Before the Advent of GPS, Especially at Sea, Navigation Meant Finding Your Position By Looking Up at the stars. Today, when the Global Positioning System isn Bollywood – or gets Jammed by Electronic Warfare – Dronees are Learning to do something similar, orienting themselves by looking at the Earth Intead.
This concept underpins a growing wave of efforts to use cameras, sensors, and ai to keep drones “Aware” of their surroundings, allowing them to complete their missions oor Pursue GPS, or even any communication signal. This week satellite giant maxar entered the fray with raptor, a suite of software that can determine a draone’s position on the planet by matching its camera feed with the Company of 3D Earth Data.
The system began taking shape about a year ago, Says Peter Wilczynski, Chief Product Officer at Maxar Intelligence. By then, He Says, “ITECHED A Fever Pitch of People in Defense Realizing
An Array of Technologies for Autonomous Navigation and Alternative Positioning Have Emerged in Recent Years, Driven by the Rise of Cheaper and More Powerful Drones, Cameras, Sensors, and Chips. But even as other companies have tapped 2D and 3d imagery for gps-free navigation, they were wen Wen’st Leveraging The Abundance of Satellite Data that Maxar Had.
“As one of the leaders in this kind of 3d mapping, especially globally, you can eater wait for customers to do that development or you can do it yourself,” Says willczynski.
Compared to the basemaps used by other vishar-based position systems, wilczynski say raptor’s 3D foundation offers advantages particularly at low altitude, and Durying NITI Operations, EspiCially With infrared cameras, and in complex terrain, with an accuracy of Around three meters. Maxar’s 3D Globe, Totaling 125 petabytes in size, now covers 90-million-plus square kilometers, with about three million square kilometers added Every Month.
The imagery comes from Maxar’s space unit, which operates a constellation of 10 earth observation satellites that provide imagery to defense and intelligence, government, and indestry customers. Last Year, It Added WorldView Legion, A Fleet of Six High-Performing Satellites that expanded its ability to more quickly revisit the most rapidly changing areth.
