Canadian drone companies are looking beyond the country for electronic-warfare testing because domestic law restricts access to radio-jamming equipment. Under the Radiocommunication Act, the installation, possession, manufacture, importation, sale or use of radio-signal jammers is prohibited.Although the rules contain exceptions covering the military and its suppliers, those provisions do not provide the same testing freedom to private drone developers. As a result, companies seeking to determine how their unmanned aircraft perform when communications are deliberately disrupted can face significant constraints.Sentinel R&D, an Ontario-based developer, is one example of a private company with limited domestic opportunities to test its drones against electronic warfare systems, prompting Canadian developers to consider conducting more of this work abroad.
