MITRE Corporation has put a $100,000 bounty on misbehaving drones through a contest aimed at bringing them down. The not-for-profit think tank, which does a lot of government-sponsored research, says it’s “working with multiple federal agencies” to come up with system(s) that can detect small drones that might pose a threat and then force them to land safely with their payloads intact. “The potential for nefarious use of this technology is unsettling and has become a major safety and security concern for multiple Federal agencies,” MITRE said in a news release announcing its brainiac contest.
Anyone (individual, group or organization) who comes up with the winning all-in-one suggestion will win $60,000 cash or even more if the idea is especially clever. There is also a $20,000 prize for the best detection system and one for the best method of forcing drones to land. One entry can win the whole prize package. Entrants have to submit white papers outlining their projects by Feb. 7 and a selection committee will decide which go on to the live flight testing phase to be held next fall. One company has already said it can do the forced landing phase. As we reported in October, the DroneDefender has been developed by the Battelle Memorial Institute, which is another not-for-profit think tank.
