Local Governments Eye Drone Countermeasures

Tracking Drones Through Radio Frequencies and Radar

Markey identified current technologies that agencies can use to detect and track drones. One is radio frequency technology, which can essentially study and track communication to a drone. Authorities can triangulate a drone’s position by reading radio frequencies.

“That’s probably the most cost-effective way today — not a lot of false positives,” Markey says. “And I can tell the type of drone and the serial number in certain scenarios to see if it’s a repeat offender.”

There’s also radar technology, which comes with some challenges that require a multilayered approach to work effectively. For example, it’s hard with only radar technology to differentiate between a drone and a bird. However, officials can make that distinction by using cameras and video analytics.

“It’s figuring out how you want to start, traditionally with radio frequency, then maybe adding cameras and then maybe adding radar,” Markey says….