Autonomous drones will drive birds away from airports

The birds over the airport are quite dangerous for airplanes. In 2009, at an airport, the plane hit a herd of geese after taking off and thus lost engine power. Only talented pilots who managed to land on the river saved the passengers. This story shows that birds should be disposed of at airports.

A team of Caltech scientists came up with the idea of ​​using drones for this. They have developed an algorithm that teaches devices how to autonomously scare birds away from airport airspace. To do this, the team studied herd dynamics, how they maintain formation and how they respond to threats. Thanks to this, it was possible to develop their mathematical model and modify algorithms intended for sheep grazing.

The drones have already been tested in Korea. Research has shown that even a single drone can keep a flock of birds out of the designated airspace. Scientists are now working on scaling up the project to make it possible to use the technology at large airports. In the future, it may replace specially trained falcons or manually controlled drones.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/ Photo: Max Rossi / Reuters