Hidden Level
Syracuse passive-RF firm whose no-emission AMS sensor network tracks drones and their operators for DoD and federal customers; ~$121M raised through a 2025 Series C.
Background
Jeff Cole and Gary Dominicos founded Hidden Level in Syracuse, New York, in July 2018. Both came out of SRC Inc.: Cole was director of programs at Gryphon Sensors, SRC's drone-detection spinoff, and Dominicos was Gryphon's controller; he now serves as CFO. The Airspace Monitoring Service (AMS) inverts the usual counter-drone architecture. Instead of radiating like a radar, its sensors — mounted on cell towers, rooftops and building sides — listen passively for the command and video links drones emit, then triangulate both aircraft and operator; the company cites roughly ten sensors covering 170 square miles.
Because nothing transmits, deployment needs no FCC spectrum coordination, leaves no RF footprint an adversary can detect, and sidesteps the legal exposure of active interception under US surveillance law. A passive-radar mode exploiting third-party broadcast signals extends detection toward RF-silent targets. Hidden Level retains ownership of all hardware and sells AMS as a subscription — airspace data as a service rather than boxes.