Air traffic control for drones: BYU engineers introduce low-cost UAV detection technology

Air traffic control for drones: BYU engineers introduce low-cost UAV detection technology

This story is adapted from a version published by BYU University Communications News. Read the full story.

Photo by Nate Edwards/BYU Photo

The exponential increase in civilian drones is causing safety issues in congested airspace.

With the exponential rise in drone activity, safely managing low-flying airspace has become challenging — especially in highly populated areas. Just last month an unauthorized drone collided with a ‘Super Scooper’ aircraft above the Los Angeles wildfires, grounding the aircraft for several days and hampering the firefighting efforts.

Traditional radar systems are powerful but cannot effectively detect low-flying aircraft below 400 feet. While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has some regulations to manage small, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones, tracking and safety can be problematic – especially in congested or restricted airspaces. BYU researchers may have the solution.