Lockheed Martin and Verizon have demonstrated a system that uses the operator’s 5G network and an AI-RAN capability to detect, track and monitor drones.
Following pilots (no pun intended) this year, Lockheed Martin said it will be commercialising the capability, known as NetSense Airspace Awareness-as-a-Service, in 2027 via its subsidiary Astris AI, with early deployments limited to select customers that “urgently need the capability”. Lockheed released a few details about NetSence in this release in March 2026.
Integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) is emerging both as a potential future use case in 6G and also as a capability that existing networks, including 5G and (in different use cases) Wi-Fi can provide. Proponents hope that it can provide a way for MNOs to monetise networks as a platform for detection and monitoring of objects, people and spaces. The addition of AI inferencing capability near to the edge might also aid highly latency sensitive applications, meaning that some also see ISAC as a natural bedfellow for AI-RAN and for 6G’s proposed AI-Native RAN.
For this trial, which took place in July 2026, Verizon provided the existing 5G network spectrum while ODC supplied AI-native RAN software and NVIDIA contributed its AI Aerial platform. Keysight’s RF simulation technology was also used, with Lockheed Martin providing the warning, tracking and airspace-awareness capabilities.
How it works
Verizon’s 5G transmitters create RF signals that propagate through the surrounding area, and when an object such as a drone enters that field it changes the way those signals propagate, producing measurable disturbances in the RF environment. The system captures those changes using existing cellular infrastructure and receivers, with NVIDIA’s AI Aerial platform analysing the RF measurements in real time. AI models then distinguish patterns associated with an aerial object from normal variations in the radio environment and pass the resulting sensing data to Lockheed Martin’s NetSense algorithms. Those algorithms can identify the presence of a UAS, determine its location and movement and track it as it moves through the coverage area, while using the observed trajectory to predict its flight path and automatically send real-time alerts.
While the companies see the technology as a bridge to the sensing capabilities expected from 6G, this was a 5G trial, meaning that Verizon can monetise its network capability without waiting for 6G – presumably as long as it has also deployed the ODC and Nvidia RAN capabilities in the desired locations. While NetSense does not require a wholesale 6G radio upgrade or dedicated sensing hardware, it does depend on an AI-RAN compute and software layer capable of processing the RF data.
There was no word in Verizon’s release how this network layer would sit alongside or within its current network. The demonstration uses NVIDIA AI Aerial to analyse RF signal disturbances in real time and feed that information into Lockheed Martin’s NetSense algorithms. We do know that ODC describes its RANIQ platform, developed on NVIDIA AI Aerial, as designed to turn deployed base stations into programmable RF sensor nodes and real-time AI inference engines, without new RF hardware or spectrum.
Anil Guntupali, senior vice president of Technology and Product Development at Verizon, described the process as “applying AI to the RF signal measurement data already traversing our 5G infrastructure.”
He added, “By collaborating with Lockheed Martin to apply intelligence to our existing 5G spectrum, we’re proving that the most complex security problems often have an answer embedded in the network.”
NVIDIA described the combination of AI Aerial and AI-RAN as enabling existing 5G infrastructure to become an AI-powered sensing platform. RF signal disturbances can be analysed at the network edge, allowing potential threats to be detected and classified without requiring a separate dedicated sensing network.
Lockheed Martin is positioning NetSense for defence uses, as well as around airports, power plants, hospitals, schools, stadiums and other critical infrastructure. The system is intended to operate as a subscription service and interface with existing security operations. For Lockheed Martin, that represents an attempt to bring defence-grade airspace awareness into a more commercially deployable model.
Abraham Arencibia, Vice President of Technology at Verizon, took to LinkedIn to write. “By coming together and collaborating with Lockheed Martin, NVIDIA, Keysight Technologies and ODC, we applied AI to the RF signal measurement data traversing our 5G infrastructure. Together, we demonstrated how we can transform our network into an intelligent sensing platform for any public airspace threats. Imagine all the public safety scenarios we could help with and also on the ground.”
Vas Gudlana, ODC CEO, also on LinkedIn, said, “ODC’s strategic collaboration with Lockheed, Verizon, and Keysight marks a milestone in the evolution of joint Counter-UAS and layered homeland air defense for low-flying objects. By leveraging our AI-Native, Zero Trust AI-RAN platform, ODC enables true Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) via a standards-compliant commercial architecture — turning everyday mobile network infrastructure into an intelligent, wide-area sensor fabric that detects, tracks and identifies low-altitude threats at the forward edge via applications such as NetSense.”
