Airport defense systems against drones attacks

Abstract

Currently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are used in a wide range of different industries. Their initial use belongs to military purposes, but with the passage of time, their versatility found its way among civilian users as well. The sharp increase in demand and supply of UAV systems on the market has led to the fact that acquisition costs are already relatively low today. Also, the control, which can be highly automated, allows for easy piloting. At the same time, however, it appears that the use of UAVs must be significantly limited by legislation in the future in order to prevent their misuse and endangering safety. As the present shows, with the help of UAVs, threats to soft targets by criminals and terrorists can be achieved relatively easily. European airports have been attacked by drones several times and forced to close. The biggest incident in terms of damage and restrictions is clearly the attack on 19-21 December 2018 at one of the largest airports in Europe, London-Gatwick, when all air traffic was disrupted and flights were canceled and delayed. The article discusses the dangers that drones can cause, and includes the categories of drones and their history. Above all, however, the article deals with the systems that aim to eliminate this threat, the most significant airport attacks are mentioned here, followed by the defense systems that were then installed with a description of their methods of detection and destruction. The article concludes that the approach of individual airports to modern anti-drone defense is not the same and follows a set of possible combinations that have proven successful. © 2022 IEEE.