Echodyne receives FCC Authorization for High-Accuracy EchoShield Radar

Echodyne, the radar platform company, received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Authorization for its EchoShield radar. The FCC Authorization allows EchoShield to be used for non-experimental purposes and arrives as demand for its breakthrough radars grows across all markets and applications. Echodyne’s software-defined, multi-mission, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) radars are used for situational awareness by defense, government, and critical infrastructure customers, and as a navigational sensor by Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) markets.

The primary drivers for the demand surge are security applications across all geographies. While large, conventional radars are optimal for addressing traditional air defense threats like jets and missiles, demand is growing for compact, portable, attritable, high-performance radars to deal with contemporary threats, especially drones. The low cost and operational effectiveness of drones as weapons demonstrates the need for symmetry in Counter-UAS solutions. 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.

“We’ve been working with Echodyne for many years,” says Al White, CEO of High Point Aerotechnologies. “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.”

EchoShield has been active in trials and early deployments, with reviewers consistently citing accuracy and reliability as key differentiators to other radar options. Customers for EchoShield include global Defense Prime Integrators, federal law enforcement and security agencies, and commercial and governmental research organizations.

“Chess Dynamics solutions are highly tailored to customer requirements,” comments David Eldridge, Chess Sales & Marketing Director. “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, customizable Field of View (FoV) and tracks objects of interest with highly precise angular accuracy. Utilizing 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:
• MESA Technology: Echodyne’s proprietary MESA radar is a rare breakthrough in advanced radar engineering that outperforms comparable radars on the market and shatters price-performance barriers.
• Data-Fidelity: Data fidelity is increasingly important for detecting and identifying dynamic, inexpensive, and readily available off-the-shelf 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 stunning accuracy.
• Seamless Integration: No sensor can stand alone, and all systems benefit from better foundational data from radar. To ease integration into systems of systems, EchoShield radars utilize 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: By 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.  

“We're pleased to see such high demand for our EchoShield radar,” says Eben Frankenberg, CEO of Echodyne. “MESA allows us to design and build radars that deliver unprecedented performance in a commercial off the shelf package with unbeatable C-SWaP.”

EchoShield is a core piece of a software-enhanced radar architecture, using on-radar software (firmware) and off-radar software to create high-fidelity situational awareness ensuring mission safety and success.