Derrick Henry
Palladyne AI and Red Cat have completed an autonomous flight test involving three heterogeneous drone platforms.
During the trial, the drones operated with onboard edge computing and did not use a centralized infrastructure for communications, Palladyne AI said Thursday. The test utilized Red Cat’s Teal 2 and Black Widow drones and the Palladyne Pilot AI software.
Advancing Multi-Drone Interoperability
The experiment represents a huge progress in the ongoing joint mission to advance “multi-drone interoperability and autonomous collaboration for the defense sector,” according to Palladyne AI Chief Revenue Officer Matt Vogt.
“We are proud to have successfully completed this three-drone flight and believe our joint, cross-platform, autonomous solution will be a game changer for U.S. military personnel and drone operators,” he added.
“This latest test is a meaningful step toward making multiple, collaborative autonomous systems more practical and effective in real-world defense scenarios,” noted Red Cat CRO Geoff Hitchcock.
Enhanced Situational Awareness
The test showcased the system’s ability to detect and track several dynamic and static objects in different regions, providing warfighters with enhanced situational awareness. It also demonstrated artificial intelligence-powered capabilities that can reduce operational burden and improve mission effectiveness for military and defense operations.
