A survey and analysis of drone detection systems using a systems approach superposed on scenarios

Abstract

The proliferation of drones in civil and military applications has brought about new challenges in the context of safety and security considerations of operational aspects. The use of small‐ and medium‐sized drones in civilian airspaces even with regulatory approval may not provide guarantees of safety and security. Detection of drones is the first step towards providing a mitigating mechanism for challenges posed by mal‐intentioned drones. Sensors and their characteristics affecting the detection process are discussed. A figure of merit is proposed to compare systems employing these sensors. The key focus of the paper is the examination of the spectrum of drone detection systems (DDS) using a systems‐based approach applied to scenarios. In order to make an equitable comparison between systems, two scenarios are utilized to discuss system characteristics. Next, a survey of DDS in each of these scenarios is performed. Artifacts are analyzed, culling information using the systems model. An approach is proposed to perform evaluation of these artifacts using a scoring mechanism. Simple yet novel measures to assess the information content pertaining to DDS are presented. This approach enables researchers, system architects, system designers, solution providers, and system integrators to be aware of various challenges at the system and subsystem level. The proposed method helps to provide pointers to the literature where information about challenges and specific solutions can be obtained.