December 4, 2017
Researchers at Oxford University have discovered that
peregrine falcons steer their attacks using the same control strategies as
guided missiles.
The findings, which overturn previous assumptions that
peregrines' aerial hunting follows simple geometric rules, could be applied to
the design of small, visually guided drones that can take down other 'rogue'
drones in settings such as airports or prisons.
The research, initially funded by the US Air Force Research
Laboratory and published open access in the journal PNAS, may also give
scientists greater insight into the pursuit behaviours of other predatory
species - in the air, in water, or on the ground.
Principal investigator Professor Graham Taylor, of the Oxford
Flight Group in Oxford University's Department of Zoology, said: 'Falcons are
classic aerial predators, synonymous with agility and speed. Our GPS tracks and
on-board videos show how peregrine falconsintercept
moving targets that don't want to be caught. Remarkably, it turns out that they
do this in a similar way to most guided missiles. Our next step is to apply
this research to designing a new kind of visually guided drone, able to remove
rogue drones safely from the vicinity of airports, prisons and other no-fly
zones.'
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