There have been about 600 drone incidents that have been recorded by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration over the previous six months. Civilian-operated UAVs are a problem that is getting worse—on April 17 of this year, a British Airway’s flight making its final approach to London’s Heathrow Airport was reported to have struck a UAV. Two months earlier, another plane that had just departed from Heathrow Airport had a near collision with a UAV.
The UAVs that landed in front of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in September 2013 and on the roof of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office in April 2015 were flown by protestors trying to prove a point. But in the future, such UAV’s could carry explosives, bio or chemical weapons to perform terrorist attacks. They can also be used to transport illegal items such as drugs, or used to jam radio signals, like GPS or Wi-Fi, interrupting service.
Microwave Journal gathered the following three contributed pieces from Rohde & Schwarz, Keysight Technologies and Aaronia AG about RF drone detection and location systems, including the challenges to drone detection, advantages and disadvantages of these systems and some information about their systems. While there are many companies developing these systems, these three leading test & measurement companies were chosen to contribute their approaches and views as experts in the area of spectrum monitoring.