IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - May 2022 - 16

A Review of Security Incidents and Defence Techniques Relating to the Malicious Use of Small UASs
Table 1.
Airport Incidents
Year
Location
2018 U.K. (Gatwick)
2019 U.S. (New
Jersey)
2019 Japan (Kansai)
Type of incident
Flight disruption
Flight disruption
Flight disruption
2019 U.K. (Heathrow) Flight disruption
2019 Germany
(Frankfurt)
Figure 3.
RF detection and classification system.
When a malicious UAS has been detected and classified
we need to know what to do with it. It may be that there is an
imminent threat that needs dealt with straight away, as with the
attack on the Venezuelan President in 2018, or we maywant to
prevent access to an area, such an active airspace around an airport.
Arguably the most researched counter measure is jamming,
emitting another signal in the same frequency band,
which is higher in power and subsequently blocks the transmission
between the UAS and its controller [18]. Physical measures
include firing nets and using physical weapons against
UASs. Finally, cyber methods have been investigated to disrupt
malicious UAS activity. All ofthe counter-measure methods
covered in this review present legal, policy, and practical
challenges, which can vary depending on the environment the
system needs to operate in. In this review article, we will consider
recent security incidents related to critical national infrastructure
including airports and nuclear facilities caused by
malicious UASs. We will evaluate the most recent research
concerning detection and classifying; and finally survey
counter-measure methods. The rest of this article is broken
down into the following chapters; security incidents; detection
and classification methods; and counter measures.
SECURITY INCIDENTS
AIRPORTINCIDENTS
Table 1 shows a summary of the incidents, which will be
discussed in more detail in the following section.
The largest incident to cause airport disruption is without
a doubt the 2018 UAS sightings at Gatwick Airport in the
U.K. After a number of sightings flights were grounded for
nearly two days and no suspect has ever been found [19]. The
incident did highlight the cost to the economy as the disruption
affected over 82,000 passengers and at a cost of over 50
million pounds [20]. Since 2018, there have been a number of
incidents in restricted airspaces across the world. In 2019, in
New Jersey, U.S. flights were disrupted following a UAS
16
2019 Ireland (Dublin)
Dubai
2019
2019 Singapore
(Changi)
2020 Germany
(Frankfurt)
2021 U.S. (North
Carolina)
2021 New Zealand
(Auckland)
Flight disruption
Flight disruption
Flight disruption
Flight disruption
2020 U.K. (Stansted) Arrest made before
disruption
Flight disruption
Flight disruption
Flight disruption
flying within 9 m ofan aircraft [21]. In 2019, in Japan, a UAS
was observed hovering near the terminal and over the runway
at Kansai Airport [22]. In 2019, Heathrow Airport in the U.K.
grounded flights for 30 minutes after a number ofUAS sightings
[23]. The year 2019 also saw disruption at Frankfurt Airport
in Germany twice that year [24], flight diversions at
Dublin Airport [25], suspension of flights in Dubai [26], and
37 flights delayed at Changi Airport in Singapore due to the
UAS sightings [27]. In 2020, a confirmed UAS sighting by a
military Apache helicopter at Stansted Airport in the U.K.
was reported and one arrest was made [28]. Again Frankfurt
Airport in Germany, in 2020, was subject to 2 h of grounded
flights and diversions due to a pilot sighting ofa UAS [29]. In
2020, two pilots reported sighting a UAS, which resulted in
grounded flights for 1 h in Spain [30]. Most recently in 2021,
we have seen disruption at North Carolina Airpot in the U.S.
[31] and at Auckland Airport in New Zealand where the UAS
was sighted only 30 m away and 5 m above a helicopter [32].
Although we have not seen another incident with the scale of
disruption that was caused at Gatwick, events are still occurring
regularly. The Federal Aviation Authority in the U.S.
report UAS sightings at airports at over 100 a month [33].
NUCLEARFACILITYINCIDENTS
The first widely reported issue concerning small UAS and
nuclear power plants occurred in France in 2014. The
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