Another reason to be wary of increasing reliance on unmanned drones in the U.S.: They could be easily hijacked.
A University of Texas researcher illustrated that fact in a series of test flights recently, showing that GPS "spoofing" could cause a drone to veer off its course and even purposely crash. This is particularly worrisome, given that the U.S. is looking to grant U.S. airspace to drones for domestic jobs including police surveillance or even FedEx deliveries, Newser reports.
Professor Todd
Humphreys and a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin’s
Radio navigation Laboratory have exposed the gaping hole in the government’s new
aerial drone program…the drones can be commandeered. Humphreys was
able to seize control of a drone through his own programed receiver and keep the
government locked out from its controls. In the right environment he could
have crashed it into a sporting event, a government building or worse. Fox
News. While the
government’s new push to include drones in the law enforcement and civilian
markets is on track to begin Humphrys is pointing out that each one has the
potential to be turned into a missile. Last Tuesday, in
the barren desert of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, officials from
the FAA and Department of Homeland Security watched as Humphrey’s team
repeatedly took control of a drone from a remote hilltop. Humphreys said,
“I’m worried about them crashing into other planes. I’m worried about them
crashing into buildings. We could get collisions in the air and there could be
loss of life, so we want to prevent this and get out in front of the problem.”
The Inquisitr
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