1. Abstract / Summary
Darkhive, a leader in autonomous aerial systems for defense and public safety, selected Doodle Labs’ Mesh Rider Radios to enable high-throughput, long-range connectivity in its Obelisk drone platform. Leveraging the RM-1700-21M3 and RM-2025-61M3 radios, operating across 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 1625–2500 MHz frequency bands, the Obelisk achieves robust communication performance in GPS-denied, contested, and complex environments.
2. Background
Darkhive designs autonomous drones for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions where secure, reliable communication is mission-critical. The Obelisk drone is built to deliver tactical edge capability with minimal operator burden and a focus on affordability, autonomy, and open-architecture compliance.
3. The Program or Mission Need
Public safety and defense missions increasingly demand lightweight, deployable UAVs capable of real-time data relay and edge processing in RF-challenged environments. Darkhive required a comms solution that could maintain high data throughput across variable terrain, urban clutter, and while on the move—all while fitting the Obelisk’s size, weight, and power (SWaP) constraints.
4. The Evaluation Landscape
Darkhive evaluated multiple COTS radio vendors to find a solution that balanced:
- Multi-band support for spectrum agility
- Miniaturized form factor
- Proven performance in dynamic, air-to-ground use cases
- Open architecture compatibility (MAVLink, ROS2, etc.)
- Strong field validation, including ultra long-range use
5. Selection Criteria
The primary decision drivers included:
- SWaP-fit for embedded drone integration (Nano, Mini, and Wearable form factors)
- Proven performance in both 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz ISM bands, plus extended L/S-band (1625–2500 MHz)
- Mesh networking support for swarm and relay operations
- Secure, low-latency video streaming at extended distances
- Availability of integration tools and CLI for real-time tuning
6. Why the Partner Chose Doodle Labs
Doodle Labs was selected for:
- Its dual-band, high-performance radios with field-proven reliability beyond 300 km in airborne scenarios
- Open and modular APIs, enabling seamless integration with Obelisk’s autonomy stack
- The ability to operate in congested RF environments with anti-jamming, adaptive modulation, and automatic band failover
- Access to both ultra-long-range (S-band) and urban-penetrating (900 MHz) configurations in one ecosystem
7. Solution Overview
Darkhive integrated the following radios:
- RM-1700-21M3 operating in the 900 + 2.4 GHz bands for dense environments
- RM-2025-61M3 covering the 1625–2500 MHz “Hex Band” for extended range and resilience
These were deployed across Nano, Mini, and Wearable form factors—configurable to suit different mission loadouts. The radios ran Mesh Rider OS with mesh routing enabled for multi-hop data relay between units.
8. Program or Mission Win
Obelisk drones equipped with Doodle Labs radios have successfully supported test programs and early field deployments with government and military customers. Demonstrated wins include:
- Real-time video + telemetry streaming at range
- Maintained connectivity in urban and forested clutter
- Operational success in RF-congested environments like border zones and disaster areas
9. Platform or System Highlights
- Frequency Agility: Operates from 900 MHz to 2.5 GHz across software-defined bands
- Form Factor Flexibility: Radios embedded into Obelisk via Nano/Mini configurations; ground control via Wearable
- Mesh Topology Support: Enabling swarm and relay scenarios with multi-UAV teams
- Low Latency: <7ms in long-range airborne scenarios with adaptive modulation
10. Performance Validation
Testing benchmarks included:
- Ultra-long-range connectivity validated at 47 km and 328 km under LOS conditions
- >11 Mbps UDP throughput at <40 km, maintaining >3.9 Mbps beyond 200 km
- Latency remained under 12 ms across test scenarios
- Support for simultaneous video, telemetry, and command/control data flows
11. Strategic Impact
With Doodle Labs radios, Darkhive is delivering a tactical UAV platform that supports:
- Spectrum-resilient operations
- Rapid field deployment and re-tasking
- Lower total cost of ownership due to open architecture and reduced need for custom comms solutions
This makes the Obelisk ideal for distributed operations where tactical ISR, autonomy, and resilient networking are essential.
12. Looking Ahead
Darkhive is expanding Obelisk deployments in defense and public safety use cases. Future development includes:
- Integration of cognitive radio features for even more adaptive spectrum use
- Enhanced swarm logic using Doodle Labs’ Mesh Rider mesh control plane
- Trials in GPS-denied navigation scenarios using onboard autonomy + low-latency comms
