Drone Detection Solutions for Civil Aviation
Preventing drone incidents requires 24/7, 360° coverage across your airport. This provides ground teams with the early warning and full situational awareness they need to respond to threats.
The composition of your drone detection solution will depend on your circ*mstances. But in general, it should be able to:
Accurately detect drone activity over a wide area (at least 3km)
Locate and track threats in real time and in any conditions
Distinguish between drones and birds
Track multiple fast-moving targets simultaneously
Detect autonomous drones
No one drone detection solution can do all this. Effective and reliable drone detection requires the right blend of passive and active drone detection solutions.
Cameras
High-definition camera systems can provide accurate imaging over a wide area. Typically installed around the perimeter of your airport, cameras work in tandem with drone radar to help you monitor drone threats.
Advanced systems use infrared and thermal imaging to provide accurate drone detection in low light and adverse weather conditions, which standard camera systems typically struggle with.
Acoustic Sensors
Acoustic sensors (microphones) detect the sound drones emit during flight and use that information to calculate the direction of travel. Operators usually deploy acoustic sensors as an array to increase detection range and efficacy.
Unlike radio-based detection methods, acoustic sensors can detect any drone that operates in the near-field – including autonomous drones. However, most acoustic sensors have a maximum effective range of just 300-500m and typically struggle in noisy environments.
Radio Frequency Analysers
Radio frequency (RF) analysers come in two flavours:
Direction finders
RF signal decoders
Direction finders use multiple antennas to detect the radio signal that travels between a drone and its control unit. The onboard processer then analyses the signal’s RF spectrum to identify the make and model of the drone. More advanced systems can even pinpoint the drone’s MAC address – if it uses Wi-Fi for communication.
RF signal decoders collect information about the location of the drone and its pilot directly from the drone’s system data.
Radio frequency analysers are cost-effective and, because they’re passive, you don’t need a license to operate them. However, RF analysers have a limited detection range and are less effective in areas with a lot of radio traffic. Additionally, some RF analysers can’t locate and track drones or identify autonomous drones.
Radar
Specialist drone radar provides long-range detection, classification, and tracking of drone activity. Drone radars operate on the same principle as traditional radar. The radar emits a signal and listens for the tell-tale ‘echo’ when it encounters an object to pinpoint its position and direction of travel.
Drone radars detect and track drones over a larger area than other drone detection systems, like cameras and RF analysers. Crucially, they provide long-range tracking in a range of conditions, track hundreds of drones simultaneously, and detect autonomous drones. Advanced systems can even differentiate between birds and drones for reliable classification.
