Introduction
Imagine being able to extend human senses in the outdoors to increase safety and situational awareness, day or night, no matter the weather conditions. It may seem inconceivable, but one spinout company at ICBM, MatrixSpace, has achieved just this in its development of the world’s smallest, lightest, most portable and highest-performing radar system.
The main goal of MatrixSpace centers around the idea of changing the way people sense their outdoor environment through intelligent sensor systems.
MatrixSpace Background
MatrixSpace was launched in 2019 by Northeastern Professor and Alumni, Greg Waters and Northeastern Professor, Jose Martinez as an independent company through the Northeastern Innovation Campus in Burlington. The new radar technology they created and have begun to commercialize will revolutionize radar capabilities with its dual modes of operation including communication and radar modes making it possible for radar to be able to communicate with each other in real-time.
The Problem
Environmental and situational conditions are not always ideal for standard radar usage. Traditional radar is limited by circumstances such as time of day, poor weather, low airspace, weight, portability and communication capabilities. Performance and accuracy can be negatively impacted by each of these scenarios.
The Solution
The unique radar capability developed at MatrixSpace will allow people to utilize low airspace in new ways. The development of a product called Doppler Space will change drone package deliveries, air taxis, flying vehicles and all sorts of low airspace activities. Doppler Space is the world’s smallest millimeter-wave radar and millimeter-wave mesh radio system.
The applications of this technology cut across many industries including security for critical infrastructure, tracking and detection within the defense industry, securing safe airspace within the aviation industry, providing surveillance and security for public safety, monitoring assets within the oil and gas industry, digitizing the outdoors for Smart Cities, and for gaining feedback on ball flight in the sports industry. The possibilities are endless with this bold new technology that will change how we envision perimeter security.
The Role of the ICBM Campus
Having a great concept rooted in research is good, but it takes more than that to commercialize successfully, according to Matt Kling, Vice-President of Intelligence Systems in charge of running the engineering and development for MatrixSpace. He credits the success of MatrixSpace with not only the exceptional facilities on the ICBM campus but also the academic and industry community on campus that works together to successfully launch a product.
The ICBM testing facilities have been integral in carrying out the development, testing and advanced testing phases that made their product come to fruition. Facilities they found crucial to the development of their Doppler Space product included the drone labs, both the large indoor anechoic chamber and the outdoor drone testing space, as well as the expeditionary cyber and unmanned aircraft systems lab.
The facilities at ICBM’s unique campus allow for a space to test and improve the potential products of MatrixSpace. Further, Northeastern supports the research and development on this campus by providing co-op students to join in the process as a part of their education and growth.
In addition to facilities that helped test their product, the co-founders of MatrixSpace understand that the ecosystem on the ICBM campus was also a part of their success, from being able to work collaboratively with academic and industry partners to getting assistance from experts in fundraising. Complex product development requires not only imagination and innovation but also support from industry experts who have experience in helping a product go through the stages of development from inception to commercialization.
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