Articles
The rapidly improving capabilities of drone technology are providing a lot of enjoyment to enthusiasts. But they are also causing a headache for security staff at high-profile locations and events.
A couple of years ago a small quadrocopter flew within feet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an outdoor rally. And in recent months there have been several anecdotal incidents of drones being used to buzz nuclear power stations.
Drone intrusion is difficult to prevent, because conventional military radar systems are not equipped to identify the threat. These systems tend to generate a lot of false positives when trying to detect unmanned aerial vehicles, with ‘drones’ often turning out to be birds. Alternatively, drones aren’t detected at all.
But now help is at hand. A small company in the Netherlands has developed an innovative tracking system that can distinguish between the unique flight signatures of different types of birds as well as other small flying objects such as drones. Already, high-security sites such as power stations, prisons and police stations have requested trials of the system to prove its capabilities.
“The detection system came out of work initially carried out at the TNO research institute in the Netherlands,” said Siete Hamminga, owner of Robin Radar, which has developed the technology. “But it was a military product, used to identify other aircraft. It wasn’t designed to deal with very small flying objects like birds or drones.”
Hamminga bought certain rights to the detection system with a view to reworking algorithms to filter out clutter to detect, initially, bird flocks. “Bird strikes are a real concern in the aviation industry,” he said. “Indeed, there was a major bird strike at Istanbul airport in August. Our technology allows the civil aviation sector to monitor birds 24/7 and to shut down if there is major migration.”
Now the technology is being further developed to detect drones. “The software is clever enough to eliminate false positives,” he said. “It can identify specific signature reflections, using micro-Doppler to look at the patterns and differences of moving objects. Ultimately it will be able to work out what size and type of drone has been detected, and potentially what sort of payload it might be carrying. That will enable security forces to ascertain threat levels.”
The Robin Radar technology was used for drone detection at the G7 summit in June, and it is about to be trialled by BAE Systems at Warton in Lancashire. The technology can be set up in as little as 30 minutes and can be used as a standalone system or in combination with countermeasures, which can include transmitting electromagnetic pulses to deactivate drones and encourage them to descend to the ground in automatic failsafe mode. “It’s a flexible solution that is creating a lot of interest around Europe and further afield,” said Hamminga.