SBIR-STTR Award

Picogrid is a hardware and software platform for remote surveillance. The system is a low-cost, distributed, ground sensor platform that complements more costly and less persistent air and space surveillance methods, such as E-8C JSTARS and UAVs. The Air Force would benefit from the system on multiple counts, including expedited decision making, reduction of labor costs and personnel exposure to the conflict zones, easy integration with the existing Command and Control systems, as well as cost savings through the use of commercially available components. Hardware: Field hardware supporting a variety of sensors, serving as the warfighter's “eye on the ground” Support for most commercial sensors (visual cameras, infrared cameras, radio receivers, etc.) Satellite communication is the primary network mechanism: Designed to fully leverage the benefits of SpaceX’s Starlink, while using geostationary satellites (i.e., Viasat) and mesh networks for redundancy Self-contained solar power system designed for 10-year deployment life Onboard edge computing Built-in telescoping tower for sensor deployment Software: Real-time streaming and analysis of video and other sensor data Front-end interface visualizes the data in the geospatial context Highly-secure and scalable infrastructure Artificial intelligence for live data labelling and alerts (people, vehicles, animals) & integration with external model providers (e.g. weapon detection) Open APIs built for easy integration: it can be used as an end-to-end platform, but also disaggregated into its individual software and hardware compo

Today, crucial large-scale infrastructure is typically monitored by manual patrols—two guys in a pickup truck. As a result, the systems that underpin everyday life including military bases, power infrastructure, and fire-prone wildlands suffer from gaps in coverage, long response times, and high operating costs. Our Phase I feasibility study demonstrated that end-users across theaters and enterprise programs have a mission need for a lower-cost and more scalable solution for distributed ground surveillance over vast areas, both domestically and abroad. Legacy ground surveillance systems lag behind the private sector in the use of artificial intelligence, are built as siloed IT systems that do not support real-time distributed decision making, and each unit costs millions of dollars which makes them unsuitable for long-term deployments at large scale. The Air Force will address that mission need by adapting Picogrid’s existing commercial technology as a defense-specific variant: Platform for Active Protection and Reconnaissance (PAPR). PAPR combines highly scalable, cloud-native C5ISR software and artificial intelligence with low-cost ground-based surveillance hardware to deliver cost effective ground surveillance over wide areas. Through its innovative communications system, PAPR enables over-the-horizon transmission and independent operation across thousands of locations. The objective of the proposed effort is to ruggedize and optimize the commercial variant for Air Force’s requirements to deliver highly resilient ground based surveillance over wide, remote, and hostile areas for approximately one-tenth of the cost of existing alternat