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Fortem Technologies, Inc. |
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May 14, 2018 Issue |
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CEOCFO MAGAZINE |
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Q&A with Timothy Bean, CEO of Fortem Technologies, Inc. bringing to market a disruptive Radar Technology that allows Owners of Critical Infrastructure, Buildings, Borders, Oil Refineries, or Entire Metro Areas to Monitor No-Fly Zones for Drones |
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Chief Executive Officer
Fortem Technologies, Inc.
Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – May 14, 2018
CEOCFO: Mr. Bean, according to your site, Fortem Technologies is a leader in modern airspace safety and security. What are you doing at Fortem? Mr. Bean: At Fortem, we have created a disruptive radar technology called TrueView. Our TrueView system allows owners of critical infrastructure whether it is a building or a border or oil refineries or even entire metro areas to have complete airspace awareness, that airspace awareness allows security professionals to monitor no-fly zones for drones. The US has the busiest and safest airspace in the world and Fortem has been funded to assure that remains the same in a drone world.
CEOCFO: What is different about the Fortem Technologies and how does it compare to what is available today? Mr. Bean: The big difference it is our TrueView technology that enables a low cost of ownership, distributed networked radar to deal with topology challenges, high performance, very accurate, 4D, proven software algorithms and very small footprint. Traditional radar is the size of a suitcase to as big as a house, costing millions of dollars, looking out at tens or hundreds of miles. You can hold our radar in your hand at 1.5lbs. Customers can distribute these sensors in what I call, “topology challenged” areas for complete airspace awareness. You have heard of the saying “flying below the radar,” so we are the radar below the radars so you can have total airspace awareness to understand what is happening in your city or around your building.
This technology has been applied to the Fortem DroneHner. A leading UAV that patrols an airspace to capture any rogue drones entering a no fly zone. And it happens all autonomously because the TrueView technology.
CEOCFO: How does it work, why does it work and how are you able to get it into such a compact size? Mr. Bean: People buy CCTV cameras to monitor the ground and protect their building. Think of us as a camera for the air, using radar technology. Radar can see day and night through clouds, which is why it is used in avionics. We see all the objects using physics. It is a very active sensor, so we see everything with the radar.
CEOCFO: What is the challenge in getting it to work at such a small size? How does it work in a large size and what is it you are able to compact to make it happen?
Mr. Bean:
With today’s modern technologies, GPUs and chips, we are able to take
traditional radar and use some of these new chips and technologies to build
something very small. We worked on the technology for six years, and we feel
it’s proven with the US DoD and now ready for commercial customers. CEOCFO: Have others tried a similar approach? Mr. Bean: Other people are trying to build radars for airspace awareness, but theirs is much larger, much more expensive and they are using different technologies that have limitations for airspace monitoring.
CEOCFO: What are you detecting and what happens when the radar sees something? Mr. Bean: We see multiple objects simultaneously and we track those objects. We classify the objects and we send them to a real time database. Based on the trajectory of those objects and where they are flying, if they are entering a no-fly zone, we will alert security professionals of anything that is intruding on the airspace and they can take mitigation actions.
CEOCFO: Are people skeptical that you can do it at the size and configuration that you have? Mr. Bean: We just received a twenty million dollar investment from a group of investors that included Boeing. As part of Boeing is the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world. People have tested this and are using this, so it works.
Mr. Bean: We have raised the money and are building out a team and deploying this across the United States and across the Middle East and Europe.
Mr. Bean: People are protecting against a threat from the air to their critical infrastructure; they are the early adopters and advanced thinkers. Therefore, we are working carefully with them and their infrastructure, learning together on how to keep their infrastructure safe and no-fly zones properly controlled.
CEOCFO: Are people from the various industries that would be interested likely to know about Fortem already and come to you for more info? Mr. Bean: I hope so. I hope the word is out but we can always use people like you to spread the message.
CEOCFO: What do you foresee for overseas? Are there geographic areas that are more interested? Mr. Bean: In the United States, drones are heavily regulated, whereas internationally, some countries are not regulated as much. There is more of a demand and understanding and the US is being processed to make sure the right regulations and structure is in place. Every country is a little different in terms of the regulations.
CEOCFO: What are the barriers to entry for someone who looks at what Fortem and TrueView has? Mr. Bean: Typically they have an annual budget for people to protect their infrastructure from the ground and now they need to look at their budgets to protect their infrastructure from the ground, and now they need to look at their budgets to protect their infrastructure from the air. It is a mind shift.
CEOCFO: Fortem Technology has been recognized in a number of places. What is the most meaningful from the recognition? Mr. Bean: The testimonies and conviction of our customers makes all the difference.
CEOCFO: What is an example of a typical engagement? Mr. Bean: It’s pretty simple. We talk to the customer, map out what they are looking to protect and what their budget range is. We do site survey. We create a quote and will go in and install. With some customers, we run the whole operation of service for them. With others, we hands it over to them and they run it themselves.
CEOCFO: What surprised you as the Fortem concept has grown and evolved? Mr. Bean: When we started, we spent a lot of time perfecting our TrueView radar system to enable drones to fly beyond visual the line of sight and to enable the drone revolution, so that lifesaving package delivery and lifesaving services like could be made available safely to benefit society. As we were enabling that world, we realized that we also needed to apply the technology to protect areas where there were no fly zones whether its airports, borders, oil and gas refineries, etc. We are enabling the drone revolution by ensuring the proper safeguards and security are in place. Fortem's DroneHunter capability will change the world.
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“We are enabling the drone revolution by ensuring the proper safeguards and security are in place. Fortem's Dronehunter capability will change the world.”- Timothy Bean
Fortem Technologies, Inc.
Contact: Timothy Bean (925) 200-6448
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Airspace Security, Fortem Technologies, Inc., Airspace Safety, Timothy Bean, Bringing to market a disruptive Radar Technology that allows Owners of Critical Infrastructure, Buildings, Borders, Oil Refineries, or Entire Metro Areas to Monitor No-Fly Zones for Drones, CEO Interviews 2018, Technology Companies, Industrial Company, Government Services Company, Tim Bean, DroneHunter, Fortem Technologies, Drones, Radar, BVLOS, Beyond Visual Line of Sight, Fortem Technologies, Inc. Press Releases, News, twitter, facebook, linkedin, instagram, blog |
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