Technology Company Arete Demonstrates Ability To Detect, Track Swarms Of Small Drones
In a recent test campaign, a small defense contractor demonstrated its ability to detect, track and locate more than 40 small drones simultaneously using a package of small sensors.
The testing was managed by Colorado-based Areté under contract to the Army’s Program Executive Missiles and Space and combined the company’s Basilisk optical sensor, Echodyne’s EchoGuard radar systems, and Areté’s algorithms and integration software, officials from both companies told Defense Daily during an Aug. 28 online interview.
“I think one of the key points” here is “there are a lot of people talking about swarms, everyone’s recognizing the potential danger that swarms present, but I’m not aware of much testing of sensors or systems against larger swarms like this,” Eben Frankenberg, co-founder and CEO of Washington-based Echodyne, said during the interview. “We’ve done thousands and thousands of hours of testing of our systems including a lot of testing for other people like the DoD, Homeland and others and very few of those tests have ever had more than two or three drones in the air at one time, at most five or six.”