Emergency personnel often receive inaccurate or incomplete information. A caller may misidentify a location, and first responders don’t end up where they need to be. Having the ability to accurately identify where emergency services are needed provides additional time that can be the difference in life or death scenarios. Drone technology can help get eyes on a scene first and confirm necessary details of a situation. But piloting uncrewed systems comes with navigating FAA rules and regulations, especially in airspace beyond a pilot’s line of sight.
Lighthouse Avionics makes it easier to satisfy FAA waiver rules and avoid collisions in the sky by using a ground-based system that drops the cost of low altitude airspace awareness. Their technology makes airspace easier to monitor and therefore easier for municipalities, police, fire and others to use. Lighthouse Avionics’ technology doesn’t only benefit emergency responders. By making low altitude airspace monitoring more ubiquitous, it’s also improving drone delivery services and advanced air mobility applications.
Lighthouse Avionics was spun out of research on drone technology being done at Converge Technologies, Bair’s father’s company, which had been founded to commercialize university research. Co-founder and CEO Tyler Bair had been working there on an Ohio State University patented radar technology on two separate projects, one as a ground-based sensor to detect drones and the other to perform detect-and-avoid onboard the drone. Both projects integrated an optical component as part of that research. Working in drone technology wasn’t always the goal for Bair, but as he started to work on more uncrewed systems projects, he realized its varying applications.
“I’m generally interested in technology and systems, so I took it and ran with it,” said Bair. “There’s all sorts of cool tech stuff that they’re working on here [Converge Technologies], like radar systems and quantum sensors, but this is the one that I kind of latched on to.”
When a newspaper article was published on the work Bair was doing, it attracted the attention of Hillard, Ohio police chief Eric Grile. Grile reached out to Converge Technologies and eventually connected with Bair and his team. Working together, they spun the research off into Lighthouse Avionics and secured some funding through the State of Ohio to do initial business development supported by Converge Technologies.
In 2025, Lighthouse Avionics got its first products to market. Bair says they’re now looking to expand their commercial sales and recurring revenue. As a GENIUS NY Cohort 9 team, Lighthouse Avionics is also growing its network. Bair was familiar with the GENIUS NY ecosystem from working on a project at the Griffiss Air Force Base, and knew it would be a place where they could grow alongside other likeminded companies.
“GENIUS NY in particular is very innovative, very collaborative,” said Bair. “The advantage of the GENIUS NY and the Syracuse environment is that it’s drone-focused. There are all sorts of people that are really, really respected in the space and really know aviation, and the drone space in particular. There’s a lot more partnership opportunities there.”
Lighthouse Avionics is already exploring opportunities to work with fellow Cohort 9 members like Modovolo and SkyfireAI. They’ll be competing for the $1 million GENIUS NY grand prize at Innovation Night on May 7. Innovation Night brings together entrepreneurs, investors, and community leaders for a celebration of innovation across Central New York. Get your ticket today.
