Concerns over drones devised and controlled by bad guys have led to the emergence of drone detection technology providers such as Dedrone, which uses a multi-sensor system to detect drones in a given area.
Drones have become an increasingly useful tool for security, as they are able to fly over and monitor areas that are otherwise not so accessible to humans. However, while most drones are put to good use, there are “bad drones” that can do more harm than good.
“The concern is such that people are using these drones, putting some explosives on them and flying them into a stadium. If you think about the fact that the European football championship is now taking place," said Christian Scheibe, Senior Sales Engineer of Dedrone. “Also, the problem that often occurs is at prisons, where people are smuggling in contraband into a prison by flying a drone over the fence and dropping the package where the people are walking outside or flying directly to a window.”
Concerns over drones devised and controlled by bad guys have led to the emergence of drone detection technology providers such as Dedrone, which uses a multi-sensor system to detect drones in the area. These sensors include audio/ultrasonic acoustic sensors that detect the sound of drones, Wi-Fi sensors that detect Wi-Fi signals of drones, and daylight and infrared cameras that monitor the airspace around the premises during day and night.
“We make ourselves unique because we are the only company who is offering a multi-sensor system,” Scheibe said. “Most of our competitors are only using a single sensor like radar, but the problem with radar is that it’s more of a military solution that's much more expensive than our system.”
The system can further be integrated with third-party drone defense solutions so that once an unwanted drone is detected, it can take the necessary “countermeasures” based on the user’s preference.
“You can inform your security people by e-mail, by SMS, by telephone, telling them there is an incident in this area,” Scheibe said. “While it's not shooting down the drone or aim at it in anyway, you can trigger from this system third-party solutions like jammers (that interfere with the drone’s remote control frequency or GPS signal).”
Already, the system has been deployed in certain large-scale arenas and facilities, for example Citi Field, home to the New York Mets, as well as the Suffolk County Prison, one of the largest correctional facilities in New York State.
“There are unauthorized drones flying into airspace, breaching photograph and video rights, and endangering the general public and players. The good news is that we have a technical solution to the problem,” Scheibe said.