Tag: Drone

Solving the wrong problem

The Drone Wars

I first noticed it in the early days of the Russia/Ukraine war. Both sides were using basic drones to fly over troops or tanks and drop grenades or bombs. Now both sides are using FPV kamikaze drones to take out targets. A $400 drone built with parts sourced from China and the internet is now capable of taking out a $2 million dollar tank. The scariest part I noticed? There doesn’t seem to be any effective defense against them. They’re too fast, have no heat signature, and realistically too small and nimble for a missile to shoot them down.

The next time I thought about it was when the Oct 7 massacre happened. Hamas used drones to knock out Israeli sensors, which enabled them to cross the border walls. When the IDF launched their counteroffensive, I noticed all their tanks and vehicles now have cope cages installed. These are cages that sit above the vehicle to prevent a drone-born explosive from detonating directly on the vehicle, lessening its potential damage.

And then today I saw this brief video. It’s worth the ten second watch and then scroll through some of the comments. It’s mind blowing. I wasn’t aware of racing drones and how freaking fast they are. Turns out there’s an actual drone racing league that’s televised. The main point though is that a drone like this equipped with a small explosive charge would be near impossible to defend against.

Which makes me wonder, while we spent twenty years in the desert conducting conventional warfare against goat herders… what were we doing to develop drone offensive/defensive strategies? I suspect we’ve been caught with our pants down. I sure hope we have some secret project in the works, although I doubt it. If we had something I’m sure we would have seen it in action in Ukraine.

So here’s the future of warfare – spotter drones flying over the battlefield reporting back enemy action and providing GPS coordinates. Autonomous kamikaze drones flying at nearly 200 mph to take out targets marked by the spotter drones. Or, giant swarms of automated drones to take out targets. And don’t forget, these swarms of drones could be underwater as well to take out ships.

How are we going to defend our troops against that? Signal jamming? Fry everything in area with directed radiation/energy blasts? Lasers? I don’t think we’re ready. I pray I’m wrong.

The robot wars may be coming sooner than we thought. Might want to buy stock in Cyberdyne Systems while you can.

Cool, Daily Life

I Didn’t Read The Manual

I bought a drone. Because I am this close to becoming the next Jimmy Chin, Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman documenting the “Long Way Round“, or the next Itchy Boots. All that’s been holding me back is the ability to capture that epic footage, dude. And the drone is going to catapult me into fame. I’m sure of it. I just have to figure out how to fly the thing.

When it arrived, it was raining and windy. And then again the next day. And then a day of other commitments. Finally the weather was reasonable and I had the afternoon free. I announced that I was going to go for a motorcycle ride to test the drone. Mrs Troutdog, who’s far smarter than me, helpfully offered some advice. “Why would you do that? Go to the park first and learn how to fly it.” Sigh, women. They just don’t get it sometimes.

I’d watched some YouTube videos on flying it. I come from a highly technical background. Go to a park. Please. You cannot get epic footage at a park. So, I spent at least two hours figuring out how to attach the drone’s case to the motorcycle and getting wires and chargers and batteries all loaded up into the tank bag. Off I went to launch my film career.

About 45 minutes later I arrived at my planned destination in the backcountry. No cell service. No people. Just beautiful backcountry trails in the mountains alongside a flowing river. How perfect will this be! I could already see the footage I was going to capture. I unpacked the drone, the controller, and drone’s beacon.

Power on the drone, turn on the beacon, and… “STANDBY, GPS SYNCING”. I waited. And waited. And the drone timed out and powered off. The beacon, no longer connected to the drone, stopped the sync process. WTF? Power on the drone again and repeat the process. Same result. And again. And again. I finally noticed a message that said, “Pair beacon with app for faster sync”. Ok. I loaded up the app and looked for a way to pair with the beacon. Nothing. I tried to pair with the beacon via the phone’s Bluetooth connection. Nothing. Since there was no cell service in the backcountry, I had no way of looking anything up or downloading the manual.

An hour later I had to admit defeat. The drone wasn’t going to fly that day. I had to pack everything up, make the long ride home, and admit to Mrs Troutdog she was right all along. I should have just gone to the park. Sigh.

The next day it rained. We then had a three-day trip. When we returned, it rained again. FINALLY, we had a day of no rain. It was time to be humble and go to the park. I knew the perfect place, right near the house. I drove over and pulled all my gear out and got set up. I decided I should look at the FAA’s app that gives you flight authorization for your drone. And… you’re not allowed to fly at that park because it’s too close to the hospital. OMG.

I packed everything up and drove to a nearby school. There were approximately 1,000 little kids running around on the fields at what looked like a summer camp. I drove and drove and drove, until I finally found a large park without people. I checked the app and got clearance to fly.

Long story short, the drone is amazing. The technology in these things is hard to believe. And I honestly don’t think I could have figured it out standing on the side of the trail in the woods that first time. It certainly took some trial and error in a very large open space to start to get the hang of things. So, I suppose it was a blessing in disguise.

The moral of the story? I’m not sure. The trials, tribulations, and errors I went through probably taught me more about the drone and flying than if everything had gone perfectly the first time. Life and learning is a process. Embrace it. Laugh at it. The path forward is rarely a straight line.

Also, real men don’t read manuals.