When a drone crashes, it not only costs its owner money, as most still have high pricetags, but also lead to a security nightmare such as what happened to Shawn Usman's drone, which fell right in the middle of the White House's lawn early this year. To address this problem, NASA's Langley Research Center is introducing a device called Safeguard, which can act as an invisible drone tether, keeping a drone from taking off on its own.
Safeguard is a device that builds a safety parameter that confines a drone in a specified area. If the flying machines goes rogue and takes off, the machine will commandeer it back or send it crashing down if the drone persists on flying to the no-fly zone, Popular Science reported.
NASA's Safeguard is distinguished from boundary-limiting devices or "geo-fences" through the use of an algorithm based on "rigorous mathematics and works independently of the onboard autopilot," NASA said in a presentation video. What this means is that even when the drone's autopilot malfunctions, Safeguard is able to prevent the drone from taking off. Watch the device in action in the video below.
NASA's boundary limitation device can prove handy as authorities begin adopting policies that seek to limit and regulate drone use. A drone owner was already handed a conviction for hindering a police operation when his machine flew close to a Los Angeles police helicopter, as HNGN previously reported.
