SaTC: CORE: Medium: Collaborative: Enforcement of Geofencing Policies for Commercial Unmanned Aircraft Systems

在可预见的未来，依赖无人机系统(UAS)的服务和应用的采用预计将继续加速。这些服务和应用包括搜索和救援、作物监测、实时交通监测、关键基础设施检查等。随着无人机的继续激增，世界各地的航空监管机构面临着一个具有挑战性的两难境地，即如何将无人机业务安全地整合到各自的国家空域系统中，并强制其遵守相关法规，包括执行禁飞区。目前的无人机缺乏有效的机上飞行限制，无法阻止它们进入关键空域，例如机场跑道和核电站。此外，必须保护公众的安全和隐私，使其免受意外和非意外的无人机入侵。该项目旨在通过开发攻防措施，以自动、受控和可靠的方式检测、识别和击落违反管制/限制空域的UAS。将使用三个阶段的方法来阻止UAS侵入受限空域：(1)使用被动雷达探测入侵，该雷达利用入侵者本身的机会信号和射频通信/发射；(2)部署一个或多个防御者UAS，能够了解侵入者的动机和行为，以追逐UAS并获得并保持接近它，即使侵入者采取规避行动；以及(3)让防御者UAS发动进攻措施，操纵/危害入侵者所依赖的传感器和驱动信号以保持飞行。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The adoption of services and applications that rely on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) is expected to continue its acceleration for the foreseeable future. Such services and applications include search and rescue, crop monitoring, real-time traffic monitoring, critical infrastructure inspections, and others. As UAS continue to proliferate, aviation regulatory agencies around the world are facing a challenging dilemma in terms of safely integrating UAS operations into their respective national airspace systems and enforcing their compliance to relevant regulations, including enforcement of no fly-zones. Current UAS lack effective on-board flight restrictions that would prevent them from entering critical airspace, e.g., airport runways and nuclear power plants. Furthermore, it is essential that the safety and privacy of members of the public be safeguarded from accidental and non-accidental UAS incursions. This project aims to address these critical needs by developing offensive and defensive measures for detecting, identifying, and bringing down UAS that violate controlled/restricted airspace in an automated, controlled, and reliable manner.A three phase approach to thwarting a UAS encroaching on restricted airspace will be used: (1) detect the incursion using passive radar that exploits signals of opportunity and radio frequency (RF) communications/emissions from the encroacher itself; (2) deploy one or more defender UAS, capable of learning the motivations and behaviors of the encroacher, to pursue the UAS and gain and maintain proximity to it even should the encroacher take evasive action; and (3) have the defender UAS launch offensive measures that manipulate/compromise the sensor and actuation signals the encroacher relies on to stay airborne.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.