Drone Detection for Facilities and Airports
Security teams at airports, utilities, stadiums, and other critical sites need to know when a drone is overhead, whether it's authorized, and what to do about it, with a record that holds up when the FAA and law enforcement ask.
How it's done today
No single sensor sees every drone, so sites end up with several, each with its own software.
A radar with its own console
Good kinematics at range, but limited identification, and prone to birds and clutter.
RF and Remote ID detectors
Identify cooperative drones and control links, often through a vendor cloud service with seconds of delay and an internet dependency.
Cameras on a separate video system
Fixed and PTZ cameras that an operator has to point manually to confirm what the other sensors found.
Airspace information somewhere else
NOTAMs, TFRs, and authorizations checked by hand on another screen, if at all.
Where it breaks
The operator is the fusion engine. Three consoles report three alerts. A person has to decide whether they're one drone or three, under time pressure.
Authorized and unauthorized look the same. Without airspace and registration context next to the track, the authorized survey flight and the intruder trigger the same alarm.
Slow confirmation. Turning a camera onto a radar track by hand takes long enough that the drone is often gone.
Cloud dependency. Detection that relies on a vendor cloud adds latency and stops when the connection drops.
No evidence package. When the FAA, police, or federal partners ask for a timeline, it has to be rebuilt from screenshots and exports from each system.
With Empyrean
Every sensor connects to one platform that fuses them into a single air picture, adds airspace context, and applies your response policies, while a person stays in charge of every decision.
One track per drone
Radar, RF, Remote ID, acoustic, and camera detections are correlated into one track, with a record of which sensors contributed and how confident the identification is.
Local, real-time Remote ID
LAN-connected Remote ID receivers such as the Dronetag Scout feed tracks in real time with no cloud round trip, and keep working without internet.
Cameras that cue themselves
A radar or RF track can cue ONVIF PTZ cameras for visual confirmation, with computer vision detections projected onto the map.
Airspace and identity context
Each track carries airspace classification, active restrictions, FAA registration data, and Part 107 and Part 108 context, so authorized flights stand out from the rest.
Escalation by policy
Range rings and geofences trigger alerts and escalation steps you define, with human-in-the-loop or two-person approval where your rules require it.
Evidence and handoff
Every detection, decision, and action is logged on one timeline that can be shared with partners, including onto their ATAK devices.
In practice
A regional airport has a radar on the terminal roof, Remote ID receivers on two light poles, and PTZ cameras covering both runway ends. A drone appears 1.5 km off the end of runway 27.
The radar and a Remote ID receiver see it within seconds, and Empyrean merges them into one track with the operator's location and the drone's registration. The airport's policy marks it as an alert because it's inside the airport's controlled airspace with no matching authorization, and the nearest PTZ camera turns to it automatically. The operations manager sees one track with its identity, its location relative to the runway, and live video, and decides whether to notify the tower and local police. The whole sequence, from first detection to the decision, is on one timeline for the follow-up report.
For airport-specific detail, see Aviation & Airports.
What you still need
- Sensors suited to your site. Empyrean fuses the radars, RF detectors, Remote ID receivers, and cameras you choose; it doesn't replace them.
- Mitigation authority. In the US, jamming, spoofing, or taking control of a drone is limited to specifically authorized federal agencies. Most facilities detect, track, document, and hand off.
- Site planning. Sensor placement and coverage still need to be designed for your terrain and buildings.
Built on
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
Can a facility detect drones if it can't take them down?
Yes. Detection, tracking, and documentation are separate from mitigation, which US law restricts to specifically authorized agencies. Most airports and facilities detect and hand off to the authorized responders.
Which sensors does Empyrean work with?
Radars, RF and Remote ID detectors, acoustic sensors, and EO/IR cameras, including ONVIF PTZ cameras. The full list is on the Integrations page.
How does it tell an authorized flight from an intruder?
Each track is checked against Remote ID, FAA registration data, and the airspace context at its position, such as active restrictions. That context appears on the track itself, so operators don't have to look it up.
Does it need an internet connection?
No. Empyrean runs on-premises or air-gapped, and locally connected sensors keep working without internet. Internet-based enrichment resumes when the connection returns.
Can we test our setup before an incident?
Yes. The same fusion and policy engine runs in Empyrean's simulation and wargaming environment, so you can rehearse scenarios, including dense multi-drone ones, before the real thing.
Read next
See one air picture for your site
Tell us which sensors you have or are considering, and we'll show you what they look like fused.