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Autonomous drones can herd birds away from airports
Drones aren't usually allowed to go near airports unless they serve a purpose, like herding flocks of birds away from the airspace where they could put planes full of people in jeopardy. Manually controlled drones can be unreliable, though: If the operator gets too aggressive and spooks the birds, the flock could scatter and become even more unmanageable. That's why a team of researchers from Caltech have developed an algorithm that teaches unmanned aerial vehicles how to autonomously… (www.engadget.com) More...
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They cite the example of US Airways Flight 1549 as to why these drones would be useful. I suspect that is not the best data point to use, since they hit the birds at about 3,000 feet almost 5 miles from the airport. Unless they are going to patrol vast areas of arrival/departure corridors.
Agreed.
I also have doubts that drones will be effective long-term. Birds get used to airplanes and are no longer intimidated by them, and the same may happend with drones once the birds perceive them as not being a threat.
And there are examples of drones being attacked by birds, usually raptors but also much more common birds like seagulls. They certainly aren’t avoiding drones.
I also have doubts that drones will be effective long-term. Birds get used to airplanes and are no longer intimidated by them, and the same may happend with drones once the birds perceive them as not being a threat.
And there are examples of drones being attacked by birds, usually raptors but also much more common birds like seagulls. They certainly aren’t avoiding drones.
Give drones a try.
drones are one way to approach the bird infestation around airports, but trained dogs- border collies, australian shepherds to hame several- have years of good service with good results. I vote for dogs in this case, and it appears that the drone fanatics are trying to make work for the drones, ineffective as they may be in this instance.
Far better a drone sucked into a jet engine than a bird
