SC-04: Sensor Dropout

Andi Lamprecht ·2026-05-11· 3 min read· Draft

Narrative

Rafael notices the track count in his sector drop from 6 to 2. Before reacting, he checks the provider status panel on his secondary display. Provider M-05 shows a yellow status: “intermittent — observation rate 23% of baseline.” [UERQ-SYS-1734] The in-band status flags on the remaining 2 tracks show normal freshness (updated within 1 second) because they are tracked by Provider M-02, which uses a dedicated fiber backhaul.

Rafael assesses: the 4 missing tracks are likely still airborne but no longer being reported by M-05. This is “no data,” not “no activity.” The distinction is critical: if Rafael treats the empty area as clear, he may miss a non-conformance event or an unidentified vehicle in the sensor gap.

He takes three actions:

1. He annotates his COP sector with a “degraded coverage” overlay, marking the geographic area affected by M-05’s dropout. This visual indicator prevents him (or a shift replacement) from assuming the area is clear.
2. He escalates to Jessica: “Provider M-05 degraded, stadium area has partial coverage. Four tracks lost. Recommend coordinating with Field-05 (Jason) for visual coverage of the gap.”
3. He radios Jason: “Field-05, be advised: sensor coverage degraded in your area. COP may not show all traffic. Increase visual scan frequency.”

Jessica acknowledges and contacts the event security commander to advise of reduced drone detection capability.

After 35 minutes, cellular congestion eases as spectators enter the stadium and put away their phones. Provider M-05 recovers. The 4 tracks reappear on the COP. Rafael verifies all 6 tracks are now correlated with valid authorizations and removes the degraded coverage overlay. He logs the full event.