UAV Propeller Rotational Speed Measurement through FMCW Radars
The growing number of civil applications in which Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are involved can create many concerns for airspace security and surveillance. Gathering as much information as possible about a drone can be crucial to apply proper countermeasures if a potentially dangerous situation...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/1/270 |
| _version_ | 1827597141224194048 |
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| author | Gianluca Ciattaglia Grazia Iadarola Linda Senigagliesi Susanna Spinsante Ennio Gambi |
| author_facet | Gianluca Ciattaglia Grazia Iadarola Linda Senigagliesi Susanna Spinsante Ennio Gambi |
| author_sort | Gianluca Ciattaglia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The growing number of civil applications in which Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are involved can create many concerns for airspace security and surveillance. Gathering as much information as possible about a drone can be crucial to apply proper countermeasures if a potentially dangerous situation is detected. Of course, the presence of a UAV can be detected by radar, but it is possible to extend the system capabilities to obtain additional information. For example, in the case in which the UAV is equipped with propellers, the radar-measured rotational speed could be important information to classify the type of UAV or to reveal if it is carrying some possibly harmful payload. In addition, the rotational speed measured through radar could be used for different purposes, such as to detect a drone manumission, to estimate its maximum payload, or for predictive maintenance of the drone. Measuring the propellers’ rotational speed with radar systems is a critical task, as the Doppler generated by the rotation can be very high, and it is very difficult to find commercial radar systems in the market able to handle such a high Doppler. Another problem is caused by the typically very small Radar Cross-Section (RCS) of the propellers, which makes their detection even more difficult. In the literature, common detection techniques are based on the measurement of the Doppler effect produced by the propellers to derive their rotational speed, but due to the very limited capabilities of commercial sensors, this approach can be applied only at very low values of the rotational speed. In this work, a different approach based on a Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar is proposed, which exploits the vibration of the UAV generated by the rotation of the propellers. The phenomenon and how the sensor can detect it will be presented, which is joined with a performance analysis comparing different estimation techniques for the indirect measurement of the propellers’ speed to evaluate the potential benefits of the proposed approach. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:25:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fdeda1bd6fda4f3a892518c04d3fe6f9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:25:02Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-fdeda1bd6fda4f3a892518c04d3fe6f92023-12-03T15:03:21ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922023-01-0115127010.3390/rs15010270UAV Propeller Rotational Speed Measurement through FMCW RadarsGianluca Ciattaglia0Grazia Iadarola1Linda Senigagliesi2Susanna Spinsante3Ennio Gambi4Information Engineering Department, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, ItalyInformation Engineering Department, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, ItalyInformation Engineering Department, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, ItalyInformation Engineering Department, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, ItalyInformation Engineering Department, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, ItalyThe growing number of civil applications in which Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are involved can create many concerns for airspace security and surveillance. Gathering as much information as possible about a drone can be crucial to apply proper countermeasures if a potentially dangerous situation is detected. Of course, the presence of a UAV can be detected by radar, but it is possible to extend the system capabilities to obtain additional information. For example, in the case in which the UAV is equipped with propellers, the radar-measured rotational speed could be important information to classify the type of UAV or to reveal if it is carrying some possibly harmful payload. In addition, the rotational speed measured through radar could be used for different purposes, such as to detect a drone manumission, to estimate its maximum payload, or for predictive maintenance of the drone. Measuring the propellers’ rotational speed with radar systems is a critical task, as the Doppler generated by the rotation can be very high, and it is very difficult to find commercial radar systems in the market able to handle such a high Doppler. Another problem is caused by the typically very small Radar Cross-Section (RCS) of the propellers, which makes their detection even more difficult. In the literature, common detection techniques are based on the measurement of the Doppler effect produced by the propellers to derive their rotational speed, but due to the very limited capabilities of commercial sensors, this approach can be applied only at very low values of the rotational speed. In this work, a different approach based on a Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar is proposed, which exploits the vibration of the UAV generated by the rotation of the propellers. The phenomenon and how the sensor can detect it will be presented, which is joined with a performance analysis comparing different estimation techniques for the indirect measurement of the propellers’ speed to evaluate the potential benefits of the proposed approach.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/1/270radar measurementsmicro-DopplerFrequency-Modulated Continuous WavedronesUAVvibrations |
| spellingShingle | Gianluca Ciattaglia Grazia Iadarola Linda Senigagliesi Susanna Spinsante Ennio Gambi UAV Propeller Rotational Speed Measurement through FMCW Radars Remote Sensing radar measurements micro-Doppler Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave drones UAV vibrations |
| title | UAV Propeller Rotational Speed Measurement through FMCW Radars |
| title_full | UAV Propeller Rotational Speed Measurement through FMCW Radars |
| title_fullStr | UAV Propeller Rotational Speed Measurement through FMCW Radars |
| title_full_unstemmed | UAV Propeller Rotational Speed Measurement through FMCW Radars |
| title_short | UAV Propeller Rotational Speed Measurement through FMCW Radars |
| title_sort | uav propeller rotational speed measurement through fmcw radars |
| topic | radar measurements micro-Doppler Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave drones UAV vibrations |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/1/270 |
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