The Minnesota Twins were leading the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 in the fifth inning when a drone appeared, hovering over home plate at Minneapolis’s Target Field. A timeout was called. No one seemed to know what to do. A few days later, a similar scenario played out in Fenway Park, followed by drone incidents at several more games this season.
Small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), commonly referred to as drones, are ubiquitous, diverse, and increasingly cheaper and faster to market. Their small size, relative durability and vast range of capabilities make them a vexing target for security services, because dealing with sUAS detection means making split-second decisions between what could be a hobbyist’s gadget or a weaponized aerial vehicle carrying a dangerous payload. The drone surveillance challenge lies in proper drone detection and intelligent mitigation, which can only be achieved via a thorough understanding of the rogue drone event lifecycle.