RF & Radar Engineering Intern (Graduates & U.S. Persons Only)

Please note before applying: this internship is open to graduates only (degree conferred; current students are not eligible), is restricted to U.S. Persons (see ITAR notice below), and is fully on-site in Azusa, CA, including an in-person interview. Candidates within ~30 minutes of Azusa are preferred; candidates farther out must be willing to live in our Azusa intern housing for the internship.

This is an RF and radar signal-processing role. You will tune a real passive radar system detecting real targets against real clutter — from the antenna element to the range-Doppler plot. If you have designed and built your own antennas, know what a cross-ambiguity function is, and can argue about noise figure over lunch, this is your role.

ABOUT ELDÆON

ELDÆON is building the world's first tactical UAP-detection network. Our sensor-fusion platform is engineered ground-up to detect what conventional defense systems were never designed to see — anomalous aerial phenomena that violate restricted airspace, including near nuclear facilities and military installations.

Our platform is:

Modular — adaptable across rooftop, field, and networked regional deployments

Multimodal — fusing optical, RF, environmental, biometric, and temporal data

Real-time — live detection, correlation, and characterization of aerial phenomena

We are sensor hackers, reverse engineers, and deep-tech builders. We build what others won't.

THE ROLE

NEMESIS is our passive bistatic radar: it detects aircraft by correlating broadcast signals (ATSC television, FM) reflected off targets against a direct reference channel — no transmit license, no emissions, nothing for a target to detect. The production system runs on Raspberry Pi 5 with dual-channel software-defined radio (ADALM-Pluto/AD9361), performing cross-ambiguity processing, adaptive clutter cancellation, CFAR detection, and multi-target tracking in real time, verified against live ADS-B truth data.

You will own the RF performance of this system: illuminator selection and tuning, receive-chain gain staging, antenna design and measurement, and the signal-processing parameters that decide whether a target shows up in the plot or dies in the clutter ridge. You'll also work across our wider SDR fleet — SDRplay RSPduo, KrakenSDR 5-channel coherent arrays, USRP, HackRF, RTL-SDR — and on our next-generation analog phased-array front-end (LNAs, digitally-controlled phase shifters, Wilkinson combining).

We use agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Hermes) heavily; you should be open to driving them for DSP code, analysis scripts, and tooling — and rigorous enough to verify their output against physics.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Tune the radar: center frequency, bandwidth, sample rate, CPI length, range-bin geometry, and ambiguity-surface extents (delay/Doppler) against real illuminators

Read and act on range-Doppler plots daily — distinguish targets, clutter, direct-path breakthrough, and illuminator artifacts, and fix what you find

Tune clutter cancellation, CFAR detection thresholds, centroiding, and track initiation against live ADS-B truth

Select and characterize illuminators (ATSC, FM, DAB): tower geometry, EIRP, spectral occupancy, pilot/sync structure

Bring up and calibrate SDR receive chains — gain staging, AGC behavior, dual-channel coherence, sample-clock and carrier-frequency offset

Design and build antennas from scratch — Yagi, omnidirectional, patch, dipole/bow-tie elements and arrays; choose polarization (horizontal, vertical, linear) for the geometry; build baluns and matching networks; validate with VNA and field measurements

Build out the analog beamforming front-end: LNA selection and noise-figure budgeting, phase-shifter control, combiner networks, bandpass filtering

Improve timing discipline — GPS-disciplined oscillator integration and frequency-reference architecture

Work on transmit-capable chains (RF transmitters, power amplifiers) and noise/interference mitigation as we expand the platform

Write the DSP and analysis code behind all of it in Python and C++

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Every Required item below must be visible in your resume or portfolio as a project you built — coursework alone does not clear the bar. Bring links.

Required

Completed BS or MS in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline with RF/DSP emphasis (degree already conferred; current students are NOT eligible)

U.S. Person (U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual — see ITAR notice)

Hands-on software-defined radio experience (PlutoSDR, HackRF, RTL-SDR, USRP, KrakenSDR, or similar) with project evidence — not just GNU Radio tutorials

Antenna design — you have designed and built your own antennas, not just used them: Yagi, omnidirectional, patch, or dipole/bow-tie designs, with a working grasp of horizontal, vertical, and linear polarization, feeds, and impedance matching

Radar/DSP fundamentals you can apply: correlation/matched filtering, Doppler processing, coherent integration, CFAR detection, range resolution vs. bandwidth

Working RF chain knowledge: receivers, transmitters, LNAs, power amplifiers, filtering, noise figure, link budgets

Strong Python; comfortable reading and modifying C++ DSP code

Willing to work with agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Hermes) as production instruments — hands-on experience strongly preferred

Independent — you own the radar's RF performance end-to-end in a fast-paced environment

Able to be on-site in Azusa for the full internship

Strongly preferred (any combination)

Passive/bistatic radar exposure — ambiguity functions, direct-path interference suppression, illuminators of opportunity

Phased arrays and beamforming — element spacing, phase-shifter control, array calibration

Test equipment fluency: VNA, spectrum analyzer, signal generator, oscilloscope

GNU Radio or equivalent SDR framework work

GPSDO / precision timing and frequency references; oscillator phase noise

RF PCB design — impedance-controlled layout, matching networks, connector/cable discipline (SMA, RG316)

FPGA exposure on SDR platforms (AD9361/Zynq class)

EMC/EMI debugging and interference hunting

Bonus

Amateur radio license — General or Extra class is a strong signal

Radio astronomy, meteor scatter, satellite ground stations, or ADS-B/receiver projects that run unattended

Genuine curiosity about UAP, anomalous aerial phenomena, and the frontier of sensing

PERKS

Paid — $20/hr, full-time (40 hrs/week)

Company-provided housing in Azusa, CA at the intern house

Real ownership — your firmware ships on units at customer sites, not a throwaway intern project

Real hardware — SDRs, phased-array front-ends, a 28-sensor platform, and a full electronics bench

Direct access to founders and senior engineers

Frontier work — the platform you'll build doesn't have a textbook

ITAR / EXPORT CONTROL NOTICE

ELDÆON develops technology subject to U.S. export-control regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by the U.S. Department of State's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC).

This role requires U.S.-Person status. The role works directly on NEMESIS passive-radar firmware and related controlled technical data, which may only be accessed by U.S. Persons as defined under 22 CFR §120.62 (U.S. citizens, U.S. lawful permanent residents, and protected individuals under 8 U.S.C. §1324b(a)(3)).

U.S.-Person status is verified during the interview process. We do not sponsor visas for this role.

We read every application. If your project portfolio shows you can build, you'll hear back.

ELDAEON is an equal-opportunity employer. We build what others won't — and we hire people who do the same.

Full Time