East Yorkshire engineer unveils drone capture device
Pix show James Cross with the Skywall 100, also pictured with Breakfast Club members (from left) Pat Coyle of Rollits, Claire Suggitt of Princes Quay Shopping Centre and Freya Cross of The Deep Business Centre.
THE East Yorkshire-born marketing director of an emerging leader in drone capture technology brought his latest toy to show members of a business networking group – including his Mum!
Early morning tee times prevented James Cross from giving a live demonstration of Skywall 100 above the greens and fairways of Hull Golf Club, but action video indicated the potential of a drone defence product which is now selling to government agencies in the United States and Germany.
The film showed a drone being used to deliver contraband – “maybe drugs, mobile phones or both” – to inmates of one of the largest prisons in the UK while officers could only stand and watch.
James told the Hull Businesswomen’s Breakfast Club: “The problem with drones has grown exponentially because you can buy them for a couple of hundred quid and fly them straight away. Sometimes they are just a nuisance but they can also be a threat to security, to the safety of people and even to intellectual property.”
The Skywall solution, as developed by James and his colleagues at Openworks Engineering, is to use a hand-held launcher to fire a projectile which homes in on the target drone, captures it in a net and lands it safely in a parachute.
Part of the United States Army has placed an order for Skywall, as has a major European police force. Discussions are ongoing with other potential purchasers around the world and the system has been featured on everything from The One Show and national newspapers in the UK to Japanese TV and a booking for the National Geographic channel. That media profile has helped Openworks to secure significant new investment to continue developing Skywall.
James, who grew up in Rise and attended Hornsea School and then Wyke College, entered the defence sector with Pearson Engineering after graduating from Newcastle University.
After 10 years with Pearson he set up Openworks with his fellow directors in 2015 to develop a range of security and counter terrorism products.
James said: “We felt that if we could imagine a project we could probably create it. Skywall all started over a pint, as many things do, but it’s a bit more than men in sheds playing with toys!
“A lot of people are looking at detection technologies for drones – trying to jam the control signals, send other drones to intercept them, develop laser systems, the Dutch police are trying to train eagles!
“The attorney general’s office of a state in America spoke to us because they want to shoot down the drones but it’s a Federal offence. What we do is bring them down safely.”
Freya Cross, business and corporate manager at The Deep, had waited patiently to book her son to speak at the Breakfast Club before she steps down as chair in November but she left the introductions and vote of thanks to club colleagues Prof Stephanie Haywood, head of electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Hull, and Humberside Police Chief Constable Justine Curran.
Freya said: “During the year we’ve had speakers from organisations including Siemens and Freedom Festival and we’ve explored some fascinating business subjects. James presented on an area of the latest engineering technology and while I was more nervous than he was it was well received by our own experts.”
