AeroDefense Solves Urban and Airport Drone Detection Challenges with Small, Discreet Antenna and Fiber Deployment

AeroDefense announced a “Smart Drone Detection” deployment option for their proven AirWarden™ system. AirWarden’s existing four-inch, four-ounce detection antenna can now connect back to sensor electronics in a central location or data center over a fiber connection up to 20 kilometers away. Given its small size and weight, the antenna offers multiple mounting options to complement AirWarden’s Smart Drone Detection deployment model.

Linda Ziemba, Founder and CEO of AeroDefense, said, “Our ability to deploy over fiber connections is completely unique to the counter-UAS market and optimal for smart airports and cities and large areas in general. We are eager to help protect these critical sites where drone detection has either been unsuccessful or impossible.”

Urban environments challenge drone detection systems due to heavy radio frequency (RF) traffic. Complex structures that cause signal multipath and blockage issues necessitate high placement of equipment. Building owners may be reluctant to mount bulky hardware on their buildings. Similarly, airport runways cannot support bulky hardware mounting options. In both cases, aesthetics are important. While temporary deployments are sometimes considered a solution, this creates a gap in identifying nefarious actors who conduct test flights.

The AirWarden Smart Drone Detection deployment model allows for low profile, aesthetically pleasing drone detection that effectively detects, classifies, tracks, and locates drones and their pilots in heavy RF environments.

Smart cities can deploy fiber connected permanent antennas in critical areas and equip mobile command vehicles and marine vessels with the same small antenna and easily portable sensor electronics. Individual property owners can deploy on ethernet or fiber or wireless. At a smart airport, antennas can be deployed along runways and around airport perimeters.

AirWarden has been deployed in the congested RF environment of MetLife Stadium since 2018 and was recently successfully tested in New York City’s Times Square. Earlier this year, the National Institute of Aerospace selected AeroDefense for their inaugural Smart Airport and Aviation Partnership flightPlan Accelerator program.

For more information about AeroDefense’s Smart Drone Detection deployment, visit their web page.

Kim Stevens

Kim Stevens is the publisher of State Aviation Journal, which he founded in 2009. A longtime commercial-rated pilot, he was introduced to state aviation in 1992 as Director of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics, later serving as Deputy Division Director for the Arizona Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division. From 2013 to 2018, he was Director of Communications and Operations for the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) in Washington, D.C. Relocating to North Carolina, Kim worked for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport for two years and now concentrates solely on the Journal. Prior to his aviation career, Kim spent a decade in the newspaper and magazine business.