Drones and AI Enhance Marathon Safety

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Thousands participated in the Samsung Tel Aviv 2022 Marathon last February, one of the biggest sporting events in Israel, where over 40,000 runners were accompanied by a sophisticated security system who monitored their safety during the last marathon.

While the event was taking place, a network of multiple drones patrolling and three tethered drone systems were hovering over Tel Aviv, among them the DJI Matrice 300 RTK. To ensure maximum safety for marathon participants in urban environments, the networks have been integrated into the Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) software of the Israeli company Airwayz, which gathers information from the different systems and analyzes it using artificial intelligence.

In joint activities between Ayalon Highways, the Israel Police and Tel Aviv Municipality, the system allowed authorities to work together and provided police teams with a more effective way to monitor events in real time during the marathon. Both harsh weather conditions and the unauthorized use of drones by the public were anticipated prior to the event, and both were true.

The system was highly effective in keeping the chain of command and control in place, taking into account the nature of the monitored event and assisting the police to maintain a maximum level of safety for participants. Using such systems to form and analyze data is another effective technique that can also be used in a variety of ways for urban monitoring purposes, according to insideunmannedsystems.com.