Self-Driving Without Sensors in GPS-Denied Zones
The UK MOD needed autonomous vehicles for shooting practice, but the equipment was too expensive to be shot at. We built a radar-based system that tracks and navigates vehicles with sub-meter accuracy — without a single sensor on the car.
High-performance autonomy for disposable targets
Our team was approached by the UK MOD with a complex problem: they needed autonomous vehicles to practice shooting against moving targets, but standard autonomous equipment was too expensive to be destroyed. Additionally, the vehicles needed to operate in a completely GPS-denied environment.
External Radar Sensing — Autonomy without the cost
Our solution was to place radars along the path to detect the vehicle and its surroundings, rather than detecting the environment from the car. We designed a processing pipeline to detect the vehicle with sub-meter accuracy, solving the GPS-denied environment problem while keeping the expensive hardware safe.
Innovative external sensing architecture: radars placed along the path instead of on the car
Bespoke processing pipeline to detect and track vehicles with sub-meter accuracy
Radar-based surround-view system for comprehensive obstacle detection and avoidance
Cost-effective design that keeps expensive equipment safe from direct fire
Robust navigation algorithms that function independently of GPS signals
Real-time processing and control loop for high-speed target maneuvering
Strategic impact quantified — Sub-meter precision
We were able to meet these challenging requirements in a cost-effective and reliable manner. The system beat standard GPS accuracy using only external radars and hasn't registered a single crash during its operational life.
"Our team delivered a successful project by placing radars along the path to detect the vehicle and its surroundings, solving the GPS-denied environment problem in a cost-effective and reliable manner."
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