Project Summary
Houndstooth Wireless aim to select, develop, integrate and demonstrate their self-meshing network technology. This will allow a plug and play operation of drone detection over wide, complex geographic areas, reducing set-up costs and providing increased network resilience.
Project Achievements
- Selected self-meshing wireless network solution from alternative technologies (see image) most suited to a distributed network of drone detection nodes; resilience of the mesh to faults and changes and its setup time were key.
- Tested technology and integrated into the existing hardware enclosure. Produced and tested integration software to allow drone detection information to be sent to a central control station.
- Demonstrated successful interoperability of the mesh networking module with the existing hardware during field tests, and sufficient data rate for drone detection signals, meshing and hardware integration. Maximum range was less than anticipated for a combination of electromagnetic compatibility and antenna specification reasons.
Next Steps
- Conduct a series of tasks related to radio frequency performance of the mesh module to improve maximum range. Deployment of the technology on an installation is planned for summer 2021.
- Project outputs make rapidly deployable drone detection networks feasible, and significantly improves the economics of achieving fixed installations in large or geographically complex sites and those with less developed infrastructure.
