ROMULUS, Mich. – The mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey are catching the interest and concern of officials in Michigan.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard wrote an open letter to Washington, D.C. lawmakers urging them to address the issue.
“Let’s just look at the year-to-date statistics on drone incursions and violations: 729,000 airspace violations, 664,000 violations of airport airspace; there is a near-unanimous belief amongst law enforcement and Department of Homeland Security professionals that we need to have state-of-the-art drone detection and counter-drone capabilities,” said Bouchard.
Locally, drone detection capabilities are already in use in about 18 cities in southeast Michigan.
Airspace Link is the company behind the technology. They work with the FAA and liken their work to how Google maps roads, except they chart routes for drones in the sky.
President and CEO Michael Healander gave Local 4 a look inside their operations.
Healander notes that state and local governments don’t necessarily have all the tools in place to do the type of monitoring that Airspace Link is capable of.
“All of a sudden, this is shedding a lot of light on all cities and counties, regional groups that they really need to get more educated, understand where you can and can’t fly and what other tools are out there to support what’s happening,” said Healander.
With its advanced sensors, Airspace Link can determine a drone’s exact path, operator location, and altitude of flight.
It can also grant permission to drone pilots entering restricted airspace, and the tech enables them to see each drone’s unique ID, which the FAA can use to identify the pilot.
This type of monitoring system is new in Romulus, home of Detroit Metro Airport.
“We’ve installed five antennas systematically throughout the entire community that encompasses the entire airport,” said Kevin Krause, Director of Community Safety and Development.
Romulus recently opened up more of its airspace for commercial and recreational drone pilots.
They got the system so they could keep an eye on what’s flying around and also, provide reassurance to residents.
“For us, it’s a transparency thing; we want to make sure that people aren’t afraid of drones and that they’re looking at them as a tool, recreational and educational opportunity,” said Krause. “If somebody calls us and says, ‘Hey, we see a drone, is that you?’ We can say, ‘No,’ it’s a recreational user or business conducting operations, which gives us a level of comfort.”
Healander says representatives from cities across the country have reached out to learn more about Airspace Link in hopes of protecting their airspace and establishing a system where they, too, can easily see when and where drones are active.