Ukraine will receive Black Hornet drones. “It’s small, and the defense against it is jamming the signal,” says expert.

The drones that any average person can buy for photography are certainly not too small. How do we imagine a black hornet?
Unlike regular drones, the Black Hornet has only one main rotor. It’s a concept similar to a classic helicopter. Common drones have several rotors, maybe four or six. The difference is that one of the larger rotors has a lower battery consumption, so it allows for a longer ride, but again has less maneuverability.

It’s a reconnaissance plane, so it doesn’t carry weapons, it carries cameras. What does it take to take a picture and transmit it?
This aircraft can be equipped with up to three classic color cameras, but it can also carry devices for night vision or for obtaining a thermal image, where it can also identify thermal targets.

How did you manage to reduce all the necessary techniques? Could a similar machine have been built ten or twenty years ago?
The development of this drone probably began more than 10 years ago. More modern drones are significantly more advanced. The multi-rotor system will allow for much more, but there is no need in this simple scanning app.

Another aspect of this drone is that it does not carry any computing power on board whatsoever. All photos are immediately sent to the soldier in his belt. Whereas commercial drones are smarter. The customer is already asking for much more – avoidance of obstacles, simple planning. The black hornet does not allow this.

A jammer is cheaper than a drone

In addition to cameras and transmitters, drones also need controls. Is this some kind of system weakness?
It can be said that this drone uses GPS and classic radio communication with the pilot controlling it. Both mechanisms are very easy to disable. The GPS signal jammer is much cheaper than the drone they buy this way. And the only way to avoid or overcome interference is to have intelligence on board.

And that’s something we’re developing at CTU – the ability to fly without GPS and the possibility to have an autonomous robot that does the job without having to communicate with the pilot, because even that connection can be guaranteed.

But the Black Hornets don’t have that yet.
number. This system does not allow this because it is so light and so small that the computing power, if we need to add some processor or a computer or sensors to localize the drone in the environment, will exceed the carrying capacity of these small machines several times.

Why can the Ukrainians use these drones?
Their strength might be that there would be a relatively large number of them. They will be deployed in the field and the enemies will have to disrupt a large area. Currently, jamming devices are used, they protect their convoys, but in ordinary combat between a soldier and a soldier, such jamming devices are not used, because the Ukrainians do not yet use drones.

If we look at it in general, in terms of size, this machine is no more than 17 centimeters. Could drones get smaller? What are the main limitations?
If you only need to fly, drones really start with centimeters. Some use classic rotors, but some even use wings, making them look like butterflies or flies. And again here we are only limited in that they can’t handle any computing power, no sensors, and a very simple camera.

But on the other hand, maybe that’s the added value as well?
exactly. Since they are so small, the only way to combat them, to neutralize them, is to jam the signal, but physical interaction with them is very difficult. No radar will target them, and they cannot be shot down because they shoot a fly at a distance of one kilometer.

Renata Krupankova, Martin Swarm, as

Post it on Facebook



Share on Twitter

Post on LinkedIn

printing press

copy the url



Short title




Copy to clipboard

Close