Story ID: 045AlionUAVAINJune16EditedByAY_NM
Counter-UAS System on the Horizon
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: A system now under development could help protect rotorcraft operators from rogue drones.
Word Count: 468
With the proliferation of consumer UAVs, the threat of collisions between drones and manned aircraft is a growing concern, particularly to operators of rotorcraft, which tend to fly at lower altitudes than fixed-wing aircraft. To combat this potential hazard, Virginia-based Alion Science and Technology (a $billion-revenue government contractor) is developing a device to take control of encroaching drones and move them out of harm’s way.

“We had talked to a few people in the [rotorcraft] business and they said, ‘We’re really concerned about this because if I get one of these in my tail rotor I’m going to have a problem,’” said Bill Senich, the company’s vice president. Using its existing signal analysis and processing technology, Alion began to design a counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) system that would detect and override control signals sent to unmanned devices. “Some drone operators are good companies, and they are doing good things with UAVs,” Senich told AIN. “It’s the stuff under the Christmas tree that is causing all the problems. At no time should anybody consider an autonomous drone to be more important than an aircraft carrying people or a lifesaving aeromedical flight departing, unscheduled, from an accident location, for example.”

While the system is currently effective against 87 percent of the 444,000 registered commercially available drones in the U.S., says the company, with a patent pending it is loath to discuss exactly how the equipment functions. Senich did say that the C-UAS system does not use radar, relying instead on signal detection to indicate when a UAV could be close enough to be a threat, and then forcing the offending device to the ground, until control is returned to its operator, either through the C-UAS system being turned off or by it moving out of range.

The technology, which was first publicly displayed this March at Heli-Expo in Louisville, Ky., is still young, and while the company says the basic functionality is sound, it is working on operator interfaces to make it user-friendly. Also to be determined is what shape the eventual consumer product will take. Senich envisions a portable “backpack device that velcros in” and can be moved from aircraft to aircraft. Another choice would be for a hard-wired installation, with at least one rotorcraft manufacturer considering adding it as a factory option, a route that would likely require an STC from the FAA. Another version attracting interest is for fixed, ground-based units to protect airports, heliports and other locations. “A lower-power version might have a range of several hundred feet, or you might need a higher power version with a range of half a mile,” said Senich. “These are feasible.”

The company anticipates it could have the system in production in six to 12 months.