Drone Jammer System

These days, security forces across the world have been facing a growing threat: Radio-controlled drones, flying or hovering over-crowded stadiums, prisons and places with great concentration of people. The drones have the capability of spying, documenting and broadcasting unauthorized videos. They can also transport explosives, illegal commodities and other products; and even commit terrorist attacks, assassination of VIP and more.

As a result of these threats, a Drone Jammer or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) jammer was developed. The drone jammer designed for military use can block small to medium-sized drone in multiple ways.

How does a drone jammer work?

In simple words, a Drone Jammer is a machine formulated to send electro-magnetic noise at radio frequencies with the objective of superseding the same radio & GPS signals your drone utilizes to operate. Largely, there is either a 2.4GHz or a 5.8GHz one, which are usually “not-assigned” public frequencies, which mean that drone jammers will not interfere with any aircraft, cell phones, public broadcasts, or any other committed radio bands.

They function by radiating the jammer signal in the form of a cone of approximately 15-30 degrees using a directional antenna or 360 degrees using omni-directional antenna. Moreover, when a jammer’s signal hits the drone, the most common response for the drone is to return to its point of origin (Unless the GPS is jammed as well), providing the jammer operator with the choice to trail the drone back to the pilot. Otherwise, a drone jammer may lead the drone to land on-the-spot in order to run a forensic investigation.

Let’s know the subsystems of a drone jammer!

The integrated anti-drone jammer system consists of the following subsystems:

a) Radar: This device uses radio energy for detecting drones. The radar emits signals-out and evaluates its reflection, determining the distance (for the position) and direction. The Radar can detect even high-speed miniature drones of up to 0.01 sqm Radar Cross Section. It works in ISM, X, S Frequency Bands with an instant bandwidth of 50 MHz or more. The maximum detection range depends on the frequency band used and the size of the drone.

b) Thermal (EO/IR) Cameras: Thermal detection can be a helpful tool for finding drone in a remote region. The identification is done using a high-performance Thermal Camera. Since optical cameras may not be able to identify miniature drones flying at high speed, a thermal camera is also used. The thermal cameras can either be cooled or uncooled and have different ranges based on the wavelength of IR being used. Moreover, multiple lens options ranging from 7mm up to 60mm for having different views of the field can be opted as well.

c) Direction-finding RF Sensors: An RF Sensor works by discovering radio-links between a drone and remote-control station, detecting radio frequency (RF) signs of Wi-Fi signals. The RF sensor spots a targeted radio signal, recognizes it and proceeds with neutralization of undesirable UAV. By utilizing several RF Sensors, the drone operator could also be localized, where drone swarms can be tracked and mapped in real-time. Some RF sensors are now having direction-finding antennas integrated into them so that the drones can be localized and shown on the integrated digital maps with the drone defense system.

d) Acoustic Detection: Due to their varied construction, each drone creates unique sounds, and these can be sensed by using acoustic sensors. Acoustic sensors are made up of an array of microphones that can detect sounds produced by drones and calculate direction. These sensors do not require any direct line of sight to the object in order to work correctly.

e) RF Jammers: As a soft-kill method, RF jammers utilized against control & navigation signals, neutralize drone threats in the defense systems. By transmitting stronger jamming signals, the RF remote control and navigation signals are blocked, and drones become uncontrollable by the user. With the help of the radar and/or other tracking sensors in the system, jammer transmits in the direction of the threats and they are left unfunctional for their intended mission and they either fall or land on the ground.

Stratign’s drone jammer system

Overall, Stratign believes that an all-embracing Drone Jamming solution is one which is cost-effective & customized.

To counter the UAV threat, Stratign’s approach is based on a 4-step workflow:

a) DETECT the potential threat with the finest possible probability of detection using Radar and RF detection.
b) LOCATE the drone on a digitized map.
c) IDENTIFY the potential threat as an authentic threat with the least possible false-alarm rate using the EO/IR Camera and specialized proprietary algorithms.
d) ACT on the threat by raising alarms or combatting the threat with a countermeasure using RF jammers.

Advantageous Features of Stratign’s Drone Jammer:

• The system can Detect, Locate, Identify, Disrupt UAVs navigation system and data links up to 1000 mt. The range can be extended up to 3-5 km based on the requirement and size of the drone.
• An active solution capable of handling most of the commercial drones.
• An integrated RF sensor and jammer solution for instantaneous action on detection of drones.
• The capability of locating direction and position of drone using multiple RF sensors in tandem.
• Multiple systems can be used to cover larger vulnerable areas close to public places where civilian access is easy.

In a nutshell, apart from its precise usage in the military field, this well-working ‘Drone Jammer’ from Stratign can determine its application in the prevention of criminal operations. It can also be valuable for those police forces engaged in supervising certain risk areas.