REDESIGNING THE COUNTER UNMANNED SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE
Authors
Thiessen, Christian M.
Subjects
unmanned aircraft system
UAS
counter-unmanned aircraft systems
C-UAS
defense-in-depth
non-kinetic electronic warfare
electronic attack
broadband noise jamming
RF jammer
cyber-attacks
denial of service
DoS
energy consumption
low-SWaP
aerial interdiction
Department of Homeland Security
DHS
UAS
counter-unmanned aircraft systems
C-UAS
defense-in-depth
non-kinetic electronic warfare
electronic attack
broadband noise jamming
RF jammer
cyber-attacks
denial of service
DoS
energy consumption
low-SWaP
aerial interdiction
Department of Homeland Security
DHS
Advisors
Buettner, Raymond R., Jr.
Hale, Britta
Date of Issue
2022-06
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
When the Islamic State used Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to target coalition forces in 2014, the use of UAVs rapidly expanded, giving weak states and non-state actors an asymmetric advantage over their technologically superior foes. This asymmetry led the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to spend vast sums of money on counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS). Despite the market density, many C-UAS technologies use expensive, bulky, and high-power-consuming electronic attack methods for ground-to-air interdiction. This thesis outlines the current technology used for C-UAS and proposes a defense-in-depth framework using airborne C-UAS patrols outfitted with cyber-attack capabilities. Using aerial interdiction, this thesis develops a novel C-UAS device called the Detachable Drone Hijacker—a low-size, weight, and power C-UAS device designed to deliver cyber-attacks against commercial UAVs using the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication specification. The experimentation results show that the Detachable Drone Hijacker, which weighs 400 grams, consumes one Watt of power, and costs $250, can interdict adversarial UAVs with no unintended collateral damage. This thesis recommends that the DOD and DHS incorporates aerial interdiction to support its C-UAS defense-in-depth, using technologies similar to the Detachable Drone Hijacker.
Type
Thesis
Description
Includes supplementary material. Please contact rresources@nps.edu for access.
Series/Report No
Department
Information Sciences (IS)
Defense Analysis (DA)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
DASN-OE, Washington DC, 20310
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.