The National Football League’s Super Bowl, the largest annual sporting event in the United States, is set for Sunday, February 3, 2019. Super Bowl LIII – number 53 – will feature superstar quarterback Tom Brady’s New England Patriots facing off against young quarterback Jared Goff and the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Opened just two years ago, Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be home to the third Super Bowl to be held in the city of Atlanta.
As long as major sporting events have been held, individuals, groups, and misguided entities have sought to make a name for themselves by interfering with them. This is just as true today as it’s always been.
However, people in today’s world don’t have to physically get in the way of things to interfere with such events. Rather, they could engage in cybercrime and hack into digital systems involved with these major sporting events or pilot drones from miles away.
Drones have been widely accessible to consumers for several years, though their availability is greater today than it’s ever been before. Echodyne, a fledgling company that was initially funded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, plans to prevent drones from getting in the way of things at this Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Echodyne, based in Seattle, Washington, pushed forth an application with the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate a pair of radar detection systems using experimental technology that would instantly alert all authorized members of the event’s security staff of the presence of drones in and around Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Although the company’s technology is experimental, many experts believe that the Federal Communications Commission will gladly accept Echodyne’s application to test the technology out because it can’t do anything but increase security at the major sporting event. If Echodyne’s application is approved, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) will be responsible for overseeing its operations.
Law enforcement officials in Atlanta have made clear for weeks that no drones can be operated anywhere near Mercedes-Benz Stadium. They’ve also made clear that people operating drones too close to the location of Super Bowl LIII will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Hundreds of law enforcement officers across federal, state, and local levels will be stationed in and around Mercedes-Benz stadium to look out for drones and other aerial vehicles being operated too close to the event.
