Tectonic Defense covers Arkeus' Series A and the technology giving autonomous systems a sixth sense

Tectonic Defense has covered Arkeus' A$25 million Series A raise, the technology behind our sensing systems and our accelerating presence in the United States.

The piece, written by Barratt Dewey, digs into why autonomous platforms need sensing systems built for AI from the ground up. As Simon Olsen told Tectonic: "The software is only as good as the data coming back from the sensors. In other words, the software can't find what the sensors can't see."

Arkeus' hyperspectral optical radar technology addresses this directly, giving autonomous systems the ability to see across the electromagnetic spectrum, from ultraviolet to infrared and operate effectively in degraded conditions including dust, smoke, haze and humidity. The article highlights one of the more striking applications: detecting decoys that fool standard cameras. As Simon explained, a conventional camera with machine learning cannot distinguish a decoy from the real thing, but its spectral signature tells a very different story.

Tectonic also covers the commercial traction behind the technology. Arkeus won the Australian Army Wide Area Airborne Surveillance Program in November and has integrated its sensors across platforms from AV, Textron, TEKEVER and Boeing subsidiary Insitu, winning US Department of Defense contracts after outperforming US incumbents in competitive evaluations, with detection ranges up to eight times further than existing optical systems in degraded visual conditions. Around 80 percent of Arkeus' revenue now comes from US customers.

With the Series A, the focus turns to scaling manufacturing in Queensland and establishing US-based production and support capability for the American warfighter.

Read the full Tectonic Defense article here.