Edgeward
EN/FR
Canada — pre-release
See everything. Decide first. Trust the mission.

The operator-canvas-to-mission layer for small-unit ISR.

Edgeward turns the ATAK ecosystem into a drone orchestration platform. Operators draw zones and points of interest on the map they already use. The software plans the mission, watches for other aircraft along the way, and reports back through the same map.

Operator-driven. Hardware-agnostic. Built on open standards.

Constant bearing, decreasing range. The same principle pilots and naval lookouts have used for decades — now run from a single monocular camera, no LiDAR required.

Operator intent to autonomous mission, end-to-end.

Edgeward — tactical demonstration

Modern small units carry drones and they carry ATAK. The gap nobody has cleanly filled is the software in between — the layer that turns operator intent on a tactical map into autonomous ISR missions, and turns drone footage into actionable intelligence the operator can trust.

Edgeward is that layer. Operators draw a zone, mark a point of interest, or request an orbit. Edgeward plans the mission, runs perception against the feed, and reports back through the same map.

Three tiers, one protocol, no vendor lock-in.

Operator
ATAK / WinTAK
Map canvas.
Draws zones.
Approves missions.
Edgeward
AI + orchestration
Perception.
Behavior.
Mission planning.
Drone
MAVLink / DJI / Skydio
Flies the route.
Streams video.
Reports state.

One software layer, four jobs.

Perception

Real-time object detection and behavior classification on edge hardware. Six configurable rules: loitering, perimeter breach, after-hours, vehicle dismount, convergence, fence approach.

Avoidance

Detects and tracks nearby aircraft from a single monocular camera. Bearings-only tracking, adapted from published naval and aviation collision-avoidance research, estimates time-to-closest-approach without needing LiDAR or absolute range.

Coordination

Bidirectional Cursor-on-Target. Operators draw zones and points of interest on the map they already use; Edgeward ingests them as live behavior policy and publishes alerts and proposed missions back.

Execution

Generates orbit, lawnmower, and patrol routes from operator intent. Routes appear on the ATAK map for review; operator approves; UAS Tool plugin translates to MAVLink. Operator stays in the loop.

Working prototype. Tested end-to-end.

Validated today
  • On-device perception pipeline on NVIDIA Jetson: YOLOv8 detection + ByteTrack multi-object tracking
  • Aircraft-to-aircraft avoidance from a single monocular camera — no LiDAR required
  • Bearings-only tracking validated to 0.8–5.0% time-to-closest-approach accuracy across multiple closing geometries
  • Full detection-to-alert chain validated end-to-end on real flight-controller hardware
  • Dual autopilot support — ArduPilot and PX4
  • Two-way Cursor-on-Target — alerts out, drawn zones in
  • Ghost-mode by design: avoidance alerting is proven before any autonomous control action is enabled
Standards & integration
C2 protocol
Cursor-on-Target (CoT) over UDP
C2 platforms
ATAK · WinTAK · iTAK · TAK Server
Drone interface
MAVLink via ATAK UAS Tool
Autopilots
ArduPilot · PX4 · any MAVLink-class
Edge compute
NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano (Orin NX-ready)
Compliance path
Blue UAS framework components

Tactical and dual-use.

Forward operating base perimeter

Persistent overwatch of FOB approaches with operator-tuned rules of engagement.

Critical infrastructure

Energy, port, and data centre perimeter monitoring with autonomous re-tasking.

Wildfire & emergency response

Operator-defined search areas, real-time hotspot and casualty detection, autonomous coordination with heavy-lift platforms.

Search & rescue / CASEVAC

Pattern-based area searches, geotagged subject location, drone-assisted extraction coordination via existing C2 systems.

Building this with the people who'll fly it.

Edgeward is built to integrate onto existing drone platforms as a software layer, not to replace them. We're actively exploring partnerships with drone manufacturers, hardware integrators, and defence and public-safety system providers — including through Canada's Defence Drone Initiative.

If you're building something this could plug into, we'd like to hear from you.

Start a conversation →