Use of unmanned aerial vehicles for delivering prohibited items to correctional institutions and possible ways to combat them
Prohibited items and substances have been smuggled into correctional institutions since their inception and will be smuggled as long as these institutions continue to function. Technological progress sets ever new challenges for restricted access facilities, including the institutions of the RF Federal Penitentiary Service. In recent years, penitentiary institutions have recorded dozens of attempts to deliver prohibited items (drugs, mobile devices, alcohol, etc.) by unmanned aerial vehicles to a closed area. Currently, the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia is developing and implementing equipment that will allow detecting and blocking drones, quadrocopters and other unmanned aerial vehicles near correctional facilities and pre-trial detention centers. Protection against the quadcopter's unwanted penetration into the restricted access area is to take control over it and land it in a designated place. When an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) approaches the territory of the correctional facility, the detection system is triggered, it determines the UAV's unique identification number and then proceeds to seize control over it. At any time of the day and regardless of weather and other conditions, excluding the influence of the human factor, the protection system is able to independently detect the UAV and land it in a designated place. The system is able to intercept it not only when it is trying to cross the perimeter, but also when it is approaching a restricted access facility at a distance of several hundred meters. The fight against small-sized quadrocopters has long been massive; there are dozens of ready-made solutions for protecting any objects, including correctional facilities. One of these solutions may be a perimeter security radar complex: the control of airspace over a facility and its adjacent territory with the help of radar stations is a traditional way of detecting air targets.