98.5%: a sensor detects drones from the magnetic field of their motors

By the GetNews desk · Edited by Sam Calder

A Florida International University team built a sensor that sends no signal and picks up what small drones' motors leak.

98.5%detection accuracy up to 15 m

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Why it matters

It detects drones without radar or cameras and could help protect sensitive sites. For now it is a short-range research prototype.

For most people

Watch: a clever way to hear a drone without radar.

Engineers from FIU, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Ruhuna in Sri Lanka took part; the work appeared in IEEE Sensors Journal.
The sensor picks up magnetic leakage from the motors with a loop antenna about 1 m across, and a neural network classifies the signal.
In outdoor tests it detected small drones with up to 98.5% accuracy at distances up to 15 m (49 ft).
It told three drone models and an empty sky apart 83.5% of the time; the smallest drone was harder because its motors leak a weaker field.
The team lead estimates the sensor costs a few hundred dollars, and the team is working with US industry on it.

WatchWatch the idea; it is short-range research, not a product.

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