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Airbus unit develops counter-UAV system

13th November 2015

By: Keith Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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European defence company Airbus Defence & Space has developed a system to counter small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), also known as remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs). “We target small commercial UAVs; we do not target military UAVs,” explained company mission and support systems sales head Meinrad Edel. “In France, these commercial UAVs have been flown over nuclear power plants. In Germany, we’ve had incidents of such drones trying to fly into prisons to try to smuggle things in. We believe these UAVs will become a real problem over the next five years. We’ve just seen the start of UAVs.”

The company has focused its attention on micro UAVs, which it defines as having a weight of between 0.1 kg and 25 kg, a maxi-mum altitude of less than 1 000 m, a range of less than 20 km and endurance of less than one hour. Typical examples of such UAVs would be the quad copters that can be bought in many shops around the world (including in South Africa). The payload of such a UAV amounts to roughly 25% of its maximum takeoff weight. Such commercially available UAVs are usually radio-controlled and fitted with a satellite navigation system, or global positioning system (GPS).

These UAVs, although small, can be used for information gather- ing and attack purposes. For infor-mation gathering, they could be fitted with cameras and/or micro-phones. For attack, they could carry explosives (even a small bomb can kill people, especially if it can be precisely guided to its target, as a micro UAV can), or harmful biological, chemical or radiological substances, or powders faking such substances in order to induce panic in crowded areas. They could even be used to deploy provocative flags or banners in tense situations (including some sporting events).

They could pose military, eco-nomic and public and private threats. In the military sphere, they could be used to gather information (and thus facilitate attacks) on convoys, bases, camps, equipment and infrastructure. In the economic sphere, they could be used for industrial espionage. In the public sphere, they could be used to gather information about, or directly attack, critical infrastructure, as well as to undertake propaganda, provocation, defamation or terrorist missions. In the private sphere, they could be used to violate privacy and gather compromising or intimate images or videos, whether by paparazzi or voyeurs or other even less desirable operators.

Countermeasures against such UAVs start with the detection, classification and identification of the aircraft. ‘Detection’ means that a small flying object is located by sensors; ‘classification’ means the nature of the flying object is determined (bird? bat? man-made?); ‘identification’ means that it is determined to be a particular type of UAV (fixed-wing, helicopter, quad copter, or other).

But, once a micro UAV has been detected, classified and identified, what can be done to stop it? In a military environment, it can simply be shot down by a machine gun. With very few exceptions, in civilian environments and especially in urban areas, this simply cannot be done: it would be too dangerous to innocent people in the area. In principle, there are several alternative options. These include gaining control over the UAV by hijacking its control link (but, unfortunately, many such control links are encrypted), locating the operator (by direction-finding the source of the radioed commands to the UAV), catching the UAV with a net or hook, jamming (whether the UAV’s radio link, GPS or video link), dazzling its camera, drowning out its microphone, or destroying it with devices that do not use projectiles or missiles, such as high-power electromagnetic fields or beams (but these might also destroy other electronic systems flying in the same direction as the UAV). In the future, it might be possible to mislead (‘spoof’) the UAV’s GPS, so that it goes off course and misses its target.

Regardless of the options, there are certain core requirements a counter-UAV system must meet. “It needs to have a very high probability of intercept, a very low false alarm rate, a high degree of system automation, inflict minimum collateral damage, [when bringing down the UAV], and interference with friendly use of the airspace and [electromagnetic] spectrum must be limited,” elucidated Edel. The system may have as little as 90 seconds (if the UAV is launched 1.5 km from its target) to go through the entire process from initial detection to acting against the UAV. Adding to the problems, the attack could be at night.

Airbus DS Electronics & Border Security’s counter-UAV system has been successfully tested. As a modular system, it might include a radar (the Spexer 500AC), an optronics system (the Night Owl Z camera), a direction finder (the Skylark 7050C), a command and control system, a UAV database and the VPJ-R6 jammer. “All this is in-house capability and products,” he highlighted. “It’s a modular system. With a man-in-the-loop, it is available today.” A customer can buy any one or more or all of the units involved. The radar detects the target, the optronic camera classifies and identifies it, the direction finder locates the UAV operator and the narrow-beam jammer neutralises the UAV (most commercial UAVs, once they lose their radio control link, are preprogrammed to immediately return to their launch site).

The system can be deployed on or around key infrastructure sites, key buildings, sporting venues and so on. The company continues to work to improve it. “Ideally, a system like this needs to work autonomously. We’re not there yet,” he observed. And further detection sensors, such as acoustic ones, could be added in future.

Keith Campbell visited Airbus DS Electronics & Border Security, in Ulm, Germany, as a guest of the company.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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