RF Propagation and Interferences Challenges for UAVs Swarm Detection and Positioning

The usage of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is considered a new technological trend able to solve some challenges of the modern society as dedicated transportation, on demand communication in special events, earth observation, smart agriculture and many others. But there are some challenges related to this fast development: air traffic monitoring, privacy assurance in some specified areas, protection of critical infrastructures, etc. All these challenges are supposing an accurate UAV detection and positioning. The present paper is contributing to a state-of-the-art investigation in this area focused on the UAVs swarm presence in a given environment and how UAVs nodes can be detected and localized. Also, we discuss the probable mechanisms that used for this purpose. Furthermore, we explain the challenges face the detection and positioning of UAVs in real world and propose some solutions to overcome these issues.

I. Introduction

The fast growing of the UAVs usage is posing a lot of challenges and threats regarding the access of such vehicles in several areas, such as protected perimeters, airports and also private properties. Moreover, many of them are small vehicles, difficult to detect and localize at a given distance. Such a challenge is amplified if there are more UAVs in the same area, flying independently or in a connected swarm. Moreover, in a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) denied environment, or where GNSS is unavailable or insufficient due to signal loss or interference, UAVs positioning becomes more difficult.