Interoperable Counter-UAS Systems: Building a Unified Operating Environment for Drone Threats
Download the Year 7 project summary.
Project Summary
This project addresses a core operational gap in U.S. counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) efforts: advanced detection and mitigation capabilities exist, but they are not integrated into a coordinated, real-time decision environment. The objective is to design a unified, operator-centered C-UAS architecture that enables a “single pane of glass” operating environment, allowing operators to move from detection to legally authorized response within seconds.
Purpose/Objectives
This project gives DHS and its state, local, tribal, and territorial partners a data schema, governance model, and implementation roadmap for consolidating fragmented counter-drone systems into a single decision environment, reducing the delay between detecting threats and taking legally authorized action at airports, critical infrastructure sites, border and maritime ports, and major public events.
Outputs and Impact
- An assessment of the operational, legal, technical, and human-factors barriers.
- A six-layer architectural framework and practitioner implementation playbook spanning sensor input, data normalization, multi-sensor fusion, threat classification with embedded legal authority, decision support, and operator interface, with guidance tailored to airports, critical infrastructure, border security, and maritime ports.
- A conceptual mockup dashboard illustrating what a single-pane operator interface could display, including fused sensor tracks and threat classification confidence scores. The team is explicit that this is a visualization rather than a working software prototype.
Method
The team will review the legal and regulatory environment governing counter-UAS operations, deployment case studies across airport, critical infrastructure, border, maritime, and event settings, and literature on operator decision-making under time pressure. Then they will assess sensor data diversity using open-source incident databases, vendor documentation, and open protocol standards. Using this background, they will conduct semi-structured interviews with operators, vendors, state and local officials, federal stakeholders, and legal experts, using them to validate outputs.
Research Team
Suat Cubukcu, Ph.D.- Towson University
- Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice; Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice
- Expertise: Terrorism and extremism, policing and accountability, disinformation and social media, and malign use of unmanned technologies