Stage I · in development
Falkonis Nest
An early-warning node shaped like a nest box. It hears the engine of an attack drone kilometres away and says nothing about itself while doing so.
0W radiated
The node only listens. It transmits only to report, and only briefly.
3+km design range
Against Shahed-class drones. Further against jet-powered drones.
90+days unattended
Battery and solar, through a Baltic winter.
In the field
What happens when something comes
Scroll the diagram sideways →
- 1 The node
- Mounted high on a tree, mast or pole (8 to 12 metres hears furthest). Solar panel on the roof, everything else inside.
- 2 Listening envelope
- A dome of acoustic coverage around the node, designed to reach more than three kilometres against Shahed-class drones. Jet-powered drones are louder and carry further.
- 3 The drone gives itself away
- A piston engine and pusher propeller produce a steady tone and its harmonics, and a turbojet roars. This happens whether the drone flies on autopilot, by satellite navigation or radio-silent, and it is what the node listens for.
- 4 Alert in seconds
- A short cellular message with the node’s position to a phone or a command platform. No audio leaves the node, no stream, no bandwidth bill.
The enclosure
Why a nest box
The shape is not decoration. A sensor worth protecting is also worth finding, and a box on a tree that looks like equipment invites exactly that. A nest box does not.
Even the entrance hole has a job: it is the microphone’s opening, with a wind screen and a weather membrane behind it and the roof overhang above it.
The steep roof carries the solar panel at a low-winter-sun angle and sheds snow. A second roof layer keeps the box itself in shade, the volume is enough for a battery sized for months rather than days, and mounting it is a job one person does with two straps and a ladder.
Inside
Five things, none of them exotic
The engineering is in the power budget and in the recognition model, not in the parts list.
Scroll the diagram sideways →
Design targets
What the first build is aimed at
Nest is pre-prototype. Everything below is what it is being designed against, not what has been measured on a range.
| Detection method | Passive acoustic — a microphone behind the entrance hole; nothing is emitted |
|---|---|
| Targets | Long-range one-way attack drones: Shahed-class piston-engine drones and jet-powered drones |
| Recognition | AI model running on the node, trained on engine sound against wind, rain, traffic and wildlife |
| Design target range | 3 km+ against Shahed-class drones; further against jet-powered drones |
| Alert latency | Seconds from detection to phone, cellular coverage permitting |
| Alert channel | LTE-M / NB-IoT; a short message with the node’s GNSS position |
| Monitoring | Every node and alert on one map, plus phone notifications |
| Power | Battery with solar top-up |
| Autonomy target | 90+ days unattended, including a Baltic winter |
| Mounting | Tree, mast or pole, 8–12 m for best range: two straps, no mains power, no groundworks |
| Enclosure | Weatherproof nest box with a ventilated double roof for shade |
| Expansion | Radio detection module planned on the same node |
| Components | Non-Chinese, European sourcing preferred |
Roadmap
Where it goes from here
Acoustic node
A single node that reliably hears an attack drone kilometres away, picks it out of everyday outdoor noise and raises an alert. This is what the first prototype has to prove.
Network and map
Several nodes reporting into one picture, so a line of sensors gives direction and a rough track instead of a single point.
Radio module
A second sensor on the same node, listening for control and video links, cross-checked against the acoustic channel to cut false alarms further.
Command integration
Feeding alerts into the platforms operators already use, rather than asking them to watch another screen.
Tell us what Nest has to survive
Range, winter, mounting height, how the alert should reach you — operator requirements are what decide the first build. If you have a perimeter to watch, we want to hear about it.