Drone Detection Deployed at Airshow

Ask any airshow organizer and they’ll tell you their two most important priorities: To ensure the event takes place safely and that everyone goes home happy.

In fact, NavCanada carries out considerable planning to ensure all manoeuvers take place within clearly defined “boxes” in space where – even if a mechanical failure should occur during flight – spectators on the ground would not be endangered. Such aviation events also involve the issuance of NOTAMs, or “Notice to Airmen,” so pilots of other manned (and unmanned) aircraft know to stay clear of the airspace during performance times.

Despite such measures, the possibility remains that someone flying a drone could jeopardize the safety of the event.

The odds are slim, but real. And so this year, at one of Canada’s biggest aviation events – The Abbotsford International Air Show – technology was deployed with the ability to detect Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), which is the official Transport Canada term for drones.

“I’d often thought it would be a great venue to offer them the ability to detect drones in their airspace, so I contacted (airshow organizers) through an associate,” says Brian Fentiman, Chief Technology Officer with BlueForce UAV consulting.

Fentiman’s previous career was working for the RCMP, where for 34 years he was a telecommunications technologist. He has an exceptional knowledge of radio frequencies and the world of invisible data. He was also deeply involved with drones on behalf of the RCMP, and was the force’s RPAS coordinator in British Columbia from 2014 until the end of 2017. His business partner is CEO David Domoney, who oversaw the RCMP's RPAS program from its inception in 2010.

Together, they work closely with BC’s InDro Robotics, one of Canada’s leading companies in the world of advanced RPAS technologies, data acquisition/analysis, and product development. It was InDro Robotics that supplied a device manufactured by DJI called an Aeroscope. 

Quickly deployed on the site by BlueForce, the unit (which comes in variants capable of different ranges), scans the surrounding airspace for any active RPAS. Soon after it was first booted up August 9 when the Air Show began, it was proving itself.

“We actually did receive an instant hit from more than 20 kilometres away,” says Robert Hryhorczuk of the Abbotsford Police Department. Hryhorczuk is a former private pilot, the force’s lead on RPAS, and also the coordinator for special events and emergencies. He spearheaded security for the Air Show.

“We could actually see where the drone was, and where the pilot was. I was really impressed.” 

In fact, the system not only detects the drone, but also the specific model, speed and trajectory. It also locates the pilot’s location within three meters. In this case, both were actually 23 kilometres away and across the US border. That RPAS did not pose a threat to the show.

However, a detection on Sunday showed an RPAS about six kilometres away and on a potential trajectory toward show airspace. Law enforcement was quickly dispatched to the location. Few details have been released but there was no ill-intent. It’s being described as a “learning experience.”

“It was of great interest to us to judge the level of the threat posed by drones in the airport vicinity during airshow operations,” says Jim Reith, President of the Abbotsford International Air Show (and the person who also has primary responsibility for planning flight operations, which are then implemented through the Flight Boss and NavCanada).

Though exceedingly rare, there have been collisions between drones and manned aircraft, including an incident where a consumer drone collided with a US military UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter in New York State. The chopper was able to land and there were no injuries, but the Black Hawk’s main rotor blade was damaged.

At an airshow, where aircraft are traveling at high speeds and low altitudes, organizers want to reduce the possibility of any incident to as close as possible to zero.

“In my opinion, the threat caused by drones is increased during (an) airshow when we have multiple high-performance jet fighter aircraft moving in the airport vicinity at speeds up to 500 knots,” says Reith.

“Pilot’s eyes are trained to scan for a relative movement against a static background and drones – which can be essentially hovering in place – are extremely difficult to pick up. However, the risk should an aircraft strike one is as great as for a large bird,” he says.

Some UAV manufacturers do not believe commercial drones pose any significant risk, should they collide with an aircraft. They also point out, correctly, there have been many reports of drone collisions that, upon subsequent investigation (such as DNA testing to see if it was a bird strike), did not involve drones at all.

But others in the aviation and RPAS world believe there are risks.

“I’m personally aware of one of our RCMP helicopters that had a bird strike, and the bird went right through the windscreen of the helicopter and struck the pilot in the head,” says BlueForce’s Fentiman. “Had the pilot not been wearing a helmet, it probably would have disabled the pilot and caused the helicopter to crash. 

“I have no doubt in my mind that that same incident with a drone would have caused a very similar effect – if not worse – due to the drone having a lithium battery which has a high-density weight for one thing, and also just its volatility.”

Air Shows and airports are one obvious use for drone detection, but there are a broad number of use-case scenarios. RPAS have been used to drop contraband into prisons, conduct covert surveillance and industrial espionage, fly illegally over crowds and major sporting events – and even worse.

“We’ve even seen the weaponization of consumer drones in conflict zones,” explains Philip Reece, CEO of InDro Robotics. ISIS, for example, has used off-the-shelf drones to pinpoint targets and drop explosive devices.

The growing demand for the ability to remotely detect and disable RPAS has not been lost on Reece. His subsidiary company, Bravo Zulu, specializes in deploying this technology – and also has devices that can electronically disable an RPAS. These machines do so by either rendering the GPS unit ineffective or by jamming the radio frequency connection with its pilot and forcing the drone to the ground.

These jamming technologies, which include the company’s proprietary Drone Rifle and Drone Ranger, cannot be used in North America. (In Canada, only the RCMP has the legal right to use such tech at the moment, though that may well change in future).

But Brazo Zulu has found global demand from security forces, private firms and even commercial shipping.

“We have clients in the Middle East who are using these, and some in the marine environment,” says Reece. “They’re obviously looking at the whole pirate situation, so they can detect these fairly sophisticated pirates who are using drones.”

One of those products, the Drone Rifle III, can “Disable unwanted or hostile drones in one click by disrupting a UAV’s GPS or radio frequency transmission. Jams multi-frequency bands and/or GPS of UAV to return unit back to pilot or force landing,” according to the Bravo Zulu website. The Drone Ranger uses radar to automatically track and disable drones that pose a threat. (The latter even employs AI to quickly distinguish between an RPAS and birds.)

“Drones don’t fly like birds,” says Reece. “AI can extract (data) from the altitude and trajectory and start to give you a risk analysis.”

The vast majority of commercial and recreational drone operators, it should be noted, do not pose a threat. With new legislation and certification in Canada, the word is getting out regarding the clear boundaries – along with the stiff penalties for those who violate the rules. But there are still many operators, says Fentiman, who despite having no criminal intent may be “careless and clueless” and fly their drones into restricted or dangerous situations. 

The need to quickly detect and locate such pilots and their RPAS, he says, is the most effective means of drone countermeasures at the moment – and he sees a plethora of uses for such technology.

As for Abbotsford? Constable Hryhorczuk says the response from regulatory and security officials was “really positive… We’re getting drone complaints all the time, even as high as 2,000 feet. This will go a long way for airports and towers.”

And – given the potential demand in other sectors - much, much more.

Disclosure: InDro Robotics asked me to research and write this story, for which I received a nominal fee. I followed the same journalistic approach I use with any other story. No one from InDro Robotics (including Philip Reece), read the final story or provided any editorial guidance or interference. The instructions were simple: "We were involved with drone countermeasures at Abbotsford. Are you interested in writing about it?" That was it.

If you have a website or publication that would like to republish this, you are welcome to do so free of charge. Please retain original links and byline (By Scott Simmie), and flip me the new url.

About me: I'm a professional content creator and communications person, specializing in the UAV/UAS/Drone/RPAS world. I'm also the media advisor for Unmanned Systems Canada, our country's largest professional organization of all things #unmanned. I've worked with such industry leaders as DJI, InDro Robotics, Bravo Zulu, SkyX, and AlteX. My profile is here.

Finally (and Philip did not request this), if you are interested in speaking with InDro or Bravo Zulu about these products, call 1-844-GOINDRO.