Using automotive radar to enable detection and tracking of small UAVs

Detection and tracking of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) enables collaborative autonomy, autonomous rendezvous, and hazard avoidance. This situational awareness is key to an autonomous UAV system. However, high performance sensors that are capable of detecting small UAS can also be extremely costly. This paper will present a study that looks at leveraging a low cost automotive radar, proliferated by the autonomous driving cars industry, to enable small UAS systems to detect, track, and follow small UAVs. These radars offer the potential to address the shortcomings of imaging sensors, as well as lower cost, weight and power, by exploiting a technology that is undergoing rapid commercial innovation and improvement. This paper will discuss the motivation for a tracking and following UAS, commercial off the shelf (COTS) automotive radars, tracking UAS design leveraging the COTS radar, software design of the autonomous UAS, mission planning and engagement testing, final results and next steps.