Remote Controlled?

Sticking with cars, but on a much smaller scale, are the remotes. Many bases and many places have car and airplane clubs for the enthusiast. I never did get in to flying the remote airplanes, but it looked fun. I did once fly a remote helicoptor, which took me quite a while to get right. It was a blast. This is a big deal in many countries, and they have races, contests, and sports shows just for the remotes.

But the real reason I mention remote controlled cars is actually two separate reasons; 1) enginuity and craft, and 2) remote signals. Let's talk first about enginuity and craft. If you have never seen a remote control show, or been around designers, it's very unique. They take their designs just as seriously as the real car manufacturers do. Some of them are spectacular, and are crafted by professionals, who are fully versed on real car design and modelling. Many new car ideas come from what they can do with remote controlled cars. Many monster truck suspension systems mimic their smaller counterparts. It is awesome to see what some of them are capable of.

Now let's talk about the remote part. Remote controlled, if I may speak in laymans terms, means that a signal is being sent out from the controller to the unit. Almost all of us know that. If you do, then you are also aware that those signals can cause interference with other systems. Almost every remote unit operates on its own frequency, so as not to interfere with other units control. It's no different than real systems out there that use their own frequency. That's why many of the rules of the FAA are followed for remote units, especially airplanes and helicoptors. Most of these control units have a small operating power area, done intentionally. It is also why these units are not allowed to operate in certain areas, especially runways. It is not too likely that their low power will interfere too much with the bigger systems, but no one wants to take that chance. It may kill people. These remote systems ar designed so as not to cause too much interference. The systems that we have to watch out for are the ones that have the capability of changing or tracking down a frequency and using it when they are not authorized to do so.

Let me give you a simple example; I have a watch I bought in Japan. It is not a regular watch. I can control my TV, my DVD player, and my stereo controls with it. I can even turn the channels and the volume up or down. All I had to do was track down the "code" for that particular unit and lock it in. I carry the control to all my gadgets on my wrist. Nice, huh. That "watch" cost me $220 eight years ago. But here is the kicker. It has a search function. I can walk into anyones house and, depending on the brand, I can search out their code in seconds and take control of their stuff too. I used to do this as a trick on my friends all the time. I would go to my buddies house to watch a game. I would track his TV code, then wait for him to sit down. Then I would turn the channel. He would look around, like he was confused, and turn it back. I would wait a minute and turn the channel again. He would go crazy. Then I would turn the volume all the way down with my watch. I would drive people crazy with that watch. The point being that I could do all this with just my watch! Just by being able to search out frequencies. If I am able to do this, think about what bigger systems and units would be able to do! That makes it dangerous, and that is why it is constantly monitored. Ii still have that watch.

So when we are talking about remote controlled units, there is a serious factor involved. And why they can only be used in authorized areas. That is why there is a huge issue with drones right now. For this very reason. They are using a lot of them illegally. The public has been warned many times about flying drones into restricted or unauthorized areas. But some people ignore these rules. Now there is ongoing testing, and some of it is working really well, to jam the drones frequency, and bring it down. That is not as easy as it sounds, as, like I told you before, each unit runs on it's own frequency, and they have no way to know what it is. So you have two choices, 1) send out an overall jamming signal;  this requires a large amount of power and can affect other systems around it that you do not want to affect;, or 2) home in or zero in on the drones operating frequency. Equipment is being developed that will allow the operator to "search out" that drones frequency when it is in the area, and block it. The drone will usually crash, but it shouldn't have been there any way. I believe that soon all airports or other areas needing it, will have automatic frequency search units that will be able to pinpoint the frequency of any remote unit that comes in it's area, and shut it down. I'm sure they already have this in some areas. 

So, let's just keep it simple and use our remote "toys" in designated areas. No one wants the fun of operating a remote car, plane, helicoptor, or drone to be outlawed. How would that benefit anyone?