Q: Tell us about Areté.
A: We’re an agile science, technology, and development employee-owned small business founded in 1976, specializing in Low-Size, Weight, and Power smart sensors/sensing capabilities. We develop these smart sensing capabilities for applications from Seafloor to Space.
Q: What’s special about you?
A: Three things: our people, our ability to find things that are very hard to find, and our development process. Most of our 350 employees have advanced degrees, TS/ SCI clearances, and they solve tough sensing problems in 250k sq. ft. of networked lab, production, and office space. They do so by fusing disciplines and technical approaches in unconventional ways. Most businesses our size won’t do Science & Technology research and QMS AS9100/ISO-9001 Certified production.
Q: Tell us more about your development process.
A: We have three stages – Discover. Develop. Deliver. We take a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach from initial scientific/
Q: Can you describe the interdisciplinary aspect of your development?
A: To solve a tough sensing problem we often involve physicists, optical, data and computer scientists with multiple engineering disciplines from initial ideation all the way through to production. Physicists and Engineers have very different perspectives and problem-solving methods which generates greater collective creativity while building very strong, capable teams. During this process we benefit from our deep experience in Artificial Intelligence to leverage the best aspects of AI appropriate to the sensing problem without just “sprinkling some AI” on it.
Q: What are some specific capabilities we should know about?
A: For Special Operations Forces, LiSA (Lidar for Situational Awareness) is part of a currently deployed solution for improved quality of flight in DVE environments. AIMS (Automated Imaging-based Medical Sensing) is a sUAV-based remote medical assessment/triage capability. AIRTRAC® is the world’s smallest, most capable laser designator. BasiliskTM is a passive sUAS swarm detector designed for austere environments. TANDOM (Tactical Analytic Decision Optimization Module) is currently deployed providing multi-int sensor fusion to aid decisions, particularly in CBRNE situations.
Q: How does someone work with Areté?
A: We are an excellent teammate and use a “best athlete” approach when we build our teams – if another company has a technology, that’s who we go with – it’s about finding the best solution. We routinely work with other small businesses, major companies, both in a sub and prime role, and academic institutions. For government customers, we can help them advance their technology through the SBIR program – we are currently executing over 30 SBIRs, including nine Phase III SBIRs. We like to transition our innovation!
Q: Where can we find out more?
A: You can stop by our booth – #751 at SOFIC, visit us at www.arete.com, or contact me at jrouse@arete.com or 703‑405‑3146.