Aviation Geofencing Guide

Set up virtual airspace boundaries and receive instant alerts when aircraft enter, exit, or dwell in your monitored zones.

What is Aviation Geofencing?

A geofence is a virtual boundary around a geographic area. In aviation, geofences create monitored zones in airspace — when an aircraft crosses the boundary, the system triggers an alert. This is used for airport perimeter security, restricted airspace monitoring, VIP protection, drone detection zones, and temporary flight restriction (TFR) compliance.

Unlike physical fences, geofences are invisible, configurable, and can be created, modified, or removed instantly. AeroScope checks every tracked aircraft against all active geofences every 12 seconds.

Zone Types

CIRCLE ZONE

Define a center point (latitude/longitude) and a radius in nautical miles. Simple and effective for point-based monitoring — airports, facilities, events.

POLYGON ZONE

Define a series of vertices to create an irregular boundary. Use for oddly-shaped restricted areas, flight corridors, or complex perimeters that circles can't represent.

Alert Types

AlertTriggers WhenUse Case
ENTRYAn aircraft enters the zone boundaryIntrusion detection, approach monitoring
EXITAn aircraft leaves the zone boundaryDeparture monitoring, escort tracking
DWELLAn aircraft remains inside the zone beyond a thresholdLoitering detection, surveillance monitoring

Step-by-Step Setup

  1. Open the GEOFENCES tab in the AeroScope dashboard
  2. Click "Create Zone" and enter a name (e.g., "Airport Perimeter")
  3. Select zone type — Circle or Polygon
  4. Define the boundary — For circles: enter center coordinates and radius. For polygons: define vertex coordinates
  5. Save and activate — The zone appears on the map overlay immediately
  6. Monitor events — Alerts appear in the ALERTS tab and via WebSocket in real-time

Real-World Use Cases

AIRPORT SECURITY

Monitor a 5 NM perimeter around an airport. Get ENTRY alerts for all aircraft approaching, with elevated threat scoring for low-altitude, non-standard approaches.

STADIUM/EVENT SECURITY

Create a no-fly zone around major events. Detect drones and unauthorized aircraft. Combine with UAV detection for comprehensive airspace protection.

MILITARY BASE PERIMETER

Monitor restricted airspace around military installations. Track all civilian aircraft entering the zone and flag military patterns (orbits, racetracks).

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Power plants, government buildings, data centers. Set small geofences with tight DWELL thresholds to detect surveillance or loitering aircraft.

BORDER MONITORING

Create long polygon zones along borders or coastlines. Track cross-border flights and unusual low-altitude activity.

RESEARCH ZONES

Define study areas for academic research — count transits, measure traffic density, collect data for specific geographic regions.

Advanced: Combining Geofences with Analysis

Geofence alerts are enriched with AeroScope's full analysis pipeline. Each alert includes the aircraft's threat score, drone confidence, pattern classification, signal integrity, and emissions data. This means you don't just know that an aircraft entered your zone — you know what kind of aircraft, how threatening it is, and what it's doing.

Geofence events can also trigger webhook deliveries to external systems (Slack, Discord, Teams, Telegram, or custom HTTP endpoints).

SET UP YOUR FIRST GEOFENCE