Combination of radar and audio sensors for identification of rotor-type Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Rotor-type small size Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for recreational purposes have threatened people in public area by flying over them and crashing accidently without any safe mechanisms. In order to offset such threats, we investigated various types of sensors to detect airborne objects and propose a combination of radar and acoustic sensors. The proposed combination is able not only to detect an object, but also to identify whether the object is a threat or an uninterested object (e.g., birds). Moreover, we used inexpensive COTS components to reduce the cost of a system that uses the sensors. Preliminary experiments show an initial configuration of the system and the results that the sensors are able to identify a pre-profiled UAVs flying over the surveillance area.