Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System(s) (C-UAS): State of the Art, Challenges, and Future Trends

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or unmanned aerial vehicles, often referred to as drones, have been experiencing healthy growth in the United States and around the world. The positive uses of UAS have the potential to save lives, increase safety and efficiency, and enable more effective science and engineering research. However, UAS are subject to threats stemming from increasing reliance on computer and communication technologies, which place public safety, national security, and individual privacy at risk. To promote safe, secure, and privacy-respecting UAS operations, there is an urgent need for innovative technologies for detecting, tracking, identifying, and mitigating UAS. A Counter-UAS (C-UAS) system is defined as a system or device capable of lawfully and safely disabling, disrupting, or seizing control of an unmanned aircraft or UAS. Over the past five years, significant research efforts have been made to detect, and mitigate UAS: detection technologies are based on acoustic, vision, passive radio frequency, radar, and data fusion; and mitigation technologies include physical capture or jamming. In this tutorial, we provide a comprehensive survey of existing literature in the area of C-UAS, identify the challenges in countering unauthorized or unsafe UAS, and evaluate the trends of detection and mitigation for protecting against UAS-based threats. The objective of this tutorial is to present a systematic introduction of C-UAS technologies, thus fostering a research community committed to the safe integration of UAS into the airspace system.

INTRODUCTION

An unmanned aircraft system (UAS) is an unmanned aircraft (an aircraft that is operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft) and associated elements (including communication links and the components that control the unmanned aircraft) that are required for the operator to operate safely and efficiently in the airspace system. Over the last five years, UAS, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), often referred to as drones, have been experiencing healthy growth in the United States and around the world [1]. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aerospace forecast fiscal years 2019–2039, the model UAS fleet is set to grow from the present 1.25 million units to around 1.39 million units by 2023 and the nonmodel UAS fleet is set to grow from the present 277000 aircraft to over 835000 aircraft by 2023 [2]. The positive uses of UAS have the potential to save lives, increase safety and efficiency, and enable more effective science and engineering research [3]. These uses may include modelers experimenting with small UAS, performing numerous functions including aerial photography and personal recreational flying, commercial operators experimenting with package and medical supply delivery, and providing support for search and rescue missions.