Photos courtesy of Virginia Tech
Marty Gordon
Virginia Tech experts are weighing in on the phenomenon of rising drone sightings around the country at night.
Andrea L’Afflitto, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
Before coming to Blacksburg. L’Afflitto served as an assistant professor at the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma from 2015 to 2019. His research in autonomy, aerial robotics, and control theory is being supported by multiple funding agencies, including the Army Research Lab (ARL), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
According to L’Afflitto, to date, so-called drones (uncrewed aerial vehicles, UAVs) have been easily distinguished from classical crewed aircraft for their dimension and the clear space allocated for pilots in the case of crewed vehicles. “Public images of the UAV sightings in NJ, which sparked so much interest lately, are not sufficiently clear to make such a determination. However, it is likely that these vehicles are uncrewed,” he said.
Multiple drone sightings continue to cause concern in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Now, more are being reported up and down the East Coast including Virginia. Some have been spotted near airports and military sites. The first were seen in New Jersey about a month ago. Since then, people are looking to the sky and seeing lights and slow moving “drones”.
National Security officials say there is not a threat, and instead are calling the increased media attention simply hysteria.
“The population is paying considerably more attention to UAVs since this technology has become so popular in the media and easily accessible to the general public,” said L’Afflitto.
“In the past, at times in which the sci-fi literature was blooming, many aerial vehicles for non-civilian uses have been spotted by the public, and, sometimes, mistaken for aliens. In 1960s, in Russia, with the right light conditions, people could spot American U2 aircraft that seemed tiny shining dots at the horizon, and they did not know what to make of them. It is reasonable to expect that in the future, it will become increasingly common to see UAVs just like we presently see civilian aircraft traversing the sky and do not wonder where they are from, where they go, and what their scopes are.”
Questions remain, and the public and governmental leaders keep scratching their heads about the lack of answers. Drone-detecting devices were deployed in New Jersey this past week and have found no evidence of the drones being threatening.
More and more people are wondering what they are really seeing and if there is a true difference in what are in the skies in comparison of small aircraft versus the unmanned kind.
Tombo Jones is the director of Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP), one of only seven FAA-designated UAS test sites. Jones, his team, and Virginia Tech’s National Security Institute are leading the charge in addressing critical threats posed by the rise of commercial-off-the-shelf UAS and systems manufactured by foreign adversaries.
As the technologies evolve, detecting and mitigating the threats of drones becomes even more essential.
“It can be difficult to detect drones, determine their intent, and keep drones away from sensitive areas or critical infrastructure,” said Jones. “There are different systems designed or in development to detect and counter drones, but they each have strengths and weaknesses. Understanding which systems work best in different environments and which systems should be paired with one another to provide robust security is a complex problem,” Jones said.
Drones are described as aircraft that can fly without a pilot on board and can be controlled by a human or by an integrated or external computer. The two main types of drones are fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter-like drones with single or multiple rotors.
As the technologies evolve, detecting and mitigating the threats of drones becomes even more essential. “It can be difficult to detect drones, determine their intent, and keep drones away from sensitive areas or critical infrastructure,” said Jones. “There are different systems designed or in development to detect and counter drones, but they each have strengths and weaknesses. Understanding which systems work best in different environments and which systems should be paired with one another to provide robust security is a complex problem.”
Images currently available online of the latest sightings suggest the size of these vehicles ranges between that of a glider to that of a compact car. However, the quality of images is poor, says
L’Afflitto, and the UAV’s altitude is unclear. So, it is rather difficult to make educated guesses.
“What strikes me is that these UAVs are equipped with lights, some of which appear to be FAA-compliant. If the intent was that of being unseen, then why having those lights, which help disclose the UAV’s position and give some hint about their size. State-of-the-art technology for remote sensing (to observe the Earth from afar) does not need visible light and state-of-the-art sensors to enable UAV navigation do not need visible light either. It is unlikely that those lights are used to aid any of these functions,” he said.
Technology to track objects in the sky is extremely powerful and the US National airspace is very well monitored. But L’Afflitto is quick to point out tracking small UAVs flying very low is more challenging but definitely within possibility for current technology available to civil and military authorities.
“The fact that very little information is being disclosed to the public is not to be mistaken with a complete lack of information from the authorities. In most investigations, information is carefully disclosed and with very specific intents,” he said.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin also took a moment this week to address the increasing sightings here and other places in the country.
“The Commonwealth of Virginia is home to a significant number of national security and critical infrastructure sites upon which our nation depends each and every day. I remain deeply concerned that Virginia has consistently sought information from federal partners, and to date, the information shared with the Commonwealth has been insufficient,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“The Virginia State Police Homeland Security Division and Virginia Department of Emergency Management continue to closely coordinate through our Fusion Center with the greater law enforcement and first responder community regarding drone activity in the Commonwealth. We will continue to engage with numerous federal partners and release further information as it becomes known and available.”
The public at-large can continue to assist the Commonwealth by reporting observations to the Virginia Fusion Center at VFC@vfc.vsp.virginia.gov or (877) 4VA-TIPS.
As a final remark, L’Afflitto adds the following: there is a very significant number of spacecrafts deployed by many nations that orbit the Earth and are capable of observing very small details on ground and, in some cases, not too deep underground.
“These spacecrafts have been operating for decades to observe other nations’ assets, and yet the overwhelming majority of the population is unaware of these activities, which are very well documented in specialized technical and scientific literature. It is unclear what these UAVs may be able to see that would not be possible to see with more discrete means. Perhaps, a more interesting question lies in whether these vehicles may voluntarily or involuntarily cause a physical threat to infrastructure and people,” he said.
