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The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for a variety of commercial, civilian, and defense applications has increased many folds in recent years. While UAVs are expected to transform future air operations, there are instances where they can be used for malicious purposes. In this context, the detection, classification, and tracking (DCT) of UAVs (DCT-U) for safety and surveillance of national air space is a challenging task when compared to DCT of manned aerial vehicles. In this survey, we discuss the threats and challenges from malicious UAVs and we subsequently study three radio frequency (RF)-based systems for DCT-U. These RF-based systems include radars, communication systems, and RF analyzers. Radar systems are further divided into conventional and modern radar systems, while communication systems can be used for joint communications and sensing (JC&S) in active mode and act as a source of illumination to passive radars for DCT-U. The limitations of the three RF-based systems are also provided. The survey briefly discusses non-RF systems for DCT-U and their limitations. Future directions based on the lessons learned are provided at the end of the survey., Comment: This paper is under review for IEEE COMST. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2211.10038

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for different applications has increased many folds in recent years. The UAVs are expected to change the future air operations. However, there are instances where the UAVs can be used for malicious purposes. The detection, tracking, and classification of UAVs is challenging compared to manned aerial vehicles (MAVs) mainly due to small size, complex shapes, and ability to fly close to the terrain and in autonomous flight patterns in swarms. In this survey, we will discuss current and future aerial threats, and provide an overview of radar systems to counter such threats. We also study the performance parameters of radar systems for the detection, tracking, and classification of UAVs compared to MAVs. In addition to dedicated radar systems, we review the use of joint communication-radar (JCR) systems, as well as passive monitoring of changes in the common communication signals, e.g., FM, LTE, and any transmissions that may radiate from a UAV, for the detection, tracking, and classification of UAVs are provided. Finally, limitations of radar systems and comparison with other techniques that do not rely on radars for detection, tracking, and classification of aerial threats are provided., Comment: Paper under review for IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials

This work investigates the problem of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) identification using their radar crosssection (RCS) signature. The RCS of six commercial UAVs are measured at 15 GHz and 25 GHz in an anechoic chamber, for both vertical-vertical and horizontal-horizontal polarization. The RCS signatures are used to train 15 different classification algorithms, each belonging to one of three different categories: statistical learning (SL), machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL). The study shows that while the classification accuracy of all the algorithms increases with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the ML algorithm achieved better accuracy than the SL and DL algorithms. For example, the classification tree ML achieves an accuracy of 98.66% at 3 dB SNR using the 15 GHz VV-polarized RCS test data from the UAVs. We investigate the classification accuracy using Monte Carlo analysis with the aid of boxplots, confusion matrices, and classification plots. On average, the accuracy of the classification tree ML model performed better than the other algorithms, followed by the Peter Swerling statistical models and the discriminant analysis ML model. In general, the classification accuracy of the ML and SL algorithms outperformed the DL algorithms (Squeezenet, Googlenet, Nasnet, and Resnet 101) considered in the study. Furthermore, the computational time of each algorithm is analyzed. The study concludes that while the SL algorithms achieved good classification accuracy, the computational time was relatively long when compared to the ML and DL algorithms. Also, the study shows that the classification tree achieved the fastest average classification time of about 0.46 ms., Comment: 17 pages

The ubiquity of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones is posing both security and safety risks to the public as UAVs are now used for cybercrimes. To mitigate these risks, it is important to have a system that can detect or identify the presence of an intruding UAV in a restricted environment. In this work, we propose a radio frequency (RF) based UAV detection and identification system by exploiting signals emanating from both the UAV and its flight controller, respectively. While several RF devices (i.e., Bluetooth and WiFi devices) operate in the same frequency band as UAVs, the proposed framework utilizes a semi-supervised learning approach for the detection of UAV or UAV's control signals in the presence of other wireless signals such as Bluetooth and WiFi. The semi-supervised learning approach uses stacked denoising autoencoder and local outlier factor algorithms. After the detection of UAV or UAV's control signals, the signal is decomposed by using Hilbert-Huang transform and wavelet packet transform to extract features from the time-frequency-energy domain of the signal. The extracted feature sets are used to train a three-level hierarchical classifier for identifying the type of signals (i.e., UAV or UAV control signal), UAV models, and flight mode of UAV. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed framework, we carried out an outdoor experiment for data collection using six UAVs, five Bluetooth devices, and two WiFi devices. The acquired data is called Cardinal RF (CardRF) dataset, and it is available for public use to foster UAV detection and identification research., Comment: 12 pages

The use of supervised learning with various sensing techniques such as audio, visual imaging, thermal sensing, RADAR, and radio frequency (RF) have been widely applied in the detection of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in an environment. However, little or no attention has been given to the application of unsupervised or semi-supervised algorithms for UAV detection. In this paper, we proposed a semi-supervised technique and architecture for detecting UAVs in an environment by exploiting the RF signals (i.e., fingerprints) between a UAV and its flight-controller communication under wireless inference such as Bluetooth and WiFi. By decomposing the RF signals using a two-level wavelet packet transform, we estimated the second moment statistic (i.e., variance) of the coefficients in each packet as a feature set. We developed a local outlier factor model as the UAV detection algorithm using the coefficient variances of the wavelet packets from WiFi and Bluetooth signals. When detecting the presence of RF-based UAV, we achieved an accuracy of 96.7$\%$ and 86$\%$ at a signal-to-noise ratio of 30~dB and 18~dB, respectively. The application of this approach is not limited to UAV detection as it can be extended to the detection of rogue RF devices in an environment., Comment: 6 pages

This paper presents a radar cross-section (RCS)-based statistical recognition system for identifying/ classifying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at microwave frequencies. First, the paper presents the results of the vertical (VV) and horizontal (HH) polarization RCS measurement of six commercial UAVs at 15 GHz and 25 GHz in a compact range anechoic chamber. The measurement results show that the average RCS of the UAVs depends on shape, size, material composition of the target UAV as well as the azimuth angle, frequency, and polarization of the illuminating radar. Afterward, radar characterization of the target UAVs is achieved by fitting the RCS measurement data to 11 different statistical models. From the model selection analysis, we observe that the lognormal, generalized extreme value, and gamma distributions are most suitable for modeling the RCS of the commercial UAVs while the Gaussian distribution performed relatively poorly. The best UAV radar statistics forms the class conditional probability densities for the proposed UAV statistical recognition system. The performance of the UAV statistical recognition system is evaluated at different signal noise ratio (SNR) with the aid of Monte Carlo analysis. At an SNR of 10 dB, the average classification accuracy of 97.43% or better is achievable., Comment: one column, 39 pages

In this work, we performed a thorough comparative analysis on a radio frequency (RF) based drone detection and identification system (DDI) under wireless interference, such as WiFi and Bluetooth, by using machine learning algorithms, and a pre-trained convolutional neural network-based algorithm called SqueezeNet, as classifiers. In RF signal fingerprinting research, the transient and steady state of the signals can be used to extract a unique signature from an RF signal. By exploiting the RF control signals from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for DDI, we considered each state of the signals separately for feature extraction and compared the pros and cons for drone detection and identification. Using various categories of wavelet transforms (discrete wavelet transform, continuous wavelet transform, and wavelet scattering transform) for extracting features from the signals, we built different models using these features. We studied the performance of these models under different signal to noise ratio (SNR) levels. By using the wavelet scattering transform to extract signatures (scattergrams) from the steady state of the RF signals at 30 dB SNR, and using these scattergrams to train SqueezeNet, we achieved an accuracy of 98.9% at 10 dB SNR., Comment: Single column, 34 pages

We propose a design that uses the principle of chaos for UAV secure communication. A UAV identified as an aerial base station communicates with a ground base station over an RF channel. The communication units have dynamics based on the logistic map. The map is chaotic in the appropriate parameter space. Its states are non-periodic, broadband, and noise-like in the frequency domain. They are useful for spreading information during transmission, making it difficult for an eavesdropper to recover the modulated message since state prediction is ultimately impossible. To retrieve it, we propose a variable feedback controller. It asymptotically stabilizes the error dynamics when the information source is off. During transmission, the controller synchronizes the units such that the error contains signatures of the information signal. Therefore, the information signal is retrievable by a suitable detection mechanism. Security depends on the confidentiality of the map, the variable feedback controller, including its scale factor and bounded feedback gain, and the designer`s choice of invertible function for use in the scrambling and descrambling process. Also, the method is less prone to jamming attacks and multipath effects as the broadband spectrum can be used to randomly select RF channels. It uses only a few simple algorithms, including a correlation summation and a detection mechanism. The algorithms collect subsamples of the received signal sequences and averages over each subsample length. The method requires minimal programming efforts and low hardware resource utilization. It is energy-efficient, which is a vital consideration for any UAV security model. Moreover, we realize a prototype of the communication system on field-programmable gate arrays. We presented a digital design of the secure communication system involving the transmission of bitstreams between the ABS and GBS., Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, 2021 IEEE Aerospace

The knowledge of the radar signature of aerial targets, such as drones, is critical in designing an effective radar detection system. It is a challenging task to measure the radar cross-section (RCS) of small drones. This paper describes a compact-range approach for measuring the RCS of small drones at 15 GHz and 25 GHz. The measurement results show that the average RCS of the three small drones varies with the radar frequency with higher reflections observed around certain directions. Moreover, the results show that for each drone, the RCS at 25 GHz is higher than the RCS at 15 GHz. Besides, information-theoretical based model selection for the RCS data is carried using the Akaike information criterion (AIC). We find that the generalized extreme value distribution is a good fit for modeling the RCS of small drones., Comment: 4 pages, drones, UAVs, UAS, radar, radar cross-section (RCS), detection, model selection, classification, Akaike information criterion (AIC), compact range, microwaves

This paper investigates the problem of detection and classification of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the presence of wireless interference signals using a passive radio frequency (RF) surveillance system. The system uses a multistage detector to distinguish signals transmitted by a UAV controller from the background noise and interference signals. First, RF signals from any source are detected using a Markov models-based na\"ive Bayes decision mechanism. When the receiver operates at a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 10 dB, and the threshold, which defines the states of the models, is set at a level 3.5 times the standard deviation of the preprocessed noise data, a detection accuracy of 99.8% with a false alarm rate of 2.8% is achieved. Second, signals from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth emitters, if present, are detected based on the bandwidth and modulation features of the detected RF signal. Once the input signal is identified as a UAV controller signal, it is classified using machine learning (ML) techniques. Fifteen statistical features extracted from the energy transients of the UAV controller signals are fed to neighborhood component analysis (NCA), and the three most significant features are selected. The performance of the NCA and five different ML classifiers are studied for 15 different types of UAV controllers. A classification accuracy of 98.13% is achieved by k-nearest neighbor classifier at 25 dB SNR. Classification performance is also investigated at different SNR levels and for a set of 17 UAV controllers which includes two pairs from the same UAV controller models., Comment: 13 pages. Journal paper. Interference, machine learning, Markov models, RF fingerprinting, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), UAV detection and classification

The future 5G networks are expected to use millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands to take advantage of large unused spectrum. However, due to the high path loss at mmWave frequencies, coverage of mmWave signals can get severely reduced, especially for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios as mmWave signals are severely attenuated when going through obstructions. In this work, we study the use of passive metallic reflectors of different shapes/sizes to improve 28 GHz mmWave signal coverage for both indoor and outdoor NLOS scenarios. We quantify the gains that can be achieved in the link quality with metallic reflectors using measurements, analytical expressions, and ray tracing simulations. In particular, we provide an analytical model for the end-to-end received power in an NLOS scenario using reflectors of different shapes and sizes. For a given size of the flat metallic sheet reflector approaching to the size of incident plane waves, we show that the reflected received power for the NLOS link is same as line-of-sight (LOS)free space received power of the same link distance. Extensive results are provided to study impact of environmental features and reflector characteristics on NLOS link quality., Comment: The manuscript is submitted to IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1808.06223

Millimeter wave radars are popularly used in last-mile radar-based defense systems. Detection of low-altitude airborne target using these radars at low-grazing angles is an important problem in the field of electronic warfare, which becomes challenging due to the significant effects of clutters in the terrain. This paper provides both experimental and analytical investigation of micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) detection in a rocky terrain using a low grazing angle, surface-sited 24 GHz dual polarized frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar. The radar backscatter signal from the UAV is polluted by land clutters which is modeled using a uniform Weibull distribution. A constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detector which employs adaptive thresholding is designed to detect the UAV in the rich clutter background. In order to further enhance the discrimination of the UAV from the clutter, the micro-Doppler signature of the rotating propellers and bulk trajectory of the UAV are extracted and plotted in the time-frequency domain.

This paper focuses on the detection and classification of micro-unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using radio frequency (RF) fingerprints of the signals transmitted from the controller to the micro-UAV. In the detection phase, raw signals are split into frames and transformed into the wavelet domain. A Markov models-based naive Bayes approach is used to check for the presence of a UAV in each frame. In the classification phase, unlike the traditional approaches that rely solely on time-domain signals and corresponding features, the proposed technique uses the energy transient signal. This approach is more robust to noise and can cope with different modulation techniques. First, the normalized energy trajectory is generated from the energy-time-frequency distribution of the raw control signal. Next, the start and end points of the energy transient are detected by searching for the most abrupt changes in the mean of the energy trajectory. Then, a set of statistical features is extracted from the energy transient. Significant features are selected by performing neighborhood component analysis (NCA) to keep the computational cost of the algorithm low. Finally, selected features are fed to several machine learning algorithms for classification. The algorithms are evaluated experimentally using a database containing 100 RF signals from each of 14 different UAV controllers. The signals are recorded wirelessly using a high-frequency oscilloscope. The data set is randomly partitioned into training and test sets for validation with the ratio 4:1. Ten Monte Carlo simulations are run and results are averaged to assess the performance of the methods. All the micro-UAVs are detected correctly and an average accuracy of 96.3% is achieved using the k-nearest neighbor (kNN) classification. Proposed methods are also tested for different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels and results are reported., Comment: 12 pages. To be presented in 2019 IEEE Aerospace Conference

The availability of large unused spectrum at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands has steered the future 5G research towards these bands. However, mmWave signals are attenuated severely in the non-lineof-sight (NLOS) scenarios, thereby leaving the strong link quality by a large margin to line-of-sight (LOS) links. In this paper, a passive metallic reflector is used to enhance the coverage for mmWave signals in an outdoor, NLOS propagation scenarios. The received power from different azimuth and elevation angles are measured at 28 GHz in a parking lot setting. Our results show that using a 33 inch by 33 inch metallic reflector, the received power can be enhanced by 19 dB compared to no reflector case., Comment: This research article is accepted for publication in IEEE Radio & Wireless Week Conference (RWW), 2019

The future 5G networks are expected to use millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands, mainly due to the availability of large unused spectrum. However, due to high path loss at mmWave frequencies, coverage of mmWave signals can get severely reduced, especially for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios. In this work, we study the use of passive metallic reflectors of different shapes/sizes to improve mmWave signal coverage for indoor NLOS scenarios. Software defined radio based mmWave transceiver platforms operating at 28 GHz are used for indoor measurements. Subsequently, ray tracing (RT) simulations are carried out in a similar environment using Remcom Wireless InSite software. The cumulative distribution functions of the received signal strength for the RT simulations in the area of interest are observed to be reasonably close with those obtained from the measurements. Our measurements and RT simulations both show that there is significant (on the order of 20 dB) power gain obtained with square metallic reflectors, when compared to no reflector scenario for an indoor corridor. We also observe that overall mmWave signal coverage can be improved utilizing reflectors of different shapes and orientations., Comment: IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine (Currently in review) 2018