AWARD WINNER, CITY STARTUP 2024, MOSCOW
The need of Russian society today is to protect against drones. After all, they are used not only for sabotage but also for industrial espionage, smuggling, interference with air transport and invasion of privacy. Attacks affect infrastructure facilities as well as residential and industrial buildings, so a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) detection system is necessary for protection.The solution was presented by GeoPager, the winner of A:START's autumn business accelerator. GeoPager is a sensor that transmits spatial data from each device to a central system (the air cadastre), allowing for the determination of site boundaries and tracking of aerial activity.On the project, my role was product design, including appearance, mechanics and production optimization.
At the very beginning, we had nothing. We started with a prototype to test for potential investors. This was the first version that I tested for shape, mounting options, and the best solutions for a protective cover.
The second and most successful option that I proposed. A large number of problems have been solved, both technically and user-friendliness.Here we managed to find the optimal size, and a fairly straightforward and inexpensive implementation path.
The product idea emerged from current reality. Drones have already become a part of our lives. Their production has increased many times and is continuing to grow. Specialties related to drones have appeared at universities, and use of them is expanding. Each student in a technical modeling class is able to assemble their own drone. More and more drones are flying chaotically. The only means of combatting them are GPS jammer, which also jam navigators in cars and phones. A drone cannot determine its coordinates and will get lost over long distances. However, you can still send the drone to a visible distance for the operator.
Overall, the issue of regulating airspace in cities is as important as the issue of land boundaries. Where does personal space begin and where is legal airspace for urban needs? It is necessary to ensure safety of airspace from drone intrusion and set an aerial border. These issues need to be resolved now, especially for new territories and mega-cities. Simply banning drones in cities would be bad for economy and civil technology.
We have combined previously developed air space registration technology with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) detection sensors. First versions of the sensors were assembled from improvised materials and were the size of walkie-talkies. We tested these devices right in our yard. Our major advantage over other solutions lies in integrating sensors into existing air space registration technologies and border control systems. In this area, we are a whole technological generation ahead of others.
We tested the first drone sensor in Donbas and it proved excellent. Based on these data, we developed a second sensor. Our product has a civilian use, but it can also help resolve the problem of illegal drone launches.
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