Optimization of the Placement Topology of Spatially Distributed Receiving and Transmitting Posts for the Detection of Small UAVs in the Conditions of a “Smart City”

Abstract

Introduced in almost all megacities of the world, the concept of “smart city” implies the integration of information and communication technologies for the management of urban property. This concept is designed to make the life of people in the city better and more convenient. One of the directions of the development of the “smart city” is the active use of unmanned vehicles in urban space, including unmanned aerial vehicles. Already, UAVs are actively used for filming urban mass events for media coverage, traffic control, delivery of small loads, etc. Experts' forecasts indicate an inevitable increase in the number of UAVs used in urban space in the next 2–3 years. Under such conditions, the problem arises of controlling the movement of UAVs in the airspace of the city. This task is especially acute when monitoring small UAVs. This is through difficulties in installing on-board transponders for air traffic control systems on such UAVs due to the small dimensions of the UAV and restrictions on the payload mass. Also, the experience of recent years shows, small UAVs can be used by terrorist organizations to carry out terrorist acts. One of the ways to organize UAV air traffic control in urban space and to detect UAV intruders is to use low-power multi-position radar systems. This article is devoted to the optimization of the placement topology of spatially distributed transceiver posts for the detection of small UAVs in the conditions of a “smart city”. In particular, the procedure of optimization of the position placement for the case of “one transmitting position - many receiving positions” is considered taking into account the accuracy of multi-position location of UAVs. Based on the simulation results for the case of “one transmitting position - many receiving positions”, the following results were obtained: optimum by the criteria of the maximum volume or by the criteria of the maximum coverage area is the uniform circular placement of receiving positions around the betraying one, while optimization reduces to find the radius of the circle at which the volume or coverage area is maximized, i.e. optimization is one-dimensional; the volume of the coverage area of a multi-position radar is much bigger than the volume of the coverage area of a single-position radar with one transmitting and receiving position; to perform multi-position location, detect UAVs from different angles and determine the full speed of the target, you can spread the receiving positions and arrange them in a circle around the transmitting position, sacrificing the volume of the coverage area; the accuracy of determining the location will increase with increasing distance from the transmitting position until the signal-to-noise ratio drops so much that the accuracy of determining the location begins to decrease, while the volume of the coverage area decreases. There is an optimal removal of receiving positions from the transmitting one, which ensures the smallest root mean square error of location determination.