Civil unmanned aircraft systems and security: The European approach

Abstract

Civil unmanned aircraft systems, commonly known as drones, have many useful applications but can also be used to intentionally cause harm. Additionally, drones themselves can be subject to unlawful interference. In this article, I analyze how European Union's new rules on drones affect such security threats. I argue that the rules on protecting drones from unlawful interference are promising, although the required security features can also be abused by rogue operators. The intentional misuse of drones, however, is not much deterred by the rules that seek to protect persons and property from such misuse. Rules concerning the operator and the pilot assume compliance, the mandatory technical safeguards can be circumvented, and oversight is difficult because drones are mostly operated from outside airports in a distributed manner. One way to fill the security gap is to employ anti-drone technology that detects drones and prevents them from entering sensitive airspace without permission. Although many airports have already adopted such technology, the EU should consider making it mandatory for the busiest airports. Regardless of rules enacted by the Union, though, reliable and safe means of stopping unlawful drone operations should be employed at critical locations. This applies also to areas like prisons and power plants, the protection of which falls within the ambit of national security.

Functional assessment system for unmanned aerial navigation systems from the quality of information

“…Los desarrollos tecnológicos de drones contienen elementos electrónicos dotados de un sistema de comunicaciones para el control y la búsqueda de trayectoria, y su manipulación involucra control en su uso (en algunos modelos) por los gobiernos de cada país a razón de la utilización de un espacio público, tanto en el aspecto físico como en el ámbito espectral; esta tecnología puede no ser compatible o interferir en otras bandas de frecuencia ya asignadas por los organismos gubernamentales [19] [20]. En la Figura 1 se detalla un sistema básico de comunicaciones para la operación de un UAV.…”

FPGA-Based CNN for Real-Time UAV Tracking and Detection

“…However, there has also been an increasing rise in incidents involving UAV usage for undesirable and potentially harmful purposes. For example, airports have reported numerous cases of UAVs disturbing airline flight operations, leading to near collisions (Huttunen, 2019). Apart from airports, operation of unauthorized UAVs is an even bigger challenge around critical buildings (such as prisons, nuclear installations, and power stations) and government/military infrastructure.…”

Examining public-facing statements on airport websites related to aerial drones

“…Such risks need to be carefully managed to ensure the safe integration of drones (la Cour-Harbo 2018). Drone operations near airports pose unique risks because of the presence of low-flying aircraft (Zhang et al 2020a), which is why many regulatory authorities have responded with specific rules and regulations regarding operations near airports (Henderson et al 2019;Huttunen 2019). There are legitimate reasons to fly drones in close proximity to airports, such as inspections of infrastructure at or near the airport, wildlife management, or other operations in urban environments where international airports are usually collocated (McFadyen and Martin 2016;Egan et al 2017;Kim and Irizarry 2020).…”