Protecting Your Campus and Infrastructure from Drones
The world continues to see a sharp rise in the use of drones. Here’s how your organization can respond when they are being used inappropriately, illegally or dangerously.
The coronavirus pandemic hastened the need to limit human-to-human exposure where and when possible. This led to a fundamental shift in how work is conducted, with the adoption of technology reaching unprecedented levels. In terms of the drone industry, we started to see a significant increase in use cases, from delivery, photography and surveillance, which was prophesied by drone market analysts years ago.
- Radio Frequency (RF) sensors are the cornerstone of airspace security. They can detect commercial, consumer, and DIY or prototype drones, flight paths and the location of drones. RF sensors are capable of identifying a drone’s type and model based on the protocol or frequency the drone is operating. RF sensors can stand alone to detect drones and can operate without other sensors. They are also passive and do not require legal authorization for use, and are compliant with FAA and FCC regulations. This means that users can operate them without concern for sensor emissions, which may be critical for many missions where radio silence is desirable or where adjacent electronic systems cannot tolerate radio interference of any kind. However, RF performance may be reduced in noisy RF environments, which is why a successful counter-drone hardware program has multiple layers to support data collection.
- EO/IR tools can provide vital visual confirmation of a drone, help identify payloads and record forensic evidence of drone intrusions. This sensor is important for times when human verification is necessary or when security teams need visual evidence of an intrusion. EO/IR may be limited in scope due to weather conditions, in low visibility environments and at night. Additionally, the range is dependent on the type of hardware used, and it may be difficult to scale given existing infrastructure, integration efforts and/or cost. The range for EO/IR can vary between a few feet away, and up to two or three hundred meters.
- Radar provides long-range detection including the position of a drone. Radar has a very high accuracy for detecting airborne and ground movements and may be able to scan in both azimuth and elevation. If standing alone, radar systems will pick up any movement, whether it be a bird, debris, moving traffic, airplanes or drones. Radar may not be able to differentiate between the types of objects, which is why when it comes to drone detection, it’s important to have other sensors to eliminate distractions and only focus on drone activity.
Ultimately, a successful counter-drone program will incorporate multiple, best-of-breed sensors. Modular solutions enable security teams to customize their counter-drone technology and scale it for their particular environment and missions.
Effectors and Defeat Measures
The most straightforward question to ask and the hardest to answer is this: Once you are aware there is a drone in your environment, what do you want to happen? From there, it’s important to lay out what technologies and assets are available, as many defeat systems are restricted or reserved for military use only.
Defensive mitigation tactics may include dispatching security forces to confront a pilot, triggering alarms, moving civilians or sensitive materials out of the line of sight of the drone, or even shutting down parts of an operation. Offensive mitigation tactics will interrupt the drone flight. Kinetic solutions will physically interrupt the flight by either capturing the drone while mid-air or destroying it. Non-kinetic solutions, such as RF jammers, may force the drone to land, return to home, or enable another pilot to commandeer the drone and control the flight path.
Ultimately, drone technology can only be defeated by other technology, which is why many first turn to non-kinetic solutions to control the drone operations, before escalating to a more destructive strategy.
Ensure Safe and Effective Operations
Critical infrastructure sites can integrate passive drone detection technology into their ecosystem. However, when it comes to developing operating procedures when there is an imminent drone threat, there are varying degrees of legality about what can be done to mitigate the drone risk. Certain defense organizations may be able to use interception or defeat technology. In contrast, commercial organizations may need to consider passive mitigation procedures, such as shutting down facilities and working with local law enforcement.
No matter the reason for beginning a counter-drone program, defense and critical infrastructure security teams must begin with data collection and assessment through the integration of passive detection technology.
As more organizations invest in drones for maintenance and surveillance, they must also consider the unique risks drones pose to the cyber and physical security of their operations. Sensor-based drone detection software helps monitor air traffic and differentiate between authorized and unauthorized drones. The risk of the wrong drone near a defense facility could cause significant damages to infrastructure, the environment, and public they are protecting.
Counter-drone technology can be integrated into existing security programs to provide a new layer of situational awareness. Data collected from counter-drone programs help establish a baseline of data, provide security teams an accurate description of their lower elevation airspace activity, and with this knowledge, the opportunity to build out procedures to protect operations from costly shutdowns or damage.
When drones come to work at critical infrastructure and to support public safety, security teams must also ensure that there is an aerial protection and safety program in place.
Amit Samani is Vice President of Enterprise Sales for San Francisco-based Dedrone. This article originally ran in CS sister publication Security Sales & Integration and has been edited. It was originally published in 2020.
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