Black Butterfly
Black Butterfly is an integrated hardware and software framework for systems-level solutions with unmanned vehicles.
Black Butterfly is built on top of advanced algorithms for GNSS-denied navigation, long-range interference-resistant communications, autonomy and mission control.
Black Butterfly is aimed not at building "better drones", but at making a difference at the systems level.
01
Context
Evolutionary transition
- IoT, digital twins, edge robotics and edge computing, ML/AI, Industry 4.0 on the one side, and repurposing of consumer/hobby drones into a strategic asset on the other side hint that the next evolutionary technological level has arrived.
- New technological level requires integrated approach across hardware, software, networking, communications, AI.
- Pandora’s box of misusing the unmanned semi-autonomous vehicles has been opened.
- New solutions needed to address new opportunities and new threats.
First principles
02
Case study: UAVs
Essential properties required to enable next-level capabilities
- Range
- Distance
- Time
- Communications
- Communications
- Robust radio links for data and remote control
- Encryption
- Interoperability
- Networking (mesh, MANET, etc)
- Autonomy
- Operations in GNSS-denied and/or communications-denied scenarios
- Recovery from jamming, spoofing, signal loss
- Data protection in case of vehicle loss
- Integrity
- Multiple vehicles and operators
- Data protection and system resilience
- Analytics and aggregation backend
Black Butterfly framework
A what-is-actually-needed solution built from first principles using systems approach
03
Edge
- Intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, inspection UAVs (multi-rotor and other more aerodynamically optimized designs)
- Lightweight all-weather unibody airframe
- Custom electronics & PCBs
- Custom SDR radio frontend with electronically-steered phase array antenna
- Swappable payloads
- On-board autonomous navigation and AI software (day/night/fog/clouds/over-the-water operations)
- Digital encrypted mesh/peer-to-peer direct and VPN communications
- 100% encryption for vehicle control software, business data, logs, communications
- BVLOS
- Not only flying vehicles in the future
04
Command & Control
- High gain directional antennas
- Custom ground control software for BVLOS and multi-vehicle operations
- ML/AI software for image/video/signal processing
- Digital encrypted communications over VPN or direct
- Remote operations over the Internet via VPN
- Cloud analytics and storage backend
- 100% encryption for control software, business data, logs, communications
- Cryptography-based authentication and authorization
05
Network & cloud
- Zero-configuration, zero-maintenance network
- Many to many, one to many, many to one
- Point to point, peer to peer, mesh
- Unicast/multicast
- Cryptographically-based authentication and authorization
- Cloud uplink
- Centralized C&C
- Change monitoring and continuous situational awareness backend
06
Navigation & autonomy
- Day/night/fog/clouds/over the water navigation without GNSS
- Multiple sensors and localization providers, not just IMU and cameras
- Predictive approximating multilevel nonlinear algorithm
- Autonomous behaviors to recover localization when lost
- Generalizes to generic robotic perception and autonomy system
- 100% encryption for navigation code and data
07
Solutions
The whole system is software-defined. This software nature of the system enables customers to build new tactical and operational patterns, like situational awareness, mission control, autonomous operations, virtually without limits. This creates a new emergent level of capabilities.
Functional
- Future-proof software-defined evolvable system
- Enables next-level tactical and operational capabilities
- Generalizes to generic robotic perception and autonomy system
- Multi-vehicle, multi-operator remotely controlled, semi-autonomous and autonomous operations
- Scalable, robust, resilient, 24/7-capable system
- Can be extended into adjacent niches, like a counter-UAV/UAV detection solution, or non-aerial vehicles applications
- Family of vehicles and other networked IoT/edge devices
By market segments
- Wildlife monitoring
- Forest fire monitoring
- Farming
- Industrial operations
- Command&control for other robotic units and vehicles
- Communications relay
- IoT/robotics platform
- Traffic monitoring
- and more
