Drone development & prototyping

Eagle.One – Drone Hunter

Advanced autonomous drone hunter uniquely equipped to help guard airspaces from rogue drones

Eagle.One - autonomous security

Eagle.One is an advanced autonomous drone hunter uniquely equipped to help guard airspace from rogue drones. In light of recent cases of drones (UAVs) interfering at civilian airports and other critical infrastructure, the need for an anti-drone or drone hunting system has become more urgent.

The rising fears of using modified consumer drones for terrorist attacks and anonymous threats to factories, stadiums, and government institutions have also made it crucial to develop a security system against such threats. Our drone hunting system is designed to autonomously detect, track, and neutralize any unwanted drones in an airspace. The drone hunter is easy to deploy and can be seamlessly integrated into an existing security solution.

We have developed an autonomous drone hunting solution called Eagle.One.

DroneHub AUDROS vehicle hunter deployment

The Drone Hunting System

In general, an Autonomous Aerial Interception System (AAIS) detects an intruder drone in a particular no-fly zone, typically using radar and cameras fixed on ground stations. The system distinguishes a drone from other objects (such as birds) and alerts an operation center. If an operator decides to eliminate the intruder, Eagle.One takes off and flies towards the estimated position of the intruder drone.

The Eagle.One drone hunter utilizes a depth image from a stereo camera to facilitate the onboard detection of drones and other flying objects in their proximity. Upon reaching the estimated position of the intruder, the Eagle.One actively detects and tracks the moving drone. Since the rogue drone is non-cooperative, the system does not rely on markers for detecting and localizing the intruder.

Application

Our drone hunting system can be used in several security-critical applications, including:

Military & Defense

A small drone carrying weapons or explosives can pose a significant threat.

Prison Guarding

The use of drones to traffic drugs and weapons is predicted to become a widespread issue in the coming years.

Critical Infrastructure Protection

A growing number of serious incidents involving critical infrastructure, including terrorist activities and cyber threats, require new approaches for protection.

Airport security

With over £50 million in damages, the Gatwick Airport drone incident of 2018 was a wake up call to airports all over the world.

Industrial and private area security

Paparazzi and industrial espionage drones have presented a massive risk to private entities in recent years.

Intruder detection

A 3D multi-target tracking algorithm filters the output of the detection algorithm to reduce false positives. It also preserves the detection’s temporal consistency and predicts the drones’ positions (e.g. to compensate for camera and processing delays). Eagle.One uses onboard neural networks and artificial intelligence. Thanks to this, it is able to detect, classify, track, and predict the movement of the intruding drone. As a result, Eagle.One is capable of planning a neutralizing maneuver.

Net deployment

Eagle.One hunts the enemy drones by catching them with a deployed net. An onboard net gun launches and casts the net over a large space, thereby increasing the likelihood of successful intervention when compared to other solutions. The shot is triggered autonomously by an onboard computer, although confirmation from an operator can also precede the trigger. However, security-critical applications can use the system solely in autonomous mode without any operator to speed up the neutralizing maneuver.

Intruder elimination

After deployment, the net remains connected to the Eagle.One drone hunter via a rope, preventing the caught drone from being dropped. It can then be safely transported to a specific location for further investigation.

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