DRONES ARE CRASHING THE PARTY

An unwanted guest flew—and crashed—into the upper deck of Petco Park, San Diego, after a close shave with several fans during a Major League Baseball (MLB) game between the Padres and Diamondbacks this season. That guest? A drone.
This incident, early in the current season, comes on the heels of a drone crashing in recent years at PNC Park, Pittsburgh, and a drone crash landing into the stands of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York City.
Not only do these drones pose a nuisance to outdoor stadium operators, but the fear of something far more dangerous — such as a bomb-carrying device — brings drone safety to the forefront.
“If you look at what happened in Manchester (U.K.) and how ISIS is using drones to do strategic bombing, this is the next evolutionary step in urban warfare,” warns Jonathan Hunter, CEO of Department 13, a Maryland-based drone defense company. “Most people won’t even see it until it happens. People need to look at this.”
Hunter said that the majority of outdoor venues aren’t doing much to protect themselves against drones, and the federal government’s stance on drones isn’t helping matters either. Not only do drones not need to be registered, but the FAA treats them in the same category as a commercial airliner, Hunter said, which means legally companies aren’t allowed to defend themselves against the flying object.
MLB does prohibit drones around each of its ballparks, and the Padres chief operating officer told Sports Illustrated that the club vocally supports the City of San Diego’s recently enacted ordinance that enables police to enforce the FAA’s restrictions on operating drones near large public venues.
“There is some recognition from a strategy standpoint that we need to do something,” Hunter said. Department 13 has developed the MESMER system, an automated detection and mitigation strategy to stop, redirect or land drones across a range of scenarios. That strategy has amusement parks and other outdoor stadiums and venues reaching out to Department 13 to better understand how to detect drones and the next steps.
Hunter said they developed their system, called protocol manipulation, so they can “persuade” the drone’s radio to listen to them and take control of the drone, landing it safely in an area of their choosing. They chose this method because jamming a drone’s signal is illegal and shooting down a drone poses a variety of security threats. But even the Department 13 full strategy isn’t approved yet, forcing the MESMER system to right now focus on detection and monitoring. “We are working actively on Capital Hill to get language inserted to get counter drone solutions (allowed),” Hunter said.
Expect these policy changes to happen, Hunter said, when the big players — such as MLB, National Football League and Professional Golfers Association — get involved.
Still, the current legal language does allow the detection and identification of drones, tracking them as they fly. Hunter said venue operators can take steps right now in the realm of drone safety. He encourages them to contact their insurance company to make sure their liability coverage includes drones. Hunter said to set a “secure posture that prevents the use of drones,” everything from checking bags to making sure people aren’t bringing them into a venue to banning them in parking lots.
“The other thing they should start doing is advocating for the capability to protect their venue with counter-drone solutions,” he said. “There has to be more than just a detection-based solution.”