Anti-Drone System based on Radio Frequency

Project Outline:

As drones are becoming ubiquitous in our daily life, privacy and security concerns caused by them are of ever increasing. For example, they could be illegally used for spying or flying in protected regions (e.g., nearby airports). Therefore, anti-drone system is on a high demand, which aims at bringing off the drones. This project focuses on anti-drone or counter-drone systems based on radio frequency (RF) used in their wireless communications with the controllers. The first task of this project is to conduct a thorough literature review on different RF anti-drone systems, identifying the communication frequency, transmit power, and RF signal transmission direction. The review should clarify the potential interference and risks of using such RF jamming signals in various scenarios. In addition, the frequency hopping may be used in drone communications and thus communication channel tracking and then jamming should be also considered in this task. The second task of this project is to test various RF anti-drone schemes on the available drone systems (e.g., DJI Matrice 300 RTK, DJI RoboMaster TT Starter) and software defined radios (SDRs) or spectrum analyzer. The final task is to develop new and novel anti-drone systems based on RF jamming. This project should lead to multiple high-quality journal publications.

Literature samples:

• 10 Counter-Drone Technologies To Detect And Stop Drones Today
• Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System(s) (C-UAS): State of the Art, Challenges, and Future Trends
• A Software Defined Radio Based Anti-UAV Mobile System with Jamming and Spoofing Capabilities
• Protect Your Sky: A Survey of Counter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems
• An Autonomous Counter-Drone System with Jamming and Relative Positioning Capabilities
• Software Defined Radio for Analyzing Drone Communication Protocols

Available platforms at ECU:

• DJI Matrice 300 RTK
• DJI RoboMaster TT Starter
• R&S FSV3000 Signal and spectrum analyzer
• Ettus USRP X310
• Ettus USRP N210
• Long range internet antenna Kit
• Practical example

Preferred Skills (not required): Experience with software define radios, MATLAB, basic wireless communication knowledge.

Project Area: Wireless Cybersecurity

Research Centre: Security Research Institute (SRI)

Supervisor(s): Dr Shihao YAN

Project level: Masters / PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Any