Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Patents System To Defend Drones Against Hackers, Jammers and Arrows (geekwire.com)
As Amazon prepares its drone-based delivery service Prime Air for the United States, the company has been looking for ways to keep its drones safe while they're flying to and from their destinations. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the company has patented a plan that lays out countermeasures for potential threats ranging from computer hacking to lightning flashes to bows and arrows. GeekWire reports: The "compromise system" that Amazon's engineers propose relies on an array of sensors to orient the drone based on the sun's position in the sky, if need be. That's in case the drone gets confused by, say, lightning or a muzzle flash. The system also provides for a mesh network, in which drones would check with each other and other data sources -- including satellite signals -- to verify the readings they're following. If there's a discrepancy in the data, the drone would tally up the verdicts from all of the sources available, then go with the majority opinion. The onboard compromise system would be designed to keep the drone on track even if someone tried jamming its communication system. And if the drone became completely disoriented, it would be programmed to land safely and broadcast its location to its handlers. Now, about those arrows: Amazon lays out a scenario in which an attacker shoots an arrow at a drone in the air. "The malicious person may be attempting to cause the UAV to fall to ground, so that that malicious person may steal or destroy the UAV," the application reads. This is what Amazon suggests would happen: "The compromise module detects the presence of the arrow and generates the UAV compromise data indicating that a threat exists that may compromise the UAV. The fail-safe module terminates the navigation to the first computing device, and the fail-safe module directs the UAV towards the ground. In some implementations, the fail-safe module may be configured to direct the UAV to take evasive maneuvers, navigate to a safe landing or parking zone for inspect, and so forth."
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
yeah they take disposable drones designed to fight people who don't have indoor plumbing and who film their propaganda on vhs camcorders, and they try to use that against Russian hackers. That's like hiring convenience store robbers to steal gold from fort knox.
lucm, indeed.
This is not a novel invention.
This is trivially obvious from hitting the problem 'I am deploying lots of drones'.
All of the above solutions are obvious and un-novel and in no way not obvious from prior art.
A hacker can circumvent. We have learned this lesson time and time again.
No, we are presented with this lesson time and time again...
It would seem many are incapable of actually learning it.
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Katniss Everdeen can shoot fighter jets out of the sky with arrows. What makes you think you puny drones will be able to do any better?
One can get an "and so forth" patent?
I need an attorney, to patent a simple invention which will "improve life, the universe and everything" using innovation, science, technology, "and so forth." It will be fundamental to any possible future patent. I'll be rich!
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
It didn't specify muzzle blast from the ground. Maybe they plan on arming these things and have noticed shooting causes flight controller confusion.
You might want to read up on how aircraft navigated before GPS (and still do, to some extent). In addition to ATC beacons, RDF (radio direction finding) off of commercial AM broadcasting stations was and is a thing. Triangulating from two isn't that hard for a human, it's a trivial task for a computer. Good luck overriding the signals from a few multi-kilowatt commercial broadcast towers.
-- Alastair
I'm going to dress in green tights and a feather cap, get out my bow and arrow and call myself "Robbin' Goods".
To those on Slashdot aroused by the thought, you I will deem my Band of Fairy Men. You can stay inside and, uh, "support" me from afar k thanks.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm shocked, shocked , to find that Amazon is filing frivolous patents.
Don't worry - there's an infinite supply of drone from the 3 scripted puppets on the show.
For those wondering: TGT is awful and forced. Yes, TG was scripted to hell, but TGT is scripted and pathetic.
I wonder what happens if someone setup set of stone lights and flashes them at once, telling the drone "Did you see all the muzzle flashes? Hey, yo have incoming bullets from all directions!" yes, i realize a muzzle flash looks different from a strobe but will the programming and optical systems be sophisticated enough to tell the difference? Even if you don't actually cause it to land, I an see people disorienting them just for the yucks, and Amazon pushing to apply laws against attacks against a/c to drones or new legislation.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
I built a proof of concept and took down my drone that was flying at 150' in my yard. It was fun. I'm pretty that a delivery drone can not out manuver a rocket propelled net dispersion system.
When I first read the OP, it didn't make sense. A drone being "confused" by a muzzle flash? What kind of idiot thinks that's how a drone navigates...or that a muzzle flash would be more confusing than light reflecting off a window or a pond? So I dug in...and the actual patent application is what you should really read because it's very cool. The article about the patent application itself is very poorly-written; either the author didn't really read the patent app or didn't understand it.
The underlying problem is this: people will screw with drones that are delivering valuable items. They will shoot at them with objects ranging from thrown stones to bullets from firearms. They will use signal jammers, spoofing of navigational or control systems and maybe even malware that compromises a device that's used to provide guidance. They've put together a pretty clever approach to each of these problems.
For kinetic threats, a system that would detect the attack would trigger one of a few possible reactions. One reaction is the emission of foam to cushion the drone from the direction of the threat. This would temporarily degrade its flight performance, but only on an as-needed basis. Another would be avoidance, if possible.
For (using the USAF definition) cyber threats, they get really clever. GPS is a nightmare against a moderately-capable attacker; spoofing and jamming are pretty much impossible to defend against. The current gold standard is a device called a SAASM...but there's a catch. It's only available to military users of GPS, and no commercial equivalent exists. It depends upon cryptographic keys to use the privileged GPS functions, so even if you could build your own you could not make use of it. And this is the other interesting/tricky threat.
So, you're humming along and minding your own business using GPS to navigate when...aha! Someone jams you. Or they spoof GPS and try to get you to crash into the ground so that they can take your goodies. You will notice one of these happening when you suddenly lose GPS signal...and the other when your speed and course suddenly vary wildly without you having done anything to cause such.
Amazon has put together a really smart mutli-layered approach to this kind of threat. I won't dig into the details, but some of the goodies include mesh networking, using a variety of alternate methods as points of reference (including even the signal jammer itself, if jamming is going on) and a broad range of different frequencies so that all-encompassing jamming or spoofing becomes a serious, serious pain in the ass for the attacker to accomplish.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Just wait till UPS finishes its cutting edge stealth fighter/delivery drones (CODENAME: STOLEN) then we will see who rules the skies. There's also the Fed-Ex experimental air-to-air "Logistical Orbital Spearhead Targeter", (LOST) . USPS is gonna have to back to the drawing board though, looks like the surface-to-air "Malicious Operator Radio Equipped Ballista System" (MOREBS) is going to need a redesign.
So far though, its the underdog, 7/11, who rules the skies with their own system, the "Neighborhood Orbiting Grip and Ship" (NOGAS) The hot Coffee payload and secondary microwaved burrito launcher seem deterrent enough....... for now.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.