Over the past month, the M18A1 team has been heads-down building something we have wanted to exist for a long time: a live picture of the drone activity happening in the airspace around us. Today we are sharing the first look at a working system.
The idea is simple to describe and hard to do well a kind of live air-traffic display, but for drones instead of airliners. Our system shows where drones are operating in real time, plots them on a map, and keeps a record so you can review what flew, when, and how often.
Just as importantly, here is what it does not do. This monitoring system is completely passive it only listens. It never transmits, never jams, and never interferes with any aircraft. A company can stand it up quickly to see what is flying around the area it operates in, with no risk of disrupting other equipment. Knowing what is in your airspace is what lets you make good decisions. (For authorized government and military users who need to actively respond to a threat, that is a separate M18A1 system Rosie.)
Under the hood, compact sensors pick up the signals that drones naturally give off including the identification broadcasts now required on many aircraft, as well as the radio links between a drone and its operator. Those detection flow back to a central map you can view securely from anywhere.
The prototype already does more than just spot a drone on a screen. It flags drones that loiter in one area, and it recognizes repeat visitors the same aircraft showing up across different days so a pattern of surveillance does not slip by unnoticed.
We also made an early decision that sets us apart: your data stays with us or with you if you decided to get a stand alone system, Privacy is a feature, not an afterthought.
This is still early, a single-site prototype running here in Seattle, but it is real, it is running, and it works. The road ahead is expanding to more sensors and more cities to build a genuinely wide-area picture of drone activity.
Built by operators who have lived the problem downrange, this is exactly the kind of capability M18A1 exists to deliver. If your organization is interested in early access, evaluation, or a partnership, get in touch through the contact form below.