Week 3: Drone Net Introduction

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Hello Everyone! This week, the research team heard back about the proposal for funds through Embry-Riddle. The project will receive 87% of the requested funding amount, distributed over the next two years. I am extraordinarily excited to hear this, because it means that the research team can initiate new experiments

For week 3, I will attempt to answer the following question:

What is the Drone Net?


Drone Net is a name that encompasses both the hardware and software parts of a motion detection and drone identification device, currently in use at Embry-Riddle. Another name for the system is a Software-Defined MultiSpectral Imaging System (SDMSI). The full name shows that the Drone Net uses software to analyze and manipulate the output from physical hardware.

The Drone Net utilizes two panchromatic (black-white) cameras and a single infrared camera. The images from all three cameras are fused together and analyzed by software in real time. The hardware components are most easily visualized with the prototype designs below:

SDMSI Prototype Physical Design Used in Aircraft and Drone Detection Experiments

The software utilized by the Drone Net is intended to run on a linux operating system. One important feature of the Drone Net's design is its open framework that can easily be implemented on different hardware configurations.
I obviously cannot post the whole code set for Drone Net. However, if you are technologically inclined and interested in exploring the code, you can view the main motion detector file here.

Next week, I will discuss the current airspace security in place worldwide.

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