HYDRA
Secure mesh networking for autonomous drone swarms in contested electromagnetic environments
FMV Reference: 25FMVU1632
The Operational Gap
Current drone operations face an impossible choice:
Fiber-Optic Tethered
- ✓ Unjammable communications
- ✓ Undetectable RF signature
- ✗ Limited to 20km range
- ✗ Single operator per drone
- ✗ No swarm coordination
Radio Frequency
- ✓ Extended range
- ✓ Multi-drone potential
- ✗ Vulnerable to EW
- ✗ Detectable signature
- ✗ Jamming susceptible
The Requirement
Future battlefields demand:
- ▶ 1:many operator to drone control
- ▶ Many:many autonomous coordination
- ▶ Zero RF detection in critical phases
- ▶ Resilient operations under active EW
- ▶ Scalable to 1000+ node deployments
HYDRA Architecture
Three-tier heterogeneous mesh combining best of optical and RF
| Tier | Function | Technology | Cost | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edge Mesh | Drone-to-drone | UWB burst (<0.1% duty) | $500 | 2km radius |
| Cluster Relay | Aggregation | UWB + optical ready | $5k | 10km bridge |
| Backbone | Long-haul | Lasercom/5G fallback | $50k | 50km+ reach |
Key Innovations
Selective Stealth
Perfect LPI/LPD on critical links, practical everywhere else
Graceful Degradation
Optical → 5G → UWB automatic fallback
Economic Viability
$1,670 average per node (vs $50k all-optical)
Field Deployable
TRL 7-8 components, 12-month to production
Technical Specifications
Latency <50ms P95 (100-node mesh)
Throughput 10Mbps edge, 1Gbps backbone
Security AES-256 + PQ-ready algorithms
Topology Self-healing mesh, 30% node loss resilient
Power 5W edge, 25W relay, 100W backbone
Technology Ecosystem
Diarkis
- • Real-time networking infrastructure
- • Sub-50ms global latency proven
- • Gaming-grade reliability at military scale
Partner 2
- • Battle-tested swarm algorithms
- • NATO-compatible C2 integration
Partner 3
- • Tactical LPI/LPD waveforms
- • Contested environment expertise
- • Hardware-accelerated crypto
Partner 4
- • 1000 units/month capacity
- • NATO-certified production
Partner 5
- • Mission Critical Networks
- • Private 5G backbone
- • Global deployment support
Partner 6
- • Local Partner
- • Field testing coordination
- • Verification & Validation
Domain Expertise Alignment
Marcus Anzengruber
System Architect & Integration Lead
- • Nordic defense ecosystem navigator
- • OTA contracting specialist
- • Ericsson MC partnership architect
Jim Adams
Technical Evaluation & Risk
- • Former NASA Deputy CTO
- • SDI multi-tier defense systems
- • 35+ years aerospace integration
Francois du Plessis
Autonomous Systems & Algorithms
- • Inertial navigation & Kalman filtering
- • Real-time swarm state estimation
- • Edge computing optimization
Jakob Carlén
Compliance & Systems Engineering
- • 13 years FMV procurement
- • GlobalEye program manager
- • STANAG requirements expert
Contact
- Secure: Signal group via QR code
- Email: hydra-protocol@proton.me
- Classification: UNCLASSIFIED // FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY