useful in surveillance and navigation and guidance and precision work in production, for a weapon they are, most of the time, out of place. Both expensive, unreliable and weak.
evilcultist@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Invisible weapons are all the rage these days.
Deceptichum@quokk.au 3 weeks ago
Have I got a box of invisible rocket launchers to sell you.
PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Damn. We gotta close the missile gap eith the six-year-olds.
FenrirIII@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You overestimate the education of the average person