Arke Telekom, a company developing defence and communication technologies, has raised €1 million in funding from ACT VenturePartners, a venture capital firm that invests in deeptech companies.

The company develops communication systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones. Its technology is designed to help drones stay connected in areas where electronic warfare, signal jamming, or disruptions to satellite navigation can affect communications.

As drones become smaller, cheaper, and more widely used in military operations, keeping them connected has become a major challenge. Signal interference can disrupt their operations, while traditional military communication systems may not be suitable for smaller drones.

To solve this problem, Arke Telekom has developed ArkeLink, a communication system that uses software-defined radio and a flexible mesh network. The technology can automatically find alternative communication routes when a connection is disrupted, helping drones maintain reliable links even in difficult environments.

Explaining the technology, Barış Karadeniz, co-founder and CTO of Arke Telekom, said that maintaining communication in electronic warfare environments requires more than a strong radio connection: “Networks must be able to adapt to changing conditions and maintain communications even when individual links are lost. With ArkeLink, we combine jam-resistant communications with a self-organising network architecture. Our goal is to deliver these capabilities in a compact, scalable solution that can be used across different unmanned systems.”

Arke Telekom will use the new funding to expand into international markets and develop more products for different types of unmanned systems.