Cohere wins $28M U.S. contract for multi-waveform ISAC prototype

Cohere Technologies has won a $28 million U.S. government contract to build a multi-waveform radio access network prototype for integrated sensing and communications. The program is designed to support drone defense and other dual-use uses while blending in with normal cellular traffic.

Why it matters: - The contract pushes Cohere Technologies into a U.S. government effort to build sensing and communications into commercial wireless networks. - The prototype is aimed at drone defense, battlefield awareness, border security, critical infrastructure protection and civilian uses such as smart city traffic management. - The system is intended to detect and track threats without looking different from ordinary cellular traffic.

What happened: - Cohere Technologies won a $28 million contract funded by the FutureG Office within the U.S. Department of War. - The award supports development of a multi-waveform radio access network prototype for mission-critical Integrated Sensing and Communications, or ISAC. - The contract title is “Procurement of Multi-Waveform Radio Access Network (RAN) for Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC).” - The announcement came July 2, 2026, from San Jose, California. - The award builds on a National Science Foundation VINES Phase 2 project.

The details: - The program will fund a sovereign, mission-first ISAC capability that uses existing and future commercial 5G/6G infrastructure. - The system is designed to provide persistent aerial and ground surveillance while remaining indistinguishable from normal cellular traffic. - Cohere’s approach combines Pulsone Technology with conventional Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing, or OFDM, in a software-defined architecture. - The company’s Pulsone Technology uses the Zak-Orthogonal Time Frequency and Space, or Zak-OTFS, waveform. - The prototype is meant to provide detection, classification, tracking and defeat-cueing of drone threats in commercial spectrum bands. - The work will be carried out with government technical authorities and program partners. - Planned capabilities include a multi-waveform physical layer on an open software stack, a mobile test platform, layered inference sensing, realistic outdoor test environments and compliance with FutureG OCUDU and Zero Trust security requirements. - The multi-waveform physical layer will support both traditional 4G and 5G OFDM and Pulsone Technology using Zak-OTFS. - The mobile test platform will support bi-static and multi-static sensing configurations. - The layered inference sensing system will turn raw Delay-Doppler data into real-time 3D tracks with classification and confidence scoring. - The test environments will support mono-static, bi-static and multi-static sensing.

Between the lines: - The award reflects a broader U.S. push to use commercial wireless infrastructure for defense sensing without exposing a separate military signal. - Cohere is positioning its software-defined approach as a way to make advanced sensing affordable, scalable and operationally hidden. - The use of commercial bands could make the system harder for adversaries to identify or counter. - The program also points to dual-use demand, with potential applications in air mobility, public safety and smart city systems.

What's next: - Cohere will execute the contract with the FutureG Office and program partners. - The company will develop and test the prototype against government requirements tied to OCUDU and Zero Trust security. - The program is expected to help define how ISAC capabilities move from prototype work into broader defense and commercial deployments.

The bottom line: - Cohere now has federal backing to turn its multi-waveform wireless technology into a prototype meant to serve both drone defense and civilian network use cases.