Real-Time Broadband Drone RF Signal Monitoring Using Low-Cost Multi-SDRs

Implementing an RF scanner-type anti-drone system requires an expensive broadband receiver that collects real-time broadband drone RF signals, which change rapidly over time. In this study, we implemented a system that can monitor the spectrogram image of a wideband drone radio signal in real time using low-cost narrowband SDR equipment instead of an expensive wideband receiver. The implemented system, comprising three Adalm Pluto SDRs running in python, can monitor the spectrogram of drone RF signals in the entire 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band in real time in a typical PC environment. The performance of the implemented system was verified by measuring the RF signals generated by four types of commercial drones in an electromagnetic anechoic chamber. Combining the implemented receiver with an AI engine based on python provides the possibility of implementing a real-time anti-drone system at a low cost.