DroneShield’s Deployment Results in Arrest at College Football Game

[BigAl07]

On August 31, 2019, DroneShield’s system was being utilised at the opening game of the football season at a major college team stadium. This deployment was part of the university’s efforts to provide protection against unmanned aerial vehicles. (See the link below for the FULL story . . .)

DroneShield’s Deployment Results in Arrest at College Football Game

On August 31, 2019, DroneShield’s system was being utilised at the opening game of the football season at a major college team stadium. This deployment was part of the university’s efforts to provi…

www.suasnews.com

And for anyone who isn't aware of what DroneShield is here is their website directly:

What We Do | DroneShield

Detect. Assess. Respond. DroneShield provides protection against drones threatening safety, security and privacy. Our state of the art detection and countermeasure products aid your security force against the significant and growing th

www.droneshield.com

 

[Thomas B]

Looks like “Do not fly over crowds” is becoming an enforceable reality.
I’d hate to have to watch the sky instead of the game to feel safe.

 

[dirkclod]

Bad enough looking out for flying beer hitting ya in the back of the head.

 

[ZX14-R]

I would like to see the ROI on Droneshield deployment and what the legal requirements are to enable/operate Droneshield?

What were the penalties imposed on the offender(s)?

Why dont all the spectators use their Guns and shoot it out of the sky ??

 

[Thomas B]

I would like to see the ROI on Droneshield deployment and what the legal requirements are to enable/operate Droneshield?

Look it up and educate us please.

What were the penalties imposed on the offender(s)?

Dunno

Why dont all the spectators use their Guns and shoot it out of the sky ??

Prohibition on firearms in the stadium

 

[dirkclod]

Why dont all the spectators use their Guns and shoot it out of the sky ??

That remark was uncalled for .So no more of it thank you.

 

[BigAl07]

I would like to see the ROI on Droneshield deployment and what the legal requirements are to enable/operate Droneshield?

When you're working with Public Safety we don't really expect or track a ROI.... I mean how do you put a dollar amount on Safety to begin with? I can tell you this much.... if I was the Incident Commander or the guy in charge of Safety and we not only disabled but located and arrested the offender I would call that a WIN in a very large level. I'd tell the person in charge of researching, testing, and purchasing that unit "JOB WELL DONE!"

What were the penalties imposed on the offender(s)?

That's a very interesting question. I would imagine there will be "local" citations as well as, HOPEFULLY some Federal ones to set a precedence going forward. This is definitely one to watch for everyone in the industry (hobby or commercial).

Why dont all the spectators use their Guns and shoot it out of the sky ??

As already stated that's not going to fly around here. Let's just pretend you did NOT say that shall we?????

 

[RickinWaST]

Thanks sharing the article. Now, I’m interested in learning more about the technology used behind Droneshield.

 

[SIT]

Thanks sharing the article. Now, I’m interested in learning more about the technology used behind Droneshield.

Interesting Thread! I was told today that all Australian military airspace is monitored with Aeroscope. DJI AeroScope - Drone Security Solutions - DJI
Makes sense, If you want to fly get a permit and do it properly.

 

[JAW]

I remember seeing a blip on this from ESPN. It occurred at Michigan U's stadium filled with 110,000 fans. Two non-students were arrested and released pending arrest warrants for violating Michigan and FAA statutes

2 arrested in Michigan Stadium drone incident

Two people were arrested for allegedly flying a drone over Michigan Stadium during the Wolverines' football season opener against Middle Tennessee State.

www.espn.com

 

[Skywatcher2001]

2 arrested in Michigan Stadium drone incident

Two people were arrested for allegedly flying a drone over Michigan Stadium during the Wolverines' football season opener against Middle Tennessee State.

www.espn.com

These incidents are not helping us. These are rogue pilots/idiots (no different) than the moron cutting doughnuts in the parking lot or the idiot streaking across the field of play. All are moronic behavior but pilots bare the brunt of the offenses. It's the public's understanding of a screeching car (no big deal), or a streaker (pretty funny) and a perceived threat from above (on no). What an uphill battle. . . .

 

[AnzacJack]

Interesting Thread! I was told today that all Australian military airspace is monitored with Aeroscope. DJI AeroScope - Drone Security Solutions - DJI
Makes sense, If you want to fly get a permit and do it properly.

Haha, they wish.
They are having enough issues trying to operate the massive fleet of drones they spent $ on and now finding security protocols are not allowing them to work.

 

[Firejay27]

I'm kinda looking for more on this story and the circumstances around it. ESPN story says they were flying over the south end of the stadium BUT it doesnt say if they were over the south end or outside the south end. FAA rules say that you cant fly over a stadium during an event but what about flying around the outside over the parking lot areas or further? You're not over people or over the stadium. It's the same rules the Goodyear blimp follows as they cant fly directly over the a stadium as well. How close to the stadium is consider OVER the stadium and how close does DroneShield flag something. I have colleges around me that you can be 100 yards away from the stadium seating top rows and not be over anyone.

 

[wsteele]

I'm kinda looking for more on this story and the circumstances around it. ESPN story says they were flying over the south end of the stadium BUT it doesnt say if they were over the south end or outside the south end. FAA rules say that you cant fly over a stadium during an event but what about flying around the outside over the parking lot areas or further? You're not over people or over the stadium. It's the same rules the Goodyear blimp follows as they cant fly directly over the a stadium as well. How close to the stadium is consider OVER the stadium and how close does DroneShield flag something. I have colleges around me that you can be 100 yards away from the stadium seating top rows and not be over anyone.

So I take a little offense to your post. You’re splitting hairs to believe its ‘s ok to fly just outside the stadium as long as you’re not flying over people. If you’re not supposed to fly over public schools while in session why would you think it would be ok to fly over college campuses while school is in session, especially on game day. For pro games(baseball, football, etc) there’s a NFZ of at least 1/2 mile. The drone operator would have to had modified the drone software (assuming a production drone lik DJI) to fly in the no fly zone. And comparing a drone probably flown by an idiot to the Goodyear Blimp flown by a licensed pilot and with in depth authorizations from the FAA and the sports organization is a faulty analogy.

If we don’t want to be regulated into the ground we all need to error on the side of conservative, safe flying, as perception is everything.

 

[BigAl07]

So I take a little offense to your post. You’re splitting hairs to believe its ‘s ok to fly just outside the stadium as long as you’re not flying over people. If you’re not supposed to fly over public schools while in session why would you think it would be ok to fly over college campuses while school is in session, especially on game day. For pro games(baseball, football, etc) there’s a NFZ of at least 1/2 mile. The drone operator would have to had modified the drone software (assuming a production drone lik DJI) to fly in the no fly zone. And comparing a drone probably flown by an idiot to the Goodyear Blimp flown by a licensed pilot and with in depth authorizations from the FAA and the sports organization is a faulty analogy.

If we don’t want to be regulated into the ground we all need to error on the side of conservative, safe flying, as perception is everything.

I think you hit it square on especially with your last sentence!! BINGO!!

 

[Bob4131]

I'm kinda looking for more on this story and the circumstances around it. ESPN story says they were flying over the south end of the stadium BUT it doesnt say if they were over the south end or outside the south end. FAA rules say that you cant fly over a stadium during an event but what about flying around the outside over the parking lot areas or further? You're not over people or over the stadium. It's the same rules the Goodyear blimp follows as they cant fly directly over the a stadium as well. How close to the stadium is consider OVER the stadium and how close does DroneShield flag something. I have colleges around me that you can be 100 yards away from the stadium seating top rows and not be over anyone.

I just looked at the restriction for today's Clemson football game vs FSU. There is a TFR with nearly a 2 mile radius that starts before the game and ends after game is finished. So you have to stay well beyond the stadium walls. So that is the simple answer.
For Division 2 schools that do not have TFRs then you might be able to fly outside the stadium but not over people or moving traffic. However most colleges have restrictions on launch, control and landing of UAVs on campus. So to maintain VLOS, you may have a tough time finding a location where you have permission to launch that is close enough to the stadium to maintain VLOS. Also most stadiums are surrounded by huge parking lots so insuring someone isn't getting out of their parked car just as you fly over is nearly impossible. I am sure there are other logistical issues to doing this while following the regulations.
I would suggest just watching the game in person or on TV.

 

[Firejay27]

So I take a little offense to your post. You’re splitting hairs to believe its ‘s ok to fly just outside the stadium as long as you’re not flying over people. If you’re not supposed to fly over public schools while in session why would you think it would be ok to fly over college campuses while school is in session, especially on game day. For pro games(baseball, football, etc) there’s a NFZ of at least 1/2 mile. The drone operator would have to had modified the drone software (assuming a production drone lik DJI) to fly in the no fly zone. And comparing a drone probably flown by an idiot to the Goodyear Blimp flown by a licensed pilot and with in depth authorizations from the FAA and the sports organization is a faulty analogy.

If we don’t want to be regulated into the ground we all need to error on the side of conservative, safe flying, as perception is everything.

Splitting hairs or asking for a full clarification of the real rules. There are definitely some assumptions made regarding the story as there was a lot of information left out. You said it yourself with the statement of flying over college campus while in session. Story didn't say that they were over the college campus or actually over people. The stadiums near my house are actually off campus with public buildings around them and not campus property and no students in the area. The rules specifically state that you can not fly over a stadium during an event. Define "over"... which is the same question one may ask if you are on a beach or in a park with very few people in it. If someone walks under your drone are you now flying over them? (Yes) but if you're flying and there's no people directly under you you're not flying over people. Same holds true for a stadium I would think. I've I'm over a field that sits next to the stadium or water that's next to the stadium (think SF Giants Stadium) am I technically breaking the rules since I'm not over the stadium or over people?

That's where my statement comes from specifically because the story states they were using a drone tracking/detector. What range are those things actually tracking at to where you need to stay away. Works both ways.. yes drone operators need to be cautious and wary of their surroundings but at what point to people start putting these monitoring things around and start calling the cops when in fact you may be flying totally legally... whether that be a stadium, public park, public beach, etc...

 

[israelshirk]

From their site... Kind of gives away the farm. I’m NDA’d on tech I’ve built, but analyzing other people’s stuff and common-knowledge stuff is fine... So!

What they have are a variety of RF receivers and small-scale phased-array radars which are able to identify paired transceiver signals (transmitting control, receiving telemetry, etc). In response for some reason these guys have handheld jammers (I didn’t see any gimbaled ones, but could have just missed them) which will take down WiFi, LoRa (anything iot or weather station related), or even old school futaba transmitters (which is hilarious since they’re not blocking other frequencies which are more common). They also block GPS/GNSS to disable RTH functionality on relevant drones.

The phased-array radars are actually really cool, I originally looked at them for use in SAR since they can track moving bodies 5km out at 1mph.

All that said, these systems are easily defeated as bad guys simply don’t play by the rules; and red-teaming against these types of “The bad guy will be inept and therefore play by the rules” defenses inevitably results in red team victory.

(Standard stuff: I’m not NDA’d against red teaming, but I only do it in white hat scenarios under appropriate chain of command/chain of trust)

 

[israelshirk]

(Oh, in summary? That means they can force your DJI stuff to land and know where you flew from)

 

[wsteele]

Splitting hairs or asking for a full clarification of the real rules. There are definitely some assumptions made regarding the story as there was a lot of information left out. You said it yourself with the statement of flying over college campus while in session. Story didn't say that they were over the college campus or actually over people. The stadiums near my house are actually off campus with public buildings around them and not campus property and no students in the area. The rules specifically state that you can not fly over a stadium during an event. Define "over"... which is the same question one may ask if you are on a beach or in a park with very few people in it. If someone walks under your drone are you now flying over them? (Yes) but if you're flying and there's no people directly under you you're not flying over people. Same holds true for a stadium I would think. I've I'm over a field that sits next to the stadium or water that's next to the stadium (think SF Giants Stadium) am I technically breaking the rules since I'm not over the stadium or over people?

That's where my statement comes from specifically because the story states they were using a drone tracking/detector. What range are those things actually tracking at to where you need to stay away. Works both ways.. yes drone operators need to be cautious and wary of their surroundings but at what point to people start putting these monitoring things around and start calling the cops when in fact you may be flying totally legally... whether that be a stadium, public park, public beach, etc...

I think Bob4131 stated it better than me. A 2 mile radius no fly zone is imposed around major outdoor sporting events. As stated previously, this was a major sporting event. If you’re a responsible op you check any of the available apps for TFRs before you fly. These students didn’t want to watch the game. They didn’t need clarification of the rules and regulations. They wanted recognition for breaking the rules (not fact, my opinion).
I’ve seen great shots taken on a public beach Where the op is 100 plus ft and over the water rather than over the populated beach Thus exercising caution and safety.
i think that if your intentions are good and you THINK, you’ll be able to differentiate between safe legal flying and unsafe and/or illegal flying.
When I fly I try to explain to bystanders that my drone is programmed not to fly near airports and other NFZs and that I always try to fly above 150 ft over others property to minimize privacy concerns, etc. But when it comes to drones, the old adage, one “a*s**t cancels out 10 attaboys Is not correct. It Probably cancels out 100 or 1,000 attaboys. and just provides fuel to legislators to impose so many laws and regulations that it might eventually shut down most recreational flying.