It
listens
like
a
cicada.
Hunts
like
a
dragonfly.
AI counter-drone defense designed to cost less than the drone it stops.
Cicada Mode
Dragonfly Mode
High-velocity pursuit
- Acoustic array Cicada Mode
- Optical dome Dragonfly Mode
- Ducted interceptor High-velocity pursuit
The attacker has the cost advantage.
A hostile quadcopter can be cheap, fast, and deadly. It can be built from commercial parts, launched with little warning, and used to threaten soldiers, vehicles, infrastructure, and civilians.
But stopping it is often far more expensive than launching it. Traditional counter-drone defense depends on costly radars, jammers, interceptors, missiles, or fixed infrastructure. That creates the wrong battlefield equation.
- /01Mass-produced quadcopters at consumer pricing
- /02Coordinated swarms beyond single-shot defense
- /03Fiber-optic and low-RF-signature drones
- /04Adversaries trading cheap hardware for costly responses
- /05Defense budgets that cannot scale with threat volume
Cydra turns the cost equation upside down.
The best way to defeat a low-cost drone is with an even lower-cost defensive response.
Cheap
To deploy across an area at scale.
Passive
To detect without active emissions.
Accurate
To pursue and predict trajectory.
Autonomous
To intercept without operator delay.
Scalable
To defend areas, not just points.
Cydra does not need the attacker to transmit a radio signal. It does not start with an expensive shot. It starts by listening.
Two modes. One defensive equation.
Listen. Locate.
Like a cicada listening for predators, Cydra begins in passive acoustic mode. Units deploy across an area and listen for the acoustic signature of hostile quadcopters.
The system uses AI to separate drone-like rotor patterns from background noise, classify suspicious signatures, and estimate where the threat is coming from — with no active signal of its own.
- No expensive launch · no active emissions
- Effective against low-RF and fiber-optic drones
- Distributed acoustic grid · low cost per node
How far it hears.
Each Cydra carries a calibrated, high-end microphone array tuned to the rotor harmonics of small quadcopters — the 100–300 Hz blade-pass tones and their high-frequency overtones. Hostile drones can't hide that signature. The numbers below are realistic detection ranges for small consumer quadcopters in passive Cicada mode.
Bearing, instantly.
One Cydra returns precise azimuth and elevation — the threat is "northeast, 25° up" before a person hears anything. Direction, not distance.
Full 3-D position.
Three or more units cross-correlate the same signature and triangulate to a point in space. Cicada is built for the mesh — one drone hears, the network locates.
Predict. Intercept.
Once Cydra detects the threat, it shifts from listening to hunting. Like a dragonfly, Cydra does not simply chase the target — it predicts where the target is going.
Using AI, microphones, cameras, and onboard autonomy, Cydra identifies the hostile quadcopter, forecasts its path, and calculates the optimal interception approach. The attacking drone becomes the prey.
- Identify · acoustic and visual confirmation
- Predict · trajectory forecasting via onboard AI
- Intercept · direct, capture, net, or hook
From a losing model to a winning one.
Built for cheap threats. At scale.
Low-cost passive acoustic sensing
Microphones are lightweight, scalable, and inexpensive compared with traditional radar and RF detection systems.
High-accuracy AI prediction
Cydra combines sound, vision, and predictive AI to identify the drone, estimate its trajectory, and guide interception.
Built specifically for cheap threats
Cydra is built for the quadcopter problem: small, low-cost aerial threats that are too cheap and numerous for traditional defense models.
Area-wide, not point-defense
Cydra units deploy across a protected area, creating a flexible acoustic and visual defense layer instead of relying only on fixed infrastructure.
Defense that scales with the threat
When attack drones are cheap, defense must be cheaper. Cydra is designed to scale economically — not just technically.
Passive first, active when needed
The system stays silent until a threat is confirmed, preserving operational signature and minimizing false escalation.
Reverse the cost equation of drone warfare.
From low-cost attack and high-cost defense
to low-cost attack and even lower-cost defense.