Cohere Technologies lands $28m FutureG deal for ISAC R&D

• The US Department of War (DoW) FutureG Office is investing in cutting-edge, next-gen tech
• It has handed $28m in funding to Cohere Technologies for the development of integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) technology, which is one of the key use cases for 6G

San Jose, California-based Cohere Technologies has landed a $28m contract funded by the FutureG Office within the US Department of War (DoW) to “support the development of a multi-waveform radio access network (RAN) prototype for mission-critical integrated sensing and communications (ISAC)”. 

In particular, the funds are to help with the “development of a sovereign, mission-first ISAC capability that leverages existing and future commercial 5G/6G infrastructure to provide persistent aerial and ground surveillance while remaining indistinguishable from ordinary cellular traffic,” noted Cohere Technologies, which is best known for its universal spectrum multiplier (USM) technology that can help mobile operators make greater use of their spectrum in standard, as well as Open RAN, deployments. In October last year, the company launched its Pulsone Technology business to develop wireless solutions for non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) and 5G/6G ISAC networks.  

As a US company, Cohere Technologies ticks the sovereign box for the FutureG Office, which has a budget of $500m and is responsible for the strategic assessment and R&D of FutureG (future-generation) technologies that could deliver economic, military and security advantages to the US and its allies. It should be noted also that the likes of Ericsson and Nokia, which are not US firms but work with the US government and many US critical national infrastructure companies, are also developing ISAC capabilities, so Cohere Technologies is competing for these funds against very stiff competition. 

And ISAC fits the bill as a FutureG technology – it emerged as one of the key use cases in TelecomTV’s Defining 6G Networks reports, What do operators want? and What do vendors want?, both of which are available to download for free. 

And why might ISAC, in particular, be of interest to the DoW? “ISAC is a mission-first priority for the US Department of War to defend against drone swarms. Due to guidance from leadership to execute rapidly, we required a partner with the right technology ready today,” stated Tom Rondeau, principal director for FutureG. “As a proven innovator with a demonstrated ability to build multi-waveform platforms, Cohere Technologies offered a clear path that we could move on immediately. [Its] OTFS [orthogonal time frequency space] modulation carries information directly in the sensing domain, delivering massive communications and sensing performance advantages in high-Doppler environments. This solution rapidly delivers critical ISAC capabilities while building on our ‘innovate-first’ posture, demonstrating the tremendous opportunity for innovation brought by the FutureG Open Centralized Unit Distributed Unit (OCUDU) platform.” 

OCUDU, which is also being funded in part by the FutureG Office, was unveiled earlier this year and is being developed by open-source body The Linux Foundation (LF), under the auspices of its Open Centralized Unit Distributed Unit (OCUDU) Ecosystem Foundation. “The OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation provides a critical mechanism for industry vendors to optimally guide OCUDU development to support 5G and early AI-native 6G services… [it] brings together an ecosystem across enterprise, telecom operators, cloud providers, equipment vendors and research institutions to co-develop and integrate critical components required for 5G and early 6G deployments. This community-driven model complements global standards from 3GPP and O-RAN Alliance and industry alliances like AI-RAN Alliance. This global effort ensures that innovation, transparency and interoperability remain at the core of global software-defined RAN evolution,” noted the Linux Foundation in this announcement.

Cohere Technologies’ chairman and CEO, Ray Dolan, will be cheered and relieved by the contract award following years of R&D, tests and support (including investments) from telcos such as Bell Canada and Vodafone: Late last year he told TelecomTV that his company needed to win business in 2026 to help take it to the next phase of its development. You can watch that interview here.

“This ISAC contract from DoW represents a major milestone for Cohere and for the future of dual-use wireless technology,” stated Dolan. “By combining our Pulsone Technology with conventional orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) in a flexible, software-defined architecture, we can deliver high-performance sensing that is affordable, scalable, and operationally invisible – exactly what is needed to counter the growing threat of sophisticated drone and unmanned aerial systems (UAS).”

He added: “This ISAC project award validates Cohere’s long-term vision of building sovereign, future-proof wireless infrastructure that serves both national security and commercial markets. We are proud to work alongside the FutureG Office and partners to deliver technology that strengthens our nation’s ability to sense and respond in contested environments.”

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV