Altitude Angel has announced it has launched a new division, Prism Detect, which will focus on making its ARROW technology available to customers who require advanced unified situational awareness capabilities for the detection of crewed and uncrewed aircraft.

Altitude Angel’s ARROW technology is a critical component in enabling the world’s longest drone superhighway and is an innovative array of ground-based, networked sensors ‘scanning’ the low altitude sky.  The system connects to Altitude Angel’s global UTM platform, GuardianUTM, which processes the real-time data and then ‘fuses’ it to create a single-source-point-of-truth – an ultra-high-resolution, real-time, moving map of the low-altitude sky, which includes both drones and crewed aviation.

In its totality, Prism Detect provides managers of sensitive real-estate or critical infrastructure with a comprehensive and real-time view of all airspace users within a significant radius of the towers, which can be temporary, mobile, or fixed installations.

Unlike other surveillance/detection solutions, which usually take a ‘one size fits all’ approach, the Prism Detect offering can be adapted depending on the terrain on which it is deployed with the sensor array scaled or reduced to suit the operator’s needs.

Furthermore, because Prism Detect is connected to Altitude Angel’s GuardianUTM platform, operators will be able to differentiate between expected (authorised) and unexpected (unauthorised or ‘surprise’) aerial visitors, allowing those deploying the platform to be able to make informed decisions with the accurate intelligence before them. It makes the offering incredibly versatile, particularly for sporting events or mass gatherings, or where it’s important to be able to establish visibility over wide geographic areas. It also has the advantage of being able to distinguish between friend or potential foe in the vicinity, but also to be able to ‘tag’ certain drones as ‘known’ – for example, those supporting the event itself.

Richard Parker, Altitude Angel, CEO and founder, said: “Altitude Angel has, and always will be, focussed on enabling drone operations and providing services for new airspace users.

“Prism Detect will give those with responsibility for critical infrastructure, sensitive real-estate, or outdoor sport and entertainment venues, unparalleled visibility into the sky above. By providing clear intelligence as to who, or what, is operating in the airspace means appropriate and proportionate decisions can be made swiftly and with confidence.

“Today, facilities worldwide can avail of a variety of often independent sensors, each telling only a single chapter of the story and offer little to no actual intelligence to distinguish between authorised and unauthorised traffic. If the world is to welcome drones, then the world needs Prism Detect to help it make sense of the data.”