Image courtesy Echodyne
 
Under the partnership, Echodyne’s advanced radar technology will continue supporting Axon’s growing ecosystem of public safety drone solutions, enhancing low-altitude airspace awareness for authorized drone operations while helping agencies detect and respond to unauthorized or malicious drone activity.

 
There is increasing demand globally for comprehensive detailed awareness of the low altitude airspace in which drones are proliferating. Drone as First Responder (DFR) operations can deliver critical information to public safety agency personnel in transit, ensuring swift and well-informed actions upon arrival. As drones increasingly populate the skies, scaling commercial and DFR operations also requires awareness of rogue and malicious drone use. Addressing each of these demands and others, depends on accurate data that precisely details airspace activity. 
 
Echodyne’s patented MESA radars are designed to deliver the precision airspace awareness needed to support evolving public safety drone operations, including Axon Air and Dedrone solutions from Axon. As DFR programmes continue scaling across the US and globally, the companies are working together to help agencies operate more safely, efficiently and confidently in increasingly complex low-altitude airspace environments. The partnership is already safely managing hundreds of DFR operations daily and is actively working on dozens of additional customer deployments. 
 
“Radar is the cornerstone of airspace awareness and is especially important for the low altitude drone airspace where remotely piloted and, eventually, semi and fully-autonomous UAS will operate,” said Eben Frankenberg, CEO of Echodyne. “Our work with Axon is focused on a shared safety mission - delivering innovative solutions for public safety agencies protecting communities and infrastructure.”
 
“Public safety agencies are increasingly relying on drones to deliver critical information faster, improve coordination, and help protect both responders and the communities they serve,” said Eric Hertz, Executive Vice President of Operations at Axon. “As these programmes scale, agencies need trusted technologies that help them operate safely and confidently in increasingly complex airspace environments. We’re excited to work with Echodyne to support the infrastructure that will help enable the next generation of public safety drone operations.”