In 2018, Dedrone installed drone detection technology at four undisclosed airports across the United Kingdom in order to identify and analyze drone activity. The four airports looked to Dedrone technology to determine if they had any drone incursions at all, and if so, begin deploying a complete counter-drone solution to protect their operations.
Drone activity was monitored at four locations for a total of 148 days, and 285 drones were detected. This report outlines the background of the Dedrone UK Airport Study, the type of technology used, a breakdown of the data collected and the main findings.
Project Background:
Small drones are very difficult to spot by pilots, flight attendants, and air traffic control. While some drone organizations are developing electronic anti-collision technologies that are compatible with airline collision-avoidance systems, the innovations are not being adopted fast enough to resolve the ongoing issue of ensuring safe and clear airspace for passenger aircraft.
Dedrone created the UK Airport Counter-Drone Study to provide situational awareness to four international airports and determine the threat level to their operations from unauthorized drones. The Dedrone counter-drone platform combines hardware sensors and machine-learning software, providing early warning, classification of, and mitigation against all drone threats.
During a threat analysis, Dedrone deploys a drone detection sensor, which feeds data to DroneTracker, the software platform. DroneTracker auto-generates a report on what was detected.
Technology Background:
The core of Dedrone’s counter-drone system is DroneTracker, Dedrone’s software platform. The DroneTracker platform analyzes information from Dedrone’s RF hardware, which provides long-range detection and classifies drones. DroneTracker uses Dedrone’s “DroneDNA” database to recognize and classify drones. DroneTracker also integrates with 3rd-party sensors and triggers alerts and countermeasures.
Technologies used for UK airport counter-drone study:
- Dedrone DroneTracker
- Dedrone RF-100
Location Overview:
Four international airports located in the United Kingdom were selected for this study. Each airport sees approximately two million to 27 million passengers per year and also provides cargo services.
Data Analysis:
Drone activity was monitored at four locations for a total of 148 days.
- Total drones detected: 285
- Average number of drones detected per day: 1.93
Type of drone and manufacturer breakdown:
My only concern with the conclusions of this report appears to be blaming regulators for being slow to act. It more, the marketplace and use environment are evolving faster than regulators can react. This is a very much different scenario.
Yes, regulators and the UAV industry need to be able to react faster. This will require proactive action by the industry in ways which may violate other regulations, most directly telecommunications. How do we resolve these interferences? Niel