Aaronia protects G20 summit from drone attacks

The G20 summit, taking place yesterday and today in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is being protected from aerial threats by Aaronia AG’s AARTOS drone detection system. 

The Brazilian Federal Police has established the anti-drone monitoring centre “Central de Monitoramento Antidrones (CMA),” which is operationally supported on-site by four specialists from Aaronia. An AARTOS X9 has been deployed, providing RF direction finding, radar, and camera systems. The passive RF direction finding provides information about speed, flight direction, and altitude of the detected object through 3D direction finding. Additionally, it delivers data such as the pilot’s location, frequency used, and drone protocol type. Aaronia says this information is provided in real-time without the drone pilot being aware of detection. An active radar verifies the results of RF detection and is also capable of detecting autonomous drones that do not emit a radio signal. 

“A high-resolution EO/IR camera enables identification of whether a drone poses an immediate threat (e.g., transporting explosives) or if it is operated by a hobbyist who has lost their way,” the company says. 

This three-pronged approach allows the CMA to monitor sensitive areas in central Rio as well as the event venue (the Museum of Modern Art) along with Santos Dumont and Galeão international airports and hotels where participants are accommodated, covering a radius of nearly 40 kilometres. 

The AARTOS system also protected the G20 summit in Bali in 2022.