Airport Business - 36

SECURITY
AUTHOR Mike Stokes

LAYER SURVEILLANCE RADAR TECHNOLOGY INTO
PHYSICAL SECURITY SOLUTIONS FOR REAL-TIME
DETECTION OF THREATS AT AIRPORT SITES
Drone incursions into airport airspace require more robust security solutions.
LARGE, MEDIUM and even small-sized airports
operate huge physical locations with extensive
perimeters and a host of critical areas that must
be guarded against a number of intrusions.
A few of the primary vulnerabilities
of most airport perimeters include the
vast size of the perimeter and, in some
cases, remote or isolated areas around
the airport or airport property that
are infrequently patrolled. Because of
these vulnerabilities, humans on foot
or in vehicles can pose serious threats
to life and property, not to mention
the financial and public relations costs
arising from airport shutdowns, theft,
and vandalism.
Another more recent concern for
airports is the growing frequency of
drone incursions into airport airspace,
with the potential danger to life and
property should a drone hit a plane,
fly into an engine, or otherwise cause
airspace issues. It is no secret that several
airports have been shut down or forced
If an airport site includes
thousands of acres and the
radar cannot detect objects
more than 250 meters, the
airport will need several radars
to full coverage.
OBSERVATION WITHOUT LIMITS LLC

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MIKE STOKES

Mike Stokes is the President of Observation Without Limits
(OWL), a 2D and 3D surveillance radar solution provider
for critical infrastructure sites. OWL manufactures radars
for sites of all sizes, including 3D radars for drone detection
applications. For more information, visit owlknows.com.

to ground f lights over the past several
months due to drone reports in and
around restricted airspace near airports.
According to a study from researchers
at Embr y-R idd le Aeronautica l
University, the FAA recorded 6,117
reports of near encounters, whether
intentional or not, between manned
and unmanned aircraft within the
National Air Space from 2014 to 2018.
These statistics are cause for significant
safety concerns for airports. Dubai
International Airport, as well as both
Heathrow and Gatwick International
Airports in London, have already felt the
effects of drone sightings in their airspace
with grounded f lights and delays. Of
course, these are just the most well
known incidents.
To protect against the dangers of
ground and air intruders and other
threats at airports, security teams are
turning to more robust physical security
solutions to monitor both ground and
low-altitude airspace for intrusions.
Common physical security practices
include physical fence barriers, video
cameras, access control, audible alarms
and more. The best recommendation for
airports searching to increase physical
security of a site is a layered protection
strategy that integrates several of these
technologies into a larger physical
security solution.
According to the Program for
Applied Research in Airport Security

36 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / OCTOBER 2020

(PARAS), which is managed by the
National Safe Skies Alliance, these
layered, integrated solutions should
deter/delay, detect, assess/classify,
locate, and identify potential or actual
intrusions of the airport perimeter in a
timely manner and increase the response
time for security personnel to stop an
intrusion or detain the suspect. As part
of the December 2018 Guidance for
Airport Perimeter Security Report,
PARAS defines these actions as:
* Deter (stop an intrusion before it
happens)
* Detect (know if an intrusion is taking
place)
* Delay (slow down the intrusion to
allow for effective law enforcement
response)
* Deny/Respond (barriers, stand-off
distances, response forces deployment)
* Defend (protect an asset or assets by
shielding them from potential harm)
* Defeat (personnel to defeat or
neutralize an intruder)
* Response (provide situational
awareness information to responders)
http://www.owlknows.com
Airport Business

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