Probably not very well if the drone is the typical (quad)copter type since the shield will likely obstruct the airflow from the propellers reducing lift. The added weight of the shield is also likely to be a problem in small drones as most are already weight constrained. Although in small electric copters like those used in Ukraine, I'm not sure how often thermal imaging is used as a primary detection vector (due to size, distance and daytime thermal delta from below).
Thermal is definitely a primary vector in detecting larger drones like the Reaper due to large combustion or jet engines, but in that case the challenge isn't cloaking the drone, it's cloaking the heat of the vented exhaust that's likely painting a thermal 'contrail' across the sky.
paper article is based on
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-73167-0
This is gonna be going straight to Ukraine
Does this work for things that emit heat?
Let me answer your question with a question: Does the infrared camera detect emitted heat?
[flagged]
Is dismissing people’s work so rudely how you make yourself feel superior?
that guy taught me something new about glass in a snarky fashion , while you delivered pure snark. no comment to add, merely an observation
you can't make a drone entirely out of glass
Can you fly a drone that's covered with a cloak?
Probably not very well if the drone is the typical (quad)copter type since the shield will likely obstruct the airflow from the propellers reducing lift. The added weight of the shield is also likely to be a problem in small drones as most are already weight constrained. Although in small electric copters like those used in Ukraine, I'm not sure how often thermal imaging is used as a primary detection vector (due to size, distance and daytime thermal delta from below).
Thermal is definitely a primary vector in detecting larger drones like the Reaper due to large combustion or jet engines, but in that case the challenge isn't cloaking the drone, it's cloaking the heat of the vented exhaust that's likely painting a thermal 'contrail' across the sky.