A consortium formed of Archangel Imaging, UAVaid and Novit AI, today announced the successfulaward of a share of £2.5m of development funding from the National Aerospace TechnologyExploitation Programme (NATEP) and formal start of PROJECT GENIE, a 12-month programme todevelop innovative aircraft navigation technology for use in GPS denied or contested environments.Project GENIE (GNSS Excluded Navigation Intelligent Enhancement) will mature and advance non-GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems – usually thought of as GPS) solutions as part of a long-term objective to enable assured location and navigation in commercial aerospace, helping to unlockthe benefits and value of autonomy in civil aviation.
Today, GPS is a fundamental instrument for the aerospace industry, used by pilots of every type ofaircraft to provide reliable, accurate location information for navigation purposes. Unfortunately,GPS is easy to spoof (trick) or jam (block). There is extensive evidence of GPS being deliberately oraccidently spoofed or jammed, with evidence of some nations routinely spoofing GPS during conflictsituations, or when moving VIPs between locations. This is overcome by pilots and air traffic controlworking together to mitigate risks and impact. This already results in some commercial passengerflights being impacted.
Tomorrow, as we look towards single pilot operation and future autonomous aircraft, there will notbe a pilot or air traffic controller available to mitigate these risks. GENIE has been developed to stepinto this role. It will be able to identify when a GPS signal has been compromised and using acombination of techniques provide a location position as accurate as GPS.Already recognised as leaders in their respective fields, the support from NATEP will enable theconsortium to take a significant step towards navigation in GNSS spoofed or denied environments.Charles Smith, CCO at Archangel Imaging said, “The need to provide assured, resilient navigation is acritical enabler for autonomy in the aerospace environment. GENIE is a core element of this, and weare very excited to be working with NATEP to help push this technology forward. We see significantcommercial exploitation opportunities as a result of this project in the UAV and broader aviationmarkets and are thrilled to be a part of this round of NATEP funding and support”
James Ronan, technical lead at UAV aid said, Project GENIE represents technology at the verycutting-edge of innovation. By working with our consortium partners to push these boundaries, wereinforce our position at the front of unmanned aviation and support the safe and resilientdevelopment of the sector.”
Sarp Ulas, CEO at Novit.AI said “GENIE is a revolutionary stepping stone for accelerating the historytowards the inevitable unmanned future in aerospace. We are delighted to be a part of NATEP,working with world-class partners of outstanding vision who are moving the frontiers for themankind for a safer and more secure tomorrow.”
David Howells, Technology Manager at NATEP said, “We are very pleased to have the GENIE projectsupported by the NATEP programme. The Archangel Imaging team have a proven track record ofinnovation and leading a strong industry consortium, we look forward to the successful developmentand deployment of sector-leading technology for navigation in GNSS spoofed or deniedenvironments.”
ARCHANGEL IMAGING LTD.
Archangel Imaging deploys smart machines alongside people to protect valuable remote assets andat-risk staff. Today’s machines are mostly tools, not team mates. Our technology is retrofitted tomake machines smarter, more resilient team mates, independent from infrastructure. We thenintegrate best-in-class AI, satellite analytics, robots, drones and IoT into human workflows. Thesehybrid teams respond faster and more effectively to safety or security threats. The Argonaut™ AIcameras watch for poachers in Africa or potential suicides on the European railways. The GENIE™navigation units enable any drone to independently navigate and complete missions without GPSsignals. Our technology is trusted by commercial and government customers such as Ministry ofDefence, Network Rail, European Space Agency and British Transport Police and has been recognisedwith awards, such as AIConics ‘AI for Good’ award presented at 10 Downing Street.www.archangel.im
UAVAID LTD
UAVAid are a UK based developer and operator of Unmanned Aerial Systems AKA ‘drones’.Specialising in systems optimised for applications in remote and difficult to reach areas, such ashumanitarian and global development (GD). UAVaid was established in London in 2014 by twobrothers, Daniel and James Ronen. They operate a mixed fleet of BVLOS drones, including theirproprietary multi-role HANSARD, which incorporates cargo delivery, mapping and live aerialsurveillance, onto a single platform. Award-winning UAVaid have completed projects in UK, EU,Malawi and Sierra Leone and are actively engaged in cutting edge R&D to extend the safety andcapabilities of unmanned aviation. www.uavaid.com
For more information contact: Daniel Ronen at [email protected]
Novit.AI
Novit.AI is a London based geospatial machine vision specialist which aggregates data fromthousands of satellites into world-scale human-readable insights using artificial intelligence. Novit.AIhas provided integrated solutions to the energy, defence and security sectors since 2017 and haspioneered the combined use of optical and synthetic aperture radar in geospatial data analytics.www.novit.ai
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