Radiomonitoring Solution Identifies, Locates and Arrests UAVs
The AirPower 2016 air show in Austria last September was protected from the threat of potentially dangerous UAVs by the Rohde & Schwarz ARDRONIS system, a radiomonitoring solution that identifies UAV control signals at an early point, locates and can even help bring the offending aircraft to a halt.
UAVs under individual control within the confines of a major air traffic event can pose a significant safety hazard as well as a security risk. The Austrian armed forces therefore relied on ARDRONIS to provide an effective countermeasure, working with Rohde & Schwarz to implement the first such deployment tailored to this particular operational requirement.
ARDRONIS monitors remote control signals for drones (typically in the 433MHz or 2.4, 4.3 and 5.8GHz frequency bands) and can detect those for a commercial drone at an approximate range of 1 kilometre. The system maintains an extensive library of drone control signal profiles in order to detect and classify these types of signals.
An optional capability included in the deployment at AirPower 2016 was a direction-finding function that enabled operators to identify the location of the source of drone control signals. Other options available to operators include the ability to prevent a drone from performing a manoeuvre that could potentially threaten air safety, with the system focusing its disruptive capacity on the drone control signals without causing collateral disruption to any other type of signal.
