System and method for reducing speed of or stopping drone controlled by remote control unit going toward target

Abstract

To provide a system, a method, and a computer readable medium that stores a command for reducing the speed of or stopping a drone controlled by a remote control unit going toward a target.SOLUTION: In a system, a transmitter is used to: transmit a disturbing signal for introducing a communication error between a drone and a remote control unit during a plurality of separated miscommunication periods; as a consequence, reduce the speed of or stop a drone going toward a target; and guide the drone so as to carry out a plurality of communication remediation attempts without executing a fail-safe plan.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application claims priority from Israel Patent Application No. 276239, filed July 22, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. [Background technology]

[0002] The demand for commercial drones is developing rapidly. By 2020, it is expected that over 100 million drones will be in use. Until a few years ago, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were the only military aircraft. Today, commercial drones are widely available, relatively inexpensive, and feature the highest military-level capabilities.

[0003] While most drones are used for legitimate and beneficial purposes, many are used irresponsibly or maliciously, endangering aircraft at airports, smuggling drugs and weapons into prisons, attacking or harassing politicians, and carrying out acts of terrorism.

[0004] Military counter-drone technologies, typically based on radar detection, narrow-beam RF jamming, or powered mitigation (missiles, destructive laser beams), have been successfully deployed within maritime installations and local environments.

[0005] However, in various scenarios (even military scenarios), these techniques are not suitable, for example, they may not be suitable for urban environments or airports due to various risks, including but not limited to collateral damage.

[0006] There is an increasing need to provide an efficient method of making targets safe while minimizing collateral damage. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 16 / 513,769 Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] As illustrated herein, a system, method, and computer readable medium may be provided.

[0009] A method may be provided for slowing or stopping the progress of a drone controlled by a remote control unit toward a target, the method including using a transmitter to transmit a jamming signal to introduce communication errors between the drone and the remote control unit for a number of miscommunication periods, thereby slowing or stopping the progress of the drone toward the target and inducing the drone to perform a number of communication correction attempts without executing a fail-safe plan by the drone. Stopping or slowing may include reducing the rate of progress, e.g., reducing the average rate of progress toward the target, such that the average rate of progress is reduced, even to zero, such that some movement toward the target is even possible.

[0010] Introducing a communication error may include disconnecting the drone from the remote control unit, with multiple communication correction attempts being reconnection attempts.

[0011] Transmitting may include transmitting a jamming signal during a plurality of spaced-apart transmission periods that at least partially overlaps with at least two miscommunication periods of the plurality of spaced-apart miscommunication periods.

[0012] The duration of each transmission period cannot exceed a timing threshold corresponding to the estimated duration of a disconnection period that triggers execution of a fail-safe plan by the drone.

[0013] The miscommunication pattern formed by multiple spaced miscommunication periods is different from the estimated miscommunication pattern that triggers the drone to execute a fail-safe plan.

[0014] The method may include verifying that the drone makes a reconnection attempt following transmission of the jamming signal during a miscommunication period of a plurality of the distant miscommunication periods.

[0015] The method may include monitoring a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

[0016] The method may include adapting the transmission of the jamming signal based on a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

[0017] The method may include determining a position of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit during and between the multiple periods of miscommunication.

[0018] The method may include transmitting a jamming signal during a plurality of spaced transmission periods, the jamming signals transmitted during at least two of the plurality of spaced transmission periods being different from one another.

[0019] The method may include monitoring at least one of the remote control unit and the drone to provide a monitoring result, and the transmitting is responsive to the monitoring result.

[0020] The disclosed embodiments will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which: [Brief description of the drawings]

[0021] [Figure 1] An example of the method is illustrated. [Diagram 2] Illustrate examples of a jamming system, a drone, and a remote control unit. [Diagram 3] 1 illustrates an example of a timing diagram. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates an example of a timing diagram. [Diagram 5] 1 illustrates an example of a timing diagram. [Figure 6] 1 illustrates an example of a timing diagram. [Figure 7] An example of the method is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0022] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention.

[0023] The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification, however the invention, both as to the organization and method of operation, together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0024] It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or similar elements.

[0025] Because the illustrated embodiments of the present invention can be implemented, for the most part, using electronic components and circuits known to those skilled in the art, details will not be described to a greater extent than is considered necessary as illustrated above in order to avoid obscuring or confusing the teachings of the present invention for an understanding and appreciation of the basic concepts of the present invention.

[0026] Any reference in the specification to a method should apply mutatis mutandis to a device or system capable of performing the method and / or to a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for performing the method.

[0027] Any reference in the specification to a system or device should be applied mutatis mutandis to methods that may be performed by the system and / or to a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by the system.

[0028] Any reference in the specification to a non-transitory computer readable medium should be applied mutatis mutandis to a device or system capable of executing instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and / or to a method for executing the instructions.

[0029] Any combination of any of the modules or units described in any of the drawings, any part of the specification, and / or any of the claims may be provided.

[0030] The specification and / or drawings may refer to a processor. A processor may be a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be a central processing unit (CPU) and / or one or more other integrated circuits, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a fully custom integrated circuit, or a combination of such integrated circuits.

[0031] Any combination of any steps of any method illustrated in the specification and / or drawings may be provided.

[0032] Any combination of any of the subject matter of any of the claims may be provided.

[0033] Any combination of the systems, units, components, processors, sensors illustrated in the specification and / or drawings may be provided.

[0034] Methods, systems, and computer readable media may be provided for stopping or slowing drone access to a target.

[0035] Jamming signals may be transmitted toward the drone, causing the drone to experience remote communication errors, which may cause the drone to slow and / or abort its progress toward the target.

[0036] The jamming signal may be defined to cause communication errors between the drone and the remote control unit, but narrow enough so as not to interfere with other communication links within the area of ​​the drone, so that blocking a wide frequency range cannot be implemented.

[0037] When some drones become disconnected from a remote control unit, they may pause or stop their progress towards a target until they successfully reconnect, at which point, or shortly thereafter, an additional jamming signal may be transmitted, causing the drone to disconnect again and make yet another reconnection attempt.

[0038] The drone may respond to different events in different ways.

[0039] A first event may occur when the drone becomes disconnected from the remote control unit for a first period of time.

[0040] A second event may occur when the drone is disconnected during a second period of time.

[0041] It is expected that communication between the drone and the remote control unit may be interrupted from time to time, and any miscommunication will not trigger the execution of the fail-safe plan.

[0042] Thus, the second period is expected to exceed the first period.

[0043] Following the first event, the drone should reconnect, which may require more than successfully receiving a fraction of the standard communication rate and ceasing timing for a second period of time.

[0044] The drone may respond to the first event by attempting to reconnect to the remote control unit. Responses may include, for example, stopping transmission, starting transmission on a pre-configured frequency, starting to send a very short message containing only reconnection parameters, reducing the transmission rate, transmitting on another frequency or another frequency band, changing the coding scheme, stopping or slowing down frequency hopping, changing the frequency table for frequency hopping, reducing or increasing the bandwidth of transmission, stopping transmission and resuming after a configured period of time, stopping transmission and resuming while sending a new auxiliary key that reseeds the communication parameters, sending a fixed pre-configured message to resynchronize with the remote control unit, and modifying any other transmission parameters. The remote control unit may perform the same steps when it detects that the drone is disconnected.

[0045] The reconnection may be detected by the receiver, and once detected, the reconnection may require modifying one or more parameters of the jamming signal, which may be followed by generating a jamming signal that may only be transmitted during the reconnection or after successful completion of the reconnection.

[0046] According to an embodiment, the jamming signal may be generated regardless of detection of a reconnection attempt.

[0047] According to an embodiment, assuming that no change in one or more transmission parameters can be detected, the transmitter can transmit (even simultaneously or in close proximity) a jamming signal that can disrupt communication in different scenarios, such as: (i) communication between the drone and the remote control unit is altered following a first event; and (ii) communication between the drone and the remote control unit is not altered following a first event. The drone can slow its progress or even halt in response to the first event.

[0048] The drone may respond to the second event by initiating a failsafe plan. This may involve propagating towards a predefined landing point (which may be the location from which the drone took off or may be another location, e.g., the drone's current location), hovering in an appropriate position (at least until the drone's battery is depleted), and / or making an additional communication response. The additional communication response may be equivalent to or more rigorous than the communication response to the first event. The drone may activate auxiliary devices, such as a detonation device, that may be attached to it as part of the failsafe plan or following execution of the failsafe plan.

[0049] The drone may respond with a third event, a successful reconnection, which may occur subsequent to the response to the first event and / or subsequent to the response to the second event.

[0050] Success in a reconnection attempt (when a reconnection attempt is triggered by the first event) may be followed by continuing with the behavior that preceded the disconnection, e.g., returning to standard behavior.

[0051] Success in the reconnection attempt (when the reconnection attempt is triggered by a second event) may be followed by continuing with the fail-safe plan.

[0052] The execution of the fail-safe plan can be terminated by the remote control unit.

[0053] The communication between the drone and the remote control unit is time division duplex (TDD). The TDD communication may be any other time division multiple access (TDD) communication, code division multiple access (CDMA) communication, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) communication, etc. For ease of explanation, some examples refer to TDD communication.

[0054] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the method 10 .

[0055] The method 10 may begin by transmitting 20 a jamming signal using a transmitter to introduce communication errors between the drone and the remote control unit for a number of off-site miscommunication periods. The time gaps between the off-site miscommunication periods may allow the drone to successfully recover from the miscommunication periods.

[0056] The transmitting slows or stops the drone's progress toward the target and induces the drone to make multiple communication fix attempts without executing a fail-safe plan, which may prevent the drone from executing a fail-safe plan, which may include propagating toward a predefined landing point (which may be the location from which the drone took off or may be another location, e.g., the drone's current location), hovering in an appropriate position (at least until the drone's battery is depleted), and / or making additional communication responses.

[0057] The induced communication error may involve disconnecting the drone from the remote control unit, with multiple communication correction attempts being reconnection attempts.

[0058] Non-limiting examples of transmitting jamming signals are illustrated in U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 513,769, filed July 17, 2019, which is incorporated by reference herein. The jamming signals may be different than those illustrated in U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 513,769.

[0059] The jamming signal may be spread across the entire spectrum of communications between the drone and the remote control unit, may be spread across a portion of the spectrum, may involve frequency hopping, scanning of the spectrum of a portion of the spectrum, may follow specific frequencies used by the drone and the remote control unit and times of transmission of specific frequencies, may follow frequency bands used by the drone and the remote control unit and times of transmission of frequencies within frequency bands, may be transmitted in a continuous manner during one or more miscommunication periods, may be transmitted only during one or more portions of one or more miscommunication periods, etc.

[0060] The jamming signals may be determined in any manner, for example, based on a previous investigation of communication between the drone and the remote control unit, based on on-the-fly learning of predefined jamming signal combinations that can be adapted over time based on the success of the jamming signals to cause communication or communication errors between the drone and the remote control unit, etc.

[0061] Step 20 may include transmitting the jamming signal during a plurality of spaced apart transmission periods that at least partially overlap at least two of the plurality of spaced apart miscommunication periods. A transmission period may fully or partially overlap a corresponding miscommunication period.

[0062] The difference in time between the end of one miscommunication period and the beginning of the next miscommunication period can be long enough to allow the drone to successfully complete a reconnection attempt.

[0063] The duration of each transmission period does not exceed a timing threshold corresponding to the estimated duration of a disconnection period that triggers execution of a fail-safe plan by the drone.

[0064] The miscommunication pattern formed by the multiple spaced miscommunication periods (e.g., the duration of the miscommunication in each miscommunication period and the time between adjacent miscommunication periods) is different from the estimated miscommunication pattern that triggers execution of a fail-safe plan by the drone.

[0065] The method 10 may include a step 40 of monitoring at least one of the drone and the remote control unit.

[0066] Step 40 may be performed prior to, in parallel with, and subsequent to the performance of step 10.

[0067] For example, following the transmission of any jamming signal, the presence of a drone may be detected within a protected area.

[0068] Monitoring may include searching for communications between the drone and the remote control unit, detecting the drone (by visual sensors or by any other type of sensor), and monitoring telemetry data (drone position, operator position, remote control position, or other telemetry data), etc.

[0069] A receiving window for monitoring communications between the drone and the remote communications unit may be timed during and / or within the miscommunication period.

[0070] Step 40 may include, for example, monitoring a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

[0071] Step 40 may include verifying that the drone has made a reconnection attempt following transmission of a jamming signal during a miscommunication period of a number of miscommunication periods. A next miscommunication period may begin following verification that a successful reconnection attempt has been completed by the drone.

[0072] Following step 40 there may be a step 50 of adapting to transmit the jamming signal based on a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

[0073] Step 40 may include determining a position of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit during and between the multiple periods of miscommunication.

[0074] The jamming signals transmitted during at least two of the plurality of spaced transmission periods may be different from one another.

[0075] The jamming signal transmitted during at least two of the plurality of spaced transmission periods may be identical.

[0076] Step 10 may be based at least in part on monitoring results generated during step 40 .

[0077] FIG. 2 is an illustration of a jamming system 131, a drone 121, and a remote control unit 111.

[0078] The drone 121 and the remote control unit 11 may communicate via a bidirectional link.

[0079] The jamming signal 141 is intended to introduce communication errors between the drone 121 and the remote control unit 11 for multiple miscommunication periods.

[0080] The jamming system 131 is illustrated as including an antenna 132 , a transmitter 133 , a signal generator 134 , a receiver 135 , a signal analyzer 136 , and a controller / processor unit 137 .

[0081] Antenna 132 may be used to receive signals transmitted from drone 121 and / or from remote control unit 111. Those signals are sent to receiver 135, which provides a detection signal to signal analyzer 136, which may analyze the signals. The analysis may be spectrum analysis, timing analysis, etc. Signal generator 134 may generate a jamming signal to be transmitted by transmitter 133 via antenna 132.

[0082] It should be noted that the jamming system may have one or more transmit antennas that are separate from one or more receive antennas.

[0083] The jamming system 131 may include only some of the units illustrated in the figure and / or may include more or other units.

[0084] The controller / processor may be a controller and / or a processor. The controller may control the operation of the jamming system and the processor may receive an analysis of the received signals from the signal analyzer 136 and determine which jamming signals to transmit and when to transmit them.

[0085] The controller / processor may perform the functionality of the signal analyzer and / or the functionality of the signal generator 134 .

[0086] The jamming system 131 may be configured to perform the method 10 .

[0087] 3 and 4 illustrate examples of timing diagrams.

[0088] 3 illustrates multiple miscommunication periods 201 separated from one another by time gaps 202 during which a drone may reconnect (252). Each miscommunication includes multiple time windows, including multiple pairs of (a) a remote control unit transmit window (RCU_Tx) 211 and (b) a drone transmit window (Drone_Tx) 212. The drone may open a receive window during RCU_TX. The remote control unit may open a receive window during Drone_TX.

[0089] The length of the jamming period and the time gap between successive jamming periods may depend on one or more parameters of the particular drone of interest and / or one or more parameters of the communication protocol between the particular drone and the remote control unit. Examples of such parameters include the length of the first period, the length of the second period, the length of the reconnection attempt, etc.

[0090] For example, the jamming period and the time gap between consecutive jamming periods may be one second or several seconds. When using TDD, the duration of a single remote control unit transmission window (RCU_Tx) is on the order of milliseconds (e.g., 1 millisecond). Thus, a remote control unit may transmit hundreds or even thousands of times (during hundreds or even thousands of RCU_TX) during a single jamming period. A jamming signal may be transmitted during every RCU_TX, or at least during a significant number of RCU_TX. One or more jamming signals may be transmitted during a single RCU_TX.

[0091] For example, referring to the example depicted in FIG. 4 of the present application and FIG. 3A of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16 / 513,769, multiple (N) disconnection signals (230(1) to 230(N)) of N different frequencies (F1...FN) may be transmitted between a single RCU_TX 211.

[0092] FIG. 5 is an example of a timing diagram. The timing diagram illustrates multiple remote control unit transmission windows 211 and multiple drone transmission windows 212 transmitted during a partial jamming period 203. The timing diagram also illustrates multiple information units IUs 214 of the remote control unit transmission window. During the partial jamming period 203, reception (or a combination of reception and successful decoding) of some but not all IUs of the remote control unit transmission window is interfered with. In the normal case, such partial jamming will not cause the drone to attempt to reconnect with the remote control unit, but in some cases, the drone may attempt to fix the connection when such jamming occurs.

[0093] The duration of the partial jamming period 203 is long enough to include multiple (e.g., hundreds, thousands, or even more) remote control unit transmission windows (RCU_Tx). The jamming signal may attempt to interfere with reception of most (e.g., more than 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, and 95 percent) of the IUs. For example, the jamming may include attempting to mask most of the IUs transmitted during the RCU_Tx window, where the masking may occur during the entire or most part of the RCU_Tx, etc. For example, most of the IUs of all remote control unit transmission windows may be interfered with, only some of the IUs of the remote control unit transmission window may be interfered with, the entire IUs of the remote control unit transmission window may be interfered with, some of the IUs of the remote control unit transmission window may be interfered with, etc.

[0094] The partial jamming period 203 may be of any duration, such as for example, it may last as long as communication between the drone and the remote control unit is to be interfered with.

[0095] For example, when looking at a few seconds during one or more partial jamming periods, interference is applied in relation to only some of the information units, while others are not interfered with.

[0096] For example, with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 of the present application and U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 513,769, multiple (N) jamming signals (230(1) through 230(N)) at N different frequencies (F1...FN) may be transmitted during a majority of the control unit transmit window (RCU_Tx) within the partial jamming period 203.

[0097] 6 is an example timing diagram illustrating a combination of a miscommunication period 201 (followed by a drone reconnection attempt) and a partial jamming period 203. The partial jamming period 203 can be of any duration, such as lasting as long as communication between the drone and the remote control unit is to be disrupted.

[0098] Any combination of partial jamming periods 203 and miscommunication periods 201 (followed by drone reconnection attempts) may be provided. There may be any ratio between the number of miscommunication periods 201 (followed by drone reconnection attempts) and the number of partial jamming periods 203.

[0099] A decision may be made to switch between one or more partial jamming periods 203 and one or more miscommunication periods 201 (followed by drone reconnection attempts). The decision may be predetermined. The decision may be based on monitoring drone and / or remote control unit behavior. The decision may be random and / or pseudo / random, etc.

[0100] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of method 11.

[0101] Method 11 is for slowing or stopping the progress of a drone controlled by a remote control unit toward a target.

[0102] Method 11 may begin with step 21, using a transmitter to transmit a jamming signal while, within a time window of a few seconds, the transmission interferes with at least one of: (a) reception by the drone of most, but not all, of the information units transmitted to the drone by the remote control unit; and (b) reception and successful decoding by the drone of most, but not all, of the information units transmitted to the drone by the remote control unit. Step 21 induces the drone to slow or stop its progress towards the target.

[0103] Step 21 may include transmitting a jamming signal without inducing the drone to execute the drone's failsafe plan.

[0104] In some cases, the drone does not attempt to reconnect to the remote control unit following step 21. For example, applying step 21 does not result in the occurrence of the first event that causes the drone to attempt to reconnect to the remote control unit. Under normal conditions, the drone may tolerate some loss of signal from the remote control unit without disconnecting, for example due to changing the drone's position.

[0105] Step 21 may include transmitting a jamming signal to prevent successful encoding of most, if not all, of the information units sent from the remote control unit to the drone.

[0106] Step 21 may include transmitting a jamming signal during a plurality of spaced transmission periods, the jamming signals transmitted during at least two of the plurality of spaced transmission periods being different from one another.

[0107] Step 21 may be followed by step 40 of monitoring a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

[0108] Step 40 may include determining a position of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit during and between the multiple periods of miscommunication.

[0109] Step 40 may provide the monitoring results, and step 21 may respond to the monitoring results.

[0110] Following step 40 there may be a step 50 of adapting to transmit the jamming signal based on a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

[0111] It should be noted that any one of methods 10 and 11 may include determining at least one parameter of the jamming signal based on at least one parameter from (a) the position of the drone and / or the remote control unit, (b) one or more spatial relationships between two or more of the drone, the transmitter, and the remote control unit, and (c) predicted reception of the remote control unit signal by the drone, etc.

[0112] For example, if the drone enters an area characterized by communication jamming, the transmission parameters can be adapted so as not to result in the occurrence of the second event (when applying method 10) or not to result in the occurrence of the first event (when applying method 11). For example, if an area provides a disruption of a certain duration, the duration of the miscommunication period 201 can be shorter than the duration of the miscommunication that triggers the second event minus a certain duration. It should be noted that the adaptation can also take into account the predicted strength of the transmission of the remote control unit.

[0113] The foregoing written description of the invention will enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use what is presently believed to be its best mode, and one of ordinary skill in the art will understand and recognize the existence of variations, permutations, and equivalents of the specific embodiments, methods, and examples herein. Thus, the invention should not be limited by the embodiments, methods, and examples described above, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention as claimed.

[0114] In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific examples of embodiments thereof. It will, however, be apparent that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

[0115] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the boundaries between logical blocks are merely exemplary, and that alternative embodiments may combine logical blocks or circuit elements or provide alternative decompositions of functionality among various logical blocks or circuit elements. Thus, it will be understood that the architectures described herein are merely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures may be implemented which achieve the same functionality.

[0116] Any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Thus, any two components herein that combine to achieve a particular functionality may be viewed as being "associated" with one another such that the desired functionality is achieved, regardless of architecture or intermediary components. Likewise, any two components so associated may also be viewed as being "operably connected" or "operably coupled" with one another to achieve the desired functionality.

[0117] Moreover, those skilled in the art will recognize that the boundaries between operations described above are merely illustrative: multiple operations may be combined into a single operation, a single operation may be distributed among additional operations, and operations may be performed that at least partially overlap in time. Moreover, alternative embodiments may include multiple instances of a particular operation, and the order of operations may be altered in various other embodiments.

[0118] Also for example, in one embodiment, the illustrated examples may be implemented as circuits located on a single integrated circuit or within the same device. Alternatively, the examples may be implemented as any number of separate integrated circuits or separate devices interconnected with each other in any suitable manner.

[0119] However, other modifications, variations, and alternatives are also possible.The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

[0120] In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The term "comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps not recited in the claim. Moreover, the terms "a" or "an" are defined as one or more as used herein. Also, the use of introductory phrases such as "at least one" and "one or more" in the claims shall not be construed as meaning that the introduction of an element of another claim by the indefinite article "a" or "an" limits any particular claim that includes such an introduced claim element to an invention that includes only one such element, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrase "one or more" or "at least one" and an indefinite article such as "a" or "an". The same applies to the use of definite articles. Unless otherwise stated, terms such as "first" and "second" are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements that such terms describe. As such, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate any temporal or other prioritization of such elements. The mere fact that certain measures are mutually recited in different claims does not indicate that a combination of those measures cannot be advantageously used.

[0121] While certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art herein, and it is therefore to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.

[0122] It will be appreciated that various features of the disclosed embodiments that are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, can also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the disclosed embodiments that are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, can also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0123] It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the disclosed embodiments are not limited by what has been particularly shown and described above. Rather, the scope of the disclosed embodiments is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. 1. A method for slowing or stopping the movement of a drone controlled by a remote control unit toward a target, comprising: using a transmitter to transmit a jamming signal to introduce communication errors between the drone and the remote control unit for a number of remote miscommunication periods, thereby slowing or stopping the drone's progress toward the target, and inducing the drone to perform a number of communication correction attempts without executing a fail-safe plan; introducing the communication error includes disconnecting the drone from the remote control unit, and the communication correction attempts are reconnection attempts; The method, wherein said transmitting includes transmitting the jamming signal during a plurality of spaced-apart transmission periods that at least partially overlap at least two of the plurality of spaced-apart miscommunication periods.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a duration of each transmission period does not exceed a timing threshold corresponding to an estimated duration of a disconnection period that triggers execution of the failsafe plan by the drone.

3. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a miscommunication pattern formed by the plurality of distant miscommunication periods is different from an estimated miscommunication pattern that triggers execution of the failsafe plan by the drone.

4. 2. The method of claim 1, comprising verifying that the drone made a reconnection attempt following transmission of a jamming signal during a miscommunication period of the plurality of miscommunication periods.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising monitoring a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

6. 6. The method of claim 5, comprising adapting the transmission of the jamming signal based on the response of the at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

7. 2. The method of claim 1, comprising determining a position of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit during and between the plurality of periods of remote miscommunication.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the jamming signal for a plurality of spaced apart transmission periods, the jamming signals transmitted during at least two of the plurality of spaced apart transmission periods being different from one another.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring at least one of the remote control unit and the drone to provide monitoring results, and the transmitting is responsive to the monitoring results.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium for slowing or stopping the progress of a drone controlled by a remote control unit toward a target, the non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for transmitting, using a transmitter, a jamming signal to introduce communication errors between the drone and the remote control unit for a number of off-site miscommunication periods, thereby slowing or stopping the progress of the drone toward the target, and for directing the drone to perform a number of communication correction attempts without executing a failsafe plan by the drone; the introducing the communication error includes disconnecting the drone from the remote control unit, and the communication correction attempts are reconnection attempts; The transmitting includes transmitting the jamming signal during a plurality of spaced-apart transmission periods that at least partially overlap with at least two miscommunication periods of the plurality of spaced-apart miscommunication periods.

11. 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein a duration of each transmission period does not exceed a timing threshold corresponding to an estimated duration of a disconnection period that triggers execution of the failsafe plan by the drone.

12. 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein a miscommunication pattern formed by the plurality of distant miscommunication periods is different from an estimated miscommunication pattern that triggers execution of the failsafe plan by the drone.

13. 11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, storing instructions for verifying that the drone made a reconnection attempt following transmission of a jamming signal during a miscommunication period of the plurality of off-miscommunication periods.

14. 11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10 storing instructions for monitoring a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

15. 15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, storing instructions for adapting the transmission of the jamming signal based on the response of the at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

16. 11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, storing instructions for determining a position of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit during and between the plurality of periods of remote miscommunication.

17. 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the transmitting includes transmitting the jamming signal for a plurality of spaced transmission periods, the jamming signals transmitted during at least two of the plurality of spaced transmission periods being different from one another.

18. 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising: storing instructions for monitoring at least one of the remote control unit and the drone to provide monitoring results, and the transmitting is responsive to the monitoring results.

19. 1. A system for slowing or stopping the progress of a drone controlled by a remote control unit toward a target, comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit a jamming signal to introduce communication errors between the drone and the remote control unit for a number of miscommunication periods, thereby slowing or stopping the progress of the drone toward the target, and to induce the drone to perform a number of communication correction attempts without executing a fail-safe plan, introducing the communication error includes disconnecting the drone from the remote control unit, and the communication correction attempts are reconnection attempts; The system, wherein transmitting includes transmitting the jamming signal during a plurality of spaced apart transmission periods that at least partially overlap with at least two miscommunication periods of the plurality of spaced apart miscommunication periods.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the duration of each transmission period does not exceed a timing threshold corresponding to an estimated duration of a disconnection period that triggers execution of the failsafe plan by the drone.

21. The system described in claim 19, wherein the miscommunication pattern formed by the multiple distant miscommunication periods is different from an estimated miscommunication pattern that triggers execution of the failsafe plan by the drone.

22. The system of claim 19, further configured to verify that the drone has made a reconnection attempt following transmission of a jamming signal during a miscommunication period of the plurality of distant miscommunication periods.

23. The system described in claim 19, further configured to monitor a response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

24. The system of claim 23, further configured to adapt the transmission of the jamming signal based on the response of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit to the transmission of at least a portion of the jamming signal.

25. The system of claim 19, further comprising determining a position of at least one of the drone and the remote control unit during and between the plurality of remote miscommunication periods.

26. The system described in claim 19, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the jamming signal during a plurality of spaced transmission periods, and the jamming signals transmitted during at least two of the plurality of spaced transmission periods are different from each other.

27. ​​The system described in claim 19, further configured to monitor at least one of the remote control unit and the drone to provide monitoring results, and wherein the transmitting is responsive to the monitoring results.

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