Great Lakes Drone Company Partners with Fortem Technologies to Prevent Disruption and Ensure Spectator Safety During Performances

In a new approach for safe airspace integrations for their ever-popular drone light show services, Great Lakes Drone Company has partnered with Fortem Technologies for airspace management and mitigation for their show performance venues. The Fortem SkyDome solution will be installed in Great Lakes Command Trailer for the 2019 performance season. This state-of-the-art technology will allow Great Lakes Drone Company to see any threats quickly and accurately during performances, as well as help their venues mitigate any potential rogue drone incursions during airshows or festivals.

Technology is rapidly changing, and safe airspace integration is key to the ever-evolving industry. In 2018 Great Lakes had to shut down one of their performances early as a curious spectator flew their drone too close to the performance box. When running 60, 100, 200 drones in the air at a time it’s very hard for someone to know where all the drones are. They also will not know where they will be going if they are not actively involved in the operation. “The Fortem SkyDome solution provides an added layer of safety and security to our performances,” says Matt Quinn, CEO Great Lakes Drone Company. “This partnership will also allow us to provide UAS airspace mitigation for the two largest aviation events in the world, with SUN ‘n FUN and EAA Air Adventure in Oshkosh, not to mention all three of the AOPA Fly-In’s in 2019. This helps us take safety to a whole new level for everyone.”

Fortem Technologies is an innovative leader in AI-enabled airspace security and safety. Fortem delivers a commercially available solution that alerts, identifies and classifies drones and other unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) through its rich geofencing technology in the sky. “We are happy to partner with Great Lakes Drone Company to help ensure safe events for not only their audiences, but to help protect the investments they have made in their drone fleet. Fortem is the only vendor that controls and owns all the technology end-to-end to provide a turnkey, robust and maintainable solution that is “fit for use” to protect against all drones, day and night, flying on waypoints or emitting RF.” said Gregg Pugmire, VP WW sales of Fortem Technologies.