Towards RF-based Localization of a Drone and Its Controller

Drones are increasingly disrupting sensitive airspace around airports, as evidenced by the recent shutdown of Gatwick Airport for over a day by a drone incursion, as well as other incidents at Dubai airport, one of the busiest airports in the world. As a result, there is heightened interest in being able to detect and track drones. This paper explores a system that can use a cost-effective passive RF-based approach to determine from which direction a drone is approaching as well as its location, and also determine from which direction its controller is transmitting and the controller's location. The system combines angle of arrival (AoA) techniques with RF-based signal analysis to determine whether a peak in incoming RF signal strength at a given direction corresponds to a drone or its controller, and utilizes triangulation to estimate their locations. Our experiments demonstrate that a system consisting of inexpensive software defined radios (SDRs) and rotating antennas can effectively estimate the angle of arrival and location of both a drone and its controller.