Bring Real-Time Drone Detection Data Into Your Existing Systems

Overview

AirWarden streams real-time drone detection events over a WebSocket connection, filtered to the service zones assigned to your organization. Each message is a single JSON object describing a detection event, including location, Remote ID (RID) telemetry, and tracking metadata.

There is no polling required — once connected, events matching your organization's zones arrive on the socket as they occur.

Connecting to the Stream

Endpoint

wss://daas.aerodefense.tech/stream

Authentication

Send your API key in an X-Api-Key header on the initial WebSocket handshake request:

X-Api-Key: <your-api-key>

Protocol

This is a plain WebSocket endpoint. Any standard WebSocket client works: a browser WebSocket (once the header constraint above is handled server-side), Postman's WebSocket request type, wscat, ws (Node.js), websockets (Python), etc.

Message Format

Every message on the connection is a single JSON object.

• Detection events are sent as-is, matching the Event Data Format below. Detection events never have a type field.
• Errors — if your connection is about to be rejected or dropped, exactly one error message is sent immediately before the socket closes:

  {"type": "error", "message": "<reason>"}

Checking for a type field is a safe, reliable way to distinguish an error message from a real detection event.

Code Examples

Both examples connect, authenticate, and log each incoming detection event.

// Node.js — requires the "ws" package: npm install ws
const WebSocket = require('ws');

// Never hardcode your API key — load it from the environment.
const API_KEY = process.env.AIRWARDEN_API_KEY;

const socket = new WebSocket('wss://daas.aerodefense.tech/stream', {
  headers: { 'X-Api-Key': API_KEY },
});

socket.on('open', () => {
  console.log('Connected to the AirWarden broadcast stream');
});

socket.on('message', (data) => {
  const payload = JSON.parse(data.toString());

  if (payload.type === 'error') {
    console.error('Stream error:', payload.message);
    return;
  }

  console.log(
    `Detection event ${payload.EVENT_ID} — zones: ${payload.SERVICE_LIST.join(', ')}`,
  );
});

socket.on('close', (code, reason) => {
  console.log('Connection closed:', code, reason.toString());
});

socket.on('error', (err) => {
  console.error('Connection error:', err.message);
});

# Python — requires the "websockets" package: pip install websockets
import asyncio
import json
import os

import websockets

# Never hardcode your API key — load it from the environment.
API_KEY = os.environ["AIRWARDEN_API_KEY"]
ENDPOINT = "wss://daas.aerodefense.tech/stream"


async def stream_events():
    # Parameter name depends on your "websockets" version:
    # "additional_headers" on 14.x+, "extra_headers" on older releases.
    async with websockets.connect(
        ENDPOINT, additional_headers={"X-Api-Key": API_KEY}
    ) as ws:
        print("Connected to the AirWarden broadcast stream")

        async for message in ws:
            payload = json.loads(message)

            if payload.get("type") == "error":
                print(f"Stream error: {payload['message']}")
                break

            zones = ", ".join(payload["SERVICE_LIST"])
            print(f"Detection event {payload['EVENT_ID']} — zones: {zones}")


asyncio.run(stream_events())

AirWarden Essential Broadcast Data Schema

I. Introduction

AirWarden simultaneously detects and tracks multiple targets, broadcasting real-time incident information upon confirmation. Each broadcast includes a continuous tracking event, encompassing the event ID, device ID, location coordinates (latitude, longitude, altitude), and the original Remote ID telemetry.

II. Event Data Format

Overview

III. Drone Remote ID Data Example

This is an example of broadcast data that contains Drone Remote ID (RID) information:

{
  "_id": { "$oid": "6a79fe3337e17a29681b206a" },
  "EVENT_ID": "BeRE4iPVMggu",
  "SERVICE_LIST": ["6710033d108ae2704b7fb90f"],
  "DEVICE_ID": "1581F5BKD225U00BE556",
  "RAW_DEVICE_ID": "RID_60601f10d5e9",
  "SSID": "RID-1581F5BKD225U00BE556",
  "MAC": "60:60:1f:10:d5:e9",
  "WARNING": 0,
  "UAS_ID": "1581F5BKD225U00BE556",
  "UAS_ID_TYPE": "Serial Number (ANSI/CTA-2063-A)",
  "UAS_ID_LIST": ["1581F5BKD225U00BE556"],
  "UAS_ID_RECORDS": [
    {
      "id": "1581F5BKD225U00BE556",
      "type": 1,
      "type_label": "Serial Number (ANSI/CTA-2063-A)"
    }
  ],
  "OPERATOR_ID": "",
  "__ID": "",
  "H3_LIST": ["852a100bfffffff"],
  "NODE_LIST": ["2ccf6707b3bd"],
  "START_TIME": "2026-08-10T16:37:07.002662+00:00",
  "END_TIME": "2026-08-10T16:39:18.003337+00:00",
  "DURATION": 131.00067496299744,
  "MANUFACTURER": null,
  "DEVICE_TYPE": 4,
  "COMPLETE": 1,
  "MAX_ALTITUDE": 56.5,
  "MAX_SPEED": 14.5,
  "MAKE": "DJI",
  "MODEL": "M30T",
  "INFO": {
    "EVENT_ID": "BeRE4iPVMggu",
    "NODE_ID": "2ccf6707b3bd",
    "TOPIC": "DETECTION",
    "DEVICE_ID": "1581F5BKD225U00BE556",
    "LAT": 40.880783,
    "LON": -74.042946,
    "H3_INDEX": "852a100bfffffff",
    "H3_LEVEL": 5,
    "ALTITUDE": 56.5,
    "SPEED": 13.75,
    "HEIGHT_TYPE": 0,
    "TIME_STAMP": "2026-08-10T16:39:18.003337+00:00",
    "ANALYSIS": {
      "altitude_diff_m": -19.787,
      "distance_diff_m": 793.1454555670937
    },
    "TIME_DELAY": 0.178536,
    "RAW_DEVICE_ID": "RID_60601f10d5e9",
    "HEADING": 339,
    "VSPEED": 0,
    "UA_TYPE": 2,
    "UA_TYPE_LABEL": "Helicopter/Multirotor",
    "LOC_STATUS": 3,
    "LOC_STATUS_LABEL": "Emergency",
    "OPERATOR_TYPE": null,
    "OPERATOR_TYPE_LABEL": null,
    "SYSTEM_LAT": 40.885262,
    "SYSTEM_LON": -74.045097,
    "INFO": {
      "radio_type": "wlan",
      "frame_time": "Aug 10, 2026 16:39:07.545514 UTC",
      "radio_channel": 6,
      "radio_frequency": 2437,
      "radio_rss": -83,
      "radio_bssid": "60:60:1f:10:d5:e9",
      "radio_ssid": "RID-1581F5BKD225U00BE556",
      "ODID_basicID": [
        { "id": "1581F5BKD225U00BE556", "uaType": 2, "idType": 1 }
      ],
      "ODID_loc_status": 3,
      "ODID_loc_direction": 339,
      "ODID_loc_speed": 13.75,
      "ODID_loc_vspeed": 0,
      "ODID_loc_lat": 40.880783,
      "ODID_loc_lon": -74.042946,
      "ODID_loc_geoAlt": 29,
      "ODID_loc_height": 56.5,
      "ODID_loc_baroAlt": -1000,
      "ODID_loc_heightType": 0,
      "ODID_loc_horizAcc": 10,
      "ODID_loc_vertAcc": 3,
      "ODID_loc_baroAcc": 0,
      "ODID_loc_speedAcc": 2,
      "ODID_loc_tsAcc": 10,
      "ODID_loc_timestamp": 2347.199951,
      "ODID_auth": [],
      "ODID_system_lat": 40.885262,
      "ODID_system_lon": -74.045097,
      "ODID_system_geoAlt": 0,
      "ODID_system_opLocType": 1,
      "ODID_system_classType": 0,
      "ODID_system_areaCount": 1,
      "ODID_system_areaRadius": 0,
      "ODID_system_areaCeiling": -1000,
      "ODID_system_areaFloor": -1000,
      "ODID_system_categoryEU": 0,
      "ODID_system_classEU": 0,
      "ODID_system_timestamp": 240079147
    }
  }
}

Raw RID Data Structure

Fields starting with ODID_ correspond to the data nested within the INFO.INFO object shown above.

References

Reference #1 — ODID_basicID_uaType

Reference #2 — ODID_loc_status

Reference #3 — ODID_operator_type