AeroDefense founding CEO Linda Ziemba explains the AirWarden™ system for drone detection as well as the complex legal hurdles that must be considered.

Guest

Linda Ziemba is the founding CEO of AeroDefense. The company’s AirWarden™ system detects and locates both drones and pilots simultaneously. This provides actionable intelligence for security teams to respond to drone threats.

Linda explains the legality of drone detection and mitigation systems, which revolves around three main factors:

First, since small UAS are categorized as aircraft, drones have the same protections as transport airplanes. Simply put, you can not take a drone down if you don’t like what it is doing.

Second, 47 U.S. Code § 333 (Willful or Malicious Interference) states that “No person shall willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communications of any station licensed or authorized by or under this chapter or operated by the United States Government.”

And finally, privacy and wiretapping laws mean you cannot intercept and open communications. 

Penalties for infractions include large fines and prison time.

AeroDefence responded to these realities by pivoting from drone detection and mitigation to just drone detection. Sensors detect the characteristics of RF transmissions and match those to a database of drone RF profiles based on the chipsets they use.