DARPA developing system to map UAS airspace in urban environments

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on Tuesday released plans for a new system to map the airspace of small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in urban terrain, called the Aerial Dragnet Program.

The program focuses on innovative technologies to provide wide-area surveillance of all UAS flying below 1,000 feet in large cities. While the primary goal of the project applies to protecting troops operating in urban environments overseas, the system could eventually find civilian applications to help protect large American cities from a possible terrorist threat.

“Commercial websites currently exist that display in real time the tracks of relatively high and fast aircraft, from small general aviation planes to large airliners, all overlaid on geographical maps as they fly around the country and the world,” Jeff Krolik, program manager for DARPA, said. “We want a similar capability for identifying and tracking slower, low-flying unmanned aerial systems, particularly in urban environments.”

Several systems are currently being developed for areas where line-of-sight buffers mitigate threats, but these systems are impractical for an urbanized environment. DARPA’s system would adapt to the physics of small UAS in urban environments that could enable non-line-of-sight tracking and identification of a wide range of slower, low-flying threats.

The program is currently seeking teams with expertise in sensors, signal processing and networked autonomy.