Planck Aero gets USAF contract for sUAS navigation solutions.

Planck Aerosystems, Inc. was awarded a contract from the United States Air Force Research Lab for the development of guidance, navigation, and control solutions for small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) operating in challenging environments.

Planck Aero provides vision-based navigation solutions for sUAS to operate from moving vehicles or vessels on land or at sea (Picture source: Planck Aero)

The contract was the result of the most recent solicitation from the Air Force’s Open Innovation topics of the competitive awards-based Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR), which is designed to enable small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization.

Under this contract, Planck Aero is developing a visual compass for sUAS in environments where existing commercial offerings may suffer degraded performance. Planck Aero is leveraging existing products and expertise in vision-based navigation to help the sUAS operate safely and reliably without relying solely on GPS or other expensive and heavy installed hardware.

“Planck has always focused on developing and deploying technologies necessary for unmanned systems to operate in areas that have previously been inaccessible,” said Josh Wells, Planck Aero’s CEO. “Our technology enables drones to operate from moving vehicles and vessels on land or at sea for commercial and defense customers. This project is a natural extension of that technology.”