Super Bowl Experimental Radar Aims to Stop Drone Drama at Game

After rogue drone sightings halt flights, startup seeks permission to test tracking system at Sunday’s game

A Bill Gates-funded startup is seeking permission to test a new kind of drone detector at Sunday’s Super Bowl game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots in Atlanta.

Echodyne, a Seattle-based company launched out of Duke University in 2009, filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Sunday to operate two experimental radars “in the immediate vicinity” of Mercedes-Benz Stadium to “alert security personnel, including federal officers, of any unidentified drone activity during Super Bowl LIII”.

The drone tests would be conducted under the guidance and direction of the FBI. Atlanta police have said there will be a zero-tolerance policy for drones near the Super Bowl stadium, with hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement officers watching for illegal flights.

At Sunday’s game, Echodyne wants to deploy two radars the size of paperback books that it says can accurately detect and follow drones in three dimensions, up to a kilometer (0.6 miles) away. A short promotional video shows its radar tracking a small consumer drone with pinpoint accuracy.

“This operation is intended to evaluate the performance of the radar alongside other sensors in a real-world environment,” according to the filing.

Read the full story here

[Originally posted by The Guardian — January 28, 2019]

Super Bowl Experimental Radar Aims to Stop Drone Drama at Game

After rogue drone sightings halt flights, startup seeks permission to test tracking system at Sunday’s game

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