DAT-CON, Teledyne FLIR and Marduk Technologies win Frontex Detection of Low-Flying Objects contest

Frontex announced the winners of its first Prize Award Contest for the Detection of Low-Flying Objects on 26 January.

After what the agency describes as “a complex, multi-level evaluation process,” culminating in operational trials lasting three weeks last September and October, the first three winners receive a total of EUR600,000 for further development of their proposed solutions:

• DAT-CON took first place, with a EUR250,000 prize;
• Teledyne FLIR won the second place prize of EUR200,000;
• Marduk Technologies, in third place, won EUR150,000.

Launched in December 2022, this project is the agency’s first prize award, and aims to encourage development of innovative concepts and technological solutions to detect, track and identify low-flying objects (LFO) crossing EU borders. The term LFO covers a broad set of aerial platforms that operate in low-level airspace – defined as airspace below 1,000 feet AGL. The goal is to provide an incentive to industry to develop cost-efficient, scalable, and integrated operational capabilities, and to reward the best-performing technological solutions. Solutions had to comprise at least three systems using a combination of both active and passive detection capabilities (e.g. RF monitoring, camera, and radar).