Realization of an Autonomous, Air-to-Air Counter Unmanned Aerial System (CUAS)

The proliferation of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) has led to a security gap in the defense of strategic installations and at public events. One of the most proven and low-regret methods employed by Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (CUASs) is entanglement of the hostile UAS in a net carried by a hunter UAS. Typically these hunter UASs are controlled by a human pilot. We employ a ground based RADAR system for tracking the target UAS and command the hunter UAS to follow the target UAS, using the Robot Operating System (ROS), the MAVLink protocol, and the PX4 autopilot. This system is fully autonomous, which reduces cost and response time when compared to human-in-the-loop systems. In addition, a novel cylindrical net design is presented. We demonstrate the system's effectiveness through field testing.