Understanding Anti drone jamming working, benefits and limitations

Introduction

It is counter drone system which is mainly designed to detect, track and disable or disrupt unauthorized drones. The anti-drone system uses various methods such as RF jamming, GNSS jamming etc. These systems are used specially at airports, military bases, government buildings and public events to counter potential threats posed by intruder drones.

What is Anti-Drone Jammer?

Drone uses different frequency bands (2.4 GHz, 5.8 GHz) to communicate with its operator or GPS satellites. Anti-drone Jammer transmites strong EM wave at the same frequency as used by drone to be jammed. EM signals overhelm receiver part of the target drone and consecutively breaks control link or navigation signal. This forces it to land, return to home or crash.

How Anti-Drone Jammers Work

These systems use either directional antennas for focused application or omni directional antennas for broader coverage. Let us understand the working of the anti-drone jamming system in following steps.

• Step-1 (Detection) : It uses radar, rf sensors, acoustic sensors or cameras to detect and identify drone presence.

• Step-2 (Tracking) : It locks itself to the location of the drone and its movement using advanced tracking algorithms.

• Step-3 (Jamming) : Various techniques are employed to jam the drone as follows.

  • RF Jamming : Blocks radio frequency communication established between drone and its remote control handler (usually 2.4 or 5.8 GHz).
  • GNSS jamming : It disrupts GPS or GNSS signals which confuses navigation system used by drone.
  • WiFi jamming : interferes with drones operating over wifi networks.

Key features

• Multi band jamming : Anti-drone system targets multiple frequency bands such as 433 MHz, 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz.
• Portable or stationary : It can be handheld in the form of rifle or installed on the rooftop of the buildings, towers or vehicles.
• Failsafe modes : Forces drone to land, return to home or hover.
• Antenna type : omnidirectional or directional.
• Jamming method : radar, rf sensors etc.

Use cases

• Airports & aviation safety
• Military and border defense in modern warfare
• VIP protection and public event security
• Prison perimeter control
• Critical infrastructure protection such as oil refineries, power plants etc.

Benefits of Anti-Drone Jammers

Following are some of the advantages of anti-drone Jammers.

1. It neutralizes unauthorized or enemy drones quickly.
2. It helps to protect critical infrastructure and sensitive airspace.
3. It is easy to be used by security forces as it is portable.
4. It helps to prevent drone based spying, smuggling or attacks.

Limitations

Following are some of the drawbacks of anti drone Jammers.

1. It supports jamming in limited coverage of about 1 to 5 Km.
2. It does not work when the target drone is behind the walls or obstacles. Anti-drone jammer and target drone should be in line of sight for the jamming to work.
3. It is not legal to use by civilians in some countries and only defense personnels can make use of it in security situations.
4. During its operation, it may disrupt legitimate wi-fi, gps or other cellular connections in progress.
5. Anti-drone jammers do not work when the target drone is fully autonomous and does not require any external signal for its operation.

Conclusion

Anti-drone jammers are essential defense tools used to detect, disrupt, and neutralize unauthorized or malicious drones by blocking their control and GPS signals. While they offer robust protection for military, commercial and critical infrastructure applications, their use must be balanced with regulatory compliance and potential interference risks.