Dedrone’s DroneTracker 4.1 can track and identify your drone in flight

Think you can fly a drone without anyone knowing who is behind the controls? Think again.

As drones grow in popularity, so comes the growth of products that can detect the pilots behind them. One of those products is DroneTracker 4.1, a platform designed by San Francisco-based, counter-drone tech company Dedrone.

Drone detection technology is generally designed to provide situational awareness of the airspace, giving security teams who don’t want drones in the skies above them an opportunity to get ahead of any potential threat from that drone.

And Dedrone’s new DroneTracker 4.1 does exactly that: it’s a software platform that can detect drones. It’s an extension of existing technology by Dedrone, but Dedrone says this version is smarter. Intelligent sensor fusion technology enables PTZ cameras to automatically verify radar detection data. And better technology provides more accurate visual verification of drones in low-light environments through thermal and infrared detection.  

It’s capable of recognizing and classify RF, WiFi, and non-WiFi drones.

The DroneTracker 4.1 isn’t designed for normal people to buy. Instead, it’s designed for security providers to detect and act upon drone threats.  The software is able to provide airspace activity data, which it then passes onto security providers who can then act how they deem fit based on that data.

Here’s how it works:

1. The software program collects data from hardware inputs, including Dedrone’s radio frequency sensors, the RF-100 and RF-300, cameras, radar, and acoustic sensors
2. That data allows it to determine information such as the drone manufacturer, model, time and length of drone activity.
3. Upon identification of a drone, DroneTracker 4.1 triggers alerts which it provides to customers, who can act on that information.
4. Customers are also given on-demand reports that provide data for security teams to address and combat unwanted drones in their airspace. 

Dedrone, which was founded in 2014, currently has customers around the world, including three of the G7 countries, correctional facilities, utilities, airports, and corporations. They’ve even operated at public events, such as working witth the PGA tour team to prevent rogue drones flying over the golf course. Dedrone currently has an ongoing contract with DIU (Defense Innovation Unit), and has a deployment at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. 

Dedrone was in the news again last month after it launched Dedrone Defense, with goals to provide anti-drone services for U.S. federal agencies, including the Department of Defense. The U.S. government is already using another piece of Dedrone technology, called the DroneDefender, which uses radio control frequency disruption and is a lightweight, point-and-shoot system with a demonstrated range of 400 meters. DroneDefender nits are currently in use by the U.S. Departments of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.