Red Cat Holdings, Inc. subsidiary Teal Drones will partner with Doodle Labs on Teal’s sUAS prototype for the US Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance (SRR) program.
Teal is one of only three vendors competing in SRR Tranche 2, which the Army has advised will now be the final tranche of the SRR program. The winning vendor(s) will produce a rucksack-portable sUAS to provide platoons with rapidly deployable reconnaissance capability.
By integrating Doodle Labs’ Helix Mesh Rider Radio, Teal’s SRR prototype will be capable of reliably transmitting thermal imagery, AES-256 encrypted video and other high-bandwidth data back to a ground station over three miles away. Mesh Rider Radio uses FIPS 140-3 certified encryption, protecting this data and flight control functionality even in contested environments.
“Teal is confident of building an sUAS prototype that will meet and exceed the Army’s requirements for the SRR program,” said Teal Founder and CEO, George Matus. “Our strategy includes leveraging the best technology partners available, and Doodle Labs is an industry leader in wireless networking solutions.”
Teal’s previously announced technology partners for its SRR effort include Teledyne FLIR and Immervision.
Teal and Doodle Labs are both certified as Blue UAS, which designates manufacturers authorized to provide equipment to the US military. Doodle Labs developed its Helix Mesh Rider Radio with sponsorship from the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).
“We’re excited for our technology to be integrated into Teal’s SRR prototype and, potentially, other Teal platforms,” said Doodle Labs Vice President of Business Development, Ashish Parikh. “The SRR program is a great opportunity to showcase how Doodle Labs’ wireless networking solutions can deliver and protect warfighters’ data.”
Helix Mesh Rider Radio uses Doodle Labs’ proprietary multi-band technology to cover – in a single radio for bands M1 to M6 (1.6 GHz to 2.5 GHz) – a range of licensed radio frequencies often used by the US military. The radio’s mini-OEM form factor is extremely low-SWaP.
Teal and Doodle Labs are exhibiting their technologies at two industry events this week, both running from May 8-11. Those events are XPONENTIAL in Denver, Colorado (Booth 4416), and SOF Week, in Tampa, Florida (Booth 1016).
At XPONENTIAL, Teal’s George Matus will join a Doodle Labs panel discussion on May 10 at 3 p.m. MDT, titled “How Collaboration Sparks Innovation in DIU’s Blue UAS Program.”
