arpadveress 
EN 1127-1 shall be the lead (relevant globally). it defines 13 possible igntion sources all together, certainly it can be many more, but all originate back to these 13.
normal operation shall be considered. as per any technology’s development curve there are new ones on the sky…
on the sky…?!
more and more we hear about the threat of drones (UAV, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) for industrial facilities, cargos, pipelines, … for the operational side of Ex compliance it is a topic to be considered.
existing solutions:
there are many limitations here from both sides. because of large drone technical specification, different detection and defense methods has advantages and disadvantages. according to the detection method, there are blind spots, weather, and drone technology dependent drone detection distance and accuracy, different sensor fusion methods (visual, IR, RF, etc.), what could lead to slow reaction time, operation skill dependency, high collateral damage on defense mode, easy to outnumber, and so on. all of them need to mix for a close to effective protection, that makes it very difficult to operate.
many years ago we have alredy pointed out the importance of similar protection to hazardous area facilities… and now it is here. unfortunately it has already happened to facilities – see global incidents already (GCC, USA, EU, …).
operational safety to industrial facilities of high importance.
remark: thankfully, a new development gives a different direction of prevention against drone flying onto the hazardous area facilities. detection distance is about 5-1o km, it works with almost any brand, kind or number of drones and able to operate autonomously, which is essential for the protection of a large objects or territories. now the ‘No Fly Zone’ concept is possible way to go.
this is as of today. it shall be part of our Explosion Design Chapter (EDC) and Explosion Protection Documentation (EPD), and shall be considered as per part of normal operation.
Keep up good work!
