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Man Accused of Selling US Military Drones On EBay
garymortimer writes "47-year-old Henson Chua is in a bit of trouble for trying to sell a RQ-11B 'Raven' Unmanned Aerial Vehicle on eBay. From the article: 'A federal grand jury in Tampa returned an indictment charging Henson Chua, 47, of Manilla, Philippines, with violations of the Arms Export Control Act and smuggling, following an investigation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations. If convicted on all counts, Chua faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.'" I'm kicking myself for missing this auction.
By the way, anyone interested in buying a B2 bomber? Really cheap, got a few from an old friend of mine, I can't fly them all at once anyway so I might as well make someone else happy with them. Just drop me a line.
Everyone knows that you find your buyers with cryptic messages using odd media
How did he acquire it in the first place, second How much did it sell for?
The US military should sell online drone control sessions on XBox live, they could easily ringfence the middle east and put a few thousand drones in the air. They could call the game "death from above", "warfare for all" or simply "foreign policy".
Seriously, war is not cheap so why not put the worlds gamers to good use and collect the revenue?
I need a stealth bomber - for duck hunting.
Yes. With a camera.
And a 6 mile range. And a ceiling of 15,000 feet. And speed up to 60 mph.
And autonomous GPS navigation.
Probably you didn't have a plane like that when you were a kid.
Anybody possessing one could reverse engineer the command and control system for the drone and come up with a way of jamming it, rendering all the other drones still in possession of the military useless. So yes, it IS a big fucking deal.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
It's a remote control plane with a secure two-way communications channel. It's that communications channel that they don't want falling into the wrong hands.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Does having to file a flight plan with the FAA before use count as an infringement on your right to bear arms?
that will teach that dog
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
"A single Raven costs about $35,000 and the total system costs $250,000. The RQ-11B Raven UAV weighs about 1.9 kg (4.2 lb), has a flight endurance of 60–90 minutes and an effective operational radius of approximately 10 km (6.2 miles)."
Either military contractors are doing what they do best, or this particular model airplane has some kind of fancy tech tricks up its sleeve...
By who and what charge?
I don't need remote control airplane to figure out how to jam it. Just need a powerful radio that jams everything, in Military designated freqs. Targeting freqs are easier said than done. Also, I'll bet that the drones are outfitted with autonomous mode GPS guidance that if they lose contact, the go to a predesignated area for retrieval.
Getting your hands on one of these would likely be of limited benefit.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
... these UAVs are becoming more and more like amateur model aircraft. In this current climate (fear, terror, control), I believe the model aircraft crowd are therefore likely to be increasingly regulated. It has happened already to the high power rocketry crowd (they pushed back - with some limited success).
An anecdote: a few years ago, a group flew a model airplane across the Atlantic (link). I found this quite interesting and told a few friends. One reacted with horror, postulating that terrorists would be able to use such a thing to deliver all sorts of nasty. No counterargument convinced him of the absurdity of his fear.
Its only illegal arms import, export and smuggling.
Wouldn't that be security through obscurity? I'm pretty sure that's verboten in /. groupthink.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Camera? Yeah, cameras in RC planes have been done since at least the 80s, complete with video transmission back (often, but not always, in the amateur UHF bands)
6 mile range? Yes, if left alone in stable flight most gas RC planes can cover 6 miles before running out of gas. Controlling it would be rather difficult since you couldn't see it unless you were doing something like driving along following it.
Ceiling of 15k ft? Probably possible, but not likely from a control standpoint - again, you can't see it.
Speed up to 60 mph? Easily surpassed, and has been for several decades.
Autonomous navigation is the only "new" feature these things have over RC planes people have been playing with since the 80s (and probably before, but my experience with RC planes only goes back to the mid 80s). None of the rest of your list is anything new, or unique.
One 19,000 tonne aircraft carrier for sale, one careful owner, only used to drive to church on sundays and launch fearsome aircraft into the skies to intimidate the enemy and drink their blood.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It's a radio signal. Jamming is not hard or complicated. However, being able to get into the command and control system and doing things like feeding it false information or other such things... yeah, I guess a bit of a big deal.
But in general, the stuff to make a UAV of even your own design is also "bad." It sort of reminds me of the encryption export laws. (Are they still in effect?) You know the one I am talking about? The one that says "128 bit encryption is for use within the US only and cannot be exported?"
I think it's great that we have laws which are in place to guard our technical superiority, but there's a problem -- the US has been losing its technical superiority for decades and no one is keeping our schools from training foreign minds and no one seems to be stopping this advanced gear from being manufactured in other countries.
Off the shelf today, you can get a lot of sophisticated and tiny gear to replicate this technology and if you try to sell it, some men in dark suits will likely appear. Our laws and enforcement are not in touch with what is already freely available on the world market. (Heh... I am remembering the time I put a wireless TV transmitter on a remote control car and drove it around the house while viewing the output on the big screen TV... the dog got really upset with this car and was barking at it... Jack Russell terrier.. looked HUGE on the TV though.)
If he had been dealing with a reputable US manufacturer of semi-automatic weapons he would have been fine. But selling fancy RC aircraft of dubious provenance is clearly beyond the pale.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Yes but, also (most likely), the camera and sensor package. RC planes have carried cameras before, but not of the quality level of what's installed on moder UAVs. Also, they probably have other nice toys like high-end night vision and an advanced software package to tie it all together.
Rules of Conduct:
#1 - The DM is always right.
#2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1
If the signals don't have either a LOS type signaling or some type of cryptographic based frequency hoping, I would be very surprised. And even if they didn't, I believe they can still run off way points if command and control is lost. I'm not saying I don't think this guy should be prosecuted, but I would hope that simply capturing a drone wouldn't let someone figure out how to stop them all. That would be REALLY bad design.
AJ Henderson
Maybe I'll just have to buy its baby brother instead;-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RQ-11-Raven-Aero-Vironment-UAV-Airplane-Wood-Model-Big-/120492557141?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c0dea8355
Just a guess but:
- all carbon fiber
- ruggedized, mil-spec, gold contact connectors
- ultra-high end camera system with custom x-y actuator and super zoom
- latest generation night vision technology
- super advanced radio tech with top-secret communications protocol/encryption
- advanced, custom, guidance software
- advanced, custom, camera software such as computer vision for identifying targets, etc.
Rules of Conduct:
#1 - The DM is always right.
#2 - If the DM is wrong, see rule #1
I might point out that there are hobbyists who have spent more on their R/C aircraft than the military spent on this UAV. It's not too unreasonable to compare them.
Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
Exactly, small arms really don't have technologies that are controlled.
No, but preventing me from bombing that bear to take his arms would.
How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
Piddling around with this irrelevant stuff takes ICE away from the far greater threat to the US of A: IP theft!
/snark
In other words, you likely committed a crime and got upset someone threatened to hold you accountable. Oh no...what a topsy tervy world we live in.
Anybody possessing one could reverse engineer the command and control system for the drone and come up with a way of jamming it, rendering all the other drones still in possession of the military useless. So yes, it IS a big fucking deal.
The problem is foreign enemy governments have been entirely unsuccessful given both multiple samples and human intelligence. So using the word "anybody" is a little inaccurate, when you take "the world" and subtract out everything 3rd world that leaves some friendly nations and china / russia. And there is no guarantee they would succeed, just guarantee that multiple less capable groups have failed.
Its not really a big deal at all.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Well, with fpv/rpv, it's possible now to go past the 6 mile range and perhap the ceiling (?).
First person view has made leaps and bounds the last 20 years in RC planes.
Why would losing the drone compromise the secure communications channel? The drone should have a unique private key, as should HQ.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Agreed.
And if more people asked for this, then naturally the cost of a UAV wold go down, and the goals for a new UAV that could fly above them would be established.
I for one, want the ability to tail any of my daughters on their dates. *Grin*
- Dan.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
I'd be pretty sure the gov't would have provisions in place in case a transceiver did fall into the wrong hands. Military aircraft, vehicles, and troops, can all be subject to capture by an enemy. At that point, there is a good chance that any specialized equipment would be captured (along with their weapons, MREs, and fuel in the vehicle).
It's probably not a question of who may see it, but how much it cost. The gov't (and therefore we) pay a small fortune for every one of these innovative new devices deployed. It's definitely worth while for the gov't to want to go collect a stolen unit, rather than just ordering a new one. According to the USAF, that item cost approximately $173,000.
I do wonder if it was a legitimate item, or a home made knockoff that looked close enough, and the title was of the item, that the gov't believed it was a legitimate item. That still counts as far as their case goes. If you have what you say is an illegal item, and you try to sell it as that illegal item, then it's an illegal item.
If I went on Craigslist, and offered up 10 kilos of heroin, and had photos of what looked like 10 kilos of heroin, I'd be going to jail for selling 10 kilos of heroin, and anything that may have been involved in my procurement of said item.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
I don't understand what should be special in communications for a device like this. We have huge, light weight hard drives these days. You just have to fill a 100 gigabytes of hard drive space with random data and copy that data onto another hard drive. Xor your transmissions against the random data on one end and xor it again against the matching random data at the other end. Voila, one time pad. 100 gigabytes worth of theoretically perfect, unbreakable encryption. It's not secret in any way, everyone in cryptography knows the "secret".
Just in case, you'd want to combine it with another form of encryption. Once you ran through the 100 gigabytes, you'd want to refresh your 100 gigabytes of random data. But the drone has to return to some sort of base eventually, and you refresh it then.
Ok, having RTFA again I see he was actually in the USA when he was arrested. In that case, good luck fella; you'll need it.
That would mean admitting they can be stolen
I need a stealth bomber - for DUCK HUNTing.
How else are you going to get that damn snickering dog?
loose: not fitting closely or tightly != lose: to suffer the deprivation of
You left out "Eagle-Eez" and "SteadiHand" and "DynaZoom".
Yes. With a camera.
And a 6 mile range. And a ceiling of 15,000 feet. And speed up to 60 mph.
And autonomous GPS navigation.
Probably you didn't have a plane like that when you were a kid
In other words a model plane with a cell phone and some control logic. Sorry this all would be very impressive if it were like 20 years ago.
mile range? Yes, if left alone in stable flight most gas RC planes can cover 6 miles before running out of gas. Controlling it would be rather difficult since you couldn't see it unless you were doing something like driving along following it.
It's actually an operational radius of 6 miles, so you're almost halfway there. While the RC is running out of gas and falling into enemy hands with it's software and sensor packages the UAV is turning around, flying all the way back to base and landing safely with minimal reserves ;)
I've got $50 that says 95% of the components in the Raven were made in China
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
A Raven? Pfffft, they are doing an EOL no-replace on the MQ-1 Predators, and I'd much rather have one of those.
Precisely! Smart capable foreigners should *expect* to be blackmailed by machiavellian natives! /sargasm
Nuclear bomb with a cowboy to ride it down while swinging his hat around, standard equipment on RC's since WWII.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
they nabbed him as he was getting off the Jetway? Maybe just for grins an agent holding up a sign saying "Prison."
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
Would definitely buy again.
Did it come as a package deal along with his daughter's virginity?
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
Actually you can get a fairly cheap UAV, by retrofitting an existing plane, with a camera and transmitter.
The hard part is long range control, as while the transmitters are good for a mile or so being able to control a target at that distance with mark one eyeballs is a tad difficult.
that is why you need two camera's, one in the belly, and one in the "cockpit"
In 1994 i know of one guy who modified an arcade game case(the kind were you sat inside of it) to be the on the ground cockpit for his RC plane. it was cool back then.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Not really that new.... Home made UAV is easy and have been built by amateurs for years now....
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9980 this works FANTASTIC as a UAV brains. spookly good.
Plus you can get a drone model that looks 100% identical to the Military version. Give a guy a couple grand and he can easily build a real UAV with PTZ camera, control with GPS waypoints and why build custom RF for comms... use a frigging cellphone, I could talk to the UAV via cellular communication channels across the country.
http://diydrones.com/ is a good start for info as well...
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Why would losing the drone compromise the secure communications channel? The drone should have a unique private key, as should HQ.
Makes no difference when the enemy is radio jamming. It would be much easier to build/modify a radio transmitter to jam signals and make the UAV unable to be remotely controlled for an area than it would be to actually intercept and take control of the UAV. I would suggest that the primary concern is that the UAVs transceiver can be reverse engineered for the frequency range/channelization and then create a device that would allow for easy end-user jamming.
When I worked on radio systems in the Navy we had some radio modules that would also allow for frequency hopping to avoid potential frequency jamming, combined with usage of encryption and daily keys made for a pretty effective system.
loose: not fitting closely or tightly != lose: to suffer the deprivation of
The speed of 60mph isn't that spectacular. IIRC, (it's been a long time since I read the book I'm getting this from) there are R/C slope soarers (gliders that are designed to fly in ridge lift rather than thermals) that can hit 200-250 mph.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
I will take that bet, they were all made in Taiwan. Oh wait..
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
You can get RC planes with nicer cameras than what the military uses. They want durability not absolute best picture possible.
Acquire a gumstix and mate this with cell-based internet connectivity, stream control on one account, video on another. Maybe add another channel for weapons deployent.
All problems solved. This isn't the rocket science you think it is.
- Dan.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
Should. Yes.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
you do realize that other than the amount of money they have managed to spend on UAV's in 10 years there is nothing really amazing about them?
sure your average RC plane can't carry a hellfire missle .. but it didn't need to .. and most of the UAV's can't.. only select ones.
given the opportunity the RC crowd could, in my mind, have done just as well if not better than what we have now for a lot less.
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
It's probably not a question of who may see it, but how much it cost. The gov't (and therefore we) pay a small fortune for every one of these innovative new devices deployed. It's definitely worth while for the gov't to want to go collect a stolen unit, rather than just ordering a new one. According to the USAF, that item cost approximately $173,000.
I'm interested. How much is parts, how much is labor and how much is kickback?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
If I went on Craigslist, and offered up 10 kilos of heroin, and had photos of what looked like 10 kilos of heroin, I'd be going to jail for selling 10 kilos of heroin, and anything that may have been involved in my procurement of said item.
Is this really the case in the US of A? Sounds pretty wrong to me, although that naturally does not mean that it isn't true.
What's puzzling is he's charged against importing arms...
But this type of unmanned vehicle doesn't seem to contain any weaponry or armament whatsoever......
Acquire a gumstix and mate this with cell-based internet connectivity, stream control on one account, video on another. Maybe add another channel for weapons deployent.
All problems solved. This isn't the rocket science you think it is.
- Dan.
Then discover that the network coverage is missing over that one area you just flew through. So much for those $$$'s that just crashed into that CIA listening post.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Does having to file a flight plan with the FAA before use count as an infringement on your right to bear arms?
You're free to carry your stealth bomber anywhere you like without filing a flight plan. Otherwise, it's the arms bearing you - which is not covered under the constitution.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Add backup GPS navigation that will send the plane back to the last place it had a connection.
Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
The plane itself is nothing dangerous or even impressive.
Build your own if you want... start here: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=14465
Celebrate Excellence!
Was he trying to simply steal money or did he have any means of actually delivering the device? If he is only a thief Homeland Security really should stay out of the equation.
Does this mean that I should not sell my 40 megaton armed Cruise missiles to the highest bidders?
We could solve numerous problems with armaments. For example we could spin windmills on our side of the pond with the nuclear wind caused by bombing the middle east relentlessly, and then there is always North Korea.
Actually, I think it would be the people assisting him on the project that would be committing the crime.
:)
If the project was export controlled, anytime they talked to him about it they were potentially making an export of controlled technical data to a foreign person. The blackmail should really have gone in the other direction.
(I am unaware of any restriction on receiving said export controlled information; only exporting it to others without state department approval. As a US citizen, I've never been in that situation, of course, so there might be something out there I'm not aware of).
see this, embedded in my post ...
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
So is selling your laptop on eBay to someone with an address in Iran.
Not that I disagree with ITAR, I just think it's got its ludicrous side.
The guy did almost nothing other than a powerpoint presentation
Ahh, a PHB type. Don't they usually get top billing anyway?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
This guy gets 20 years, meanwhile the US solider proudly defend our freedom in Iraq (according to his parents), by hunting/killing civilians, cutting their body parts and filming it gets out in 8 years.
To anyone who works with them, export control laws are somewhere between a minefield and quicksand.
So-called "dual use" items are generally stuck being classified under whatever they were originally classified under first.
A crop duster can be used to spray biological weapons, but it was originally created for commercial purposes and so is regulated by the Dept of Commerce. Likewise, a UAV may be nothing more than a fancy remote-controlled aircraft, but it was originally created for military purposes and therefore falls under the ITAR regulations of the Dept of State.
I would suggest that the primary concern is that the UAVs transceiver can be reverse engineered for the frequency range/channelization and then create a device that would allow for easy end-user jamming.
Can't they tell what channel the UAV is listening on by listening for what channel HQ is broadcasting on? Kind of hard to keep that a secret.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Wow, that would almost be as big a catastrophe as if the entire UAV program decided to rely on security by obscurity! Oh, wait...
Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
Ceiling of 15k ft? Probably possible, but not likely from a control standpoint - again, you can't see it.
It's been done in combination with remote video. That said, it's not exactly legal, and for good reasons. The guys doing this have spotters on the ground checking for planes in the area with binoculars, but it's still not safe to have what is essentially a 10lb. piece of debris floating around where manned aircraft could pass.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I used to work for the manufacturer of the RQ-11 Raven. It’s not just a remote controlled toy. It’s a real airplane with a sophisticated autopilot, a long-range radio link, and a video ground control system. I’m limited by a nondisclosure agreement to what I can say, but I can go over each point in some more detail:
1) It’s a real airplane: UAVs are controlled by the same FAA regulations as airplanes. They require a Certificate of Airworthiness (COA) in order to operate in US airspace, and cannot be operated within 30 miles of a commercial airport. The pilots also require training and licenses. You can’t just pick one up and operate it like it’s an RC plane, though if you were patient and careful, you could probably figure it out without destroying the air vehicle first.
2) Sophisticated Autopilot: RC planes require the operator to actively control the aircraft’s every movement, and to do so, one must remain in visual contact with the craft. UAVs have IMUs and autopilots and are typically controlled at a higher level: give it waypoints, set the target airspeed and altitude, and it finds its own way, reacting automatically to atmospheric conditions. When it reaches its waypoint, it will automatically ‘loiter’ by circling the waypoint until given another waypoint, or a command to proceed to the next waypoint. In typical use, the Raven quickly leaves the line of sight of the operator. (Really, it’s almost as easy as controlling a Protoss Observer.)
3) Long Range Radio Link: The link to the operator is via two way radio, operating on military frequency bands and at powers that require a special FCC license for operation in the US. This unit was very likely an older block A or block B Raven with an analog radio link. If someone got their hands on an operational unit, reverse engineering the protocol would just be a matter of time. The newest Ravens have encrypted, digital links, and would be harder to hack. But this is likely one of the older, analog ones.
4) Video Ground Control Systems: Enemy possession of these, even one of the older analog units, is probably the most threatening aspect to the US military, as it would allow enemies to decode the protocols between air and ground, and enable an attacker to take control of a plane and/or modify its flight operation, and, depending on how it was configured, may reveal details about other military systems. These are not Futaba hand controllers. These are sophisticated proprietary handheld computers with onboard video processing, and possibly loaded with mission planning and navigation software, terrain models, etc. Definitely not toys.
There’s an unanswered question, and that’s “where did this guy get a Raven system?” Tens of thousands of these have been sold, mostly to the US Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, but also many to foreign governments. Someone failed to honor their agreement with the manufacturer and the US State Department by allowing this to fall into uncontrolled hands. The operators of these systems are obliged to keep them secure, so at the very least, they’re guilty of negligence. If it was US military personnel, then some serious arms trafficking charges are liable to come down on someone’s head, not just this fence's.
There's also the question of industrial espionage, as the Raven OEM is in active competition for the small UAV market with other companies in countries around the world, including Israel, China, Italy, and others.
I can see the fnords!
Everything could be dual use, though. Hammers can be used for building houses, or building holes in someone's skull. It depends on how you're going to use it.
Thank heavens the bagpipe is considered a munition, though. We wouldn't want too many of those getting loose.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I for one, want the ability to tail any of my daughters on their dates. *Grin*
http://ardrone.parrot.com/
Knock yourself out*
*I do not condone the creepyness of actually doing this
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
There are companies selling airframes with cameras that are every bit as good as these. You've got to hunt around a bit, but they are out there, selling their products to farmers, geologists, forest rangers and local law enforcement. There's still a little wiggle-room in regard to the legality of how they can be used. There's a state forest not far from Rolla, MO where if you're lucky and you happen to be hiking at the right place you'll run into a couple of brothers (at least they look like brothers) who build these things and have sold or leased them to film crews as well as farmers. They've gotten serious inquiries from paparazzi working for tabloids here and overseas. They are nothing like consumer RC planes, but they were making these things when they were just RC hobbyists before going pro. They're quite impressive and are designed for "out of sight" and autonomous control.
You are welcome on my lawn.
^^ The things people would do to kill that fucking dog!
He just had a big net.
But if you keep a garage full and wait years, you'll have the fun of rediscovering forgotten things.
It would be handy to have one to know where the cat wanders off to. And it would be nice to see if it is a busy day at Farmers' Market, or if any odd smoke is coming from the local power plant. It would be more than a little distracting to control one while driving a car, but with a co-pilot it might be good for picking an optimal route. Acting as a repeater, it might help with picking up that not so strong tv signal, or extending your WiFi so you can stream video from home without paying AT&T. ...probably not so good for finding that last empty seat at the theater. Good for finding lost people in a disaster? (Whatever happened to the RFID tags on Japanese school children? Use an RFID sniffing drone?)
A little helicopter might be better for things like picking up sandwiches at the local deli. Teach it to fly upside down and trim weeds.
It's interesting that they went after the guy over export. Would it really be okay to sell one to a neighbor?
Given the high price, maybe selling it to many people like a time-share would work better. But it better be programmed to land somewhere safe before running out of fuel or someone will probably crash it. They might anyway.
Someone could go into business charging people to use these while playing paint-ball games along a U.S. border... How to balance the budget: Charge people to let them enforce the border!
Seems like I read somewhere the U.S. had done some close-up video from a drone in Fukushima, but the Japanese had chosen not to release it. I guess every television network (or blogger?) needs their own drones?
1. It would depend on whether they can discriminate between that and any other frequencies being used.
2. They would need to know what method of modulation being used, AM, FM, Single sideband, dual sideband, etc.
3. When audibly scanning frequencies, most encrypted traffic is indistinguishable from static.
Let's say you had a spectrum analyzer and hooked it to an antenna and you had an antenna that you could electronically adjust the length (antenna length is a factor in broadcast and receiving frequencies) and you specifically focused on the frequency ranges used by the military, under ideal conditions you may be able to determine signal strength indications showing you a range in which you may be able to potentially jam. Functionally, you are looking at having to use a computer program to do it fast enough and is able to discriminate between other background freqs in that area. It would be time consuming with a large number of false positives.
All of that would be if they were using low frequencies, now if they are using Higher freq. Line of Sight or Satellite bouncing communications you would have to get right in the path of the transmission to even tell it was going on. And even then, those methods work well because you do not have to put as much power into it.
loose: not fitting closely or tightly != lose: to suffer the deprivation of
Absolutely so. How your spy planes work makes no difference when the enemy is broadcasting its position loudly, so everybody notices.
Rethinking email
Who says you have to man a transmitter?
loose: not fitting closely or tightly != lose: to suffer the deprivation of
Military uses spread spectrum/frequency hopping to make it harder to jam.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
The drone is designed to relay video back to the user in real time. Meaning that if the signal from the drone is jammed, it is fairly useless, even if it does go to way points. (Yes, it could still record some video and play it back upon return. But by then, the bad guys could easily have moved.)
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
/sargasm
Well that sounds like fun.
Why would losing the drone compromise the secure communications channel? The drone should have a unique private key, as should HQ.
And furthermore, I can't imagine they don't expect to lose quite a few of these things. The size alone tells you they're obviously built to be expendable.
I am not a crackpot.
Score!
- Dan.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
If you go read the description of these devices there is only one reason he would be in trouble and that is because the planes still had military level encryption.
So yes there is a reason a bunch of better informed people would say he is guilty for selling "a remote plane with a camera"
No the point is that mission critical assets like that should not rely on security through obscurity. They should remain secure no matter who has the hardware.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Does that apply to Apple and Microsoft and Google as well?
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
That's a single system cost with bulk discounts. An individual aircraft is much cheaper (?) at only $35,000. That's still far too much considering what's in them - your government could make substantial savings if they hung out on diydrones.com and built their own drones.
I think murder laws are stupid. So come over here and let's discuss it like real anarchists.
In a civil society, people can't pick and choose what laws they follow. An essential element of living in a republic means you submit to laws, even when your side loses, not just when it wins.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
I care more about people being thrown in jail to endure years of incarceration than some worthless soldiers toy.
And I don't mean to imply the toy is worthless, I care more about such a person than a platoons entire lives, because they are volunteers who sign up for dangerous operations, this guy is having years of his life ruined by government stupidity.
Fuck soldiers, I don't even see what the need for them is. They don't do anything that we couldn't do with militias. Or well they DO a lot of things we couldn't do with militias, but thats why I like militias better.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Wouldn't the point of a stealth bomber be that the FAA couldn't actually tell where you were flying?
Takeoff and landing might be a bit tricky...
Most likely the breakdown would be something like:
$2,000 parts (mostly camera and transceiver)
$50 labor
$5,250 government MILSPEC certification
$10,000 cash donation to Senator X who pushed the approval.
$90,000 profit
That's per unit. Sell 100,000 units, and that makes the profit and donation rather healthy.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
I'd like to tail your daughter on a date as well...
Sorry... It was too easy... *Grin*
"Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world. " - Asimov.
Sign that creed on your next tax return in lieu of a check.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
This question becomes especially pertinent when our neighbours have the right to own and arm bears.
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
Probably you didn't have a plane like that when you were a kid.
No, but now you're all grown up, you can build one in your living room for less than a grand if you're even moderately technical. I'm currently designing a hexacopter for aerial photography, when it's done it will have significant autonomous capability (GPS position hold and waypoint navigation, vision based object tracking, GPS-radio-beacon based object tracking) and a payload capacity of over 1kg. If I went for a fixed-wing design instead of a 'copter, the extra range and ceiling would be easy to exceed.
Hell, if you added a GPS module to a Parrot AR.drone you basically have a cut down version for $350.
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
Does having to file a flight plan with the FAA before use count as an infringement on your right to bear arms?
You gotta be a pilot, but you could fly your B2 in VMC conditions under visual flight rules, no IFR, and then you don't have to file a flight plan, or even deal with ATC (outside of busy tower-controlled airspace). Of course that is risky... in terms of your own safety, should you have a mishap and splash down, you might not get rescued, since ATC doesn't know you're overdue and missing.
Something tells me the FAA won't be messing with you too much in flight while you're wandering around in a fully armed B2. However.. the USAF may have a thing or two to "talk" to you about....
Anyways, the flight plan requirement has nothing to do with bearing arms in this case -- that's just about being airborne in complex machine that requires careful planning and extreme care to operate safely.
Yes. With a camera.
And a 6 mile range. And a ceiling of 15,000 feet. And speed up to 60 mph.
And autonomous GPS navigation.
Probably you didn't have a plane like that when you were a kid.
So your saying that it's a remote control airplane with an smartphone attached to it? With bigger engines so it can go farther?
Sweet.
Be seeing you...