MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Jets and Giants NFL American football teams, has selected AeroDefense to provide an early warning system for drones flying close to the venue.
The AirWarden drone detection system will be utilised to notify MetLife Stadium security staff if a controller or drone is detected in the vicinity of the venue. The system has been extensively tested in stadium environments to ensure reliable detection and a low false-positive rate.
As well as hosting the Jets and Giants, MetLife Stadium hosts concerts, association football matches and college American football games. The stadium is close to Teterboro Airport, where there are significant FAA regulations in place that govern the flying of drones.
The agreement has been signed after the stadium in 2017 began to evaluate different types of drone detection systems, including radar, radio frequency (RF), acoustic and camera systems.
Daniel DeLorenzi, vice-president of security and safety services at MetLife Stadium, said: “RF is currently the best solution to identify where the drone and operator are, and the only one that we found that can detect the drone and controller when the RF connection is first established. Therefore, it’s possible that we can detect the drone before it even takes off.”
Linda Ziemba, founding chief executive of AeroDefense, added: “During NFL tailgating, the background RF noise at MetLife Stadium can be significantly greater than a normal urban environment. This is due to fans live-streaming television, using cell phones, dashcams, and even WiFi-enabled tailgating grills. So we’ve worked diligently with MetLife Stadium and our team of developers to optimise the detection capabilities of our AirWarden system.”
Image: Anthony Quintano
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