Xavveo: The Berlin Chip Startup Closing the Radar Gap Killing Western Defences

Modern air defence systems face a critical vulnerability: a near-field, low-altitude blind spot where small, cheap drones can slip through undetected. Traditional radar is built to spot fast jets and large missiles at long range, not slow-moving FPV drones skimming the treeline. Berlin-based deeptech startup Xavveo is tackling this problem head-on with a radically different approach—replacing copper radar signal cables with fibre optics and a proprietary silicon photonics chip.

Founded in 2023 by photonics and semiconductor industry veterans Dr. Sven Otte (CEO), Dr. Stefan Meister (CTO), and Dr. Ulrich Keil (VP Engineering), Xavveo builds on deep expertise from Sicoya and Intel . The company’s distributed photonic radar platform was originally developed for autonomous driving but has now been expanded into defence, infrastructure surveillance, and counter-UAV (C-UAV) applications .

A Fundamental Shift in Radar Architecture

The core innovation is straightforward on paper but profound in practice. Instead of transmitting radar signals through heavy, frequency-limited copper coaxial cables, Xavveo’s system sends them over optical fibre using an ultra-compact monolithic silicon photonics chip .

This architectural shift unlocks several advantages at once:

• Access to much higher frequencies that fibre can handle but copper cannot, making the system inherently resistant to conventional electronic jamming .
• Ultra-compact, low-power sensor modules with integrated transmitter and receiver antennas on a single photonic chip .
• Coherent signal integration where all raw data from distributed sensor nodes is transmitted via fibre to a central processing unit and coherently combined .
• A virtual antenna surface formed by arranging multiple modules along X/Y axes, creating a large distributed array that delivers sub-0.1° native angular resolution—comparable to LiDAR but robust in fog, rain, and darkness .
• An update rate of 20–30 times per second, enabling real-time tracking of fast-moving small drones .

The remote sensor modules act purely as signal collectors. All the heavy computation happens centrally, which keeps individual nodes small, power-efficient, and easier to deploy.

The Problem: A Radar Gap Exposed by Modern Drone Warfare

Conventional air defence radar is designed around a specific threat model: large, fast aircraft and missiles at high altitude. That model is breaking down. In modern conflicts, adversaries launch swarms of cheap, small, low-flying drones that operate in exactly the near-field, low-altitude space where traditional radar performs worst . By May 2026, Russia was launching over 200 drones per day into Ukraine .

This is the gap Xavveo is purpose-built to close. The system is optimized for short-range, high-resolution detection of small, low-flying objects . It can distinguish drones from birds and differentiate individual drones within a swarm—a critical capability when dealing with coordinated multi-drone attacks . And because it does not rely on cameras or LiDAR that fail in direct sunlight, fog, or rain, it works in all-weather, day-and-night conditions .

The PAIR Product Line: PAIR-500 and PAIR-5000

Xavveo announced its defence-oriented product line in June 2026 under the name PAIR, with two variants:

• PAIR-500: A compact, modular system designed for securing smaller perimeters.
• PAIR-5000: A larger-scale, higher-channel-count configuration for wide-area surveillance .

Both systems share the same core sensor architecture and offer multi-modal sensor fusion. The platform is designed to integrate radar with infrared cameras, optical cameras, and acoustic sensors into a unified situational picture . Critically, the system operates without relying on GPS or 5G infrastructure, making it resilient in contested environments where connectivity may be degraded or denied .

The jamming resistance is a particularly important differentiator. Because photonic signal routing enables the use of much higher radar frequencies than copper-based systems can handle, conventional electronic warfare tactics that work against standard radar become ineffective against the PAIR platform .

From Autonomous Driving to Dual-Use Deeptech

Xavveo’s technology is inherently dual-use. The same properties that make it compelling for defence—high resolution, all-weather operation, interference immunity—also apply to autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, and commercial mobility . The company raised an $8.6 million seed round in late 2024 co-led by Vsquared Ventures and imec.xpand and has been recognized as a Deep Tech Star by the City of Berlin in the Quantum Technologies, Photonics & Microelectronics category .

The defence pivot, announced in June 2026, was driven by direct demand from customers who found that existing sensor systems could not reliably detect the small FPV and reconnaissance drones increasingly appearing on modern battlefields . The company’s target markets now include counter-UAV and drone defence for military installations, critical infrastructure protection for power plants and airports, perimeter security for sensitive sites, and large-area air situational awareness at urban or national scale .