Echodyne
Echodyne is a Kirkland, Washington radar maker whose compact metamaterials electronically scanned array (MESA) sensors detect and track drones for a fast-growing roster of counter-UAS, border-security and machine-autonomy customers worldwide.
Background
Echodyne was founded in 2014 as a spin-off from Nathan Myhrvold's Intellectual Ventures, with Bill Gates among the earliest backers, to commercialize metamaterials radar. Its patented MESA architecture packs hundreds of transmit/receive cells into a flat panel and steers the beam electronically, aiming for the performance of active electronically scanned array radar without the bulk, power draw or cost of conventional phased arrays. CEO and co-founder Eben Frankenberg, with CTO and co-founder Tom Driscoll, has led the company since inception. Its first product, the book-sized EchoFlight, was pitched for commercial drone collision-avoidance and drew press but little revenue.
The commercial break came in 2017, when Anduril adopted the short-range EchoGuard for its Sentry surveillance tower, opening the ground-to-air drone-detection market. Echodyne later built the larger, medium-range EchoShield, a Ku-band pulse-Doppler cognitive 4D radar, and introduced it around Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine as military counter-drone demand accelerated. The book-sized EchoGuard sells for roughly $40,000 a panel; the carry-on-suitcase-sized EchoShield runs about $160,000. Defense now accounts for roughly 65 percent of sales, a reversal of the pre-2022 mix, split about 60 percent U.S. and 40 percent international. The firm describes itself as past the startup phase and now a mid-sized technology company.