A Huntsville company’s technology that can hear and track drones is now taking its capabilities on the move.
Invariant Corporation and Hyperion Technology Group have teamed with Swarmbotics to integrate Invariant’s FireFLY passive acoustic sensors onto the FireAnt, a small autonomous ground vehicle designed to operate without a human driver.
The companies announced Tuesday that the integration was demonstrated as part of the Jailbreak NANO ACE effort, showing how mobile acoustic sensors can contribute to a larger counter-drone defense network.
The technology allows an autonomous vehicle to maneuver into position while its sensors listen for, detect, track and classify unmanned aircraft.
“This effort demonstrated what we believe is one of the greatest strengths of passive acoustic sensing: the ability to provide another layer of awareness without adding an active signature,” said Invariant CEO David Anderson. “By combining FireFLY with an autonomous ground platform and integrating the resulting data into IBCS-M, we were able to show how acoustic sensing can become part of a much larger, networked C-UAS architecture.”
During the operational assessment, FireFLY sensors mounted on the FireAnt were maneuvered and positioned through the Integrated Battle Command System-Maneuver (IBCS-M) command-and-control architecture.
According to Invariant, the sensors simultaneously detected, tracked and classified drones while operating alongside other sensing technologies.
Unlike radar and radio-frequency detection systems, FireFLY uses passive acoustic sensing to identify threats through sound without transmitting an active signal.
That capability can be particularly useful against small, low-flying drones that may be difficult to detect because of terrain, obstacles or the absence of traditional radio-frequency signals.
Invariant said the FireAnt’s onboard power and communications systems supported the sensors with minimal additional equipment, while the vehicle’s autonomous mobility allowed the sensors to be repositioned as needed.
The FireFLY-AOv3 system uses signal processing and artificial intelligence to detect, classify and track small unmanned aircraft and weapons-fire threats in real time. It can also provide three-dimensional location information to help other sensors or defensive systems identify potential threats.
The latest demonstration builds on Invariant’s growing work in counter-drone technology.
As 256 Today previously reported, Invariant demonstrated a counter-drone system combining FireFLY acoustic sensors, artificial intelligence-driven imaging technology and its Surface-to-Air Kinetic Engagement, or STAKE, system.
The company has also expanded its autonomous defense technology beyond ground applications.
In February, Invariant announced successful early maritime integration testing of STAKE aboard Textron Systems’ TSUNAMI-R unmanned surface vessel at Lake Guntersville.
The latest FireFLY integration represents another application of the company’s technology, this time using an autonomous ground vehicle to move sensors into position rather than relying solely on fixed installations.
The FireAnt equipped with FireFLY was also displayed at the U.S. Army’s Pathway for Innovation and Technology booth during the Association of the United States Army’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. this week.
Founded in 2001, Invariant is a 100% employee-owned engineering and technology company headquartered in Huntsville. The company recently earned a spot on the 2026 Inc. 5000 after reporting 265% revenue growth over three years.
Its work spans advanced sensors, engineering, software development, prototyping and autonomous defense systems for military and national security customers.
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