Counter UAV system can take command and control of drones or net capture, providing a low cost solution to airport closure

Open Works Engineering’ Skywall system provides a counter UAV system which physically captures rogue drones.

Andrew Charlton, Sales and Business Development for Open Works Engineering, explained how the solution was also deployed alongside the Steel Rock’s NightFighter RF defeat system.

Charlton described how the system worked: “Skywall is our physical net capture system, so that physically captures the drone in a net, so its low collateral damage. The cost to the closure of an airport can be phenomenal, its a low cost solution to these entities.”

“RF defeat will typically interfere with the command and control to the drone that will typically have two types of outcome it will either make the drone return to its home or it may just bring the drone down to a landing position. Sometimes, that is an unknown outcome, so what we have is a predictable outcome using a physical net capture system, so the technology works hand-in-hand, so if you queue that into system of detection, it becomes a fully layered solution.”

System is easily disguised

Charlton said the system could be truck mounted and could be easily disguised, for example, as a fire truck. He explained: “The idea is that its quickly deployable, its low key. You have this clam shell system which would cover the full system and when it is ready to be deployed, that clam shell will open out and the system will deploy rapidly.”

“It is fully autonomous, so we have an artificial intelligence tracking system that’s built into this system and that will detect various types of drone and track them and then the human in the loop takes the decision to fire or physically take down the drone or to actually jam it first, if that’s the requirement.”
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