In March 2020, UEFA asked the Johan Cruyff Arena what measures they had taken against drones during the European Football Championship? The championship was originally scheduled for June 2020 but was postponed to June 2021 due to the coronavirus crisis. Willem Hegen, Manager of Crowd Services at the Johan Cruyff Arena, then contacted his partners in the technology and data field lab, namely the Municipality of Amsterdam and the National Police, to see how they could adequately respond to this question.

The field lab contacted DroneStars because they had already gained practical experience with DJI’s counter-drone system as the first Dutch dealer, allowing the field lab to be well-advised on how to best meet UEFA’s requirements.

A counter-drone system was chosen that can detect drones in the airspace using RF frequency. The system receives the pilot’s GPS location and real-time GPS location of the drone, flight altitude, speed, and flight path!

This provides the field lab with insight into the number of flights taking place at a specific time, for example, during an Ajax or Dutch national team match, and allows the airspace around the Johan Cruyff Arena to be monitored as optimally as possible, with the Police potentially able to enforce.

The field lab, in collaboration with DroneStars, is continuously looking for new innovations to expand the system to monitor the airspace around the JC Arena as optimally as possible during the European Football Championship in June 2021.