NUBURU proposes to develop an anti-drone system that can defeat a swarm of drones by using wideband jamming or destruction of the drones camera system or in the extreme case overheat the drone fuselage or propellers to failure. A blue laser-based anti-drone system has a tremendous advantage over an infrared anti-drone system, because of the camera design and because of the higher absorption of blue laser light on metals and plastics. The camera system used in a commercial drone system will be tested under this Phase I SBIR to determine the blooming threshold and the damage threshold, both partial damage and complete damage thresholds will be cataloged. This data will then be used to develop a design for a handheld Blue Drone Shield system that is capable of simultaneously blinding a drone swarm. Secondly, drone materials, such as the propellers and the fuselage will be tested for how much laser power is required to weaken or destroy these critical components of the drone. This data will then be used to design a high-power anti-drone blue laser weapon system capable of jamming, camera kill or catastrophic kill of the drone. The output of this Phase I effort will be a report with test results on a drone for camera failure and structural failure, along with two system level studies, 1) feasibility of a hand-held drone defense blue laser weapon and 2) feasibility of a beam director based lethal kill laser weapon based on the NUBURU blue laser technology. Lasers are the perfect solution to dispose of and protect against drones and missiles threats. The use of light as the tool to dispose of the threat means an immediate hit on the target at all distances. Response rates are faster and not limited by the distance between the interceptor and the target. The use of blue laser proposes a significant advantage compared to the more common IR lasers. The absorption index for metals and plastics of blue wavelength is significantly higher than that of IR. Higher absorption rates means an improved efficiency of power delivery at the target. This enables a number of advantages, including smaller lasers (or less powerful lasers) required to enable the same functionality; shorter time needed to eliminate the risk, as the energy transfer is more efficient; higher distances at which the system is capable of eliminating the risk.
