Echodyne announced on 12 September that the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorised the company’s EchoShield radar for non-experimental purposes, clearing the way for it being used to meet the rising demand for breakthrough radars in multiple markets and applications.
The company’s software-defined, multi-mission, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) radars are used for situational awareness by government and civil agencies alike, and as navigation sensors in advanced air mobility and UAS markets. Drivers for the current demand surge are primarily security applications across all geographies, Requirements are trending towards compact, portable, attritable, high-performance radars to deal with contemporary threats, especially drones. Echodyne’s radars are built on patented Metamaterials Electronic Scanning Array (MESA) technology that shatters the barriers to cost-effective electronically scanned array (ESA) radar, the gold standard for operational excellence, and creates high-performance attritable solutions for mission-critical security applications, such as counter-UAS. “Our business is designing intelligent counter-UAS solutions for defense and government customers, and Echodyne’s radars have consistently topped the list for both accuracy and reliability. EchoShield sets a new mark in radar performance,” said Al White, CEO of High Point Aerotechnologies, an Echodyne partner.
EchoShield customers range from global defence prime contractors to governmental, law enforcement, security and commercial agencies. “Chess Dynamics solutions are highly tailored to customer requirements,” said David Eldridge, Sales & Marketing Director at Chess. “EchoShield’s highly accurate data creates a strong foundation that precisely cues other sensors and effectors and improves overall solution performance.”
A medium-range, software-defined, pulse-Doppler, cognitive 4D radar, EchoShield intelligently searches a large, customisable field of view and tracks objects of interest with highly precise angular accuracy. Using cognitive radar concepts to combine different waveforms, beam schedules and other resources into user-selectable mission sets, EchoShield tailors radar performance to user, location, and mission requirements.
Key features include:
- Proprietary MESA technology – a breakthrough in advanced radar engineering that outperforms comparable radars;
- Data fidelity – increasingly important for detecting and identifying dynamic drones. Tracking objects with reliably precise angular accuracy in both azimuth and elevation, EchoShield easily manages complex scenes, achieves a tight lock on the drone intruder, and directs other sensors and effectors with high precision;
- Seamless integration –all systems benefit from better foundational data from radar. EchoShield radars use industry-standard TCP/IP over Gigabit Ethernet with multiple rich-data output options and a powerful suite of software tools to assist integration activities;
- Multimodal – y design, Echodyne radars have the lowest size, weight, and power (SWaP) relative to performance of any comparable radar. EchoShield is designed to meet fixed, portable, and on-the-move (OTM) requirements.
“MESA allows us to design and build radars that deliver unprecedented performance in a commercial off the shelf package with unbeatable C-SWaP,” said Eben Frankenberg, Echodyne CEO.
For more information:
https://www.echodyne.com/radar-solutions/echoshield
(Image: EchoShield embodies patented MESA technology to enhance reliability, accuracy and performance. Credit: Echodyne)
