In early 2023, four suspicious drones were seen flying near the inauguration of the Brazilian president, where 10,000 people were in attendance. The drones were quickly disabled using a hand-held, futuristic looking gun developed by a Sydney-based startup company.
The incident validated the technology of DroneShield, whose drone-disabling hardware is used by military, government and law enforcement around the world. The company’s tools use non-kinetic jamming to disable nefarious drones, leading to them either landing where they are or returning to the operator.
Its latest tool, the DroneGun Mk4 is a portable, pistol-shaped drone jammer weighing just 3.2kg. It is a finalist in the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence in the Defence, Dual-Use and Space category. You can reserve your ticket to the black-tie awards dinner at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion here.
The DroneGun can power up in less than three seconds and can be used in the same way as a point-and-shoot gun.
DroneShield’s DroneGun Mk4 is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2023 Awards for Excellence in the Defence, Dual-Use Technology and Space category. You can secure your tickets to the black-tie event here.
DroneShield was launched in Virginia in the US in 2014, and listed on the ASX in 2016. In doing so it became Australian-owned by about 8000 shareholders, with its employees split between Sydney and Virginia.
The company designs, prototypes and manufactures dual-use electronic warfare hardware which can be used to detect signals, objects and vehicles of interest and to disable drones and other unmanned devices on the ground, in the sky or in the sea.
DroneShield has a number of commercial, government and defence customers, including the Australian Defence Force and the US Department of Defense. Last year, the company generated more than 85 per cent of its revenue of $16.8 million from the export market, and it holds a number of global patents in its counter-drone technology.
DroneShield has claimed the Australian government’s research and development tax incentive and has also received venture capital funding. It has a long-standing collaboration with South Korean firm Dyne Systems.
Its technology can also interfere with drones that are live-streaming from the air and doesn’t involve protocol manipulation or any “cyber” strategies. This enables it to instantly neutralise a drone or several drones within 1km using radio frequency jamming.
The InnovationAus 2023 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by Investment NSW, AusIndustry, Australian Computer Society, Technology Council of Australia, Agile Digital, CSIRO, TechnologyOne, IP Australia, METS Ignited and Q-CTRL.
The finalists for the all of the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence are an incredible set of companies. Have your say in which of these innovators becomes the People’s Choice. You can reserve your place at the InnovationAus 2023 Awards for Excellence black-tie dinner by clicking here.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
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