The AR Drone, a fururistic ‘quadrocopter’ that can be controlled via video-link to an iPhone or iPod touch, will start shipping tomorrow. The space-age gadget is controlled by a handheld device using WiFi networking technology and works both indoors and out. The craft streams a live feed back to the user at 15 fps from a front-facing camera which allows the craft to be controlled from a pilots-eye view. A second ground-facing camera mounted on the underbelly of the drone captures the action at 60fps. Data from the second camera helps the internal guidance systems deliver a smooth flying experience. But the developers, Parrot S.A, haven’t stopped there; perhaps the coolest feature of the AR Drone is that it allows multiple units to go head-to-head in an augmented reality game, giving the drones the ability to fire virtual lasers at each other (see the video, below). Anyone who has tried to pilot a regular remote-controlled helicopter will know how difficult they are to fly and also how easy they are to damage.

Sporting four rotors instead of two, quadrocopters are significantly more stable in flight than their twin-rotor cousins. The AR Drone boasts sophisticated software, running on an embedded Linux OS on a 468mhz ARM processor, to process and react to in-flight information coming from the 3-axis accelerometer, multiple gyrometers, ultrasound altimeter and the vertical ground-facing camera. The marketing guys at Parrot claim that all this guidance technology means that even a child can fly the AR Drone. Writing on the product’s official website, the makers claim: Thanks to its Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Inertial measurement unit (IMU) and sensors, the Parrot AR.DRONE turns complex fly patterns into an easy-to-pilot system. Children will pilot AR.DRONE instinctively, using the iPhone, without any learning curve. This allows for an incredible fly experience and acrobatics. The aircraft has also been built with durability in mind; it sports a protective frame that shields the delicate rotors from knocks and bumps.

, the craft is built to withstand some moderately rough treatment: Constructed of carbon fiber tubes and PA66 plastic, the AR.Drone is meant to stand up to abuse. PA66 plastic is known for being hard, rigid, and resistant to abrasions, while carbon fiber is one of the strongest and lightest materials on the planet. Little chance of breaking the structure of the AR.Drone during normal use. According to the technical specs, users can expect to get only around 12 minutes of flying time from the 3-cell lithium-polymer battery, which will then take approximately 90 minutes to recharge. That doesn’t sound much, although presumably enthusiastic users could purchase multiple batteries and swap them out as they drain. Perhaps the coolest thing about the AR Drone from a geek’s perspective is the prospect of building your own games and controller software for the device. The team at Parrot are actively encouraging developers to build cool augmented reality games and custom controllers for the device using their SDK (to register as a developer, go to the ARDrone developer page).

Using the AR Drone API, developers can build software to control the AR Drone from any Wi-Fi capable device. This should mean that controller software and potentially some pretty cool games for Android-based mobile phones, PCs and many other platforms and devices should follow quickly after the launch of the device. The AR Drone ships September 9th and is available for pre-order at Amazon for a hefty $299.99. Check it out at the Parrot AR Drone websitemacdev drone dx datenSkyJack is a drone engineered to autonomously seek out, hack, and wirelessly take full control over any other drones within wireless or flying distance, creating an army of zombie drones under your control.macdev drone dx vs fusion fx by @SamyKamkar // code@samy.pl // http://samy.pl // Dec 2, 2013macdev drone dx vs fusion fx

Today Amazon announced they're planning to use unmanned drones to deliver some packages to customers within five years. How fun would it be to take over drones, carrying Amazon packages…or take over any other drones, and make them my little zombie drones. Using a Parrot AR.Drone 2, a Raspberry Pi, a USB battery, an Alfa AWUS036H wireless transmitter, aircrack-ng, node-ar-drone, node.js, and my SkyJack software, I developed a drone that flies around, seeks the wireless signal of any other drone in the area, forcefully disconnects the wireless connection of the true owner of the target drone, then authenticates with the target drone pretending to be its ownerinsect spy drone cost, then feeds commands to it and all other possessed zombie drones at my will.mini drone camera kopen SkyJack also works when grounded as well, no drone is necessary on your end for it to work. drone you can fly with your phone

You can simply run it from your own Linux machine/Raspberry Pi/laptop/etc and jack drones straight out of the sky. SkyJack (available from github) is primarily a perl application which runs off of a Linux machine, runs aircrack-ng in order to get its wifi card into monitor mode, detects all wireless networks and clients around, deactivates any clients connected to Parrot AR.drones, connects to the now free Parrot AR.Drone as its owner, then uses node.js with node-ar-drone to control zombie drones. I detect drones by seeking out any wireless connections from MAC addresses owned by the Parrot company, which you can find defined in the Registration Authority OUI. I use aircrack-ng to put our wireless device into monitor mode to find our drones and drone owners. I then use aireplay-ng to deauthenticate the true owner of the drone I'm targeting. Once deauthenticated, I can connect as the drone is waiting for its owner to reconnect. I use node-ar-drone to control the newly enslaved drone via Javascript and node.js.

Drone 2 is the drone that flies around seeking other drones, controlled from an iPhone, iPad or Android, and is also the type of drone SkyJack seeks out in order to control. SkyJack is also capable of seeking out Parrot AR. The Parrots actually launch their own wireless network which is how the owner of the drone connects. We take over by deauthenticating the owner, then connecting now that the drone is waiting for its owner to connect back in, exploiting the fact that we destroyed their wireless connection temporarily. I use a Raspberry Pi to drive the project as it's inexpensive, reasonably light, has USB, and runs Linux. I use the Alfa AWUS036H wireless card which supports raw packet injection and monitor mode which allow me to deauthenticate users who are legitimately connected to their drones. I also use the Edimax EW-7811Un wireless USB adapter in order for SkyJack to launch its own network. This allows me to connect to SkyJack from my laptop or iPad and watch all the other drones as they're being controlled.