Tractor beam: A drone hijacking technology for anti-drone and counter-terrorism

A drone hijacking technology for counter-terrorism was developed because existing anti-drone techniques cannot adequately counteract the threat of drone terrorism. The technology was based on GPS spoofing, which can manipulate GPS location and the velocity of drones. The characteristics of drones from key consumer drone manufacturers were analyzed, a drone taxonomy was created based on the analysis, and hijacking strategies for each drone type were designed.

Article  |  Fall 2019

As the drone industry develops, drones are being utilized in diverse fields including search and rescue, disaster prevention and recovery, delivery, and reconnaissance. However, concern is also growing about the possibility of these drones threatening safety and security or invading privacy by trespassing in private areas or key facilities. The anti-drone industry is also growing rapidly in response to these threats. The anti-drone systems, which are being deployed at key facilities, including airports, neutralize drones by jamming radio signals, shooting high energy lasers, and capturing drones with nets. However, when it comes to drones mounted with explosives or weapons for terror, damage can be minimized if the drones can be neutralized after securing them a safe distance from people and key facilities. With regard to airports, drones can be stopped if jamming signals are used in response, but the take-off and landing of planes can be halted for at least 30-40 minutes as the drones will be continuously floating in one spot. Is there new anti-drone technology that can isolate these dangerous drones immediately after they are discovered?

A KAIST research team led by Professor Yongdae Kim announced anti-drone technology that can hijack drones by forging their locations using fake GPS signals. This technology can effectively respond to a dangerous drone as it can lead it safely in the desired direction without a drastic change in direction.

Existing research has shown the possibility of using fake GPS signals to cause a drone to mistake its own location and have it drift away from its fixed location or path. However, all of the existing approaches fail if the GPS fail-safe mode is activated. This is because the GPS fail-safe mode, a type of emergency mode to ensure the safety of a drone when GPS signals get disconnected or the accuracy of the GPS location weakens due to fake GPS signals, differs depending on the drone model or manufacturer.

The research team analyzed the GPS fail-safe mode of drones from key consumer drone manufacturers including DJI and Parrot, created a drone taxonomy based on this, and designed a hijacking method for each drone type. This taxonomy covers the GPS fail-safe modes of almost all drone types, so it is universally applicable no matter the model or manufacturer if the drone is using a GPS. The research team applied the developed tactics to four types of consumer drones and confirmed that the drones can be safely hijacked with a small margin of error from the desired hijacking directions.

This study was published in ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security (TOPS) on April 9th.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1s-y_EJBzLQ56E8Rz5Ab5UtYIdFGPCqE6
(Cropped GIF) https://drive.google.com/open?id=1K1lr4K25jZ0jjneRWgg-nMKrYPO3oyW2