As the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market keeps expanding across domains like food/medical deliveries, farming, geological surveying, etc., there also exists a possibility of increased attacks, threats, vulnerability and a need for robust mitigation technology. Players like Amazon and Domino’s are already trialing deliveries and the market is poised to grow exponentially in the next 5 years. This post will be listing out the possible UAV attacks and the mitigation technology being deployed.
The attacks can be classified into:
-Physical Attacks
-Surveillance
-Cyberattacks (interception and breach)
-Disruption (especially in airports)
These attacks need to be detected in order to be mitigated. These are the sensors that are being used to detect attacks:
– RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging)
– RF (Radio Frequency)
– Imagery (Optical)
– Imagery (Thermal)
– LiDAR/LADAR (Light/Laser Detection and Ranging)
– Acoustic
There are several challenges to the use of the above sensors:
– Environmental and climatic factors
– Distinguishing between birds and UAVs
– Detecting autonomous/heat efficient UAVs
– Short detection range
Once the attack is detected, the following mitigation methods could be deployed:
– Physical Methods
This method involves using physical means to trap or immobilize the UAVS such as the use of nets. This method requires the mechanism to be larger and can handle only light weight UAVs.
– Jamming
Emitting another signal in the same frequency with higher power and thus blocking the transmission between the UAV and the controller. This method can cause interference with other frequency bands. There are also regulations that prohibit the use of this method.
– Cyber methods
This method involves cyber-interception of the UAV to track or immobilize it . This is the most complicated method as the procedure might vary from drone due to the varying levels of encryption. There are also regulations that prohibit the use of this method.
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