A method may include obtaining connection-related data associated with user equipment (UE) devices operating in a network, wherein the UE devices include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and devices other than UAVs. The method may include storing the connection-related data; identifying, in the stored connection-related data, data associated with known UAVs and filtering the stored connection-related data based on a distance associated with a known UAV. The method may further include training a machine learning classifier using the filtered data and executing the machine learning classifier to identity UAVs operating in the network.