ZJU Cost-Effective Crowdsensing System for detecting and localizing drones reported by IEEE Spectrum

Led by Professor SHI Zhiguo and Professor CHEN Jiming of  IT Faculty, the Anti-aerial-robotics Team of Networked Sensing and Control Group of Zhejiang University proposed an intriguing way to track unfamiliar drones through crowdsensing. Recently, it was published in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing and reported by IEEE Spectrum.

Tracking drones would be especially helpful in situations where the devices were being used for ill-intentioned purposes, such as for peeping in at someone or to transport illegal substances. Traditional approaches of detecting drones, especially in urban environments however, are of huge cost.

"The team sought to find a cheaper method. They realized that most drones use Wi-Fi technology to communicate with ground control stations. At the same time, virtually all smartphones can detect Wi-Fi signals and phones are abundant, especially in urban settings," as IEEE Spectrum reported.

YANG Guang, the first author, is a doctoral student at Zhejiang University. The research is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Research Service of Zhejiang University and the State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control Technology.

IEEE Spectrum Report：

https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/robotics/drones/harnessing-the-publics-smartphones-to-track-drones

Full Artical in IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing:

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8734002

Reporter: REN Tong