In 2013, while working in the Bahamas, I observed what is now called a drone. As a security practitioner, my ‘paranoia propeller’ on my tin hat really started spinning. Later that year, I asked my wife to purchase a DJI Phantom FC40 drone with a Wi-Fi-enabled camera that worked with an iPhone 5. Like most men, when I received my new gift, I tore into it like the kid from "A Christmas Story" opening his Red Ryder BB gun.
Who needs instructions, I thought? However, I needed the instructions, and soon found a quick start guide, which instructed me to toggle the switches back and forth and listen for tones and lights. While I did that, I needed to rotate the drone on a vertical and horizontal axis. Once the ceremonial process was complete, the light on the drone turned green and the propellors pulled the machine into the air. The first thing I did was to push this thing as high as possible and within seconds I no longer could distinguish the drone from the clouds. Throttling back, I brought the drone to about 20-feet and pushed it forward horizontally.
Soon, I realized how hard it was to control the drone because it really does not have specificity to its directional travel, and there is the real possibility that turning left could be straight and vice versa. Within minutes, I no longer could see or hear the drone, and was startled by my wife who said, “You did not lose the $800 drone, did you?”
With my fingers off the controller, I walked toward the last sighting of my drone, hoping to hear the reverberation of the propellers. Nothing, and it became apparent that I lost this device. After searching for 10 minutes, I was losing all hope, when suddenly and faintly I heard the “buzz” of the propellors, which then became louder. I was excited but then upset, as the drone flew over me and headed back towards my house. Running frantically after the device, I wondered, did someone hack it? Why is it doing this? On the precipice of a heart attack, I watched the drone stop, hover and slowly descend to exactly where I previously launched it. That’s when I knew that this was not an IKEA build and that I would need to read the instructions fully.
Continue reading: https://www.securityinfowatch.com/perimeter-security/robotics/unmanned-aerial-vehicles-drones/article/21236703/the-status-of-drone-technology-in-security
Who needs instructions, I thought? However, I needed the instructions, and soon found a quick start guide, which instructed me to toggle the switches back and forth and listen for tones and lights. While I did that, I needed to rotate the drone on a vertical and horizontal axis. Once the ceremonial process was complete, the light on the drone turned green and the propellors pulled the machine into the air. The first thing I did was to push this thing as high as possible and within seconds I no longer could distinguish the drone from the clouds. Throttling back, I brought the drone to about 20-feet and pushed it forward horizontally.
Soon, I realized how hard it was to control the drone because it really does not have specificity to its directional travel, and there is the real possibility that turning left could be straight and vice versa. Within minutes, I no longer could see or hear the drone, and was startled by my wife who said, “You did not lose the $800 drone, did you?”
With my fingers off the controller, I walked toward the last sighting of my drone, hoping to hear the reverberation of the propellers. Nothing, and it became apparent that I lost this device. After searching for 10 minutes, I was losing all hope, when suddenly and faintly I heard the “buzz” of the propellors, which then became louder. I was excited but then upset, as the drone flew over me and headed back towards my house. Running frantically after the device, I wondered, did someone hack it? Why is it doing this? On the precipice of a heart attack, I watched the drone stop, hover and slowly descend to exactly where I previously launched it. That’s when I knew that this was not an IKEA build and that I would need to read the instructions fully.
Continue reading: https://www.securityinfowatch.com/perimeter-security/robotics/unmanned-aerial-vehicles-drones/article/21236703/the-status-of-drone-technology-in-security
