MetLife Stadium, home to the National Football League’s New York Jets and New York Giants, has selected AirWarden—the drone detection system from AeroDefense, a provider of domestically legal drone detection systems—to provide an early warning system for drones.

Also the host of large scale events such as concerts, international soccer, and college football games, MetLife Stadium began evaluating various types of drone detection systems in 2017, including radar, radio frequency (RF), acoustic, and camera systems. According to Daniel DeLorenzi, vice president Security & Safety Services at MetLife Stadium, RF proved to be the best option. 

“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,” DeLorenzi says. “Therefore, it’s possible that we can detect the drone before it even takes off.”

AirWarden notifies MetLife Stadium security staff when a controller or UAS is detected so that they can immediately respond. To ensure reliable detection and a low false-positive rate, the system has undergone extensive testing in a stadium environment.

“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,” explains Linda Ziemba, founding CEO of AeroDefense.

“So we’ve worked diligently with MetLife Stadium and our team of developers to optimize the detection capabilities of our AirWarden system.”

Various types of UAS have been interdicted by MetLife Stadium and local law enforcement thanks to the early warning that the AirWarden system provides.