Sightline Intelligence and spatial intelligence provider Vantor have completed a series of flight tests demonstrating an integrated visual positioning and target recognition capability designed to operate effectively in contested, GPS-disrupted environments.
During the evaluations, the combined system achieved a circular error probable of under three meters (CE90 < 3 m) and demonstrated CAT-1-level accuracy, providing field operators with the precise geospatial coordinates required to guide tactical decisions and execute target handoffs. Rather than requiring distinct, independent subsystems, the joint architecture consolidates edge vision intelligence and visual positioning against high-accuracy 3D terrain into a unified workflow.
Vantor’s Raptor visual positioning software operates by georegistering imagery from an uncrewed platform’s onboard camera against high-accuracy Vivid Terrain 3D data, facilitating continuous navigation when satellite signals are compromised or entirely unavailable. Concurrently, Sightline’s edge-based video processing, Aided Target Recognition (AiTR), and tracking software detect, classify, and follow objects of interest or tactical threats in real time. The resulting telemetry—encompassing latitude, longitude, elevation, and location error estimates—is streamed alongside live video feeds to command-and-control networks.
Stephen Bornstein, SVP of Product and Engineering at Sightline Intelligence, commented, “On the battlefield, operators need to understand what they’re seeing, where a target is, and where their platform is, even when GPS is disrupted. Bringing that information together onboard gives our customers an integrated capability to support navigation and target handoff, helping operators maintain situational awareness and coordinate action in contested environments.”
To reduce payload complexity, the combined software pipeline can run directly on a platform’s existing edge processor and utilize the primary onboard camera. This approach eliminates the requirement for dedicated secondary optical sensors or supplemental processing enclosures, mitigating key size, weight, and power (SWaP) limitations on autonomous aircraft. The integrated system is also engineered to maintain continuous operational capability across both day and night conditions.
Peter Wilczynski, Vantor’s Chief Product Officer, added, “Target recognition software can recognize an object, but that information becomes far more useful when it can also determine where the object is, and where the drone itself is, even without GPS. By connecting Sightline’s onboard vision software to our Raptor software and high-accuracy 3D terrain, we’re bringing those capabilities together for customers operating in GPS-challenged environments.”
Features of the integrated system, including real-time target coordinate estimation and direct autopilot messaging, have been made available for customer evaluation.
