Dedrone, the market and technology leader in airspace security, announced that its team of Echodyne Corporation, Squarehead Technologies and Battelle, won first place at ThunderDrone’s “Game of Drones” outdoor demonstration at Nellis Air Force Base and AFWERX enclave, June 18-20.
Hosted by AFWERX, Team Dedrone bested five other teams in the last of three ThunderDrone rapid prototyping events focusing on countering small, unmanned aerial drones.
Team Dedrone successfully demonstrated the capabilities of a layered detection, tracking, classification and mitigation solution that defends protected airspace against aerial drone threats. Initially, 93 counter-drone technology companies formed teams and were narrowed down through a series of three rapid prototyping events.
The Dedrone platform is a fully automatic counter-drone solution, designed to detect, classify and mitigate drone-based threats. Dedrone’s software, DroneTracker, gathers intelligence from Dedrone’s RF sensors, Echodyne’s MESA™ radar and Squarehead Discovair acoustic sensor. Once DroneTracker makes a positive identification of a drone, Battelle’s non-kinetic defense system, DroneDefender™, is automatically triggered to defeat the drone and eliminate the threat.
The Dedrone platform combines hardware sensors and machine-learning software, providing early warning, classification of and mitigation against all drone threats. Based in San Francisco, Dedrone was founded in 2014.
ThunderDrone is a U.S. Special Operations Command and SOFWERX initiative dedicated to drone prototyping, which focuses on exploring drone technologies through idea formation, testing and demonstrating efforts that are being conducted collaboratively with the Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office.
SOFWERX leads collaboration between special operations warfighters and select contributors from industry and academia on technology and innovation efforts to bring drones, tactical swarms and their associated data science applications to the special operations community.
For more information about Team Dedrone’s participation at ThunderDrone and descriptions of the winning technologies deployed, visit here.
“Dedrone’s open platform and architecture allows customers to combine the best in drone detection and mitigation technology, such as with RF sensors from Dedrone, radar from Echodyne, acoustic sensors from Squarehead, and jammers from Battelle,” shares Joerg Lamprecht, CEO and co-founder of Dedrone. “This multi-layered sensor platform ensures that all organizations, including those under USSOCOM, are provided complete airspace security that is safe from all drone threats.”
“ThunderDrone provided us with our first opportunity to simultaneously engage against multiple UAVs with two DroneDefender V2 systems,” shares Alex Morrow, Technical Director of cUAS Programs at Battelle. “Battelle is pleased with another successful demonstration of our DroneDefender V2.”
“Echodyne’s compact solid-state radar repeatedly demonstrates an unparalleled combination of range, tracking accuracy and value in countering UAS threats,” notes Eben Frankenberg, Echodyne CEO. “We’re pleased that our beam steering radar once again contributed its indispensable capabilities as part of the award-winning Team Dedrone solution.”
“Discovair’s directional acoustics add a near unspoofable layer of super hearing. The ability to deal with drones hinges on detection. In cluttered areas and up against any drone system, even passive ones – Discovair acoustic sensor has proven to shine,” shares Stig Nyvold, CEO of Squarehead Technology. “Discovair’s importance as part in the systems of systems has once again been proved. We are very excited to be part of this team and look forward to the future.”
About Dedrone
Dedrone is the market and technology leader in airspace security. The Dedrone platform combines hardware sensors and machine-learning software, providing early warning, classification of, and mitigation against all drone threats. Based in San Francisco, Dedrone was founded in 2014 and is backed by investors including Felicis Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and John Chambers, Chairman Emeritus of Cisco Systems.
About Battelle
Every day, the people of Battelle apply science and technology to solving what matters most. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its founding in 1929, Battelle serves the national security, health and life sciences, and energy and environmental industries. For more information, visit www.battelle.org.
About Echodyne
Echodyne’s innovative high-performance radar sensors are built on patented MESA technology that provide high-resolution 3-D situational awareness data for autonomous vehicles, unmanned aircraft systems, critical infrastructure security, and public safety. A unique blend of agile hardware and intelligent software provides unprecedented perception, safety, and reliability for the autonomous age. Privately held, the company is based in Bellevue Washington, and is backed by Bill Gates, NEA, Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital, and Lux Capital among others.
About Squarehead
Since its founding in 2004, Squarehead Technology has been designing and manufacturing electronically steerable microphone arrays for both commercial and government use. Our capability supports a variety of form factors from fixed installations, to modular expandable units and small, highly portable arrays for close proximity. Utilizing commercial off the shelf communication paths, we are able to establish a command and control environment based on the customer’s requirements allowing for a closed or open network capability. Based in Oslo, Norway Squarehead Technology continues to push the envelope on acoustic monitoring. For more information, visit www.sqhead.com.
