North Dakota Integration Pilot Program to Include Echodyne Radar Sensors
Bellevue, WA May 15, 2018 — Echodyne, the manufacturer of innovative, high-performance radars for autonomous machines, announced today that its MESA™ radars will be used as part of North Dakota Department of Transportation’s (NDDOT) Integration Pilot Program (IPP). NDDOT, with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, was selected as one of ten US Department of Transportation IPP awards earlier this month.
North Dakota’s project includes a wide variety of public benefits from UAS, including roadway safety, first responders’ communication, monitoring critical infrastructure, and assisting law enforcement and emergency responders during severe weather and search and rescue operations. To achieve this, it will continue testing advanced technologies for UAS safety, operations at night, flying beyond line of sight, and others.
Echodyne’s high performance solid state radars are an excellent fit for the project because they contribute critical all-weather detection and tracking by leveraging patented Metamaterial Electronically Scanning Array (MESA) technology and intelligent radar control software.“Our unique MESA technology enables true beam steering radars with high performance search-while-track capabilities,” said Eben Frankenberg, CEO. “They provide excellent performance in all environments and weather to achieve advanced UAS operations.”The North Dakota team hopes the project will lead to scalable operations for a multitude of UAS industries including linear infrastructure inspections, crop health monitoring, media reporting, and emergency response.
“We are excited to include Echodyne radars in the IPP project and to demonstrate a comprehensive approach to operating autonomous UAS safely,”
—Russ Buchholz, UAS Integration Program Administrator for NDDOT
To learn more about Echodyne and their unique all-weather radar sensor technology, visit echodyne.com.