Drones to soar without GPS using unique fingerprint-inspired navigation tech
The technology uses neuromorphic sensors to track terrain changes, matching data to an Earth surface database for precise navigation.
Two navigation technology companies are collaborating to develop a GPS-free navigation solution for drones.
Sydney-based Advanced Navigation has partnered with global defense company MBDA to jointly develop a fingerprint-inspired navigation system that integrates the latter’s NILEQ absolute positioning technology.
The technology utilizes advanced neuromorphic sensors to generate and compare terrain fingerprints. Inspired by biological change detection mechanisms, it records changes in terrain as an airborne system moves over it, matching the data to a pre-existing Earth surface database.
And I thought drones were already at the peak of its development. Now they're moving from GPS. This is really something advanced. What if they use an enemies fingerprint to target them 🤔
New technologies are nowhere near their peak when it comes to development.
“Suitable for the modern era, the co-developed solution will provide resilient absolute positioning for a multitude of airborne platforms, said Advanced Navigation, in a statement.
Efficient GPS alternative
A visual navigation system enhances inertial navigation by providing accurate position updates at regular intervals, enabling location recalibration.
Conventional systems use high-resolution cameras, which produce enormous amounts of data that need to be compared with satellite pictures using computationally demanding methods. This presents difficulties for tiny, power-constrained vehicles, such as drones, where it is frequently unfeasible to integrate such computational resources.
NILEQ’s system uses a neuromorphic camera modeled after the human retina to overcome these drawbacks. The neuromorphic camera produces substantially less data and operates at much greater speeds than traditional cameras, which take sequential pictures. Instead, it detects brightness changes across individual pixels.