10 Types of Counter-drone Technology To Detect And Stop Drones Today

The continued growth of the consumer drone market presents new challenges for the aviation industry. Whether it's a careless amateur pilot or a deliberate attack, the drone threat comes in many shapes and sizes.

To help you meet these challenges head-on, we've written this overview of the counter-drone technology you can buy today. You might also know it as anti-drone or counter-UAS (C-UAS) technology.

We focus on the latest countermeasures. So, if you need to implement (or are thinking about implementing) a counter-drone solution, then this is the resource for you.

Read on for a (mostly) unbiased look at the best counter-drone and counter-UAS technology, including a helpful breakdown of the pros and cons of each solution. We’ve even provided links to vendors for you. Now, that's helpful!

We’ve split the guide into two categories: monitoring equipment and drone countermeasures.

What is counter-drone technology?

Counter-drone technology encompasses a wide range of solutions that allow you to detect, classify, and mitigate drones and unmanned aerial vehicles. This includes everything from camera systems and specialist drone detection radar to net guns and cyber takeover systems. This is also known as counter-UAS technology because drones are a type of unmanned aerial system.

Drone monitoring equipment can be passive (simply looking or listening) or active (emitting a signal and analysing what comes back) and can perform several functions:

• Detection
• Classification or identification
• Locating and tracking
• Alerting
  
  

Not all equipment performs all the above functionality at the same time. For example, detection means the counter-UAS technology can simply detect that something is there. But detection alone isn’t enough.

That's why classification is useful. Technology that separates drones from other types of objects – like birds and planes, for example.

One step further is identification. Some equipment can identify a particular model of drone, or even identify the drone’s or controller’s digital fingerprint, like a MAC address. This level of identification can be handy for prosecution purposes.

Being alerted that a drone is present somewhere in the vicinity is already useful. But your situational awareness and ability to deploy countermeasures are greatly enhanced if you know the drone’s (and/or the controller’s) exact location. Some counter-UAS technology even allows you to track the drone's location in real-time.

There are four main types of drone monitoring equipment:

• Radio frequency (RF) analysers
• Acoustic sensors (Microphones)
• Optical sensors (Cameras)
• Radar

A device that uses radio energy to detect an object. Drone detection radar or counter-UAS radar sends out a signal and uses the reflection as it bounces off an object to measure its direction and distance (position).

Most radars send their radio signal as a burst, then listen for the "echo". Almost all radars are designed NOT to pick up small targets. They're designed for large object tracking, like passenger aircraft. However, specialist counter-UAS technology includes radar that tracks smaller objects, like drones, with ease.

For starters, we built IRIS^® specifically to track drones. Featuring 360-degree azimuth and 60-degree elevation coverage, IRIS^® provides early warning of approaching drones from any direction, in full 3D.

What makes IRIS^® unique is that it's a counter UAS, micro-doppler radar.

Micro-doppler radar detects speed differences within moving objects. For example, a drone's rotor. This enables IRIS^® to distinguish between drones and other small, fast-moving objects, like birds, reducing false alarms. It can also detect autonomous and hovering drones and track multiple targets simultaneously.

Lightweight and easy to deploy, IRIS^® integrates seamlessly with your existing drone detection systems.

Find out how customers use our radar technology.

RF Analysers consist of one or more antennas to receive radio waves and a processor to analyse the RF spectrum. They’re used to detect radio communication between a drone and its controller.

Some systems can identify the more common drone makes and models, while others can even identify the MAC addresses of the drone and controller (if the drone uses Wi-Fi for communication). This is especially useful for prosecution purposes – proving that a particular drone and controller were active at a certain time and location.

Some high-end systems can also triangulate the drone and its controller when using multiple radio units spread far apart.

Optical sensors collect light at a range of wavelengths, including visible and infrared, as well as thermal radiation, to detect drones day and night. Recent advances in optical sensor technology have improved resolution (and thereby range) and processing power in the form of AI-powered detection, tracking, and classification.

This type of counter-UAS technology involves using a microphone or microphone array (lots of microphones) to detect the sound made by a drone and calculate its direction. Use multiple microphone arrays for rough triangulation.

Drone countermeasures include:

• Physically destroying the drone
• Neutralizing the drone
• Taking control of the drone
  
  

It’s important to note that although the technology is available, current regulations in most countries forbid the use of any of the following drone countermeasures to neutralize drones. Exceptions are sometimes made for military or law enforcement agencies.

This is a static, mobile, or handheld device that transmits a large amount of RF energy towards the drone, masking the controller signal. This results in one of four scenarios, depending on the drone:

1. The drone makes a controlled landing in its current position
2. The drone returns to its pre-programmed home location (which could be set to a target position instead of home)
3. The drone falls uncontrolled to the ground
4. The drone flies off in a random direction

GPS spoofers send a new signal to the target drones, replacing the communication signal it uses to navigate. In this way, it spoofs the drone into thinking it’s somewhere else.

By dynamically altering the GPS coordinates in real-time, the spoofer can control the drone’s position. Once the spoofer gains control, they can direct the drone to a ‘safe zone’, for example.

However, GPS spoofers can inadvertently disrupt other systems beyond the target drone. Because of the risks, GPS spoofers are primarily used as a drone countermeasure on the battlefield. They aren't as common for civilian operations.

High Power Microwave (HPM) devices generate an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) capable of disrupting electronic devices.

The EMP interferes with radio links and disrupts or even destroys the electronic circuitry inside drones (plus any other electronic device within range) due to the damaging voltage and currents it creates.

HPM devices may include an antenna to focus the EMP in a certain direction, reducing potential collateral damage.

This rudimentary but effective counter-UAS technology involves using a net to stop the drone by prohibiting the rotor blades. There are three main delivery methods:

• Net cannons fired from the ground: can be hand-held, shoulder-launched, or turret-mounted. Anywhere from 20m to 300m effectiveness. Can be used with or without a parachute for controlled descent of the captured drone.
• Net cannon fired from another drone: overcomes the limited range of a net cannon on the ground. Can be difficult to capture another moving drone. Normally used with a parachute for controlled descent of the captured drone.
• Hanging net deployed from a net drone: a friendly, net-carrying drone is manoeuvred towards the rogue drone. The net drone will normally be capable of either carrying the rogue drone to a safe zone or, if it's too heavy, can release the captured drone with or without a parachute for a controlled descent.

A high-powered optical device which produces an extremely focused beam of light, or laser beam. The laser destroys the drone's structure and/or electronics.

Cyber takeover, or cyber takedown, systems are a relatively new counter-drone technology. They passively detect radio frequency transmissions emitted by drones to identify the drone's serial number and locate the pilot's position using AI. If the operator recognises the drone as a threat, they can send a signal to hack the drone, assume control, and direct it to a safe location.

It’s more than likely that the best counter-drone solution for you is going to be a mix of the above technologies. Which mix exactly? Well, that’s going to be dependent on your specific use case.

We work with several companies all over the world who integrate our radars into modular counter-drone systems, so you don’t have to. This solves the headache of dealing with multiple vendors and means you don’t need to integrate different hardware and software solutions.

Talking about software, command and control (C2) software can make or break your counter-drone system. You must collect, process, and display data from all those different sensors and technologies in an actionable, user-friendly way.

So, it pays to make sure you’re getting a scalable, sensor-agnostic, and intuitive C2 solution with your system.

Good examples of counter-drone C2 systems are ESG’s ELYSION, Dedrone's DedroneTracker.AI, and Operational Solutions’ FACE.

C2 systems vary significantly in terms of capability and cost. The complexity of the connected sensors and effectors, the type of threat, and your budget influence whether you require all the bells and whistles or a more basic system. However, drone defence companies are developing industry standards for C-UAS integration, with SAPIENT's out-of-the-box data integration capabilities at the forefront.

This isn't the whole story, of course. And while data interoperability is a pre-requisite, don't underestimate the importance of other C2 functions like data fusion, workflow management, and decision support.