Darwin McDaniel
Two of Raytheon’s new drone technologies have landed spots on Popular Science’s list of 100 greatest innovations of 2018.
The publication selected the company’s Skyler radar and a laser dune buggy system for the annual Best of What’s New list, recognizing the technologies’ potential to provide new functions for unmanned vehicles, Raytheon said Wednesday.
Skyler is a low-power radar supported by small active electronically scanned array software-defined radar units that provide the ability to cover and control low-altitude flights of smaller vehicles such as commercial drones.
Raytheon aims to introduce the device to industry to support aviation surveillance, precision weather observations, small drone detection and tracking, border security and surveillance, wildfire detection and elevation and geographic gapfills.
Another technology designed to give drones new abilities is the company’s dune buggy, which uses a high-energy laser weapon system to disable weaponized drones.
Raytheon already tested the system with the U.S. Army. During demonstrations, the laser dune buggy downed 12 airborne Class I and Class II unmanned aerial systems.
The company said it plans to continue building new technologies in 2019, with future projects focused on cybersecurity, virtual reality for military training, next-generation space command and control systems, advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence.
