Possible Utilization of Low Frequency Magnetic Fields in Short Range Multirotor UAV Detection System

Abstract

The multirotor UAVs or so called n-copters have become very popular in the last decade and they have been utilized in many services. However, with the broaden options of buying multirotors, there is higher risk to the safety and security not only of the airports, but also of the urbanized areas. There are many UAV detection systems that have been developed in the world, the most sophisticated of them utilize multisensoric approach to fulfill the detection task. The paper presents chosen experimental results of the magnetic field measurements around a small quadcopter UAV that can serve as a proof of concept for possible utilization of low frequency magnetic fields in a short range multirotor UAV detection system. Although the fields created by the UAVs are small, they are clearly detectable by a simple coil sensor and in addition, they can be correlated with audio band signals to improve detection capabilities. The presented approach confirms the main advantage of the magnetic fields measurement - the possibility to detect a multirotor UAV operating in a completely autonomous mode without RF communication in urbanized areas where radars could not be used.