A number of government agencies are working with industry to develop an emerging technology designed to take over the signal or an attacking enemy drone, enforcing perimeter security at sensitive U.S. sites and Forward Operating Bases in high-risk combat zones.
“We go after the drone signal, not the frequency,” Johnathan Hunter, CEO, Department 13 International, told Scout Warrior in an interview.
The technology, called Mesmer, does not “jam” an attacking drone but rather manipulates its protocol, at times allowing users of the system to completely take over flight of the drone.
IP protocol can be amended to adhere to new connections and controls, permitting Mesmer to take over control of approaching enemy drones.
There are seven layers of protocol used by computers, drones and software programmable systems to communicate with one another. Changing a “bit” or two from a “one” to a “zero,” for instance, can reconfigure a drone signal so that it can only communicate with its new controller, Hunter explained.
Hunter said Mesmer was used to take down a drone in a demonstration in March of last year, and has recently been shown to various U.S. military, law-enforcement and federal government agencies.
“With protocol manipulation, you have complete control over the drone. You can hover, land, start sending it home or even fly the drone. When you jam, you jam all the frequencies used by that drone. We only affect the signal of the drone,” Hunter said.