Briana Clark, Regional Sales Manager East at Echodyne describes the threats and benefits that drones present for utilities sites.

Utilities security

During December 2024, “mystery drones” spotted over various locations in New Jersey caused widespread unease among residents and authorities alike.

For several days, the drones flew uninhibited, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to bar all drone flights above 22 utility locations throughout the state.

In November 2024, a Nashville power plant experienced an extremely close call.

A 24-year-old man was caught in his car, with a powered-up drone strapped with explosives.

Authorities thwarted his alleged plans to blow up the electrical substation moments before he had a chance to follow through.

These incidents underscore the increasing threat posed by drones, also referred to as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), over critical infrastructure.

Until recently, most utilities were hyper-focused on ground-based threats, but as more UAS fill our skies, ground-centric perimeter intrusion detection systems (PIDS) and command and control layers are simply no longer sufficient.

Further complicating the airspace is the emergence of “drones for good”, which are widely lauded as technology to bolster utility operations.

Applications include using drones for real-time aerial inspections, identification of maintenance needs or to monitor remote and hazardous areas.

The benefits include reducing the need for dangerous and cumbersome ground inspections, while improving operational efficiency.

With all this emerging airspace traffic, utilities now require advanced drone detection technology.

This system should not only allow them to secure the utilities’ perimeter against unauthorized drone incursions but also enable teams to tap into the operational benefits of owning their own drone fleet for inspections, surveillance and beyond.

Unauthorized drones

While utilities are no stranger to attacks, the drone threat is getting more sophisticated by the day.

According to a study by the RAND Corporation, the drone market has expanded enormously over the last decade, with new manufacturers flooding the market and making the aircraft increasingly affordable.

And those procuring drones for harm know that they are easily able to skirt legacy ground-based PIDS.

Drones are useful tools for conspirators who want to enact espionage, operational disruptions and acts of terror.

On the less nefarious side, utilities must also be aware of reckless hobbyist operators flying their drones unintentionally in utility airspace or exploring out of curiosity.

They, too, can do harm.

The bottom line: no matter the reason, any drone entering the utilities’ airspace unannounced is a cause for concern.

For utilities already privy to the “drone problem,” traditional, radio frequency (RF) based detection systems have been the gold-standard.

These systems operate by picking up on RF signals emitted by drones, allowing security to triangulate their location and, sometimes, locate the operator.

However, criminals have realized with minor modifications (removing the controller link, disabling the telemetry logs or flying by way of onboard GPS waypoints) they can skirt RF detection and turn their drones “dark” or “silent”.

Dark and silent drones also extend to legal flying, too.

Many new prototypes don’t emit RF signals either, such as drones that fly on cellular networks with SIM cards.

This means security teams relying on RF-based detection systems have a clear vulnerability, leaving this classification of drones undetected.

Drones as tools for good

On the other hand, drones are also proving to be a great tool for utilities, as they enable faster, safer inspections of powerlines, pipelines, substations and beyond.

They can also be useful to utilities sites for infrastructure assessments after a natural disaster or equipment failure.

Georgia Power Transmission Company looked to drone technology to help modernize its power line inspections program, sprawled across a diverse terrain full of forests, mountains and both urban and remote areas.

Since launching its UAS program in 2015, the utilities site has brought on 160 trained pilots and over 200 inspection drones.

The drone teams were able to inspect 7,000 structures across the span of eight months and spotted more than 5,000 abnormalities – four times more than discovered by ground crews over the same time period.

The utilities site further reported a 60% cost reduction in its inspection program.

Posing even more benefits to these types of programs is the emerging capability of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations.

Today, most drone inspection programs require the visual observer, or pilot, to maintain a line of sight with the drone as it operates, limiting how far and where the drone can fly.

However, the FAA has recently approved waiver projects that utilize advanced sensors like radar to safely monitor drones when they are out of the visual range of the pilot.

This has major advantages for both routine inspections, as well as inspections that must take place in harsh environments, inclement weather or after a natural disaster or accident strikes.

Comprehensive airspace awareness

With drones for both good and bad, it’s critical that utilities have the right kind of technology in place to monitor the sky.

A multi-layered drone detection solution, that can spot all drones, both those emitting RF signals and those that do not, is critical to maintaining true situational awareness.

Each “layer”, or sensor, serves a specific purpose, and when combined, they are stronger than any one sensor alone.

While a utility site might employ other sensors, from conventional RF to acoustic sensors and beyond, there are two foundational sensors that work in lockstep to detect all drones in the sky: radar and PTZ camera.

• Radar: Long-valued for identifying ground-based threats near secure perimeters, radar has evolved into the most reliable sensor for detecting all drones, including dark and silent drones that skirt RF detection systems. Radar operates by emitting energy and analyzing the reflected signals from various moving objects, allowing it to detect and track targets across long distances and in all-weather and lighting conditions. High-performance radar is also incredibly precise, differentiating between objects of similar size and speed, such as small drones and birds. Available in multiple range options, advanced radar systems can detect even the smallest drones at distances of 1km or more, providing security teams with critical early warning and the time needed to assess and respond to potential threats. This extended detection range is essential for safeguarding personnel and infrastructure, ensuring proactive threat mitigation rather than reactive defense. When using drones as tools, precision radar is critical for achieving lasting BVLOS operations, as it provides the comprehensive situational awareness necessary for flight operations to be conducted safely
• Cameras: Optical sensors, such as fixed and pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, play a key role in visually confirming both aerial and ground-based threats. While they have been effectively used to monitor security breaches, such as unauthorized persons entering the utility perimeter or the first signs of a fire, they are notoriously ineffective in poor weather or visually obstructed environments and when trying to track fast moving objects in the sky. For drone detection, and eyes on threat confirmation, cameras are cued by radar data and the camera capability is further boosted with a layer of advanced analytics

These two core sensors are must-haves in modern drone detection.

They feed the most precise data into the command-and-control layer, which provides security teams with a clear, real-time picture of airspace activity, empowering them to prioritize threats, recommend response protocols and log incidents over time.

The future of utility airspace management

Drones present both alarming security threats and a great opportunity to modernize and fortify utility sites.

By integrating advanced multi-layered detection systems, utility security can tap into the comprehensive situational awareness needed to ready their sites for all the new air traffic of today and what’s surely to come.

As utilities come to rely on drones for their own operational gains and learn how to manage their own fleets, the same detection tools and systems can enable them to protect their sites against evolving aerial threats.

This article was originally published in the special ISC West 2025 March edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.