In modern conflict zones, the proliferation of inexpensive unmanned aerial systems (UAS) with equally low-quality sensors, in addition to widespread GPS spoofing and jamming, have rendered traditional drone video collection unreliable. Significant metadata drift in tactical video feeds leads to “targeting paralysis”: high-quality imagery is available, but the underlying geographic coordinates are too inaccurate for precision activities.

To solve this, Raptor Sync georegisters the full-motion video feed from the drone’s on-board camera with Vantor’s 3D terrain data in real-time, enabling downstream GXP intelligence fusion, multi-domain interoperability across different sensors, and accurate ground coordinate extraction at a demonstrated absolute accuracy of <3 m. This system enables previously impossible intelligence and targeting workflows.

“In contested environments, the sensor’s imagery and video collections are only half the battle; the accuracy of the data it produces is what determines mission success,” said Kurt de Venecia, senior director of product development at BAE Systems GXP. “By including Raptor directly into our GXP intelligence workflows, we are providing analysts with the ability to maintain absolute targeting confidence, even when the platform’s systems or inertial sensors lack high absolute accuracy.”

Injecting corrected Key-Length-Value (KLV) metadata from Raptor directly into the drone’s video stream at the edge enhances accuracy prior to exploitation in GXP software. This overrides inaccurate telemetry, enabling analysts using GXP solutions to extract weapon-quality coordinates and execute intelligence and targeting missions in real time.

“Analysts cannot afford to lose confidence in where a target actually is,” said Paul Millhouse, senior director, raptor products at Vantor. “By using Raptor to correct video before it enters the GXP Ecosystem, we’re enhancing the performance of existing and new drone fleets. The result is a more resilient workflow for extracting accurate ground coordinates and maintaining operational tempo.”

Source: BAE Systems

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The post BAE Systems GXP and Vantor partner appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

Initially RAPTOR will be used to track and maintain custody of space objects of interest to U.S. Space Command, enabling timely reporting on events that could indicate an imminent satellite maneuver or mission change.

“Protecting our national interests demands the utmost focus on maintaining dominance and situational awareness in the space domain,” said Tim Solms, CEO of Slingshot Aerospace. “The Department of Defense must achieve comprehensive visibility and intelligence on covert and adversarial activities in space. RAPTOR delivers unparalleled awareness to safeguard critical assets, strengthen mission readiness, and uphold the security of our nation and its allies.”

Vast amounts of photometric data from the Slingshot Global Sensor Network create digital signatures of space objects in LEO that Slingshot can identify, track, profile and analyze. This photometric fingerprinting provides defense and intelligence agencies with a new set of tools to unlock applications.

Slingshot currently maintains a catalog of approximately 14,500 active spacecraft and debris with its globally deployed network of optical sensors, which generate more than 4.5 million photometric observations each night. When analyzed the resulting “light curves” create a unique digital fingerprint for each space object that can be fed into Slingshot’s Agatha AI model to identify changes like shifts in an object’s orientation in space or its photometric signature.

“Establishing a comprehensive fingerprint database for all objects in orbit enables us to precisely identify an object’s nature and infer its potential mission objectives,” said Dr. Dylan Kesler, vice president of data science, Slingshot Aerospace. “By applying machine learning across our network, we can identify unexpected behavior and use those insights to support our partners’ defense missions.”

Source: Slingshot Aerospace

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The post AFWERX chooses Slingshot Aerospace for RAPTOR appeared first on Intelligence Community News.