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Ground truth is critical for defense teams—whether the mission demands coordinates for search and rescue or locating the building where an adversary has taken shelter. As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) become more and more commonplace in warfighting, GPS and GNSS denial is literally jamming up operations— introducing uncertainty that risks mission success.

That's where Raptor—Maxar's new 3D software suite for autonomous systems—comes in.

Meet Raptor™

BLUF: Raptor allows UAV operators to navigate without GPS or added hardware, on any drone, in any condition and almost anywhere on Earth.

Raptor is a suite of vision-based software that matches full-motion video captured by drones and other UAVs with Maxar's highly accurate 3D surface model of the Earth.

It means operators can maintain reliable situational awareness across battlefields, search and rescue operations, commercial operations areas and more. With Raptor, operators stay ahead of adversaries, keep personnel safer and get accurate coordinates for objects of interest on the ground.

Let's dig into what makes Raptor a game-changer for all kinds of missions.

1. Raptor is a potential lifesaver

GPS denial and drop-outs are no longer theoretical. It's a reality. Meaning systems that depend on GPS for operation are dead in the water, especially in low altitude, mountains or urban environments. In these conditions, drones are more likely to be lost, collide with other objects or, in hostile environments, be detected and shot down. And it's not just about losing a drone—in some situations it can give away an operator’s position and put lives at risk.

Raptor provides a way to determine absolute position whether you're talking about on the ground or up in the air with or without a GPS signal. That means operators can work with confidence and, if required, from a safer standoff distance instead of positioning themselves directly in harm’s way.

It may even help teams avoid conflict altogether. With Raptor, defense operators on the ground are empowered to make smart decisions without risking lives and still accomplish the mission.

2. Raptor works on drones of any size

From the large, expensive drones to the small, expendable ones, Raptor works on all operating systems. That's because Raptor is a lightweight software package. Using vision-based positioning, Raptor uses a drone's native forward- and side-looking cameras.

Thanks to Maxar's partnerships with different drone system integrators, we've refined Raptor using a variety of data from a wide range of operating systems and technologies, ensuring it works where and when it’s needed.

That means Raptor performs just as well on data from a quadcopter your neighborhood enthusiast flies around their backyard as it does on data from a commercial drone or MQ-9 Reaper. No added weight. No drain on power. No extra hardware required.

4. Raptor works at night, in bad weather and at low-altitude

Our software can handle all kinds of imagery, from infrared (IR) to electro-optical (EO). It can also handle black-and-white and color imagery. Using Maxar® global 3D data, Raptor matches real-time imagery to features like buildings, trees and terrain to establish ground truth.

Think of how you orient yourself when you walk around a city. Instinctively, you look for landmarks to understand where you are, like familiar buildings or intersections. Out on a trail, you might use a ridgeline or standout tree. Raptor works the same way, matching what the drone camera sees to real-world features in our 3D model.

5. Raptor plays nice with others

Operators can have the best tech out there, but if the devices can't work together, it's not going to work for the mission. Raptor enables systems to work together—whether legacy or new—making networked, joint UAV operations possible.

This means that different UAVs can work together for joint operations, all anchored to a common geospatial foundation. Using Raptor to register all FMV streams helps swarm scenarios deconflict and deduplicate targets as well as team more effectively because all platforms "believe" in one ground truth to act as the reference for all spatial systems.

6. Raptor works where you need it

From urban canyons to low-terrain areas, Raptor delivers. Maxar is a leader in the 3D data space, creating a 3D globe and we have a deep stack (over 100 petabytes and 20+ years of data) of multi-view satellite imagery that ensures a highly accurate model. Right now, Raptor uses Maxar's 90 million-plus sq km of global 3D terrain data, allowing vision-based localization and GPS-denied navigation pretty much anywhere in the world.

And we're constantly building and expanding, working in 10 sq km chunks. That allows the Maxar team to rapidly build out on the order of two million sq km a month.

But what about when something happens and landmarks aren't the same as they were before?

One satellite pass and two images are all it takes to refresh the 3D data on demand. This allows a super robust ability to refresh and keep data relevant for mission success.

Final thoughts

Attritable drone warfare is undoubtably the next big shift, as seen in the Middle East and Ukraine. And as drone use continues to grow, GPS-denied environments will become the norm—if they aren’t already.

In these environments, it's critical for defense teams to have situational awareness and drive reconnaissance missions forward. And with so many moving pieces and tools, operators need to incorporate data from cameras and sensors for long-term surveillance in order to plan, assess the threats, understand the battlespace and make smart decisions quickly.

Raptor will be essential for military and commercial operators and teams who need to navigate contested or GPS/GNSS-challenged environments and deliver mission success.