'You cant hide the sound of an engine' Inside the revolutionary Czech AI acoustic shield designed to hunt low-flying drones, which could soon come to
a street near you

Date:
Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Description:
Modern drones have evolved from a nuisance factor to a key weapon in
conflicts - could an acoustic shield be the answer?

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Neuron Soundware's Sound Shield turns sound into air defense by leveraging AI across already existing technology It addresses concerns of the cost and footprint of modern radars
by leveraging small, low cost and energy efficient 'edge' units The solution itself is passive, making it both, invisible on a battlefield and easy to deploy in civilian areas without causing disruption The ongoing war in
Ukraine and the US-Iran conflict have changed how many perceived modern warfare would go in the future.

Drones are now an increasingly important offensive and defensive deployment, and the asymmetrical warfare they offer is a challenge to counter, given the sheer amount of attack vectors and tactics that are in play for said UAVs. Now, Czech startup Neuron Soundware thinks it has an answer to what is
shaping up to be one of the biggest threats to societies that are otherwise exposed to drone warfare: acoustics. Latest Videos From Watch full video
here: Focusing on sound as a means of defense Modern drones come in all sizes and shapes, making it difficult for radar and air defense systems to both detect some of the smallest and deal with large swarms that have been deadly in current conflicts.

They also offer the ability to disrupt or damage billions of dollars in hardware and infrastructure at a cost that is an order of magnitude lower
than that of anything else in a military's arsenal. You may like Chinese firm selling stealth 'core technology by the kilogram' to make drones almost invisible to radars spray-on coating is almost affordable by F-117
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Nowhere was this more visible than Ukraine's own sophisticated Operation Spiderweb , which saw Russia lose close to $7 billion in military hardware thanks to surprise attacks by low-cost drones.

Modern radar and air defense are both expensive and imperfect, leading EU leaders to scramble for a feasible alternative. Neuron Soundware, a startup that focuses on AI to listen to industrial hardware, might have a unique but promising solution. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners
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The solution, dubbed Sound Shield, focuses on identifying and locating drones by leveraging microphones attached to small sensors it calls nEdge Minis. All of these would report back to a computing platform powered by Nvidia 's
Jetson modules, which would, if it detected a threat, inform a centralized platform.

Unlike modern radar, which would require much more expensive deployments and essentially 'announce' itself every time it sweeps, the nEdge minis consume only 1W of power and cost only 100-150 euros a pop, allowing for a silent, power-efficient yet accurate detection tool.

Neuron Soundware is also pitching this as a dual-use system, suggesting it could be deployed near electrical transformer stations to monitor both drones and the electronic hardware at those installations. What to read next Ukrainian UAV expert warns US off-the-shelf drones will fail to survive EW, and 'every unit should have their own drone laboratory' Japan joins Australia in building cardboard drones and theyre scarily cheap Why drone visibility and accountability are just as important as security controls

"We can deploy our nEdge units in a so-called dual-use mode," said Pavel Konen, founder and CEO of Neuron Soundware. "Primarily, they can continuously monitor the health of the transformer itself and other critical components of the distribution network - detecting internal discharges, oil leaks, or other operational anomalies."

"At the same time, their microphones listen to the sky. This would reduce the number of nEdge Mini units needed. The state would thus gain a comprehensive air defense network detecting drones with minimal additional installation and power costs."

With modern warfare increasingly becoming asymmetrical and unconventional, potentially effective solutions such as Sound Shield might be the answer to smaller, smarter drones that often come with stealth technologies baked in , simply because of a key limitation they seem unable to address: a noisy engine. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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