Spotify Camp Nou becomes part of Kuppel system to shield itself against irregular drone use

Although drones can be simple tools for entertainment, recording video and taking photos, they can also pose a threat to public safety. To combat this, the Government of Catalonia, through the Mossos d'Esquadra police force, set up the Kuppel project in 2020, a system to protect airspace from these devices in different parts of Catalonia, and of which Spotify Camp Nou will soon be part of too, following the agreement announced on Tuesday by its president Joan Laporta, and the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, at an event held in the stadium.
 
Based on this agreement, in the coming weeks, portable antennas equipped with cameras and sensors will be installed at different points of the Spotify Camp Nou, which will back up the current aerial security and protection system against irregular activity of drones both in the stadium and in major infrastructures and facilities in the area within a radius of more than two kilometres.
 
This system is made up of several subsystems that can be used to obtain information from the devices that fly over this airspace, warn them if they constitute a threat, move them away and, if necessary, immediately disable them. The data they detect is not of a personal nature and includes the take-off location, height, route, make and model of the drone, among others, as explained by representatives of the Central Aerial Media Area of the Mossos d'Esquadra at today's presentation.
 
As a result of this collaboration, Spotify Camp Nou is joining the Kuppel project network, although the stadium has already had an anti-drone system in place since 2017, following the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils. This tool has similar functionalities that are active on match days and that have served to protect the space above the ground from possible threats from these devices.
 
En el transcurso de la presentación el presidente del FC Barcelona, ​​Joan Laporta, ha reconocido que el Barça se siente “muy honrado" y ha destacado que "la cooperación entre el Club y los Mossos d'Esquadra viene de lejos y es una relación de confianza que ha garantizado que socios, socias, aficionados y aficionadas tengan garantizada su seguridad en nuestras instalaciones”.
 
Por su parte, el Conseller d’Interior de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Joan Ignasi Elena, ha afirmado que la incorporación del Spotify Camp Nou en el sistema Kuppel “es la expresión de la implicación de Mossos d'Esquadra con la seguridad del país”. Elena ha subrayado la importancia que desde el cuerpo de Mossos d'Esquadra tiene el Àrea Central de Mitjans Aeris como ejemplo de "la evolución del cuerpo que apuesta por una mayor tecnificación para garantizar una mayor seguridad en nuestro territorio".

First stadium in Spain with this system

Once these sensors are installed, the Spotify Camp Nou will become the first stadium in Spain to be integrated into the Kuppel system, a project approved by NATO and launched in the summer of 2020 to improve aerial security in Barcelona, at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport, as well as the Tarragona petrochemical complex. These areas are covered by fixed antennas, but the Mossos d'Esquadra police corps also has portable equipment that can be deployed at any point or key places in the territory, such as the Spotify Camp Nou.