Fine-tuned acoustic waves can knock drones out of the sky
The right sounds can also disable their cameras
AS CHILDREN everywhere are delighted to learn in science class, sound can shatter glass. Might it also be possible, then, to use acoustic waves to disrupt the electromechanical sensors that drones require to fly? To find out, four engineering students at the University of Toronto repurposed small car speakers to cobble together a contraption “for blasting a drone with sound”, as one of them, Michael Acquaviva, puts it. It worked in early tests, though only at close range. Drones 50cm away wobbled. At 25cm, they crashed.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “All the right noises”
From the February 8th 2025 edition
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