Small UAVs are increasingly accessible, highly maneuverable, and capable of operating in contested maritime environments—making them a growing threat to naval and port infrastructure. To meet this challenge, we’ve developed SUADS (Spectral Imaging UAV Detection Sensor), a passive system designed for day and night, all-weather detection using advanced multispectral imaging technologies.
Built on our LightShift™ Video-Rate Multispectral Imaging platform, SUADS is a mission-specific evolution of our core technology—designed specifically for reliable UAV detection in dynamic, cluttered airspace. It will be demonstrated at Coastal Trident 2025, a critical step in validating the system for real-world maritime defense.
What is SUADS?
SUADS is an application-specific version of our LightShift multispectral camera, optimized for tracking small UAVs at ranges up to 10 kilometers with over 90% probability of detection and a false alarm rate below 10%.
System Features
- Spectral Discrimination: Multispectral imaging detects the spectral signature of UAV materials, overcoming the limitations of traditional surveillance systems, which can struggle to reliably detect small UAVs (or suffer from a high false-positive rate) due to interference from birds and airborne debris that appear similar on the radar.
- Real-Time Full Field Tracking: Operates at 120 Hz, enabling the detection of multiple UAVs simultaneously.
- Day/Night, All-Weather: Leverages SWIR to LWIR bands to perform through fog, haze, and other atmospheric obscurants.
- Fully Passive: Ideal for stealth maritime operations as a completely passive system with no electromagnetic emission.
This passive imaging approach overcomes the limitations of traditional surveillance systems, which can struggle to reliably detect small UAVs (or suffer from a high false-positive rate) due to interference from birds and airborne debris that appear similar on the radar.
Coastal Trident 2025: Field Testing and Demonstration
SUADS will undergo live evaluation at Coastal Trident 2025, a series of technical demonstrations and exercises focused on enhancing maritime security capabilities. This will mark the system’s advancement to Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL-6) as it is tested in operationally relevant coastal scenarios.
Development Status and Transition Plans
Under our current Phase II SBIR, SUADS has been fully designed, and key components are on order. We are now assembling the system and preparing for field trials. Following the Coastal Trident demonstration, we plan to transition SUADS into a production-ready prototype by the end of fiscal year 2026. To move forward, we are actively seeking a prime contractor and government sponsor.
We invite discussions with government stakeholders and industry partners interested in supporting the transition of SUADS to an operational capability. The SUADS program was previewed during a Tech Talk at Sea-Air-Space earlier this year. For those who were unable to attend, the session is available to view online.
To learn more about SUADS and explore potential collaboration, get in touch with our team.