Wave Sciences today announced that it has been selected as one of 150 innovators worldwide to join the NATO DIANA 2026 Challenge Programme Cohort. DIANA is NATO’s accelerator for dual-use emerging technologies, giving selected companies funding, expert support, and access to more than 200 test centres across the Alliance. The programme will accelerate the development of the company’s spatial acoustics engine for detecting drones using sound, at longer distances – where radar, cameras and radio-based systems struggle and are susceptible to counter-measures.
“A key criteria for winning the challenge is the technology’s ability to be adapted for use in civilian settings, unlocking the potential of spatial acoustics in sectors from critical infrastructure to robotics, healthcare and education,” said the company in a press announcement.
Wave Sciences was chosen for GLIMPSE®, its patented physics-based AI engine for passive 3D spatial audio. According to Wave Sciences, the company will now advance and apply GLIMPSE to drone detection in cluttered and contested environments as part of the DIANA programme. Originally developed for forensic audio – the technology is used to isolate a single clear voice from the background of chaotic, real-world recordings and has been proven previously in murder trials. GLIMPSE has since demonstrated its ability to extract and clarify sound in other challenging environments such as underground and underwater. Now, DIANA will partner with Wave Sciences to develop this technology for distance drone detection in battlefield environments, some of the harshest in the world.
“Acoustic drone detection is not new, but today’s systems face the same limitations that GLIMPSE overcomes in murder investigations: the ‘cocktail party problem,’ where critical signals are lost in noise, reflections and competing sounds,” said the company. “GLIMPSE is designed to plug into and strengthen current systems, solving acoustic challenges they cannot, and drawing on a physics-based AI method to isolate a single sound in environments – and from distances – once considered impossible to overcome. Instead of relying on sight or radio signals, GLIMPSE is a way to detect what other sensors can’t – using sound. Like the Portrait Mode effect on your digital camera, it isolates a subject, but through audio. This mode creates a 3D focus effect regardless of the sound, distance, or chaotic environment, enhancing the subject while suppressing background noise.
As part of the six-month accelerator, Wave Sciences will extend and test GLIMPSE at long distances at NATO-aligned sites and receive: EUR 100,000 in funding; access to 200+ test centres in Europe and North America; expert support on defence and dual-use applications and pathways to scale across NATO’s 32-nation market.
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