At this year’s International Defence and Security Exhibition DEFEA 2023, one of the participants that stood out was the Greek start-up company Lambda (λ) Automata.

The business initiative in question has shown leaps and bounds with rates of ‘geometric progression’ inversely proportional to its short period of activity, since, although it has not yet completed two years of operation (incorporated in September 2021), it is already able to present ready and promising solutions.

The founders of this idea are Mr. Dimitrios Kottas and Mr. Georgios Kontogiannis, two successful Brain Gain cases, who saw a promising future in the technological ecosystem at domestic and European levels. Flanked by a team of engineers and experts, the said technological duo looks forward to creating dual-use cutting-edge technology in the Silicon Valley standards, in which they successfully served.

In fact, this perspective of Lambda (λ) Automata was also recognized by the investment company Marathon Venture Capital, which in October 2022 upgraded this perspective to investment trust.

Now, with the help of Marathon Venture Capital, the company defines itself as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) company, active in the field of Defense and Civil Protection by developing autonomous surveillance systems for early warning against fire or trafficking as well as Situation Awareness systems.

The basic concept that governs the technological products of Lambda (λ) Automata is the development of Mesh perception at scale to cover large areas.

The mesh in question is based on the integration of various “legacy” sensors, which are currently operated manually. This entails a complex, manned, and slow process of data collection and analysis and geo-configuration of the systems. Thus, the company’s goal is to accelerate this cycle to machine speed cycle by extending the life of existing sensors in the modern field.

Therefore, the company is moving towards a holistic, end-to-end solution, which will integrate sensors with data fusion capabilities from radio frequency signals and radar returns to video and thermal feeds, into a single, coherent, fully digitized, tactical field imaging.

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The capability to analyze, merge and geolocate a multitude of data from different sensors is a key parameter of modern defence applications and it is precisely this operational need that Lambda (λ) Automata seeks to address.

In this direction, the company has developed the following individual systems, which operate complementary to each other. The following systems were displayed at the Exhibition:

λ-Outpost – Autonomous Perception Tower

The first product is an autonomous perception tower, which can conduct autonomous scanning, detection, tracking, and classification of various events of interest from fire outbreaks to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in the absence of physical human existence.

In addition, the Outpost is capable of autonomous geolocation and event communication at machine speed (as already noted) and can be deployed in 40 minutes with an operational surveillance range of 4 km.

The system was designed with vendor-agnostic specifications, so that it is possible to expand the types of sensors according to the requirements of each user (fully-customized), which the platform can accommodate. On this basis, both hardware and software can come from Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products.

λ-Outposts can be installed in the most remote locations without any intervention in the surrounding area or the use of additional infrastructure, while they can operate fully interconnected at the fleet level, allowing the aforementioned mesh creation.

Furthermore, the perception tower in question allows the processing of data locally on the tower assisted to a large extent by Artificial Intelligence algorithms, while energy sufficiency is ensured by batteries and photovoltaic systems.

Hydra – Perception Plugin

The company has already developed a software platform that achieves data fusion from sensors of various types and upgrades each network of cameras with AI algorithms with the aim of optimal digitized operational display in real-time.

Hydra, as it is called, is a sensor-agnostic system weighing 4.35 kg (at the company’s stand, it was combined with a passive Miwok sensor), which can create a single, geolocated interface, informing about every detection in the coverage area regardless of the existence of GPS and in extreme environmental conditions.

Specter traps

The company, providing for any blind spots, which the tower fails to surveil, uses energy autonomous (with photovoltaic surfaces) hunting 50 x 30 cm Specter traps, which can be installed at a distance of 5 km from the Tower.

To date, a number of the company’s towers have been installed in the area of ​​Ioannina, as part of the Civil Protection’s civil applications program.

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