Tel Aviv: Drones are getting heavier and more popular. A drone flying over a densely populated area, while a GPS denial system is closing its “Eyes” can be serious danger. Israeli company ASIO, has developed a unique system that will ensure that a drone arrives at its planned location even under a severe GPS denial attack.
Jamming GPS signals is an easy process that simply involves producing an RF signal strong enough to drown out the transmissions from GPS satellites. The subject of a GPS jamming attack will immediately know something is wrong since the system will not be able to provide a GPS location.
According to the Israeli company, its onboard, self-sufficient optical navigation system, takes live images of the terrain. These are matched in real-time to a stored map of the mission area. Sophisticated machine vision algorithms generate continuous, low latency positioning.
Asio says that NavGuard’s enables a truly safe and sustainable 24/7 drone mission under full GNSS blackout. Optimized for low weight, small size and low power – the company explains that their solution mixes together cutting-edge machine vision technology together with high-end optics and sensor fusion, under lean system architecture designed as a plug-and-play positioning module. The Israeli company ASIO is offering the NavGuard in two versions – the Nocata is a day/ night optical navigation system for low and medium altitudes. The second version is the NG Core, a day only optical navigation system for low and medium altitudes.
According to Tomer Malchi, founder & CTO of the company, the drone either in civil use or a military one, can start its mission flying based on GPS signals. If the signals are cut off by a GPS denial systems, the NavGuard takes over and keeps the drone flying safely based on way points compared to the area map. “This is a unique system that overcomes the fast growing threat of GPS denial” he said.
The Israeli developed system is already in use by military and civil operators and negotiations are underway with others.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
