Where to Begin in 2020

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• Feb 01, 2020

One thing for certain this new year will be the advancement of technology. This is an ongoing phenomenon that brings new developments and solutions, and introduces completely new additions to the security industry.

Just before Christmas, the family and I took our annual pilgrimage to the mountains of Utah. The skiing was terrific in the best snow on earth. But before all that started, I took the time to interview and witness an emerging technology in drone defense.

We all know drones are available and being used as play toys for fun and games, but we also know there are evil actors in the world. Not every drone is a friendly drone. I sat and chatted with Dave Preese of Fortem Technologies. We set aside a couple of hours because we went to a field somewhere south of Provo, Utah, where I saw a demonstration of DroneHunter in action. This is our cover story in this issue.

The story gets to the bottom line of drone defense, but what it can’t show is the amazing technology at 2,000 feet in the air. For that matter, it would be 20,000 feet above the ground. For the purpose of my eyesight, this demonstration was closer to 1,000 feet in the crisp Utah air.

With a selected target site already under protection, the evil drone flew around the site long enough to warrant the good drone to be launched by a computer operator. The most fascinating part of a launched drone is that once it is in the atmosphere, human control is discontinued, the patented radar locks on the evil drone, and the race begins.

If the evil drone continues to pass through the restricted area, DroneHunter moves in, on target, and deploys a nylon net to bring the evil actor down. Amazingly, the capture drone does not fall to the earth, but is carried to the ground for inspection of payload.

To be honest, all this took place so far away, making it difficult to see. But watching the good drone fly into action was an incredible sight. It was exhilarating to watch the net deploy and the bad drone immediately stop flying.

A final point to make on this story: A tour through the warehouse of staff revealed a team of young people were engaged in the next generation of innovation. Maybe I’m just getting old, but it seems to me that tomorrow’s technology is being created by children. No offense intended: I’m sure it is the younger generation that is bringing these new ideas and creativity to the marketplace.

This article originally appeared in the January / February 2020 issue of Security Today.