The archive · AI & Models · Product decision · 2026
Mainline bets idle Android phones can become a civic radar net for Shahed drones
Lithuanian startup Mainline launches Drone Radar: a free app turning volunteers' idle Android phones into an acoustic early-warning network for Shahed drones.
Mainline
What the business is
Mainline is the Lithuanian startup behind Drone Radar, a crowd-source network in which verified volunteers' Android phones continuously listen for Shahed-type drone engine signatures and feed detections into a public interactive map.
How it started
Audrius Zujus, founder of Lithuanian startup Mainline, launched Drone Radar with activists in June 2026. His starting point: 'Today we are surrounded by devices that see, hear and record their environment', so connect those devices into a common network that adds a layer of security for society. Verified volunteers plug an unused Android phone into power and place it by a window; the app continuously analyzes ambient sound for the low-frequency signatures of Shahed-type drone engines.
What happened
A suspicious acoustic signature is examined by an embedded algorithm, and when several nearby devices record the same signal the system estimates the object's possible location; results feed a monitoring platform with an interactive public map. The project fields a team of 20 specialists with partners including the Lithuanian Artificial Intelligence Association, the Baltic Institute of Technology and the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union. Organizers aim to recruit 10,000 active users across the Baltics and Poland, plan to add audio from residents' surveillance cameras, and are discussing installing sensors on telecom towers with mobile operators. The first step is connecting hundreds of phones to produce a real-time detection map.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
Mainline is a Lithuanian startup founded by Audrius Zujus. On June 19, 2026, it launched Drone Radar together with activists: a crowd-source network that turns volunteers' unused Android phones into acoustic sensors for detecting Shahed-type drones. The bet is that a dense crowd of cheap, already-owned devices can add a security layer that military radar alone cannot cover everywhere.
Verified volunteers leave an old Android phone plugged in near a window. The app continuously analyzes ambient sound for low-frequency signatures characteristic of Shahed-type drone engines; an embedded algorithm examines suspicious signals, and when several nearby phones hear the same sound the system estimates the drone's position. Detections feed a public, interactive map on the Drone Radar monitoring platform.
The project is run by a team of about 20 specialists with partners from the Lithuanian Artificial Intelligence Association, the Baltic Institute of Technology and the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union. Mainline's stated goal is the largest civic acoustic drone-detection network in the Baltic region, with 10,000 active users across the Baltics and Poland; later steps include audio from residents' surveillance cameras and, potentially, sensors on mobile operators' towers.
Privacy is the participation bet: Zujus says the system aims to identify drones and their location using as little data as possible. LRT English, Lithuania's national broadcaster, reported the launch on June 19, 2026, and the next day the launch thread on Hacker News drew 128 points and 91 comments. The network's first milestone was still connecting its first hundreds of phones.
What has to be true
- Each phone is already paid for and sitting in a drawer, so one more sensor costs an app install instead of a radar unit — the economics that make a crowd network possible.
- Acoustic detection only works at density: several phones must hear the same engine to triangulate it, so Mainline gives the app away and recruits thousands instead of selling to one buyer.
- Shahed-type drones are cheap and fly low, so a detection layer built on low-frequency sound signatures sidesteps the cost of dedicated air-defense hardware.
- Volunteers would not put listening devices in their homes without trust, so the design promises minimal data — locating drones with the least possible information — as the price of participation.
What can be applied
Capital is not the only way to build sensing infrastructure: when the hardware already sits in people's homes, the product is the network effect that turns a free app into a dense sensor grid.
Aftermath
As of June 20, 2026, Drone Radar was live as a free Android sensor app and public monitoring map, and Mainline was recruiting verified volunteers toward its first milestone of hundreds of connected phones in Lithuania. The stated trajectory: 10,000 active users across the Baltics and Poland, surveillance-camera audio added to the network, and discussions with mobile operators about sensors on telecom towers — all while keeping data use minimal to protect volunteer privacy.
Sources
- Lithuanian startup launches crowd-source network to detect Shahed-type drones
- Lithuanian startup launches open-source network to detect Shahed-type drones (Hacker News discussion)
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