Attack on the drones

British Telecom (BT) is fighting back against protected airspace violations and illegal drone operators.

In partnership with DroneShield, BT has announced a new counter-drone program designed to defend against breach of airspace and site limits. Sold through BT’s Enterprise business unit, the system will be powered by multi-sensor IoT technology with a real-time alert system to the security teams in a 5-kilometer range, and 360⁰ detection coverage.

“Unwanted drone activity can have a dramatic effect on an organisation’s ability to function effectively and poses a real risk to safety,” said BT director of strategy and incubation, Simon Wingrove. “We believe that this partnership between BT and DroneShield will provide our customers with a best-in-class, integrated and secure drone detection solution.”

DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik added: “The recent disruptions at Gatwick and Heathrow airports have underscored the importance of counter-drone capabilities for the UK’s critical infrastructure, as well as the fact that a range of corporate and public sector operators including security and law enforcement agencies, prisons, venues and events, datacentres, VIPs, and many others, are at risk from rogue drone use.”

The highly-publicised disruptions at Gatwick airport happened last Christmas when drone sightings caused delays or cancellations of approximately 1,000 flights affecting nearly 150,000 passengers. BT’s service will enable organisations to detect, track and identify drones breaching their site limits as well as let users gather evidence to report and build up knowledge of any drone activity in and around their sites. This information then could be used to put preventative measures in place.

The service can also be extended to offer countermeasures, such as fixed signal blockers to jam radio operating equipment and portable drone disruptors.

Sources:

BT gears up to take on rouge drones, Computer Weekly

BT launches system to counter and disrupt illegal drone use, EandT

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