As drones of all flavors become increasingly ubiquitous, it was only a matter of time before countermeasures began to pop up—and they have in spades, across a spectrum of prices and tactics. These range from the high-tech (lasers and RF interference) to something as basic as a handheld "net gun."

Still, as we reported earlier this year, a shotgun can also be a particularly effective way of downing a drone.

"While kinetic counter-measures are good for battlefields, they are less than ideal for domestic scenarios," Arthur Holland Michel, the co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, told Ars by e-mail.

"If you use a laser to burn a hole through a quadcopter hovering over a city, you will now have a heavy flammable object falling from the sky, which is extremely dangerous," he said. "Some are turning to electronic countermeasures as a way of keeping drones away without having to shoot them down. One option for countering small drones is to use jamming systems. The Secret Service is experimenting with jamming systems that would interfere with the communication system of any small drone within a given area (say, the White House). Jamming systems are an appealing option, but they have their drawbacks: they can interfere with Wi-Fi and radio frequencies."

He also specifically mentioned a new startup company, called Drone Shield, which was deployed during this year's Boston Marathon.

In an e-mail, Brian Hearing of Drone Shield told us that the company has sold about 300 of its audio detectors. (The company first began as a much smaller-scale open source project, which Ars reported on in 2013.)

So, who's buying?

"Mostly our private security providing partners, and right now Japan is our hottest market (since the prime minister's house drone incident)," he wrote in an e-mail. "We have sold some directly to some foreign government customers as well."

And where exactly are they being deployed?

"First, we don't know directly since we don't ask our resellers and security providers where they are used—we learned long ago they don't like giving out that information," Hearing said. "From the designs we've been providing it looks mostly like government- and corporate-type buildings, such as headquarters, prisons, and some VIP residences. We have done many designs for airports but the acquisition cycle there is slow. Same with nuclear installations."

Above are a few ways to take down drones that we found. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments.

Listing image by Liteye Systems